DVD Review: WWE Night of Champions 2015 (Rollins vs. Sting)

WWE Night of Champions 2015 is out on DVD and Blu-Ray now in the UK. You can order here at WWEDVD.co.uk and all other reputable DVD stockists. Broadcast live on PPV (and on the WWE Network) from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, USA on 20th September 2015. The show features Seth Rollins defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Sting as the main event. There's also six other matches featuring the likes of Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, The Wyatt Family, Dean Ambrose, The Dudley Boyz & The New Day in action. The WWE Intercontinental, WWE United States, WWE Tag Team and WWE Diva's Championships are also up for grabs. The DVD version contains one further bout as part of the Special Features.

the show 

In the opening bout, Ryback more than matches Kevin Owens to put on surprisingly enjoyable bout over the WWE Intercontinental Championship, in a storytelling and character based encounter. Things drop off a little as Dolph Ziggler and Rusev (with Summer Rae) struggle to get past the soap opera theatrics of their storyline. Luckily, The New Day our out and the crowd is very into everything the trio do, even if the promo itself isn't a particular standout. The groups' Big E and Kofi Kingston putting the WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against the Dudley Boyz features some fine action, but is ultimately let down by a weak finish.

Charlotte (with Becky Lynch & Paige) and Nikki Bella (with Alicia Fox & Brie Bella) have one of the best Diva's PPV bouts of 2015, telling a strong story, but there's definitely a sense that with a little more finesse to the execution this could have been even better. Chris Jericho coming out as the "surprise" partner of Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns is perhaps a little anti-climactic if you'd let your imagination run wild prior to the bout. The threesome tackle the Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman & Luke Harper) in a belting six man tag team bout, that features plenty of exciting high-spot sequences, whilst Strowman get's a strong push. 

The first of two Seth Rollins bouts, sees the WWE United States Championship on the line against John Cena, in what is arguably the match of the night. The two put on world class performances, with the action going back and forth at a nice pace and featuring a lot of near falls. In the main event, Rollins manages to carry a 56 year old Sting to a decent WWE World Heavyweight Championship contest, with the earlier parts of the bout featuring the best action. It's a shame that Sting suffers a major injury in the later portion, as this match would easily have ranked among some of his best work since the close of WCW in 2001.


The special features include a fun six man tag team bout with The Cosmic Wasteland facing The Lucha Dragons and Neville, that originally aired on Night of Champions 2015 Kick-Off .

finally...

In our opinion, this is a good PPV event, that features a lot to enjoy across the card. Whilst the double title defense from Seth Rollins didn't quite work from a booking perspective, the then WWE World Heavyweight and United States Champion puts in a career defining performance, in back to back bouts with John Cena and Sting, with the first bout being the strongest match of the evening. The show is only majorly let down by a weak Dolph Ziggler and Rusev bout. However, if your looking for a momento from WWE's summer 2015 catalogue, Beast in the East or SummerSlam are probably better options. 

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1163

     

Just thirteen days until Night of Champions WWE already had most of the main pieces of the puzzle in place for the PPV. With WWE World Heavyweight and United States Champion Seth Rollins placed in two bouts on the card, including the main event that saw him team with Big E and Kofi Kingston of Tag Team Champions, The New Day to take on John Cena and The Prime Time Players, as well as bouts including Cesaro, Sasha Banks, Dean Ambrose, The Dudley Boyz and Randy Orton, could WWE produce a quality product to hold the interest heading into September's special?

The show kicked off with a monologue from "The Architect" Seth Rollins, as he discussed both his upcoming matches at Night of Champions (with Sting and John Cena respectively). Rollins has really developed as a character performer over the last few months and accounted himself well here, playing with the crowd (slowing down when the crowd chanted "boring" was a superb touch) and managing to creatively build up both matches and further his issues with both men. A credit must go to writing team here as well, I'd imagine, they seem to have a strong grasp of the character and Rollins as a performer. Sting (on the tron) and Sheamus both got involved, but it was the inaugural NXT Champion who continued to shine here.


With Sting earlier revealing to that he was in possession of Rollins' statue (as seen on Monday Night RAW #1161), a backstage segment lead to Triple H placing Seth in two matches for the evening to focus himself for Night of Champions, which made a lot of sense and I'll never complain about getting to see "The Man" wrestle.


I liked the idea of having this rematch after the Diva's were lumbered with a silly Beat the Clock Challenge gimmick last week, that meant that Paige and Sasha went to a 1 minute and 40 second time limit draw, I mean...seriously?

Match 1 - Singles - Paige with Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks with Naomi & Tamina

The first part of the bout before the ad break showed a lot of promise with the pair looking lively in the ring and Sasha's signature double knees in the corner was a sweet way to send the match to an ad break. The second part of the bout brought a nice physicality from both performers, although Paige's awkward bump of the top rope and confusing finish just as the crowd were about to get into things let this one down. 

