WWE 24: WrestleMania Monday Blu-Ray Review

THE GREAT HOME VIDEO CATCH-UP CONTINUES! 

WWE 24: WrestleMania Monday has been out in the UK since the start of April from all the usual outlets and has the WWE 24 episode, WrestleMania Monday as it's main feature. Having aired on the WWE Network on 27th March, this is the first time that an episode of WWE 24 (which has previously looked at behind the scene details of each WrestleMania since 30, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan's retirement amongst other topics) has been released, so it will be interesting to see how the set does and how this effects future releases. Alongside hour-long special, the Blu-Ray edition has twenty one matches and moments from the RAW after WrestleMania including the likes of John Cena, CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Edge and more.

But is it any good? Let's take a look. 

24: WrestleMania Monday Documentary

If you've got the WWE Network, the chances are pretty high that you've watched a WWE 24 since the series debuted in January 2015, so you should know the formula by now, with this episode being no different. The show covers the day leading up to Monday Night RAW at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, immediately following WrestleMania 32, focusing on the journey's of Enzo & Cass, Apollo Crews, AJ Styles, Cesaro, Zack Ryder and Maryse as well covering Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows backstage contract signing. All four of the main stories offer interesting tales, each compelling and engaging on their own levels, delving into what brought those names to that point in their career and their motivations. Each story carries it's screen time well, with perhaps their even being an argument for the Cesaro and Ryder stories deserving more focus, but overall the mix of faces and narratives creates a vibrant and busy documentary. The time spent on the origin of the super hyper RAW after Mania crowds and a handful of moments ties the whole package together well, with the likes of Daniel Bryan, Fandango, Paige, Goldberg and Dolph Ziggler providing a nice insight into their memorable time's on various post-Mania RAW's. 

The hour-long episode on it's own is well worth checking out if your interested into what goes into making a show like the one at American Airlines Center.

The Matches 

We begin in 1995 with a massively physical WWF World Women's Championship match as Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano (in her last match with WWF), throw big moves at each other, before Bertha Faye [Rhonda Singh] makes her debut. From the same episode, a segment with Sycho Sid turning on Shawn Michaels during a Vince McMahon interview is bizarrely cut off in the middle of the break, meaning that majority of the footage is then shown windowed the following week's RAW, with Diesel making the save. Mankind [Mick Foley]'s WWF debut in 1996 in quick squash with Bob Holly [Hardcore Holly] is an odd watch as the new character hadn't quite settled. Jumping to '98 and we have a red-hot "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, coming straight off taking the WWF World Heavyweight title from Shawn Michaels, interview with Vince McMahon, which inevitably ends with a Stone Cold stunner and the Syracuse crowd losing all of their shits. From the same episode is X-Pac's WWF return, as he's introduced as a new member of D-Generation X by Triple H, leading to a big ol' shoot on Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan and WCW. 

Into the new millennium and we have a European title bout between Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero, which is notable for Chyna's turning on Y2J, but isn't on the same level matches in WCW three years earlier. '02 provides a wonderful segment with Hollywood Hulk Hogan and The Rock basking in the glory of their night the match earlier, both controlling a rowdy crowd and giving them exactly what they wanted. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall's reply isn't quite as fun and Hall especially seems a little lost, but once Rocky and the Hulkster starting turning their shooters on their new rivals it's golden. Brock Lesnar's debut, alongside with Paul Heyman, interrupting a Hardcore title match between Maven and Al Snow, that had already been interrupted by Spike Dudley, is a cool moment that makes Brock look like a beast straight off the bat. From the next year we have Steve Austin getting fired by Eric Bischoff, to storyline signal Austin's in-ring retirement, which in comparison to later retirements of Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels is, at best, uncomfortable to watch. Kane and Rob Van Dam winning the WWE World Tag Team titles from Lance Storm & Chief Morley [Val Venis] in a Three Way Elimination match with The Dudley Boyz is a decent jaunt, with a cool story and the Seattle crowd being super into Kane & RVD as a team. Completing a trifeca of '03 efforts, Goldberg debuts by spearing the shit out The Rock, as both men are booked perfectly and excel in their roles. 

There's no space for the brilliant 2004 segment with Christian and Trish Stratus, so we're onto '05 where we have ignore that Chris Benoit and Edge had a barn-burner and watch a solid and energetic Intercontinental Championship three-way with Shelton Benjamin defending against Chris Jericho and Christian. It's then a brilliant promo from Shawn Michaels as he interrupts John Cena in 2007, and whilst they tease a potential title rematch, Jonathan Coachman, the bastard that he is, makes them defend their WWE World Tag Team titles in a battle royal instead. Both battle royals from that show are included, with the first seeing Cena & Michaels take on Chris Masters & Kenny Dykstra, Cryme Tyme, Deuce N' Domino, The New Breed's Elijah Burke & Matt Striker, Eugene & Jim Duggan, The King's Court's King Booker & Finlay, ECW Original's Rob Van Dam & Sabu and The Highlanders in a generic brawly battle royal, with a cool finish. The second match includes Brian Kendrick & Paul London, Chavo Guerrero & Gregory Helms, Dave Taylor & William Regal, The Hardy Boyz, Johnny Nitro & The Miz, The New Breed's Kevin Thorn & Marcus Cor Von, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, ECW Originals' The Sandman & Tommy Dreamer and Val Venis & Viscera for another 2007 nostalgia mid and lower card buzz, featuring confusing booking for Michaels and Cena and an awkward finish.  

Ric Flair's retirement speech from 2008 is wonderful, even with the slightly tainting factor of the fact he'd go on to face the likes of Frankie Kazarian, James Storm and Matt Morgan for TNA a few short years later. It's difficult to not be touch by how touched Flair is as Triple H brings a procession the likes of John Cena, Chris Jericho, Batista, the future Charlotte Flair and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat out to send Ric's tear ducts into overdrive, although having past adversaries like Sting, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, Randy Savage or Hulk Hogan would've made it even better. A decent '09 Lumberjack match between Carlito & Primo and The Miz & John Morrison over the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship is probably the best bout to set on that point, although the most fun probably comes from working out who some of the Lumberjacks are. John Cena and The Rock are superb opposite each other, as they set-up their WrestleMania XXVIII bout a year early, in front of hotter than hot Atlanta crowd in '11. Whilst both kill it on the mic, throwing barbs back and forth, the conclusion with them fending off an attack from The Corre (Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater & Ezekiel Jackson) is unnecessary here. Flash forward a year and John Cena has just lost to The Rock, enter Brock Lesnar, add the feeling that RAW after Mania is becoming a "thing" and you've got a magic slice of TV. 

