Opinion: NXT Class of 2016 - Part 3 - Finn Balor, Mojo Rawley, Nia Jax, Sami Zayn and The Vaudevillains.

Part 1 - Alexa Bliss, American Alpha, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin & Bayley.

Part 2 - Carmella, Corey Graves, Dana Brooke & Enzo & Cass.

Finn Balor – Debuted 25th July

In his very short amount of time active on Raw so far Finn Balor has seen it all and done it all, experiencing a rocket push as won the Universal title in an insanely quick time – less than a month after first appearing on the Monday night show. His victory was like nothing we have ever seen before and truly showcased the power that NXT has now that the developmental brand is televised every week on the WWE Network.

Sure, he picked up a horrible shoulder injury during his crowning match against Seth Rollins at Summerslam but that just means he was never pinned and never lost, meaning it’ll be easy for him to be reinserted into the main event upon his return to action, could he even be in with a shout at winning the Rumble? I just hope they’ve been filming his recovery so we get another sweet, sweet WWE 24 episode too.

He’s undoubtedly had the best career on the main roster of all of 2016’s graduates as not only did he win the top belt on Raw, he also beat Seth freaking Rollins and Roman bloody Reigns clean on his rise to the very top of the company – an unprecedented rise in many companies across the globe, let alone the world largest wrestling organisation.

Rating: A+

Mojo Rawley – Debuted 24th July

I’ll say it now, and you can hate me for it, but I like Mojo Rawley. He’s not the best wrestler in the world, far from it in fact, nor is he the best talker, he just shouts a lot, but the man himself is so damn likable. Seriously, this guy seems to go out of his own way to make others happy and that’s exactly the sort of wrestler I want to support and see do well throughout his time in WWE.

Since his promotion Mojo has continued to in the same vein as he was in NXT; not really doing a great deal, but continuing to remain relevant. He has been paired with Ryder since debuting on Smackdown and sadly their first real break (winning a tag team battle royal) was hit with a lightning rod of bad luck as Zack suffered an injury and their pursuit of the tag team titles is on temporary hold, with little sign on resuming soon.


Hopefully Rawley doesn’t get lost in the wilderness without the experienced head of Ryder by his side but I think he will continue to do just fine, simmering in the lowercard with a few tastes of the midcard every now and then. Not everyone needs to be a main eventer in order to be a success in WWE and, in my opinion, Mojo Rawley is a great example of that mantra.

Rating: C+

Nia Jax – Debuted 25th July

What an odd time Nia Jax has had since appearing on Raw. At first they were having her crush jobbers each and every week, building her as the female Braun Strowman and the next big challenger for the title. She was shaping up to be another Awesome Kong style female, breaking the mould of what a female wrestler is perceived as, but since then things have changed and her fear factor aura has dissipated into thin air.

The reason for this was, after a less than impressive victory against Alicia Fox at Clash of Champions, she was tapped out by Becky Lynch at Survivor Series. Now, I’m no wrestling booker, but surely having your sizable monster heel submitting completely defeats the point of them being a monster in the first place. Surely she should have been built like a skyscraper until one plucky babyface managed to chop her down – instead she was built like a Lego house and crushed before the foundations were even complete.

Nia should be able to recover from her defeat and regain some credibility in 2017, starting with a feud against Sasha Banks. After all, her different stature and style means that she could be an interesting and usable entity in the Raw women’s division.

Rating: C-

Sami Zayn – Debuted 7th March

Okay, so 7th March was actually Zayn’s third debut at the top tier of WWE; first he had a crack at John Cena’s US Open Challenge (getting injured in the process), then he popped up at the Royal Rumble before finally graduating on Raw in order to save Neville from the attack of Kevin Owens. And whilst a vast majority of people wanted Sami at the top of the card fighting for championships right away, he’s been more of an upper midcard fighter, which, for now, is just right for him.

He’s has great matches with Kevin Owens and others since his full time Raw debut and has entered into some interesting stories throughout the year, delivering some of the finest promos of his WWE stay during his current collision with Brawn Strowman. Which as mentioned, is just fine for now. Zayn is so likeable because of the chase, every time you think he’s about to break a boundary, someone or something pulls him back, but we rally behind him, cheer his name and sign his theme song because we forever want him to succeed; so whilst he hasn’t fully achieved his potential yet, I have no qualm he will eventually, so enjoy the ride.

I’m excited to be a part of what is hopefully Sami’s slow ascent to glory and 2017 really could be his year. Smackdown will hopefully come knocking and trade the superstar over to the Tuesday night show where he will shine brighter than ever against the likes of Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Bray Wyatt and more.

Rating: B+

The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch) – Debuted 7th April

Well if there is one thing wrestling fans love, its being proven right and The Vaudevillains tenure on the main roster has proved so many who were certain the gimmick wouldn’t work on the main roster right. Sadly, the transition for English and Gotch has been the roughest of the bunch and they have settled in as the resident, Ascencion-level, jobbers to the Smackdown tag division, losing to almost every team available.