Winner - Sasha Banks via pinfall in 9 minutes, 55 seconds

The Ascension were strangely without Stardust, who they seemingly partnered with on Smackdown as they received their jobber entrance. 

Match 2 - Tag Team - The Ascension vs. Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns

Whilst the bout did have some lovely team based stuff from Ambrose and Reigns (Reigns pushing Ambrose out the way to Spear Konnor was a great spot) and put them over strong, there was no real need for the former Shield boys to be in this type of match-up. 

Winners - Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns in 2 minutes, 55 seconds 

All I got from The Wyatt Family's regular tron promo situation was that Braun Strowman has a really weird looking face. 


Ryback provided a terrible promo as part of an interview sentence with Renee Young, in which he tripped over his words and recited a piss poor script, before Kevin Owens turn up to almost rescue things.


A recap of last week's goings on between Summer Rae, Dolph Ziggler and Lana aired with a strange voice over, WWE was really pushing the soap opera/Jerry Springer element of this story here and it didn't sit well with me.

Match 3 - Singles - Ryback vs. Seth Rollins

The first part of this bout (before the ad break) was so dull with a deathly quiet crowd not help things out either. The match didn't seem to quite know what it wanted to be and we saw the pair go back and forth with some awkward looking moves, with Ryback's usual in-ring issue turning up again. He looked pretty damn good on offence, hitting a nice delayed vertical suplex and a gorilla press, but any time Seth Rollins found himself in control the Big Guy looked wooden and this hurt Rollins offence, especially when the Architect was using mainly strikes to combat the bigger man. Luckily the bout showed promise to head into the break with the World Heavyweight Champion showing his vicious side, sending Ryback into the ring post and steel steps, and this was just enough to hold my attention across the break.


After a shakey start (Seth Rollins locking in a headlock whilst the crowd were dead) the second portion of the match picked up considerably, with Rollins lifting the pace and Ryback looking much more competent with his selling (the moments after his arm struck the ringpost were especially well done and it's almost a shame that this wasn't played up a bit more by Rollins). With Michael Cole heavily signposting a Triple H vs. Seth Rollins bout in the near future, the pair up their game with Rollins trio of dives spot, with Ryback thwarting the third with a huge spinebuster being the standout moment of the bout for me. The finish was a little shitty, as Sting turned up on the screen to distract Rollins, which appeared to be a bit of a dickish thing to do for the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion, at least it gives The Big Guy some momentum as Intercontinental Champion, I suppose.

Winner - Ryback via pinfall in 17 minutes, 45 seconds.

Sting goofing around with Seth Rollins' statue afterwards, didn't do a whole lot for more and felt silly, rather than funny, and kind of made me want to see Rollins kick The Icon's arse.


Whilst the segments' tone was all over the place, there's no denying that Seth Rollins, The New Day, The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian all in one backstage skit was pretty cool, and the eight men did manage to cover quite a lot of ground, including tonight's main event, Rollins' angle with Edge and Christian earlier in the year, as well as The Dudleys feud with The New Day.


For shits and gigs, the cringe worthy video package about Summer Rae, Dolph Ziggler and Lana aired again, quite possibly just to annoy me.

I couldn't wait for this segment to end for a number of reasons. 1. Why hadn't Summer Rae and Rusev spoken about Summer supposedly bangin' Dolph Ziggler over the weekend? No reason was given for Summer waiting until RAW to discuss the matter. 2. Rusev accepting Summer's (rather hollow, but that might just be her poor acting) apology made him look like a moron. This guy used to be the Super Athlete. He's currently coming across like a bit of a pussy. 3. Even when Dolph Ziggler added a much needed boost of charisma, the script was so poor that even he couldn't fight through the mess. There is no need for Ziggler and Rusev to be placed in a storyline like this, they've got the talents to tell an interesting story without all these bells and whistles.


Before Randy Orton's match with Sheamus, Byron Saxton noted that Orton "has done it on 12 separate occasions", Michael Cole was quick to remind us that Saxton meant win a World title.

Match 4 - Singles - Sheamus vs. Randy Orton

Both these men need fresh opponents, the first portion of the match completely went through the motions with Sheamus attempting to goad the crowd to chant "You look stupid" at him to mixed results throughout the match, being the main highlight.

There's no denying that Sheamus is over as a heel, but I don't think he was quite as over here as WWE were hoping he would be. Yes, the crowd would intermittently chant "You look stupid", but they weren't quite as loud as the storyline seemed to be suggesting, with the idea being that the crowd were getting into his head. The closing sequence that would lead to Randy Orton hitting the RKO to pick up the victory was about as interesting as this one got, this certainly wasn't one of the pairs stronger matches and they've had quite a few! This would seem to put an end to their feud, I'm interested to see how WWE plans on elevating Sheamus to World title level after coming out on the losing side of this feud.