'13 offers us two moments, firstly Dolph Ziggler's Money in the Bank cash-in on Alberto Del Rio which has lost some of it's magic four years on, but the pop that Here to Show the World gets is still something special. Then it's onto Fandango v Kofi Kingston, which is all about the crowd kicking off the "Fandagoing" Revolution, rather than the match and Chris Jericho's assault on our hero. Ultimate Warrior's return to RAW in '14 and final public appearance provides a spine-tingling promo, less than 24 hours before Warrior passed it's almost prophetic in nature at points.  The same episode has Paige's main roster debut, as she interrupts an entertaining speech from AJ Lee, however their match isn't as strong as it should have been (with the same probably being true for Paige's entire main roster run, now I come to think of it)

Things really pick up in '15 as Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler have a cracking wrestling match, full of strikes, wrestling and near falls in what is currently Bryan's penultimate TV singles match. It battles for match of the night with a stellar United States title match as John Cena defends against Dean Ambrose at the beginning of the Open Challenge gimmick. It's much more of a WWE-style contest with big money moves and false finishes, but just as fun as the previous bout. From the event featured in the documentary, a pair of well-handled promos lead us into Zack Ryder putting his Intercontinental title up against The Miz in an extremely satisfying match. It didn't make any Match of the Year polls, but it builds well to the conclusions as Zack's Dad gets involved and Maryse returns and set the wheels in motions for the wonderful run that Miz is still on to this day. The regular content concludes with the marvellous Fatal Four-Way #1 Contender's match with "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens and Cesaro, as the four pool their talents to create some breath-taking action in the squared circle. Paced perfectly with everyone on top of their games, both in terms of character work and grappling, this is the best match across the two discs.

Blu-Ray Exclusives 

Our exclusives begin in '98 with Faarooq being removed from the Nation of Domination after The Rock walks out on a curiously booked tag match against "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock and "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman. The Spirit Squad (Kenny [Dykstra] & Mikey [Mondo]) challenge for The Big Show & Kane's World Tag Team titles in '06 in a short, uninteresting bout. A match billed as a "WrestleMania All-Star" match more than lives up to it's billing in '09 as John Cena, CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio & Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat tag up against Chris Jericho, Edge, Kane, The Big Show and Matt Hardy, bringing together a number of storylines from the previous evening. The obvious standout is the unbelievable performance of the 55 year old Steamboat, as he keeps pace with the likes of Jericho and Edge and gives the match a character and watch-ability that might have been lacking almost ten years on without.

Perhaps surprisingly kept as an Exclusive is Shawn Michaels '10 retirement speech, which is, at least, on par with Ric Flair's two years earlier. Kept much more personal with only an appearance from Triple H on the entrance ramp, Michaels addressing the crowd has probably retained more value than the Nature Boy's monologue and still holds the ability to have an impact as HBK puts over the audience for believing in him, even when he didn't. An Intercontinental Championship match with Wade Barrett and The Miz is really only notable for the crowd's desire to boo a than bizarrely babyface Miz, as even with the title switch it's a nothing match. Alexander Rusev's debut over Zack Ryder in '14 is followed up by Enzo & Cass debuting two years later, with Enzo Amore running throwing bombs at The Dudley Boyz on the microphone in front of a crowd that absolutely adores the act.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.73/10 

A strong release here, that intrigues with it's concept and then delivers by adding to the strong documentary with a good mixture of matches and moments. All the major post-WrestleMania happening are here, as well as a few that might have slipped the memory or initially went underrated in the hustle and bustle of Mania weekend. For such a limiting pool to fish from, the returns are much more hit than miss, whilst those misses mostly have some nostalgia or reason for being included. My only qualm is that I feel more could have been done to enhance the Home Video release of the documentary, with perhaps extra interviews or deleted scenes, that would have validated any potential purchase, when the doc is already on the WWE Network. The same could've been said for individual interviews or special commentary for the matches included, but WWE doesn't seem interested in adding value to their Home Video content at the moment. 

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TV Review: WWE Smackdown Live #884 - Bray Wyatt v Apollo Crews v Baron Corbin v Dolph Ziggler v AJ Styles v John Cena

Just like Monday Night RAW the night previous, Smackdown Live recieved a relaunch of sorts, with a brand new set, a new commentary team and it's own distinct roster. With a six pack challenge to crown a #1 contender to Dean Ambrose's WWE Championship, the wrestling return of Randy Orton, debuts from Alexa Bliss and Carmella, returns from Rhyno and Eva Marie, could Smackdown Live out do it's Monday night counterpart at the first attempt? 

If Finn Balor getting a shot at becoming the first Universal Champion was shocking on RAW, then Dolph Ziggler becoming Number One contender to Dean Ambrose's WWE Championship was equally so, if not. Ziggler would come out the winner in a six pack challenge, that also included John Cena, AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews and Bray Wyatt in a rollercoaster of a main event. I'd even noted when Ziggler had been announced for the match, that he was there to make up the numbers and take some bumps for the others who have all been pushed stronger than he over the last six months. I suppose it could have felt like a let down when he won, but because of the nature of the contest it actually felt like a refreshing flash finish, that bought the match to a satisfying sudden halt. Ziggler taking on Ambrose for the belt at SummerSlam, creates space for another big match on the card, in a way that someone like Cena, Styles or Wyatt winning wouldn't have, so it could prove to be a savvy piece of booking over the next three weeks. Also fingers crossed for Ziggler heel turn as the promo possibility would make for an awesome feud.

Taking a similar route to what was seen on RAW, Smackdown used it's first show to showcase as many of it's wrestlers as possible, whilst also putting a meaning behind the multi-man madness. This is a pretty sound strategy, as it says to the audience, these are our top guys and allows each talent to show what they have to offer all at the same time. Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin were both elevated from being involved, with Crews especially impressing, whilst simultaneously getting pushed heavily in the booking. The sequence between the two showed they both have more potential than they have shown since being called up, whilst having Wyatt pull the ref out of the ring to deny a Crews victory will do the former Uhaa Nation wonders going forward. This was a great TV main event, that was full of excitement from the ring bell, went at a lightning quick pace, had a number of huge false finishes and provided a shock victory, a superb end to the first episode of the re-launch. 