When they first debuted they were fortunate to awarded a title shot as Enzo suffered and injury in their number one contenders match at Payback but since they all that has been on their diet in pinfalls. I feel bad for the pair as they clearly give everything to the character but it seems it just wasn’t meant to be.

As you may be able to tell I’ve been pretty positive about the future of a majority of the NXT class of 2016 but for these two I’m a little less hopeful. Things look pretty bleak and with another set of tag teams just waiting to be promoted (DIY, Revival, Authors of Pain etc.) I can see them being pushed even further into obscurity. A sad case for the former NXT tag champions.

Rating: F

That’s the lot, hopefully you enjoyed reading whether you agree or not! Here’s to the NXT promotions of 2016 and I look forward to seeing what the 2017 graduates produce and with the likes of Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka waiting in the wings its set to be another great year in wrestling.

Words - Thomas Brady

Images - Thomas Brady

Editor - James Marston

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TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1203 (James Marston)

It's the last Monday Night RAW before the 2016 edition of Money in the Bank, WWE was going to pull out all the stops to make sure everyone was tuning into the WWE Network on Sunday, right? 

Headline Segments 

Eight Man Tag Team Match - The New Day and Enzo & Cass vs. The Vaudevillains and Gallows & Anderson

The Ambrose Asylum with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins 

Contract Signing between John Cena and AJ Styles

...but was it any good? Let's find out!

The show would get underway with an Eight Man Tag Team bout, that would feature all four tag teams that will be competing over the WWE Tag Team Championships at Money in the Bank in six days time. Of course with this match involving The New Day, there was some enjoyable hijinks before things would get underway. I found the banter about Kofi Kingston's shoes to be more than a little odd, I suspect there was some kind of joke about sports that only get played in the US. It felt like a missed opportunity to have the trio talk about each of their opponents on Sunday. The segment lifted with the arrival of Enzo & Cass, who brought bags of energy, before things settled into talk about Enzo Amore potentially having sexual relations with Xavier Woods' trombone, which was nice. With The Vaudevillains and Gallows & Anderson joining the fray it was time for the opening match. 

The match was well-structured display that managed to highlight the four teams well and show each as a potentially winner of the upcoming four way. One of my personal highlights was a nice sequence of action between Simon Gotch and Amore, with the latter working brilliantly in the face in peril role, which was built well into a hot tag to Cass as he forced his opponent to the outside of the ring. Hot tags for Cass and Kingston were surrounded nicely by some ground and pound action for the heels, with a sprinkling of bad guy tactics, before a break down sequence would be highlighted by an overhead belly to belly suplex from Big E on the outside. Things would conclude with Gallows and Anderson managing to keep their heads above the chaos and hitting The Magic Killer on Kingston to finish an enjoyable, but straightforward, eight man tag and giving the duo even more momentum heading into Money in the Bank.  

fast-forward...Another Darren Young and Bob Backlund promo, I'm still pretty indifferent about them...Kane returned to hand his resume to Stephanie and Shane McMahon, in an attempt to convince them to allow him to run Smackdown...Zack Ryder was laughing to some pals about Apollo Crews beating up Sheamus, so Sheamus came and got all angry and made a match with Ryder, this is like the Smackdown game career mode...WWE United States Champion Rusev attacked Titus O'Neil as O'Neil made his way to the ring and continued to beat the shit into him for a couple of minutes...

In a heavily promoted segment, Dean Ambrose would welcome WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins to The Ambrose Asylum, a head of their title collision on Sunday. Obviously, the fact that all three men were once apart of The Shield, a group which dominated our screens between late 2012 and mid 2014, was the draw of the segment, with WWE re-airing a couple of the groups highlights heading into the segment. This was brought up well in the segment by Seth Rollins, who produced a blinding promo about how his time with the group was "the best times that (he) ever had in this ring". Lots of reflection and references, that I'm sure Tumblr was creaming itself over, before closing by bringing everything crashing down by bringing up his destruction of the group and bringing everything back into the clash with Reigns on Sunday. 

Whilst Rollins was busy shining, Reigns struggled to find his feet at times here. His closing promo struggled to find a real point to hammer home and that meant Reigns sounded unsure and stumbled through what he had to say. I suppose he and the writers are in the difficult position, as Reigns has to remain positive about The Shield because it's still a popular group (hence it being used here). The closing moments were interesting as the talk show broke down into a brawl, before Ambrose would eventually hit Reigns with Dirty Deeds, after the latter had nailed Rollins with a Superman Punch. I partly understand the idea of having Ambrose left standing here, as he's in the Money in the Bank Ladder match on Sunday and very well could get himself involved in the main event, but I felt like after the Reigns promo had struggled so much that it left the build up for the Rollins vs. Reigns match lacking an exclamation point. 