Winner - Randy Orton via pinfall in 15 minutes, 50 seconds

The Wyatt Family (and in particular Braun Strowman) made their presence known after the bout attacking Randy Orton (who was seen talking to Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose earlier in the night) in a nice piece of storyline development for their feud, with Orton putting over Strowman strong with some quality selling of the Black Sheep's Lifting Arm Triangle Choke.


The Dudley Boyz entrance is still pretty cool, isn't it? As soon as those fireworks smash against the stage it's difficult not get hyped.

Match 5 - Tag Team - The Dudley Boyz vs. Los Matadores with El Torito

Wow, this was a quick match, as Bubba Ray and D-Von continue to get put over strong with Los Matadores swiftly jobbing here after having some kind of disagreement with El Torito.

Winners - The Dudley Boyz via pinfall in 1 minute, 35 seconds

Whilst the falling out of Los Matadores and El Torito was a development that I didn't particularly care for, at least it allowed us to see Bubba Ray powerbomb whichever Matadores it was through a table.


Before Cesaro and The Miz could get it on in the ring, there was a repeat of an awkward segment from the Pre-Show in which Miz confronted Cesaro, which lead to this match tonight.

Match 6 - Singles - Cesaro vs. The Miz

Just as the match was starting to show potential with The Miz seemingly upping his game for a match with the technician Cesaro, The Big Show turned up and fucked everything up for everyone, in the head-scratching booking of the night.

Winner - No One by Double Countout in 4 minutes, 10 seconds.

After The Big Show had chased The Miz around ringside, he then knocked out Cesaro, if there is anyone who could explain this segment and the purpose behind it (apart from a Miz vs. Big Show match that everyone's clearly been clamouring for) then I'd love to hear it.

Used as a set-up for Charlotte's title bout with Nikki Bella next week on the "Season Premiere" of RAW, this segment did it's job quite well. I'm not sure whether Nikki is terrible or amazing, because I hate her so much for being bad at cutting promos, so much so that I want to see her get beaten up a bit. Charlotte has the potential to do that and had the crowd on side here with her promo being a much better offering, before things broke down into another brawl and Charlotte had Nikki tapping to the Figure 8. I want to see Charlotte take the title off Nikki, as do many, many internet smarks (some are getting seriously too worked up by it) and this segment added to that. That's all you can really ask for.


As Seth Rollins made his way to the ring for the main event, he was joined by a fan who hopped the guard rail, the bloke looked a massive twat as skipped alongside Rollins and hopefully someone kicked him in the dick on the way out.

Match 7 - Six Man Tag Team - John Cena & The Prime Time Players vs. The New Day's Big E & Kofi Kingston & Seth Rollins with Xavier Woods

The first part of the main event, before the ad break, allowed The New Day to look like stars as Big E and Kofi Kingston were able to quickly gain control of John Cena, including a smashing moment where Big E caught Cena and turned it into a suplex.

After the break the contest was just as enjoyable, with Kofi Kingston, Big E & Seth Rollins working over John Cena with quick tags and heel trickery. The heel trickery could have been played up a little more to really build to the hot tag to Titus O'Neil and give the moment a big more bite. However, The Prime Time Players were also allowed to look good in the main event, with the duo impressing on their hot tag, with Darren Young hitting a lovely suplex onto the apron, whilst O'Neil was using his arsenal of power moves. The bout built nicely into a furious back and forth battle, with an attractive finish, as Cena was able to roll through a Kingston crossbody to pick up the win with a Attitude Adjustment.

Winners - The Prime Time Players & John Cena via pinfall in 13 minutes.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the final segment of the show, as I was with all of the interactions between Seth Rollins and Sting throughout the show. Sting was revealed he was situated next to a bin lorry, before toppling Rollins' beloved statue into the vehicle and destroying it. There were elements of this that were entertaining, such as Sting swinging from the lorry as it drove away, but at the same time it made me want to see Rollins get some revenge on Sting, rather than the other way round. Maybe this is all part of the imminent Rollins' babyface turn.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.56

This was not a good episode of RAW by any stretch of the imagination and in fact it becomes the lowest rated show on the ATPW Scale. With a number of matches getting a decent amount of television time none of them stood out as must-see bout and whilst most of them (especially the main event) had their positives, this wasn't enough to justify the amount of time they were given.

Some angles were furthered heading into Night of Champions, as well as next week's Season Première, which is pleasing, but the Sting vs. Seth Rollins feud isn't doing what it should be for me, and the Dolph Ziggler/Rusev feud has descended into madness. Also The Big Show. Fuck Big Show.


Hopefully, we'll see a much better episode next week for the Season Première and go home show for Night of Champions.

Daily Royal Ramble #8 (6th April 2014) - WrestleMania XXX Predictions

There's only one thing I can really talk about today, and that has to be my predictions for WrestleMania XXX! I'm sure there's hundred of these things knocking around today, I recommend checking out Marc P's on Youtube (If you're a fan of air fresheners this ones for you) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-fqWStjx4, obviously after you've read what I have to say. 