Taking up the semi-main duties for the night was Randy Orton's wrestling return as he defeated Intercontinental Champion The Miz clean in less than five minutes, with a pair of RKOs. This was an enjoyable bout, that had the beginning of a great story and some world class selling from "The Viper", but two things bugged me. Firstly, Orton sitting around for ages after hitting the first RKO, whilst the commentators talked about Orton going to a place that he'd not been for a long time. I sat watching just a bit confused, thinking that "The Apex Predator" was going to punt the fuck out of Miz's skull, but he just hit a second RKO. Secondly, The Miz looked a complete chump in the finish. He's the Intercontinental Champion for fuck sake, if you want to use him this way then take the belt off him and give it someone else! Everytime the belt is treated like this, it makes it harder to give a shit when someone wins the title, which in turns means that WWE then gives less of a shit about the belt and does more things like this. Good TV bout, with strong performances, but weak booking. 

Before the match, Orton was crowned in the undisputed champion of chat show guests as he made an appearance on Miz TV in a decent segment, that the crowd were hot for. The gimmick of Miz interviewing himself, after teasing Orton as a guest, has been done to death over the last few years and whilst it did get some heat, as a home viewer I was hoping to see something a bit fresher. Orton's charisma has really shone through in this run of chat show segments and he was on form here, having fun with the crowd and generally looking like he was having a good time. When you watching someone enjoying themselves, it's difficult not to like observing. The jokes about Miz touching himself and potentially getting bummed by Maryse weren't my cup of tea, but were delivered well and the crowd seemed to be down for that type of tomfoolery. Of course, the segment lead into the match with Maryse accepting Orton's challenge on behalf of her husband. 

A re-match for two night's earlier, would see a reverse of the result as Becky Lynch was able to gain some revenge on Natalya by tapping her out with the Dis-Armer after a decent, but unspectacular match. Of course, it was nowhere near the level of Charlotte and Sasha Banks' epic the night before., but it was crisp throughout and was probably a step up from the previous night as pulled out some bigger moves, like Lynch's diving leg drop and a big german suplex from Natalya and put together clever sequences of reversals that weren't all based around their submission holds.  It was however just a set-up to introduce Smackdown Live's new roster of women, as a Lynch interview with Renee Young was interrupted by Alexa Bliss, Naomi, Carmella and finally, Eva Marie. Bliss probably did the strongest job with her promo and seemed to get over quickly with the crowd. Marie's entrance was an interesting one with an over-the-top announcer listing her achievements, before the show cut to elsewhere. As cool as Marie's entrance was and the heat that she got, it felt more like a coma, than a full-stop or exclamation point. 

In the show's opening match, Apollo Crews would earn his place in the show's main event, by defeating Aiden English, Alberto Del Rio, Erick Rowan, Fandango, Jey Uso, Kalisto, Kane, Konnor, Mojo Rawley, Simon Gotch, Tyler Breeze, Viktor and Zack Ryder in a battle royal that was as flat as a witches tit. Before the field had been wittled down to the final four, the bout was so dull to watch, with Kane's dominance and ADR being eliminated so early being the only notable occurrences. With Kane, Crews, Kalisto and Zack Ryder left, the crowd was solidly behind Ryder, with loud cheers and chants for the Long Island Iced Z. So what did the lad do? Botch everything he hit from then on. His diving elbow drop was a thing of perverse beauty, as he landed on his feet after a stumble and then hit the elbow drop anyway. Kane being booked so strong was beginning to annoy me a little, however with it being used to give Crews the rub, after he flipped out of a chokeslam and eliminated the veteran to win, I was much happier by the end of the night. Compared with RAW's two matches that set-up their main event this battle royal was more than a bit of a shambles.

With an opening segment akin to the previous night, the show began with Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan addressing the roster about their plans for the show. Obviously, we know that he announced they announce the six pack challenge and the battle royal, but there was also some particularly interesting wording in there from Shane O'Mac. He mentioned more than a few times that Ambrose was the only top champion in WWE, a nice reference to RAW launching the Universal Championship, without whacking the audience over the head with the RAW v Smackdown Live rivalry. I did think it was a shame that McMahon and Bryan didn't address anything to do with the women, who had to stand awkwardly around the ring as the men talked about the men. After the major women's match on RAW, I was expecting something to be made of Smackdown Live's roster here. 

In an oddly entertaining segment, Rhyno returned to WWE by goreing Heath Slater, after Slater had been canvassing Shane McMahon for a job with the brand.

Results 

Fourteen Man Over-the-Top Rope Battle Royal to earn a slot in the Six Pack Challenge Main Event: Apollo Crews def. Aiden English and Alberto Del Rio and Erick Rowan and Fandango and Jey Uso and Kalisto and Kane and Konnor and Mojo Rawley and Simon Gotch and Tyler Breeze and Viktor and Zack Ryder in 12 minutes, 42 seconds

Singles Match: Becky Lynch def. Natalya in 10 minutes, 21 seconds

Singles Match: Randy Orton def. Intercontinental Champion The Miz in 4 minutes, 54 seconds 

Six Pack Challenge Match for the #1 Contendership to the World Championship: Dolph Ziggler def. AJ Styles and Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin and Bray Wyatt and John Cena in 16 minutes, 5 seconds.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.97/10

With RAW truly knocking it for six on Monday, Smackdown replied by getting a couple of runs the day after. The main event was a great piece of television, that ended the show on a real highnote, but the rest of the show seemed to be scratching around with a couple of ideas that didn't completely come off.

It's way too early to call which show is the better one just yet, with neither brand getting into feuds or storylines too heavily in the first week, but on evidence of these two episodes alone, Monday Night RAW has the upper hand for now.

All content - James Marston 

PPV Review: WWE Battleground 2016 - Dean Ambrose v Roman Reigns v Seth Rollins

It's all been going on in WWE recently, hasn't it? Title matches on TV, the big ol' draft with the brands and what have you, NXT call ups and Zack Ryder ending up with a US title shot for reason that I'm even sure he understands. But were Vince and the boys going to stop there? Hell na, where they! Bring on a PPV, because...PPV. How would the WWE landscape look after Battleground and more importantly, would it be any good? 

Let's get down to business straight away, Dean Ambrose only went and retained his WWE Championship in a triple threat match with Seth Rollins and the returning Roman Reigns. What a moment for Ambrose here, that really solidified his title reign, just five weeks after a Money in the Bank cash-in, as he went over two of the top names in the company, clean. No shenanigans, Ambrose hit Reigns with Dirty Deeds and that was that. Whether it was a huge statement of belief from WWE on "The Lunatic Fringe" as a prolonged headliner or whether it came down to circumstance with the renewed brand-split a few days earlier and wanted to stack Ambrose's Smackdown with legitimacy (think the same reasons John Cena and Randy Orton ended up on the show), I think we'll have to wait a bit longer to find out. However, it does mean that Ambrose should get an opportunity to headline next month's SummerSlam special, which would be a massive moment for Dean, right now. 