It's such a shame that WWE hasn't been able to capitalise upon the brilliant Women's match from WrestleMania 32 and all the hype that surrounded it, with clear and compact booking and high level performances to match. Paige vs. Charlotte on Monday Night RAW has the potential to be a barn burner, a show stealer, but instead it was a damp squib of a bout, going less than three minutes. Becky Lynch and Natalya felt like the main focus on commentary, with Natty talking utter bollocks about how her cat will be watching Money in the Bank and other such nonsense. We'd then be treated to a tension builder between Charlotte and Dana Brooke, just four weeks after the two aligned as Brooke rolled Charlotte back into the ring and straight into a dodgy looking RamPaige and a loss. Even if everything else had been right about the match, having your Women's Champion lose in such a fashion is never going to be a good thing.

fast-forward...Sami Zayn interrupted Renee Young's interview with Cesaro and ended up getting a verbal dressing down...Sheamus squashed Zack Ryder picking up a quick win a Brogue Kick with Apollo Crews making the save...Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio had a bit of a brou-ha-ha in Shane McMahon's office, before Kane offered them a “team-building exercise” against The Lucha Dragons later on... 

Sami Zayn and Cesaro showed the roster how to have an entertaining match with minimal television time, making the most of their eight minutes of screen time. That isn't to say that I wasn't more than a little disappointed in seeing another potential show-stealer cut short, but that I am happy to see talent able to make the most of any opportunity and put on the best looking match they possibly could. The action was slick and smooth throughout without Cesaro and Zayn's familiarity coming across strong as they easily strode through a handful of sequences of action. The Swiss Superman's huge dropkick to knock Zayn off the top rope followed up by a deadlift superplex was a particularly notable moment. The finishing sequence lifted the pace even more with the two flying towards the finish line as The Underdog from the Underground picked up the victory with a Sunset Flip Powerbomb, that caught me by surprise. Not among the pairs best encounters, but still a solid showcase that saw the two make the most of their moment, with some flashes of brilliance. 

The real highlight of the show was next as John Cena and AJ Styles signed their contract for their clash this Sunday. The narrative of the signing was an interesting twist on the concept as Cena presented Styles with two separate documents, one for a regular singles match and one with The Club members being allowed at ringside. Around the narrative you had John Cena pulling out a superb performance on the microphone, dropping bombs that would satisfy the hardcore fans (Was this WWE's first acknowledgement of PWG on-screen?) and throwing barbs Styles' way by reminding him that choosing to have The Club at ringside would "secure his spot as captain of the bitch club". The line starting with "Your club isn't full of bullets..." probably wasn't the wisest choice of wording following the events in Orlando, even when noting the Bullet Club reference. Apart from that, I have no real complaints about this segment with Styles raising his game on the mic to match Cena's intensity and making their clash at Money in the Bank feel even more "can't miss" than it already did. Brilliant work. 

fast-forward...Recap of Randy Orton winning the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2013, before succesfully cashing in on Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam 2013...

Another intriguing piece of booking, as WWE continued to show tension between Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio a head of their participation in the Money in the Bank ladder match on Sunday. Therefore, we got a story driven bout with ADR and Owens attempting to work together in order to keep their place in the match, whilst the Lucha Dragons tried to take advantage. The relationship took over the contest, with the entire focus become ADR and Owens continued bickering throughout. The concept created some quality moments, like Sin Cara getting a roll-up near fall on Owens, but the match dragged on just a little bit too long with the narrative ending up suffocating the action. 

fast-forward...Stephanie McMahon made Kevin Owens guest commentator and Alberto Del Rio guest time keeper for Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose's match later in the show...Recap of Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in-ring segment earlier in the show, concluding with Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds on Reigns...More hijinks with Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon backstage, with Cesaro being made guest ring announcer for the Jericho vs. Ambrose match and Kane being told he wouldn't be put in charge of Smackdown....

The show-closer saw Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose tangle for the fourth time in a month and a half, as their rivalry continued to run as an undercurrent for the Money in the Bank Ladder match. The in-ring action was solid, with "Y2J" and "The Lunatic Fringe" both more than capable performers with a strong knowledge of each other, leading to a couple of nice transitions without the pair every having anything resembling chemistry. The finishing sequence was the highlight here, as Ambrose repeatedly went for his Dirty Deeds DDT, eventually blocking a Codebreaker attempt to hit the move and gain another victory over Jericho. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn had provided plenty of distraction on commentary and after the match a big brawl with guest ring announcer Cesaro and guest time keeper Alberto Del Rio all getting involved would close the show. Peaking with Zayn flipping off the top turnbuckle on Ambrose, Owens, Cesaro and ADR at ringside, the segment (and the show) would close with Jericho climbing a ladder to hold the Money in the Bank briefcase. Not the most original piece of booking, but still gave the audience a nice preview of the action for Sunday, whilst making it pretty clear that Jericho wouldn't be walking out with briefcase (we all know the rules of reverse momentum!) 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 5.61/10

Unfortunately, I haven't reviewed Monday Night RAW for a couple of weeks, so can't compare the recent run of shows like I'd usually do here. 

However, the shows high point for me was AJ Styles and John Cena's contract signing with both men being on dazzling form on the microphone and managing to create a real tension between them without having to even touch each other. The eight man tag team bout and it's build up, as well as The Ambrose Asylum segment with the supposed Shield reunion also provided a lot of fun and entertainment in their major roles on the show. The handling of the Women's segment held the show back, with a lack of time and any kind of thought apparently. 