Let's work our way through the card, shall we? 

Kicking off with the Pre-Show, we have The Usos defending the Tag Team titles against The Real Americans, Rybaxel and Los Matadores. This is a pretty throw away match, I expect inoffensive action, that will be watchable, but with nothing of any significance occuring. Los Matores and The Usos will hit dives over the top rope, with The Usos eventually picking up the victory, as they've only just won the belts. The Real Americans seem on the verge of break up, Rybaxel are Rybaxel and Los Matadores are seemingly there for the banter.

Moving onto the show proper, I see The Shield opening the show for the second year running against Kane and The New Age Outlaws. I can't say I'm particularly hyped by this one, the build up has been pretty weak, with The Shield spending a fair few weeks teasing a break up, before Kane, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg were brought into it. I can't look past The Shield picking up the victory in this one, start off the show on a high and possibly put a close to the New Age Outlaws run in WWE. 

The joys of the Vickie Guerrero Invitational something or other, as AJ Lee defends the Diva's title against everyone. We all know this is going to be terrible, there is just no way fourteen women in the same ring is going to equal a good match, especially with one fall to a finish. I forsee AJ retain her title, leading to Paige's debut the next night on Raw, kick starting a feud between the two, but I've got a feeling that might be wishful thinking. My outside bet would go to Summer Rae, as they seem pretty high on her and it would tie in nicely with Total Divas. 

John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt is a tricky one, traditional storytelling would call for Cena to overcome the odds and pick up a heroic victory on the biggest stage of them all, but the flipside is the world of good it would do Wyatt, if Cena allowed him to go over clean. Personally, I think we'll be seeing Wyatt in the WWE title picture heading out of WrestleMania and towards SummerSlam, so I'm going to go with Bray Wyatt for this one. Hopefully clean, but it wouldn't surprise me if there's some shenanigans here, allowing for a rematch at Extreme Rules in May. 

Triple H and Daniel Bryan will battle it out for the opportunity to join Batista and Randy Orton in the main event, I think they'll place this one somewhere in the middle of the card. As much as I'd love to see Triple H win for the reactions on Twitter, the mark me really wants Daniel Bryan to win this one and it would seem like the right decision for him to do so. I see Triple H dominating Bryan for most of the match, giving Bryan and absolute beating, before Bryan pulls out the victory. It will be interesting whether they have Bryan win with the knee that beat Cena or the LeBell lock. Personally, I'd have Triple H attack Bryan after the match as well, a tasty sledgehammer attack to add intrigue to the main event. 

Then there's the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, better known as "We can't be arsed with mid-card storylines". I have to admit I'm intrigued with this one and I do enjoy a good battle royal from time to time. If booked right there's space to give a number of performers and opportunity to shine. I expect something crazy out of Kofi Kingston, I expect a load of people to team up to eliminate the big guys and I expect a couple of surprise entrants. Out of all the participants, Alexander Rusev looks like the guy for this one for me, after the build-up over the last few months, it would be great for him to eliminate Big Show or someone similar last and get the heel heat with the trophy. My outside choice for this one is Bad News Barrett, because it'd just make me chuckle.

The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar go head to head, in a match that I don't think anyone gives Lesnar a chance in. That doesn't mean to say this doesn't have potential of being a very good match, because it does! No one gave CM Punk a chance last year, but they managed to put together some nice false finishes, especially the one with the earn and I expect more of the same here. I'd not be surprised to see a lengthy MMA style submission sequence, with Taker's Hells Gate and Lesnar's Kimura Lock, which could be very nice to see, especially if Lesnar works the arm. But yes, in the end Taker comes out victorious, with a possible angle either on the show or on the Raw after WrestleMania to set up his bout for next year. It seems likely to be Sting, but it would be fantastic if it's Bray Wyatt. 

And finally, the main event of the evening. I personally think we will see a Triple Threat here, although I know many are expecting a Fatal Four Way. I don't see Daniel Bryan starting the match, I think we'll see Batista and Orton work the first seven or eight minutes to nuclear heat, with Bryan supposedly out of the match due to the attack by Triple H. Bryan eventually comes out to a huge pop, bandaged and beaten, and battles to an eventual victory, with streamers and all that jazz to close the show. It seems the logical way of doing things, and I'd mark out like a mother bitch for it.

Well, I hope you enjoy the show tonight and I'll see you tomorrow for the review! 