The triple threat was an extremely satisfying main event, that worked towards the crowd reaction and played to what the majority of fans wanted to see. I mentioned earlier how the match went with what the audience wanted to see and this was obviously in reference to Ambrose and Rollins teaming up together to take out Reigns. The crowd was so hot for Reigns, that had it gone any other way, then the reaction would have been nowhere near as strong. There was so much to like from the match taking this route, like the sequence with a suicide dive from Ambrose and tope conhilo from Rollins, the old Shield style powerbomb and into Rollins nailing Ambrose with a steel chair invoking images of the groups original break up. Another great sequence of action from Rollins and Ambrose was the icing on the cake. The structure of the match, seemed to be Reigns being put in his place by WWE's chunky cheeses, as even though he clearly wasn't "buried", he definitely wasn't allowed as many moments to shine or "look strong" as he would have been a six months ago.

The contest took a while to find it's rhythm with a few minutes of "one in, one out" stuff, but once the three guys got going and the story of the match began ticking over, with the twists and turns started coming, it built into a hell of a three way. As soon Reigns had hit his Drive-By kick on Rollins, it was time to buckle in, because the match really took off at that point. It built and built and built with extra layers being added, whether that be through sequences of action, something extra for the story or a immense near fall, it had the people hyped until the final moments, especially with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan out at ringside to lift them when needed. The finish felt like it came a little too soon, maybe because of the way it was put together, with "The Lunatic Fringe" nicking in on Reigns with Dirty Deeds after he'd hit a Superman Punch and Spear on Rollins. It was such a sudden conclusion and I feel like there was a bit more to see here with these guys, so maybe there's a plan for another three way somewhere along the line. 

Before I get into John Cena, Enzo & Cass going over The Club, it'd be almost rude not to talk about Enzo Amore (and to a lesser extent Big Cass) bringing his A-grade promo skills to PPV and whipping the Verizon Center into a complete frenzy. Amore had managed to run down all three members of The Club on this past Monday's RAW and he went topped it here. With a special ability to be funny, but completely serious at the same time, be able to get the audience to laugh with a line about the Scream trilogy one moment and then make them want to see a fight the next moment, Amore makes every second he's one the screen count. Just like their in-ring partnership,  Cass is always there to provide one hefty exclamation point on the whole situation and that's why I'm so happy that the duo weren't broken up last Tuesday! 

Amore would play a major role in the set-up of the match, being part of the hot face shine, that included Cass lobbing both Amore and AJ Styles over the top on the other Club members, before becoming the Certified G in peril. "Jersey's Finest" has really carved out a niche for himself in this position during his time in NXT and now on the main roster, not many can take a beating quite like Enzo. The bruising style of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson played well into this, with there being a strong dynamic between the three, that got the crowd super invested into every hope spot for "Muscles Marinara". I love to see what Enzo & Cass and Gallows & Anderson could do together as a foursome if given the chance on Monday Night RAW. The moment when Amore was able to take out the entire Club on the outside of the ring, only to get nailed by a huge flying knee by Anderson, was worked to perfection by everyone involved and possibly my favourite sequence of the entire night. It did mean however that the actual hot tag, that saw Amore dodge a splash from Gallows, was a little flat by comparison. 

Although I'd have liked to have seen more Cena v Styles one on one, the final third of the match was equally as entertaining as what had came before it, with the tempo being upped and all six guys getting involved, in-side and out-side of the ring. After we'd got passed the shoe-horned stuff involving members of each team accidentally hitting each other, the match erupted with Cena taking a spinebuster from Anderson onto the announce table and Amore nailing "The Machine Gun" with a planted DDT off the step. The booking off the final straight worked for me, with Anderson & Gallows looking dominant against Enzo & Cass, hitting the Magic Killer on "The Big Bambino" before Gallows bested "Smacktalker Skywalker" with a big ol' superkick, there window was left open for a future feud between these teams on Monday nights. The culmination with Cena and Styles battling on the top rope wasn't quite as smooth as it shoulder have been, with "The Phenomenal One" struggling to avoid a Super Attitude Adjustment never seeming to be going in any other direction, but it was definitely a cool way to bring the feud to end, although I can't help feeling that the pair deserve to have one more singles match together.

Sami Zayn defeated Kevin Owens and it was exactly how grudge matches are supposed to be presented in 2016. These lads made you think they hate each other and went at it from the opening bell, with every move being delivered with that extra bit of malice and intent, making for a compelling contest. By the end of the match, you could see what it meant for Zayn to have defeated Owens, like a proper no doubt about it, clean as a whistle win over his friend turned arch nemesis. He showed it in every movement he made during the match, but especially in the closing sequence as he nailed an exploder suplex into the bottom turnbuckle, a half and half suplex and two Helluva Kicks before draping himself over his opponent. After the match he looked liked he'd won a title belt, which considering the pair have cost each other World title shots, the Intercontinental Championship a few times and the Money in the Bank briefcase, felt particularly fitting. A real lesson in making a non-title contest feel as important as any prize in the company (without actually doing any damage to any other trophies, obviously) 

Christ, there was so much I liked about this match, that I'm struggling to formulate a coherent review of it. There were a collection of things that all contributed to the fight being a brilliant experience from beginning to end. Owens being an absolute boss when in control, managing to be annoyingly entertaining, as he trod on Zayn's hand and locked on head locks to spite the live audience. "The Prizefighter" targeting the arm after Zayn appeared to injure it on a botched Arabian Press attempt (that was probably the only foot put wrong in the entire match) in a case of the performers taking a negative and turning it into a positive, with it leading to a nasty looking Crossface "near fall". Then there was stuff like the brainbuster onto the apron by Zayn, Owens hitting a cannonball on Zayn with the later draped upside down in the turnbuckle, a superb sequence with Zayn nailing two half and half suplexes after Owens blocked the Helluva Kick and emotionally fueled slap battle. Then there was the near falls and falsies for Owens, first off a well-timed Frog Splash and a Pop-Up Powerbomb where Zayn got his foot on the ropes, simultaneously popping the people, whilst protecting Owens finish. Yeah, I liked this match, it was entertaining, emotional and clever wrestling. One more match at SummerSlam please? Surely these boys can't be on the same brand and not wanted to rip each others heads off and piss in the hole? I'll leave this here...ladder match, loser leaves RAW...gew on. 