We'll see you for Money in the Bank on Monday, you'll be able to get more immediate thought on our Twitter page here.

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1197 (New Day & Cassady vs. The Vaudevillains & Dudley Boyz)

On 2nd May 2016, WWE aired the 1197th episode of Monday Night RAW live, from Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, on USA Network. The New Day teamed up with Colin Cassady to take on The Dudley Boyz & The Vaudevillains in eight man tag team action, Kevin Owens faced off with Cesaro for a shot at The Miz's WWE Intercontinental Championship, after the pair had confronted new "Power's" of Monday Night RAW, Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns tagged with The Usos to face AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson...but was it any good? Let's take a look!

monday night raw #1197 match card

Match 1 - WWE Intercontinental Championship #1 Contendership - Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro

Match 2 - Men's Singles - Goldust with Fandango vs. Tyler Breeze with R-Truth 

Match 3 - Eight Man Tag Team - WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day: Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods & Colin Cassady vs. WWE Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders The Vaudevillains: Aiden English & Simon Gotch & The Dudley Boyz: Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley

Match 4 - Women's Singles - Becky Lynch vs. Emma

Match 5 - WWE United States #1 Contendership Fifteen Man Battle Royal - Alberto Del Rio vs. Bo Dallas vs. Curtis Axel vs. Damien Sandow vs. Darren Young vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Sin Cara vs. Stardust vs. Rusev vs. Viktor vs. Zack Ryder vs. Titus O'Neil vs. Sheamus vs. Baron Corbin

Match 6 - Six Man Tag Team - WWE World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns & The Usos: Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso

Commentary: John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz (Owens vs. Cesaro only), Maryse (Owens vs. Cesaro only) & WWE United States Champion Kalisto (WWE United States #1 Contendership Battle Royal only)

Sponsors: Popeyes (Fried Chicken Fast Food Restaurant), Tapout (Sports Clothing & Accessories), JC Penney (Mid-range Department Store) & Truth (Anti-Tobacco Campaign)

Theme(s) - "The Night (2014 Remix)" by CFO$/Kromestatik and "Denial" by We Are Harlot

fast-forward...A lengthy recap of WWE Payback 2016's McMahon family segment where Mr. McMahon gave Stephanie McMahon and Shane McMahon joint control of Monday Night RAW, as well as Shane and Stephanie's involvement in the shows main event that saw Roman Reigns retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship over AJ Styles...

cesaro defeats owens via disqualification for the wwe intercontinental championship #1 contendership after miz interference

I was very much glad to see Stephanie McMahon and Shane McMahon's opening exchange cut short by Kevin Owens, as the siblings were pretty much just going over the same ground that they had the night before at Payback 2016. I've got a feeling that the two McMahon's being in control of the show is going to start grinding on me more and more over the next few weeks. Owens was out to tell the McMahon's why he should be given a shot at the WWE Intercontinental Championship, which seeing as he has yet to receive his rematch after losing the belt at WrestleMania 32 was a fairly reasonable demand. On the other hand, you had Cesaro who also had a claim to a shot at belt currently held by The Miz, following making the champ tap out the previous night and with a fairly sizeable beef with Owens also for his involvement in the closing stages of that very same match. Therefore it made perfect sense to have Owens and Cesaro face off once again, in a rematch from Monday Night RAW #1194! 

I think I said about Owens and Cesaro's match from Monday Night RAW #1194 that these two could probably have a good match in their sleep and this was further proof towards the statement. The pair worked hard to produce a stellar television encounter, taking advantage of the various on-going narratives well and complementing them with hard-hitting action. A particular highlight of the bout for me was Owens taking advantage of Cesaro's injured shoulder by pulling it across the top rope and sending The Swiss Superman to floor, before nailing him with a Frog Splash off the apron. It was a mild shame that we didn't get a definitive finish as we did with their encounter three weeks ago, but having The Miz attack Cesaro (following The King of Swing hitting a running uppercut on the Intercontinental Champion, who was on commentary) allowed for their feud to develop further and also allowed Sami Zayn to get involved in order to make the save for Cesaro. With Cesaro having only won by DQ and Zayn ending the segment holding up the strap after Maryse had help Miz escape a Helluva Kick, we're left with a pretty confused field for WWE's second strap, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out over the next two episode's that lead into Extreme Rules 2016.

fast-forward...Stephanie McMahon and Dean Ambrose met backstage, with Stephanie announcing that she'll be Ambrose's guest on the Ambrose Asylum later on...A weird segment with The Gorgeous Truth and FandanGoldust (The Golden Dango makes absolutely no sense) getting all emotional or something...Strong backstage segment in which Roman Reigns confronted AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and resulted in a six man tag team match also involving the Usos being made for later on...Tyler Breeze went over Goldust with some shenanigans from R-Truth and Fandango at ringside, literally no one cared...

new day and cassady defeat the vaudevillains and dudley boyz

The segment that would lead to this eight man tag team match was a bit of a weird one. It was pretty obvious that plans had had to be shifted after The Vaudevillains WWE Tag Team Championship Number One Contender's Tournament Final match with Colin Cassady and Enzo Amore on Sunday night was cut short due to Amore suffering a concussion. This meant that The New Day had to awkwardly shift themselves into a match with The Vaudevillains at Extreme Rules 2016 in 20 days times. To be fair to both New Day and The Vaudevillains both groups did a terrific job under the circumstances, with New Day especially owning every second that they were on camera and having the Scottrade Center hanging on their every word. What did stick out like a sore thumb however was The Dudley Boyz coming out to claim they deserved a title shot, despite losing to Cassady & Amore in the Semi-Finals of the #1 Contender's Tournament, whilst also throwing weird barbs about "Downtown Abey" at the team that would go on to be their partners. I'm sure WWE could have put on this match with a whole lot less hassle than what they presented here. 