What a Difference A Year Makes - Fandango

Welcome to a brand new series of articles, looking at the fortunes of a number of WWE wrestlers following on from Wrestlemania XXIX, heading into Wrestlemania XXX

Name: Fandango
Wrestlemania XXIX Opponent: Chris Jericho
Feuds following Wrestlemania: The Miz, Wade Barrett, The Miz (again), The Great Khali & Natalya, Tyson Kidd, Santino Marella & Emma
PPV Win Loss Record: 1 win, 4 losses
Raw Win Loss Record: 12 wins, 21 losses
Smackdown Win Loss Record: 9 wins, 10 losses, 1 draw
PPV Kick-Off Win Loss Record: 1 win
Main Event Win Loss Record: 4 wins, 7 losses
Superstars Win Loss Record: 2 wins, 2 losses
Tribute to the Troops Win Loss Record: 1 loss 
NXT Win Loss Record: 1 loss

Overall TV Win Loss Record: 29 wins, 46 losses, 1 draw

What better way to start off than looking at Fandango (pronounced: FAHN-DAHN-GOO....you have to let the A's breath apparently) the man who made his in-ring WWE debut at last year's Wrestlemania. Okay, so technically it wasn't Curtis Hussey's WWE debut, after he spent some time working as Johnny Curtis, both down in FCW, and then NXT, including winner Season 4 under the original NXT format, and technically it wasn't even Fandango's WWE in-ring debut after working numerous house show dates with the likes of Ted DiBiase, Jamie Noble and Yoshi Tatsu, however we all know, that it doesn't mean squat dibbly if it ain't on the television screen! So yes, it was Fandango's WWE in-ring debut, so DEAL WITH IT! Anyway's Fandango's opponent on the grandest stage of them all, was none other than Chris Jericho!

The storyline was that Fandango was refusing to wrestle a number of opponents, due to them being unable to pronounce his name, therefore when Jericho pronounced his name intentionally incorrect on a March 18th episode of Raw. This enraged Fandango who would attack Jericho on the following episode of Smackdown, with the two trading attacks from then up until Wrestlemania 29. It wasn't the strongest build-up to a Wrestlemania match, but there was certainly some intrigue in how WWE would handle Fandango's debut match and WWE clearly had big plans, with the ballroom dancer taking part in the Wrestlemania Press Conference, debuting new dance partner, Summer Rae. Below is the review of Fandango vs. Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 29 taken from our review of that event. "The Fandango and Chris Jericho match was marred with a number of errors in a match that did neither men any favours. A lot was expected from these after WWE held off the former Johnny Curtis's début until the Granddaddy of them All and against a competitor of Chris Jericho's standing, it's understandable that the pressure was huge on the two to perform. However that performance never came and the match felt like the two going through the motions, with the awkward ending not helping towards this. It also seemed an odd decision for Jericho to kick out of Fandango's finish on his début, and Fandango to still win." Yes, the match itself wasn't that great, but it was the night after that people would remember. Whilst Fandango made his Raw debut in a bout with Kofi Kingston, the audience in attendance began to sing and dance along to Fandango's entrance theme, and continued to do so even when the music had stopped, in one of the bizarrest moments in Raw history. This would continue, with a campaign building in the UK to get the theme into the UK Top 40, just falling short.

Fandango's feud with Jericho would continue, with the pair continuing to trade attacks during an after matches, while Fandango went on a winning streak on Raw and Smackdown seeing off, Santino Marella, William Regal, Justin Gabriel and Zack Ryder. The highlight of the feud, came on the May 13th episode of Raw, in a dance off segment. In what should have been a fairly awful segment, Summer Rae quickly feigned an ankle injury, and whilst Jericho and his partner looked tried to help, this allowed us to see a more vicious side of Fandango, as he sent Jericho into the steel steps, before clobbering him with a bit of the dance floor, which looked superb. This set the pair up for a rematch at Extreme Rules. The Extreme Rules encounter (although just a regular match) was a much better bout than the one the pair put on at Wrestlemania 29. Fandango looked a lot crisper in the ring and the match made a lot more sense. Jericho picked up the win with a Codebreaker catching Fandango after a dive from the top rope. This pretty much finished their two month feud, allowing Jericho to move into a feud with CM Punk, whilst Fandango wasn't particularly hurt from losing to a veteran in competitive fashion. 

Fandango then moved into the Intercontinental Championship picture, being inserted into a feud between then champion Wade Barrett and The Miz. The feud started on 20th May Raw, with Fandango teaming with Barrett to take on Jericho and Miz, however Fandango left his partner high and dry to dance with Summer Rae, allowing Miz to get the victory over Barrett. After Fandango got involved in a Intercontinental Championship bout between Barrett and Miz, Fandango got a match of his own with Barrett. The Miz served as Special Guest Referee and allowed Fandango to ultimately pick up the victory with a Skull Crushing Finale to Barrett. After walking out on a bout with The Great Khali on the next Raw, Fandango ended up suffering a concussion whilst defeating Zack Ryder on Smackdown and was there for removed from the Intercontinental Championship Three Way at Payback, being replaced by Curtis Axel.  This for me was the turning point for Fandango over the last year. The smart money would have been on Fandango picking up the Intercontinental Championship at Payback and continuing his ascent up the card, however with the concussion costing him just shy of a month of TV time, meant that any momentum that the he had more or less disapearred and he hasn't really recovered since this moment, as you'll see as I continue to look at his year.