You know how much I lurve a talking segment on a PPV! They are just the best, aren't they? I much prefer talking to wrestling. All those words that people use to convey meaning about things they have done or plan to do in the future. Okay, so Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel with a returning Randy Orton was actually an entertaining talking segment, that managed to tell a cool story and promoted Orton's upcoming match on 21st August with Brock Lesnar. But on PPV? Or Network special? Or whatever we're calling these situations in 2016. Nah, thanks. "The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels has left the building" "I know 1004 holds and wrote them all down" "Say Goodbye to CM Punk" "Rick Rude or Robert Roode or whatever that jabronis name is" all brilliant talking segments (okay, maybe not that last one) for various reasons, but you know one things about them? They didn't happen on PPV. No. Stop it, WWE. This would have been a huge headline segment on tomorrow's RAW, but kind of got lost in the mix on this show. 

That's the rant bit over (for now), let's bring a bit of power of positivity to this hizzouse! Jericho and Orton owned this segment, like the two veteran performers that they are. The whole section was based on the idea that everyone knew how it was going to end, a bit like Romeo and Juliet, I suppose. Randy Orton was never going to leave that ring with nailing "Y2J" with one of those jumping cutters that he's so bloody fond of. This lead to a lot of build up with Jericho antipating the move and constantly calling "The Viper"'s bluff, which meant the spot got much more meaningful pop. Jericho worked his role as host well, finely walking the line between annoying and entertaining, just to the point where you'd quite like to see some lad try to yank his head off a bit. Orton on the other hand was dropping bombshells on Brock Lesnar about taking naughty substances and getting UFC all huffy and kind of also making WWE look a bit shitty for not doing anything about it. It was pretty cheap, but it got the crowd to pop, and will get some coverage, I suppose. Orton's clearly forgetting his two previous wellness policy violations under WWE, but let's brush that under the carpet, eh?

For the second PPV in a row the Women's Champion featured in a tag team match, as Sasha Banks and a debuting Bayley defeated Charlotte and Dana Brooke. It was a feel good moment to see Bayley turn up on a WWE PPV and her entrance got a tremendous reaction at the start of the show, a reaction which probably drove the match, in all honesty. Removed from the hype of Bayley's debut, this was an alright match in-ring. The action was pretty back and forth in the early going, with no one getting too much time in control. The audience was still hot for everything that was going on, as Bayley briefly slotted into a face in peril role, before Banks had a face shine/hot tag situation and Charlotte would take back control. It took a while to find it's grove, but once Brooke had taken advantage of Charlotte distracting Bayley, pulling her off the middle rope and sending her head crashing into the top turnbuckle, everyone found their place in the match and played it up well. 

The closing stages of the match struggled to keep up with the ideas that were involved, with a everything feeling a little rushed and more than a few timing issues. The biggest example of this was Bayley charging in way too early on a Natural Selection false finish, breaking up the pinfall before the referee's hand had even slapped the mat. Obviously, if you break up a cover this early, it stops being a falsie and takes away part of the drama that should have been building in those closing stages. The ending with Brooke interrupting a Banks Statement on Charlotte, only for Banks being able to lock it in again was another piece of action that didn't quite come across as I feel it should have. Brooke pulling Charlotte out of the ring looked rough and lacked the finesse that a major spot should have and I feel it took a little away from the finish. This was a solid tag match, but had the potential to be much better than that.

The Wyatt Family conquered The New Day in a surprisingly compact match, that was put together pleasingly but didn't quite break out into the top speed that I think I was expecting. Whether that's that Braun Strowman isn't as strong a worker as previous Wyatt Family member Luke Harper, or that the match was dampened slightly to allow the other six man tag to take the spotlight, I'm not quite sure. However, what was on display here was a gratifying watch with a handful of distinct elements that kept me interested from start to finish. Stuff like Kofi Kingston taking a beating and Big E going nuts on a hot tag, nailing an overhead Belly to Belly suplex on Erick Rowan, were all well and good, but the thing this match did best was the showdown between Xavier Woods and Bray Wyatt. Every hung on Woods firing up and finally going for Wyatt after being supposedly "under his spell", it could have came off as a bit corny, but the crowd popped big for it and Woods' going for it hammer and tongues produced a cool moment. The finish did feel anti-climactic as Wyatt simply used the spider walk to confuse Woods, a similar ending to their singles match on Smackdown last Tuesday.

Many years from now, wrestling fans will mingle with one another at a show and one will say to the other..."Do you remember when Darren Young got an Intercontinental Championship match on PPV?" the reply will be "No". Literally the only thing that happened before the finish was a fan heckling the phrase "Straight to DVD" at The Miz. I have no notes on anything else, so I have to accept that as gospel. I'm not even sure what happen during the finish, if I'm brutally honest with you. Miz's wife Maryse slapped Young's coach Bob Backlund, so Backlund took a back bump and then struggled to take his shirt off. Something else would probably happen and then Young locked in a Cross-faced Chicken Wing on Miz on the outside and the ref just called for the bell. I don't know. I don't know. Why were Young and Backlund so bloody happy to have not won anything at all? Why any of this? 

In another weird title feud, Rusev defeated Zack Ryder to retain the United States Championship. This match actually came off much better than it's IC counterpart, telling a simple underdog USA story for "The Long Island Iced Z" and keeping things lively with plenty of hope spots for Ryder as Rusev attempted to machka his American arse. The dropkick from Ryder off the barricade was the highlight of the match, being a well thought out spot that gave the pair plenty of time on the outside to re-group before heading for the finish. I was genuinely excited when Ryder hit a Rough Ryder and seemingly had the win, but then he weirdly went for an Elbow Drop instead of going for a pin, which would ultimately be his downfall. A long-ish spell in the Accolade, including a strong moment where it appeared "The Ultimate Broski" may have escaped, would spell the end for ol' Zachary. Oh yeah, Mojo Rawley turned up as well. I tried Mojo, but I couldn't even get hype for you, let alone stay hype, bud. 

Natalya defeating Becky Lynch with the Sharpshooter, probably came out being my sleeper match of the night. It wasn't anything spectacular, but the pair wrestled a solid match, that featured some lovely technical chain wrestling. The section when the pair both went for their respective finishers was super smooth and a real pleasure to watch. The finish was also novel idea, that involved the former Diva's Champion getting behind the referee in the corner, before kicking between his legs towards "The Lass Kickers" knee when the latter approached, in a decent end to the story the pair had told. I'd have liked that story to have kicked in just a little earlier as Natalya took quite a while to formulate a simple game plan of attacking Lynch's leg and with the contest not having a lot of time I'd have preferred to see it get straight into the narrative. Top marks to Lynch for her selling which was consistent throughout, although I think if we'd see Natalya do a bit more damage then it would have warranted the level that Lynch went for. Weirdly, Natalya sold her own leg at the end of match, maybe she just got confused? 

Results 

Tag Team Match: Bayley & Sasha Banks def. Women's Champion Charlotte & Dana Brooke in 7 minutes, 25 seconds.