Once the eight guys got going in the ring, they managed to produce a solid tag team bout that had a number of high points spread throughout. The Vaudevillains were showcased well, with Dudley Boyz, Bubba Ray especially, attempting to show them how to be a successful tag team, whilst Simon Gotch used dastardly methods to stay in control of the match by taking advantage of a distraction and throwing Kofi Kingston into a ringpost, putting a half to Kingston's hot tag moments earlier from Woods. Part of the contest felt a little bit long winded in their execution, but the build towards the face teams second hot tag of the match and Colin Cassady's big moment was done very well indeed. There was a lot of fun to be had in a Big Cass rampage, including a brilliant moment where Cassady hit a big boot to knock Gotch off the apron and straight into a Belly to Booty from Big E. Cassady's integration with New Day guys came to a satisfying conclusion when Kingston saved him from a 3D from Dudley Boyz, which would lead to Big Cass hitting the East River Crossing on D-Von and get the pinfall to cap off an impressive performance.

fast-forward...Recap of Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles at Payback, followed by replay of the backstage segment with Reigns, Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and The Usos earlier on...Recap of Charlotte vs. Natalya at Payback, as well as footage of Charles Robinson wrestling in WCW...

emma defeats lynch

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of time that Emma and Becky Lynch were afforded in their contest and whilst the two still only got just under 6 minutes to showcase their talents, I felt like both women took the opportunity and put together a fun match that further the storyline between the two nicely. The two flowed well in the ring, whilst also showing signs of their problems between each other with some quality brawling and strong core of action centered around Lynch's hair. I thought the finish was a simple but effective piece of booking, as Emma simply poked Lynch in the eye and hit a Michonoku Driver for the victory, with this acting as a refreshing contrast to the current over-booking surrounding the Natalya vs. Charlotte feud elsewhere on the programming. 

stephanie mcmahon cancels the ambrose asylum and brings back the highlight reel

The Ambrose Asylum is no more. It lasted just a few weeks before Stephanie McMahon decided to "cancel" the talk show segment on the talk show segment she was "cancelling" in one of her first acts since being appointed in joint control of Monday Night RAW. Stephanie's interaction with Dean Ambrose was a lot of fun to watch with the pair seeming to understand not just their own characters, but their opposite numbers' and just why each other were either popular or unpopular with the majority of the audience. However, the biggest development of the segment was Chris Jericho's vicious attack on Ambrose, that came after a brief brawl between the two as Jericho headed to the ring to present a reinstated version of the Highlight Reel. Whoever thought that the destruction of a potted plant called Mitch would stir up such emotion. Also a plant to the back of the head looks sick as fuck. If we've learnt anything from this whole Jericho vs. Ambrose feud it's that their needs to be more potted plants throughout the WWE Universe. 

rusev defeats adr, crews, corbin, dallas, axel, sandow, young, ziggler, sheamus, cara, stardust, o'neil, viktor and ryder in a battle royal to become #1 contender to wwe united states championship

A fairly run of the mill battle royal to crown a new #1 Contender to WWE United States Championship, that was made unwatchable at points by some truly horrendous commentary from the champion, Kalisto. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if WWE took the title off of him because of just how bad this performance was, as he stumbled through pretty much everything he had to say and often got cut off by his fellow commentators. Inside the ring, the crumbling of the League of Nations played a major part in the narrative as Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus and Rusev all managed to reach the closing stages of the match, only to further fracture as ADR and Sheamus were sent package and Rusev was left alone with Zack Ryder. A clever use of Ryder here, as he got a big reaction when he managed to get to the final two, and this produced a quality atmosphere for last stretch of the contest. Of course, it was The Bulgarian Brute who would win the match, because he's a tuna melt. With Lana joining him to celebrate, it felt almost like the pair had been sent back in time to 2013! 

charlotte gets robinson to clear up payback 2016 controversy, natalya puts flair in a sharpshooter

I'm getting very tired of the storyline that Charlotte and Natalya have been given and the direction heading out of Payback 2016 has made things worse for me. You've got two very talented ladies here, who are capable of putting on a brilliant and captivating contest, aided by a simple feud. Yet instead what we've got is Charlotte and Ric Flair calling out referee Charles Robinson as a reference to a nickname that the referee had fifteen years prior and using an incident that happened years before even that. It doesn't excite me to see a 33 year old woman put a 67 year old man in a sharpshooter, it doesn't make me want to see anyone get beaten up or win a title or anything like that. The highlight of the whole segment was Natalya pausing for a little too long after saying "Last night you paid a referee to screw me..."!