After being announced as a contestant in the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match on the 28th June Smackdown, Fandango made his return to WWE on 1st July Raw, facing off against Sheamus. It was a bizarre choice of opponent and lengthier TV bout than usual for Fandango, who ended up walking out on the contest. In the build up the bout, Fandango squashed Justin Gabriel on 5th July Smackdown, before recieving a Bull Hammer Elbow from Wade Barrett in an interview segment on 8th July Raw. This was followed up with a disapointing match between the two on Smackdown, that saw Fandango get the victory, due to a distraction from The Real Americans on commentary. Fandango wasn't much more than a bit part player in the Money in the Bank match, and bar an interesting section that seemed to tease a possible feud with Barrett heading out of the PPV, ending with Fandango hitting a Springboard Legdrop onto a Ladder, and taking a Cross Rhodes from Cody Rhodes, he really wasn't that involved in the bout that was eventually won by Damien Sandow, as his star continued to fall. It was then that Fandango then embarked on a lengthy losing streak, suffering his first TV pinfall defeat to Randy Orton on the 15th July Raw. This would be followed up with losses to Christian on the 17th July Main Event, Cody Rhodes on the 22nd July Raw, CM Punk on the 25th July Smackdown, Rob Van Dam on 29th July Raw (via countout, at least) and Kofi Kingston on the 5th August Raw. Fandango had essentially became a jobber for the stars (and Kofi), with most of these matches being set up through an altercation earlier on the show (like Fandango interrupting Orton during whilst Orton was talking to John Cena). 

Fandango was getting a lot more time for his matches on TV and it certainly helped the in-ring quality of the matches which for the most part were entertaining and easy to watch, but so many loses in a row harmed Fandango's credibility for sure.  The losing streak came to an end on 9th August Smackdown, with Fandango getting a return victory over Kofi Kingston, in a classic exampe of WWE's even steven booking. It would then seem like WWE were planning him a feud with R-Truth, after Fandango re-entered a battle royal on the 12th August Raw, to eliminate The Suntan Superman. 

Instead, it would seem that Fandango would be renewing his stop start feud with The Miz, after interfering in Miz's bout with Wade Barrett on  19th August Raw. I never really understood why Miz and Fandago were feuding, and with Miz being perhaps the most miscast babyface in WWE history, it did nothing at all for Fandango. The feud continue the next week, with The Miz coming out during Fandango's bout with Cody Rhodes, dressed as Fandango, alongside Rosa Mendes (I have no idea), allowing Rhodes to pick up the victory. After Damien Sandow got involved as well, Brad Maddox morphed into Teddy Long and made a TAG TEAM MATCH! After Fandango left his partner again, The Miz picked up the victory for his team. After a botched finish cost Fandango a 28th August Main Event bout with Kofi Kingston by DQ, it seemed that the feud with The Miz concluded on Raw on 2nd September, however due to a broke nose suffered by Fandango, the feud continued until Night of Champions. Fandango went over Justin Gabriel in a sloppy bout on 4th September Main Event, cost The Miz a bout with Damien Sandow on 9th September Raw and lose a dance off to The Miz that also included The Great Khali and R-Truth on 13th September Raw, meaning that the excitement to see Miz v Fandango at Night of Champions was at an all time high(!) Unsurprisingly, the PPV bout between the two fell flat, with no one particularly caring who picked up the victory. 

It wouldn't get much better for Fandango as he competed in a series of short and ultimately pointless matches. Whilst his win-loss record wasn't terrible, with victories over R-Truth (16th September Raw), Santino Marella (23rd September & 14th October Raw), Zack Ryder (7th October Raw) and Justin Gabriel (25th October Superstars) balancing out defeats to Kofi Kingston (18th September Main Event & 30th September Raw), The Usos (teaming with Big E Langston, 25th September Main Event),  Rob Van Dam (4th October Smackdown) 

The next feud for Fandango was one with The Great Khali, also involving the pairs valets Summer Rae and Natalya. After Khali had defeated Fandango in a messy bout on 16th October Main Event, the pair engaged in another on 25th October Smackdown, ending in a No Contest after less than two minutes, when Rae and Natalya brawled on the outside (Yes, I don't know why that's a know contest either). Somehow this earned them a Mixed Tag Team bout on at the Hell in a Cell PPV, with Fandango and Summer Rae coming out the victors in a match that was more entertaining than it deserved to be. The feud was over by the 29th October with Fandango defeating Khali on Raw. 

Whilst the Khali feud was over, it seemed Fandango hadn't seen the last of Natalya, as her real life fiance Tyson Kidd returned, with the defeating Fandango and Rae in Mixed Tag action on the 4th November Raw. Fandango would get revenge on Kidd in under three minutes the following week, and after a victory over Kofi Kingston on 20th November, the feud was over with a victory for Fandango on the 22nd November Superstars.  It was then time for another losing streak for The Ballroom Brute, with defeats to Kofi Kingston (27th November Main Event), Zack Ryder (29th November Superstars), Mark Henry (2nd December Raw), Big E Langston (6th December Smackdown) and Daniel Bryan (9th December Raw - The Slammy Awards). 