Six Man Tag Team Match: The Wyatt Family - Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt & Erick Rowan def. Tag Team Champions The New Day - Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods in 8 minutes, 47 seconds 

Singles Match for United States Championship: "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev (C) (with "The Ravishing Russian" Lana) def. Zack Ryder in 7 minutes, 1 second. 

Singles Match: Sami Zayn def. Kevin Owens in 18 minutes, 22 seconds 

Singles Match: Natalya def. Becky Lynch in 9 minutes, 3 seconds 

Singles Match for Intercontinental Championship: The Miz (C) (with Maryse) v Darren Young (with Bob Backlund) ended in a No Contest after 8 minutes, 41 seconds 

Six Man Tag Team Match: Big Cass, Enzo Amore & John Cena def. The Club - AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson in 14 minutes, 30 seconds 

Triple Threat Match for WWE Championship: Dean Ambrose (C) def. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in 18 minutes, 3 seconds 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.39/10

After a busy week in the WWE, the company produced another good PPV with a strong variety of matches across the card with Battleground. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens stole the show with their passion and hatred fueled epic, but the three way main event also provided enough thrills and spills to end the show on a high and the semi-main with Enzo & Cass teaming with John Cena against The Club was also a high quality outing with some savvy booking. The mid-card held itself up nicely for the most, with a debut for Bayley, another fun six man between The New Day and The Wyatt Family, a forgivable talking segment between Randy Orton and Chris Jericho and a sleeper bout from Becky Lynch and Natalya. 

Had the Darren Young and Bob Backlund fiasco not been on the show, I'm sure we'd be seeing the years highest PPV rating. 

Content by James Marston.

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1208 - Cena, Amore, Cass & The New Day v The Club & Wyatt Family

It was the night before the first Draft in five years and the final Monday Night RAW before Battleground 2016 on 24th July, so WWE had a lot to build and promote. How would they go about it? Would it be an action packed show or would it just be Michael Cole should the words "WWE Draft" over and over? 

In what was arguably the biggest match on the show, The Club (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) & The Wyatt Family (Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt & Erick Rowan) defeated Big Cass, Enzo Amore, John Cena & Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) after Styles pinned Amore [Styles Clash] in a thrilling twelve men tag team match. With so many bodies involved, this was always going to be a bout that kept the action coming and the final moments of the bout certainly provided that. Guys were in and out of the ring, hitting big moves, with momentum swinging one way and then the other. When things got down to the nitty gritty, The New Day and The Wyatt Family brawled to the back, keeping both teams on a level playing field heading into Battleground, leaving The Club with their opponents for the PPV. The finish was cleverly booked but poorly executed, as Amore would end up hitting Cena with a horrible clothesline after Styles had ducked out of the way, leading to The Club getting the victory. It felt a tad contrived and was probably the only thing that didn't work throughout the match. 

The meat and potatoes of the match was put together nicely, playing of the strengths of everyone involved and making sure that fresh combinations and stories were being showcased throughout the match. The crowd's reaction to Cass and Strowman ending up in the ring together was brilliant and aided by a number of factors. First Amore's attempt to take down Strowman got the crowd hyped and onside with creative. The tease of scrap was denied when everyone else in the match began brawling, leading to Cass and Strowman being left alone in the ring again and even bigger reaction. It was a simple of piece of booking that presented something, made the fans realise they actually wanted to see it, took it away and then gave it back again. Lovely stuff. Throw in plenty of interaction between the two heel stables, as Kingston and then Cena worked the face in peril role and you've got an extremely enjoyable TV bout. 

Talking of extremely enjoyable, the segment that came before the match may have been even more so than the match itself. Cena's interplay with Enzo & Cass, put over the idea that the trio aren't quite a cohesive unit much better than the finish of the match, whilst Amore was on blistering form with a pun filled that insulted all three of the Club members. Then you had The Club, who have got a different style to pretty much any other act on the roster when delivering promos, funny, but annoyingly arrogant, entertaining but in a way that makes you want to see them get kicked in knees a bit. Then by golly gosh, out came the New Day to tie a Pokemon Go shaped bow on the whole thing. The crowd ate it up as they made sneaky jokes about masturbation and began to list various pocket monsters. Wyatt Family would act as the spoilers to lead to the break. Lots of fun here, it actually looked more fun to be a part of, than it was to watch (and it was really fun to watch!). 

Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose would square off in the show's final segment, with the WWE Championship on the line, just days before they will be joined by Roman Reigns at Battleground. It'd be difficult for these two to have a bad match at this point, having previously gone at it ten times on WWE programming (add a further five from FCW, plus many more on live events) and teamed up before that, they seemingly know each other inside out. That was so very clear throughout this, as they flew through the match, swapping holds and big moves with an ease that only comes with familiarity. A personal favourite sequence was Rollins having a suicide dive attempt blocked by an Ambrose elbow, before getting clotheslined over the top rope on the other side and getting crashed into by Ambrose hitting a dive of his own. Whilst not being their greatest encounter, the regular tropes of today's big PPV matches were there with both kicking out of each others finisher, with a loud and surprisingly split crowd, this was easily in the top five matches on RAW this year.

The first WWE Championship match on RAW since January, Ambrose and Rollins' title clash would end in controversy after a top rope superplex by Rollins and a small package reversal by Ambrose would result in a double pinfall. The finish was probably what stopped me calling this the best match on RAW this year, as it felt all a little bit messy. The double pinfall was clearly not a double pinfall, even without a reply and there was also a weird ref bump thrown in there. The show finished with Rollins holding the belt aloft after "The Man" had been proclaimed the winner by RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon. It all felt a bit too contrived in it's set-up, an shoe-horned way of pushing the "brand rivalry" set to begin the following night. It didn't leave me wanting to see the Draft any more or after the title changed twice in a night at the last PPV all that interested in who was actually considered the champion, as I suppose was the aim. Twenty five minutes worth of action deserved a much better finish than this. 

The show began with RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon revealing 3 time WWF World Heavyweight Champion Mick Foley (Cactus Jack/Mankind/Dude Love) are the new General Manager of her show, whilst Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon announced 3 time WWE (World) Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan as his GM. Two interesting picks here, for sure. Foley should take away the sharp edges of the Stephanie McMahon character, giving a good cop, bad cop partnership that has proved to be pretty entertaining in the past. It should also mean that WWE is stearing clear of the overbearing in heel in control of the show, which has grown more than tired over the last ten years. With Bryan the fans were clearly not ready to say goodbye to his character during his retirement speech in March and two lengthy spells on the sideline he never really got the prolonged time in the spotlight that his WrestleMania XXX performance deserved. Whilst he might not be in the ring anymore, there's certainly some space for him to get involved in storylines and interact with the roster. 