fast-forward...The commentary team pushes new WWE Network show Camp WWE...Backstage, Stephanie McMahon told Charlotte that she'll defend WWE Women's Championship against Natalya in a Submission Match at Extreme Rules 2016 with Ric Flair banned from ringside...

styles, gallows and anderson defeat reigns and the usos

A rather different six man tag team contest here, as there was a whole lot going on and a number of different relationships between the performers to keep in the back of the mind. For this reason, I'm not sure how well a more casual fan would have reacted to the action. Luckily, I'm not a casual fan, so I actually though it was pretty damn cool to see WWE mixing up the formula. The main thing I noticed whilst watching the various sequences and ins and outs of the contest, was just how well WWE has managed to position Roman Reigns as their WWE World Heavyweight Champion after "failing" so spectacularly in their initial attempts based around his title win against Triple H at WrestleMania 32. It really didn't matter that parts of the crowd would boo Reigns, his character almost seemed to call for it, without ever becoming what anyone would refer a "heel". The dynamic that WWE has decided to go with for AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, has only enhanced that, putting the Champ in a feud with a loose group that will appeal to the audience that dislikes Reigns, whilst also presenting a trios that those that have accepted Reigns with open arms will find it easy to dislike, and also managing to keep AJ Styles playing a babyface face at the same, with The Usos also helping to a lesser degree.

After Styles had managed to pick up the win for his team, by pinning Jimmy Uso after a Phenomenal Forearm, we got the most-thought provoking part of the feud so far, as the narrative progressed quickly between the six man. Gallows and Anderson decimated Reigns, but Styles was reluctant to hit Reigns with the steel chair his buddies had provided, Gallows and Anderson just continued beating on the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, but then The Usos blindsided Styles and nailed him with the same chair that Styles had refused to hit their cousin with. Hold on there, The Usos are uber good guys though right? Styles hasn't even really done anything to those Samoan fellas. It was more blurring of the face/heel divide that could have ended up very messy, and it's a shame that it ended up feeling like a little bit of ends to mean by the end. Reigns would see Styles fighting off his cousins with his own chair upon his recovery and therefore see red and bring some sweet, swift Shield-like justice to Styles. The powerbomb that WWE World Heavyweight Champion hit through the announce table look super cool, as Styles got some real height before crashing through the table. A strong conclusion to the show, that urged me to tune in next week to see just where the storyline would go. It's been a brave direction for the company to take so far and one that I hope pays off in the long run, as it will open up a more diverse range of options for WWE to explore with it's storylines elsewhere. 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 5.48/10

Another perfectly acceptable piece of sports entertainment television here by WWE, continuing the post-WrestleMania trend of creating perfectly watchable episodes of Monday Night RAW. The Eight Man Tag Team main event was probably the weakest of the three marquee bouts/segments this time out, but still had plenty of fun moments and managed to make the best out of a bad situation involving Enzo Amore's concussion the night before. The six man tag match and the moments that would close the show were my personal pick for the best bit of telly across the three hours, but I also thought that Cesaro and Kevin Owens' opener was also of a high quality, and you know the two could have done even better if there weren't other plans for both men over the next few weeks! The undercard was propped up by an enjoyable interaction between Dean Ambrose and Stephanie McMahon and Chris Jericho destroying a potted plant, but the segment hat focused on the WWE Women's Championship feud wasn't a lot of fun to watch at all! 

A solid episode here to head out of Payback 2016, but I'd be hoping for improvements to a number of areas to keep things interesting before Extreme Rules 2016 in the second half of the month.

TV Review: WWE NXT #192 (Gargano & Ciampa vs. The Vaudevillains)

On 13th April 2016, WWE aired the 192nd edition of NXT on the WWE Network, having previously taped the show on the 2nd April 2016 at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, USA. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa for the first time since the end of October to face The Vaudevillains...but was it any good? Let's take a look!

nxt #192 match card

Match 1 – Men's Singles – Austin Aries vs. Angelo Dawkins

Match 2 – Women's Singles – Alexa Bliss vs. Tessa Blanchard 

Match 3 – Men's Tag Team – Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa vs. The Vaudevillains: Aiden English & Simon Gotch

Match 4 – Men's Singles – Tucker Knight vs. Baron Corbin

Match 5 – Women's Singles – Bayley vs. Liv Morgan 

Match 6 – Men's Singles - “The Perfect Ten” Tye Dillinger vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

aries defeats dawkins

Austin Aries cemented his place on NXT with a strong victory over Angelo Dawkins. Dawkins has lost every single one of his 19 matches on WWE television since his debut in June 2013, but his size allowed Aries to look good here with Dawkins putting in a solid effort to make Aries look like a superstar. The former ROH World Champion has taken a rougher, brawling style in his WWE performances so far, that should help him to stand out from the crowd. Aries rope-assisted neckbreaker onto the apron was the highlight of the bout for me. However, I'm not fully convinced by the Roaring Elbow that Aries used as his finisher here, as it seemed to take a little bit too much time to set up for what it actually was.