With the expection of Bryan, it was clear that quality of opponent Fandango was losing to was decreasing, and the majority of these bouts went no longer than four minutes. Therefore it was some what of surprise when Fandango, not only faced Dolph Ziggler on the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs Kick Off, but defeated the two time World Heavyweight Champion, even if the match itself wasn't much to write home about.  Ziggler got his win back the night after on Raw, with Fandango picking up a victory over Kofi Kingston on 20th December Smackdown, before bettering Ziggler to come out on top of their mini-feud picking up the victory in a "Christmas Present on a Pole" match on 23rd December Raw, earning himself an Intercontinental Championship shot in the process, with a Christmas Day Main Event victory over Kingston seemingly confirming that Fandango was back on the rise, even if a defeat to R-Truth at Tribute to the Troops on 28th December halted his momentum slightly. 

Unfortunately for Fandango, things returned to normal as he succumbed to Big E Langston in his Intercontinental Championship bout on 30th December Raw, the bout however was impressive, with Fandango looking great in a lengthy title contest, this could easily have been built upon. However, WWE decided against it once again, with Fandango falling to R-Truth in quick fashion on 3rd January Smackdown.  Fandango didn't have the greatest of starts to 2014, losing three matches on the bounce on Smackdown, the afforementioned 3rd January bout with R-Truth, followed up by quick loses to Xavier Woods & Big E Langston on 10th and 17th January respectively. However, he did even the score with Woods in just over a minute on 20th January Raw, before falling to Kofi Kingston once again on 24th January Smackdown, heading into the Royal Rumble PPV. Entering the Royal Rumble match on 27th January at Number 19, Fandango lasted just under three minutes before being eliminated by El Torito. It was clear here that WWE had no plans of making Fandango a big player for the company.

Fandango and Summer Rae began to engage in a feud with Santino Marella and Emma on January 27th on Raw, when Emma was present in the crowd for Fandango's defeat to R-Truth. On January 31st Smackdown, Emma was involved once again, with Summer Rae removing her fan sign, as Fandango defeated Xavier Woods. After Santino pulled Emma out of the crowd to face Summer Rae in a dance off on the 3rd January Raw, with Emma picking up the victory, both Marella and Emma were on commentary, as Fandango fell to The Miz on 5th January Main Event. Fandango and Marella then battled on February 10th Raw, with Fandango coming out the victor in a dull encounter.  The feud continued onto 14th February Smackdown, with Marella's Cobra costing Fandango a bout against The Miz, whilst Emma and Summer Rae got physical (calm down) at ringside. However, Fandango quickly got revenge on Marella with a victory on Raw on 17th February, however due to the focus on Emma and Santino's blossoming relationship, came away looking more like an after thought than anything else. The feud was not over just yet, with Emma and Summer Rae battling in a dance off on Smackdown on 21st February, ending in a brawl that saw Emma dropkick Fandango out of the ring. The 24th February edition of Raw saw Emma picking up a submission victory over Summer Rae in a stellar diva's contest, leading to a Mixed Tag Team Match on Raw on the 3rd March, that saw Emma pick up another submission victory for her team, in another short bout to end the feud. Whilst I was fairly entertained by this feud, and was more than happy to see Emma promoted from NXT, this really didn't do a lot for Fandango and whilst he technically didn't lose to Marella at any point, the focus was clearly on Emma and Summer Rae, which harmed Fandango even more. 

With Wrestlemania XXX just over two weeks away, Fandango is currently on a four match losing streak, being put away by Big E (14th March Smackdown), Dolph Ziggler (14th March Superstars), Goldust (17th March Raw) and even Fernando (21st March Smackdown), which really can't bode well for Fandango heading into the Show of Shows, as he takes part in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, sharing the spotlight with 29 other wrestlers.  It's been an interesting year for Fandango, and I have to wonder what could have been, if he had not suffered that concussion in June. What if he won the Intercontinental Championship as planned? I'm not quite sure what can be done with the Fandango character at the moment, I mean he is still appearing on Raw on a regular basis, and has had a number of good matches with various competitors and has a decent amount of feuds throughout the year, even if most of them were with The Miz. I can't see much changing for The Ballroom Brute heading past Wrestlemania, I expect more of the same, although I'd like to be surprised.  But remember let the A's breath and keep Fandangoing and who knows what could happen.

WWE Main Event 25th September 2013 Review

This week's Main Event was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Whilst the action in the ring was solid throughout the show, there wasn't really anything that made me sit up and take notice, and on paper there wasn't anything that anyone would particularly go out of their way to see.

Justin Gabriel 

vs. 