Whilst it was head and shoulders above the close to last week's RAW when Shane and Stephanie were given their respective brands by Vince McMahon, it did feel a little bit long for the amount of legitimate content. Shane and Steph throwing insults each others way about having or not having testicles or having shag wrestlers to remain relevant got good reactions out of the crowd and were well timed within the make-up of the promo, but I'll be happy to see the back of them being on the same show every week! Bryan probably could've done a massive shit in the ring and thrown it into the front row and still got the crowd to do a "Yes!" chant at the end of his promo. He's hardly the most charismatic guy in the world, but they hung on his every word here. Truth be told, Foley looked a little bit lost in the mix. I'm not sure what was happening during his promo, but Stephanie kept talking to him off microphone, which was bloody weird to say the least. "The Hardcore Legend" then became "The Hardcore Gooseberry" as he stood about whilst the McMahons and Bryan's got on with the promo. The segment wasn't the best you'll ever see, but it did it's job and leaves us with two interesting partnerships on each shows. 

The opening match saw Sami Zayn and Cesaro defeat Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens, after Zayn got the pin on Jericho [Small package] in a solid TV tag bout. The match played out attractively with the four talented performers slotting together well and telling a fun story with their characters, and barely putting a foot wrong doing so. Zayn and Owens' feud was obviously at the core of the bout, with the pair getting to brawl with each other on numerous occasions, include duking it out in the middle of the ring towards the end of the contest. A clever sequence would set up elements for the finish as Jericho tagged himself in on Owens as Zayn went for the Helluva Kick, then as Y2J celebrated his genius, Zayn tagged in Cesaro for a diving crossbody near fall. The finish would give "The Underdog from The Underground" some huge momentum heading into the Draft on Tuesday and Battleground on Sunday, as he was able to reverse Jericho's sneaky roll-up attempt (Zayn was busy laying into Owens at the time) and turn it into a small package for a big win. A lot of fun to be had here with a reminder of Zayn and Owens match on the PPV without going over the top with a segment the pair clearly don't need at this stage.

Another tag team match would see United States Champion Rusev get Dolph Ziggler to tap [The Accolade] in bout that also involved "The Bulgarian Brute"'s former League of Nations buddy, Sheamus and Zack Ryder, who will challenge for the US title on Sunday. The contest didn't do a whole lot for me. It was basic stuff with Ryder's road to the US title continuing to be a weird one as he played the face in peril role and got battered about by both Rusev and Sheamus for the majority of the match. Everyone seemed to just go through the motions, with guys like Ziggler and Sheamus currently just floating about WWE without a whole lot of purpose, you can hardly blame them. "The Bulgarian Brute" shouting at Sheamus to tag him in after "The Celtic Warrior" and "The Long Island Iced Z" had nailed each other with clotheslines was probably the best thing about the entire match. The whole Rusev v Ryder storyline has been completely bizarre, with Ryder being put across as a bit of loser, whilst Rusev is Machkaing former World Heavyweight Champions with ease! 

Yet another tag team match was on the card this week, although it didn't get a chance to get going as Natalya attacked Becky Lynch three minutes into Lynch teaming with Sasha Banks against Women's Champion Charlotte and Dana Brooke. The action before the attack was nothing more than treading water with not a massive amount going on. Charlotte and Brooke would then pick apart Banks inside the ring, including a sweet Natural Selection from the Women's Champion. I suppose it was a decent way of continuing both women's feuds heading into the PPV without actually having to give the whole division much more than five minutes on the air!  

Darren Young would pick up a huge squash victory over Alberto Del Rio [O'Connor Roll] after Intercontinental Champion The Miz would attempt to get involved. Baron Corbin was handed a swift victory over Sin Cara, before also swatting Kalisto aside when he attempted to make the save for his former Lucha Dragons pal.

Results 

Tag Team Match: Cesaro & Sami Zayn def. "Y2J" Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens in 11 minutes, 56 seconds 

Singles Match: Darren Young (with Bob Backlund) def. Alberto Del Rio in 2 minutes, 23 seconds 

Twelve Man Tag Team Match: The Club - AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson & The Wyatt Family - Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt & Erick Rowan def. Big Cass, Enzo Amore, John Cena and Tag Team Champions The New Day - Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods in 19 minutes

Singles Match: Baron Corbin def. Sin Cara in 1 minute, 18 seconds 

Tag Team Match: Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks def. Women's Champion Charlotte & Dana Brooke by DQ in 2 minutes, 20 seconds 

Tag Team Match: United States Champion "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev & "The Celtic Warrior" Sheamus def. Dolph Ziggler & Zack Ryder in 3 minutes, 48 seconds 

WWE Championship Match: Dean Ambrose (C) v Seth Rollins - Double Pin after 24 minutes, 16 seconds

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.85/10 

RAW gets it's best ATPW Scale Rating for quite some time this week. This is mainly thanks to the two top matches on the show, with the brilliant segment that came before the Twelve Man Tag also having a major effect on this week's score. Two different matches in major slots on the show, that felt like they had a purpose going forward, whilst also remaining entertaining throughout. The show was held back by an undercard that lacked creativity in it's booking and at points lacked any logic at all (Yes, Zack Ryder's United States Championship storyline, I'm talking about you!)

After weeks of treading water, it was nice to see WWE finally produce something that felt meaningful a week before Battleground, with the top half of the card all being good viewing. Before we get to Battleground though, there's the small matter of the WWE Draft to be dealing with on Smackdown LIVE! 

Article text by James Marston.

Opinion: Top 10 Jobber Themes (Lily Lestrange)

I've only gone and written a bloody list.  What have I become?! 

I thought I'd switch it up a bit for this month's guest blog since I'm always writing stuff that's fairly serious and informative.  So why not be fun aunt Lily this month and write a list of my top ten favourite jobber themes?

Please note that I do say jobber but these guys all worked hard in the WWE, no matter how long they were there for... and none of them reeeeeally constitute as "jobbers" because they've all achieved something at some point (yes, even number 9) but fuck it.  My ball, my rules. Besides, I use the term as lovingly as possible! They're all in this list because their themes are catchy as fuck and if you've ever had the misfortune to be in my presence then I've probably sang at least one of these themes in your face. Enjoy.

10.  The Mountie

If you didn't watch wrestling in the 80s/early 90s then you probably won't know who this is... UNTIL NOW.  The Mountie's claim to fame in WWE was winning the Intercontinental Championship that one time and winning the tag titles four times (once with his brother and three times as part of The Quebecers). His grotesquely chirpy theme will have your leg jigging and will have you craving maple syrup over EVERYTHING in no time.  It doesn't help that it sounds like something that Trey Parker and Matt Stone have written for an especially Canadian episode of South Park.