bliss defeats blanchard

As much as NXT's short bout as designed to showcase one performer, they live and die on the quality of the performance from the loser of the bout. For me, this contest was a bit of a damp squib, thanks to a weak showing from Tessa Blanchard. I felt like her offence looked sloppy, that her selling was over-the-top and at times down right odd and it effected just how good Alexa Bliss could possibly look her. The crowd were deflated and seemed uninterested by the action, which would close with Bliss picking up the victory with the Glitz Flip (Standing Moonsault double knee drop). 

gargano and ciampa defeat the vaudevillains

This was a cracking tag team main event, with Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano slotting right back into their tandem and producing a fun and quirky contest with the Vaudevillains. Whilst it wasn't a particularly complex contest and I'd have liked to have seen it given an extra five minutes, each element of the bout was done well and all four men made sure that every little thing they did contributed to making the clash even more watchable. After a lovely face-shine, The Vaudevillains pulled out some lovely unique stuff when in control of Gargano, with the build towards the hot tag to Ciampa producing a nice twist on the cliche spot. A busy finishing stretch was the strongest action of the show, with Gargano hitting a neat senton off the apron onto Aiden English and Ciampa was eventually able to lock Simon Gotch in the Bridging Fujiwara Armbar to get his team an impressive submission victory. After this outing and especially with The Vaudevillains now transitioning over to Monday Night RAW and Thursday Night Smackdown, I'd love to see Ciampa and Gargano teaming up more regularly on NXT, as I feel that the tag division would benefit much more from the duo than the crowd singles ranks could.

fast-forward...Very entertaining interview with Tye Dillinger ahead of his match with Shinsuke Nakamura later in the show...Baron Corbin defeats Tucker Knight in a fairly straight forward squash match...In an earlier today segment, American Alpha chat to Big Cass and Enzo Amore and the two teams agree to a future contest against each other...

bayley defeats morgan

This was the strongest of the two women's matches on the show, with the crowd showing their appreciation for Bayley throughout. Considering Liv Morgan only had her first match last June, she put in a bloody good display here, bringing a lot of energy and pulling looking more than competent in there, especially when on the offence. There's certainly more than a spark of potential in this woman, I look forward to seeing her more often in the future. It also stands as a testament to the skills possessed by Bayley, that she allowed her opponent the opportunity to look good and develop, whilst also protecting herself, all within the space of just over three minutes. After the match, Bayley would address her NXT Women's Championship loss to Asuka, just 12 days prior at NXT Takeover: Dallas, in a short promo that seemed to be setting up a much-anticipated rematch between the two down the line.

nakamura defeats dillinger 

A short but fun contest to close the show, as Shinsuke Nakamura continued to embed himself into the fabric of NXT with a powerful victory over Tye Dillinger, in front of a Dallas crowd who seemed to adore the "King of Strong-Style". Nakamura's offence was put over hard throughout the bout with a series of hard strikes and blows used throughout, with Nakamura winning clean with the Kinshasha, but it was his character that got the most exposure here. The bout was peppered with a fair few comedy spots, with Dillinger playing his role well by mocking the former 3 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, which lead well into Nakamura return the favour. If there was any worries about how Nakamura was going to transition into WWE on a week to week basis then this contest should have cast those worries aside, like an empty bottle of Sunny D. 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 3.9/10

NXT #192 had a nice selection of short matches across the hour, but perhaps lacked anything that you could really get your teeth into. The main event tag bout featured a lot of fresh ideas and did everything it did well, but certainly could have done with more time and a strong sense of purpose. Elsewhere, Shinsuke Nakamura had an enjoyable victory over Tye Dillinger in the stand-out contest from the undercard, but with a lack of any storyline development made this episode very missable indeed. 

WWE NXT Episode 107 Review (Kidd vs Zayn)

This week's NXT review see's the return of the "Match of the Day" style reviews, that I used when writing at this time last year. For those unfamiliar with this style of review, it begins with the biggest storyline of the show, with everything involved in that storyline being reviewed in a block, before moving onto the next. I feel this has a better feel to it than the play by play style reviews and also makes it easier to find what you are looking for within the review. So without further a do, let's begin. 

Sami Zayn vs Tyson Kidd 

 

This week's main event was a first time TV encounter between the Canadian duo of Sami Zayn and Tyson Kidd. To build to the match, both men where interviewed by Devin Taylor. This was a nice touch that made the main event feel like something worth sticking around for, with both men outlining the problems they had with each other nicely. As expected Zayn put in a much better showing, talking about how he's seen the real Tyson Kidd over recent weeks. Zayn nailed his closing statement, saying he wanted to embarrass kid, making this feel especially personal and showing a different side to Sami Zayn.