Intercontinental Champion 

Curtis Axel 

with Paul Heyman

This bout went on last and was by far the most interesting of any of the matches on the show. Justin Gabriel has been getting some what of a push recently, as part of the group of wrestlers standing up for Daniel Bryan. Even if that push has been mainly so he can used as fodder for The Shield he has been featured in main event slots on both Raw and Smackdown and has become prominent on both shows, a lot more than what he was getting a few months ago. Therefore, I was intrigued to see how competitive he was in this bout with Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel and how long the match got, as the show, has generally been used to test out talent before giving them a stronger role on the two main television show.

The match started slowly, with Axel dominating, I found it really hard to get into at this point. Whilst Axel's technical skills are sound, and it did make storyline sense for him to work over Gabriel, there was no interaction with the audience. Whilst Paul Heyman generates heat from just being at ringside, Axel himself really needs to start stepping things up with his crowd interaction, if he really wants to get taken seriously. The strongest part of the earlier part of the match was a nice series of roll ups and pin variations from Gabriel, which were well executed with Gabriel even managing to correct an earlier botch at one point, but it still wasn't enough to make me think Gabriel was going to pick up the win.

There was, however a really nice near fall for Gabriel heading towards the conclusion of the match. Axel attempted the Running One-Armed Swinging Neckbreaker, which Gabriel slipped out of delivering a swift Roundhouse Kick to the head, before hitting a springboard Moonsault off the top rope for a two count, the swiftness of the delivery felt like it could easily have finished off the match and was the first moment that really got me interested in what I was watching, with Paul Heyman's reaction on the outside really selling the moment for me. The finish saw Gabriel closing in on victory, attempting to get Axel to re-enter the ring, only for Axel to pull Gabriel into the ring ropes allowing the Intercontinental Champion to slide into the ring and hit the Hangman's Facebuster to pick up the pinfall victory. It was a decent enough finish, it wasn't anything special but it did it's job here, in allowing Axel to look credible in the ring.

So, how did Justin Gabriel do in this one? Given as this match was of a decent length, in fact if it's longest he's had on WWE television, with only a couple of NXT battles with Tyson Kidd coming close, so it's the best look we and WWE have had at Gabriel when the lights are on bright. I really like Gabriel in the ring, I think he's capable of putting on some really watchable and exciting matches, and at times we saw flashes off it in this one, with the false finish being really well worked by the Cape Town Werewolf. He could potentially be moved into a spot higher up on the card, possibly even have runs with the United States Championship (we've seen him get a couple of shots at that title on PPV), but I just can't see him moving further up than that, or past the “good little hand” stereotype. Maybe it's because he hasn't been in real feud since his day's in Nexus, but he just doesn't seem to have enough about him, the It Factor if you will, that would capapult him into a more important role for the company.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on the show, the number one contenders to the Tag Team Championships The Usos were put up against the bizarre pairing of Fandango and Big E Langston, who were accompanied by Summer Rae. On paper, the team of Fandango and Big E Langston sounds atrocious, but for this one match they were fairly entertaining. The story running throughout the match, was the way the two teams operated, with The Usos sticking to the team work that they have become known for, whilst Fandango & Langston would use blind tags with Langston doing the majority of the work on one of The Usos, before Fandango would tag back in. There was some nice spots, such as Langston catching an Usos in mid air on the outside, only to be taken out by another flying for inside the ring. At times, Fandango didn't look particularly interested in this one, and never really got going in the way we've come to expect of him, with a dodgy looking suplex that could have easily injured Uso.

The finish saw The Usos begin to get rolling, with Fandango feigning a leg injury on the outside of the ring, The Usos managed to get a tag before, Langston could gain any momentum from the distraction and the Superkick/Superfly Splash combination got them the win. I'm not too sure about this ending, whilst The Usos worked it well, seeing Langston go down in such a situation doesn't exactly help his monster character that has barely even got going, whilst Fandango's continued cowardly nature, isn't exactly making him look like a threat to anyone, so what is the reason we are supposed to care about him? It was the right decision to give The Usos the win and they are looking really good at the moment, after a strong showing on Raw in the Eleven-on-Three main event, I wouldn't be surprised to see The Usos snatching that tag team gold from around the waist of The Shield's Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns some time soon.

The other match on the show saw an angry Big Show take on World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner Damien Sandow. This was essentially a squash match, with Show pulling apart Sandow within a few minutes. Sandow did get some offence in, in terms of a David vs. Goliath style fight back, but seeing as Sandow was playing the heel it didn't really work. Big Show went on to win the match with a Knockout Punch for a pinfall victory. After the bout, Show removed Sandow's briefcase that was handcuffed to the ringpost and placed on Sandow's chest. I thought this was a nice touch to show how Big Show is being effected by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, but apart from that this match didn't really impress. 

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Main Event.

1. Curtis Axel needs to up his game and start bringing the crowd into his matches.

2. Fandango & Big E Langston worked as a one off tag team, but I wouldn't want to see them team up on a regular basis.

3. When Big Show finally flips on Triple H it should be an epic standout moment.