9. The Great Khali 

Ah, Khali.  The Punjabi Playboy, our sweet prince of the desert.  Let's be honest, the greatest thing that he ever done in the WWE was sing happy birthday to John Cena and get swung around by Cesaro (he did feud with Triple H for the WWE title and he won the Heavyweight Championship that one time but let's not talk about that) but we love him for the big lug that he is anyway.  Or at least I did.  Now departed from the WWE, I hear Dixie's wanting to recruit him under the guise of "The Average Taj".  Anyway, his theme was bangin' and if it doesn't make you want to dance on a table and get your bhangra on then nothing will.

8. Zack Ryder 

This may come as a shock as you'd probably expect this of all jobber themes to be higher up in the list but nope.  As irritatingly catchy as it is there's better ones out there! I think this theme takes the award for most ridiculous lyrics of any theme song ever... and that's in a world where "Ass Man" exists. Another lyrical masterpiece of big Jim J.  

I think everyone still holds on to the hope that they'll make something magical of Ryder one day. We thought it was when he most recently won the IC championship but, well... we all know how that went. Just keep on drinkin them beers and chatting up them hot babes bro, your time will come one day.

7. Heidenrich  

What an absolute monster of a man, it's a shame that he was only with the WWE for 3 years. His career peaked with his feud with the Undertaker then it all went downhill from there when he became part of the new Legion of Doom (y'know, the one after the original one but before The Ascension who got papped with it and told to run with it). If you're into mash-ups then there's a brilliant one of this and Ryback's theme floating about the interwebs. Go have a look and let your life be changed for the best part of three minutes.

6. D'Lo Brown 

MA BOY D'LO.  He couldn't not be included in this list.  He did well for himself after leaving the Nation of Domination and had some tasty feuds with the likes of X-Pac, Mark Henry and Jeff Jarrett but when you look at how far his rivals went compared to what he's done then you realise he didn't quite go the distance. If he stuck around after 2003 (and he was released so this is through no fault of his own) he could have probably done a lot better but he's flitted between so many companies so many times that he's never stayed anywhere long enough to build a great feud with anyone. His fourth(?) theme was the best one and I'm willing to bet at least a few of you managed to bugger up your neck from trying to get on the d'lo with D'Lo and his theme. 

5. Santino Marella 

I've no idea what the fuck this guy is singing but it gets you pumped. I kid on to myself that it's the man himself singing it because no-one apart from WWE and Jim Johnston are credited for it (and I can't imagine Jimmy J having lungs like that on him). Santino was great though, I'm not really one for liking wrestlers with comedy gimmicks but Santino got me man, he got right in deep to my lil cold black heart. Much like Khali, I don't really remember him for his wrestling ability but more so the daft shit he got involved in, like when he was heel and was trying to tell all the kids that Santa wasn't real and the wee romance he had going with Emma. No matter what you remember him for, no-one will forget him power walking to the ring to this belter of a theme.

4. Rob Conway 

This was so close to being number one but I decided against it because there's other ones that I prefer over it but, I mean... how random is this theme?!  I love it. LOVE IT. Redneck country jobber realness.

His most memorable matches were probably when he was part of La Resistance and feuding with Edge and Benoit for the tag titles, which they won three times. After that La Resistance split and he became a singles competitor, where he became a redneck heel with a cowboy hat and a nifty handlebar moustache. He fought and feuded with a few other mid-card/jobber wrestlers then decided to pick on Flair for the IC championship one night on RAW, which was pretty much the beginning of the end of his WWE career. He lost every match after that then ended up being released in 2007. All is not lost though, because he moved on to NWA where he currently wrestles and is a two time NWA Heavyweight Champion, so all's well that ends well eh?

3. Shelton Benjamin 

Oh, he gonna bring it to ya because there ain't no stoppin' him, NAAAAAAW.  I think I'm pulling at straws a bit here by calling Shelton Benjamin a jobber since he won many a title with WWE. At best he was upper mid-card (given that he pinned Triple H clean twice back in the day, that was pretty special) but he's getting put in this list because I love this theme. He's probably jobbed to someone, somewhere, at some point in his life... maybe. Fuck it. Just listen to the damn song.

2. Chavo Guerrero 

Let's face it, Chavo's shining time in WWE was when he was tagging with Eddie. You're thinking it, I'm thinking it, we're all thinking it. He was a six-time Cruiserweight Champion too, then he went with that whole Kerwin White gimmick and I completely lost interest. I was never a huge Chavo fan when he was with WWE but he done well for himself in Lucha Underground and currently wrestles for AAA so he's doing not too shabby. His theme is ridiculously similar to Eddie's "Lie, Cheat and Steal" theme (the newer version, think it was the 9th theme) but it's one of my favourites regardless. I was desperate to hear the "OOOOOH CHAAAAAVOOOOO" hit at ICW when Chavo and Hardcore Holly were booked at other shows in Scotland at the same time but it sadly wasn't meant to be.

And now, we're finally here... number one!  I need a lie down now.  I need a nap and I need to be away from wrestling and wrestling themes now because I have listened to a fucking lot of them today. My ears hurt and I'm pretty sure one of my toenails is falling off because of the stress of it all. Maybe you expected this theme, maybe you didn't. I'd like to think that I've thrown a huge curveball and gave you something completely out of the blue but who knows.  Just enjoy.

1. Christian 

Now now now, before you kick off, hear me out. Christian's career is dazzling.  Blinding.  Sparkling.  MAGNIFIQUE.  At the peak of his career, that is. The last few years for Christian in the WWE haven't been so great; back in 2014 when he was wrestling he was always inserted into six-man tag matches or title matches like Elimination Chamber and Money In The Bank, purely because - I think - they didn't have anyone else that could fill the space at the time. His last match was in March 2014 against Del Rio, Sheamus and Ziggler then after that he wasn't seen in a ring again...then it was announced that he'd been released from his talent contract back in May, meaning he was still doing other stuff with WWE but just wasn't wrestling with them anymore. It's a shame given his history but a string of injuries lead him to this point.

NOW, the theme I want you to hear isn't his last theme that he used. No no no, I'm taking you back to 2001 with his "At Last" theme. Just... watch the video if you've never seen the titantron for it before. Everything about it is amazing. The theme is one of the catchiest themes you'll hear, ever. I don't think I could love another theme like I love this one and if you don't love it too then I don't know what to tell you. Just enjoy the acid trip that this is gonna induce once you click that play button.