Their main event match was a good encounter, with a number of exciting reversals and near falls. The crowd was really into every Zayn did in the ring, they've certainly built a connection with the former Generic Luchador. Kidd's new character is also developing rather nicely stalling early on the match, before teasing a highflying dive to the outside, only to deliver a vicious suplex on the ramp. As the match headed to a conclusion there were some superb sequences, including a number of rear wastelock switches before Kidd delivered a lovely German Suplex for a near fall, as well as one that saw Kidd reverse a Monkey flip into a Sharpshooter with Zayn scrambling to reach the ropes. After a handful of near falls for both men, it was Kidd who picked up the victory, catching Kidd coming off the top rope with an Reverse STO transitioned into the Koji Clutch for the submission victory.

I wish this match had been given more than ten minutes, as it felt like Zayn and Kidd were only scraping the surface of what they could produce together in the ring. Everything that was shown hear looked super crisp and clean and the characters worked very well together, I do think it was a shame then that they went for such a clear cut finish. I would have been up for a series of matches between these two, but I'm not sure how they could have Kidd get a rematch after losing so convincingly. 

Match Rating - ** 3/4

Colin Cassady & Enzo Amore vs The Vaudevillains 

 

 

The opening match of the show was a spot of tag team action, as the entertaining duo of Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady tackled the recently teamed Aidan English and Simon Gotch, The Vaudevillains. Both gimmicks are fun to watch, therefore it was a shame to see this match only go less than three minutes, where it never really got out of second gear. The only really point of note, in the main body of the match, was Enzo escaping a suplex attempt from English to get a warm tag to Cassady. It was however clear that this match was being used to set up or continue rivalries with other teams, as The Legionairres caused the distraction that cost Cassady the victory, allowing English to use a school boy roll up with the added touch of holding onto the tights to ensure the victory. 

Later on in the night, Vaudevillains, interupted a Devin Taylor interview with Kalisto to ask where his partner (El Local) was. It was revealed Kalisto and El Local had parted ways as a duo, with Kalisto saying he'd have a partner to face the English and Gotch next week. I haven't seen a lot of Kalisto on the mic before, and I actually rather enjoyed this. His delivery was quirky enough that it fitted the gimmick without ruining away any of the mystery that the mask affords a worker. I'd be surprised if that partner isn't Sin Cara. 

Match Rating - 1/2*

CJ Parker vs Xavier Woods

 

Honestly, this match was awful. I wasn't convinced that either man particularly disliked each other, which apparently they do, according to the commentary team. I've enjoyed Xavier Woods work in the past, but CJ Parker simply isn't good enough in the ring. Almost everything he did looked dodgy, from a nasty looking head scissors takedown, an awkward spot where Woods caught his throat on the bottom rope, to a terrible O'Connor roll finish where Parker was supposed to be holding onto the ropes but was nowhere near to them. Why NXT has continued to perservere with Parker who clearly isn't up to the standard required I don't know.

Match Rating - DUD

Adam Rose vs Jason Jordan

 

 Adam Rose's return to NXT, facing off against Jason Jordan in a fun few minutes of action. Mainly a comedy bout with Rose rubbing Jordan's chest a la Goldust and repeatedly sending Jordan's head into his arse using the turnbuckle, the highlight of this one for me was a well-excuted Northern Light's Suplex by Jordan. That was Jordan's only real offence in the match, as he eventually succumbed to the Party Foul. This was a lot more enjoyable than the majority of what Rose has done since coming up to the main roster. 

Match Rating - *

Alexa Bliss vs Sasha Banks

 

In Women's action this week, Sasha Banks faced off against Alexa Bliss, which for less than three minutes was a good outing for the pair. Telling a nice story with Bliss attempting to get the win with a number of pinfall combinations (including a much better O'Connor roll than we'd seen from Parker and Woods previously), whilst Banks attacked her relentlessly, with a series of vicious attacks. Banks looked fantastic in this one, with a terrific double knee attack with Bliss caught in the rope and her beautiful finishing move, The Bo$$ Lock (a Double Knee Backbreaker into a Crossface) that getting her the submission win. Sasha is a real talent. 

Match Rating - * 1/4

Tyler Breeze Interview

 

Tyler Breeze appeared this week, speaking to Devin Taylor, and isn't he just wonderful? And absolute delight to listen to? There isn't anyone in WWE at the moment that is delivering promos the way that Breeze is delivering promos, really thinking about every single syllable, instead of just reading words of a page. This fresh feel should serve him well in WWE, and with him revealing that his lawyer is making up a contract for his much anticipated NXT title match with Adrian Neville, it seems there are big things on the horizon for Prince Pretty.

Ascension Promo 

 

Current NXT Tag Team Champions Konnor and Viktor also turned up this week to cut a backstage promo talking about how they've destroyed all their competition on NXT. It would seem that they are earmarked to make the jump to the main roster here, and I know many out there are fairly high on this team, but on the strength of this promo they need some more time to polish up these skills, or maybe even a manager. 

Finally...

 

 So, that was the 107th episode of NXT! A mostly enjoyable outing for WWE's developmental league with Sami Zayn and Tyson Kidd taking the match of the night for me, putting in a solid main event. There's clearly a lot of talent knocking around these parts, with Sasha Banks and Tyler Breeze particularly impressing me this week. Take away the piss poor CJ Parker bout and this could have been an even better show. 

See you next week when Summer Rae challenges Charlotte for the NXT Women's Championship!