Wrestle Ropes' Ready for the Weekend: May 2016 Week 1 - HOPE, LCW & ICW

We're back once again for another busy weekend in the British Wrestling. This week we are heading off to HOPE Wrestling in Mansfield then travelling over to Leicester for Leicester Championship Wrestling before finally heading to Glasgow for Insane Championship Wrestling. Once again, let's get Ready For The Weekend!

friday

hope evolution xxxv: how the west was won and where it got us

forest town, mansfield, england

Firstly on Friday night, HOPE Wrestling host their first of three shows this weekend, this event taking place in Mansfield at the Forest Town Arena. The main event of the evening shall see Jack Jester defending the HOPE Championship against fan favourite, Martin Kirby. Jester has had a lengthy reign since becoming the inaugural champion back in July last year, Kirby is without  doubt one of the most talented wrestlers in Europe so this could be the biggest challenge that Jester has faced in the last 9 months. The winner of the main event will immediately have to set their sights on the next challenge as the number one contender to the HOPE Championship will also be determined this Friday when CJ Banks, Pete Dunne, Joseph Conners and Jake McCluskey compete in a fatal four-way match. All four men would be a worthy challenger for the HOPE Championship so it really will come down to the man who capitalises on the opportunities presented to them and also their own skill and talent to walk away the number one contender. Friday will also see a rematch from last weekend's event as Chris Tyler shall once again face El Ligero. Their meeting last weekend ended in controversy as Tyler won via disqualification after Ligero accidentally struck the referee. Ligero's anger at the decision resulted in the official being on the receiving end of an attack from Ligero, something not often seen from 'The Mexican Sensation'. HOPE Wrestling have therefore scheduled this match between the two in an attempt to rectify the controversy.

evolution xxxv: how the west was won and where it got us match card

HOPE Championship

Jack Jester (c) vs Martin Kirby

HOPE Championship Number One Contender

‘The Lifetrain’ CJ Banks vs ‘Young And Bitter’ Pete Dunne vs ‘The Righteous’ Joseph Conners (w/ Violet Vendetta) vs ‘The Moonsault King’ Jake McCluskey

‘All Day Star’ Ryan Smile vs Burchill

‘The One And Only’ Chris Tyler vs ‘The Mexican Sensation’ El Ligero

Triple Threat

Alex Windsor vs Leah Owens vs Violet Vendetta

Sam Goodison vs Blake

Flex Buffington vs Joey Ozbourne

Six-Man Tag Team

White Tiger, ‘The Primate’ Jason Prime & Lucas Archer vs LJ Heron & Filthy Gorgeous (Robert Sharpe & Kyle Kingsley)

saturday
lcw mayhem - 5th anniversary show
enderby, leicester, england

Moving on to Saturday and Leicester Championship Wrestling are at their usual haunt of Brockington College with 'Mayhem'. The event will see every championship defended. The Hunter Brothers have been chasing the LCW Tag Team Championship for a number of months. The current champions, DNA's Cy Gregory and Marc Massa have managed to hold back the challenge so far but this time the challenge will be even greater. This time they shall be defending the LCW Tag Team Championship in a ladder match. As Hunter Brothers quest to win has not waned, the inclusion of ladders may be the catalyst to propel them to another championship reign. Also on the line will be the LCW Young Guns Championship which is going to be defended in a fatal four-way match. The champion; TK Hayward will defend against Paul Malen, White Tiger & Alex Gracie. A fatal four-way match is a difficult enough task for a champion but this one will be even harder as all three challengers are or have been a champion within LCW. If Hayward can walk away still as a champion, he'll have gone further than he's ever gone before to do so. The main event this Saturday in Enderby will see 'The Man For All Seasons' Xander Cooper defend the LCW Heavyweight Championship against former champion, 'The Heavyweight House Of Pain' Stixx. After interference in previous encounters, it has been announced that this match shall be a first for LCW, a Lumberjack match. While Cooper will have his DNA members present during the match, Stixx shall also have back up in selected allies as he attempts to dethrone Cooper and once again become the LCW Heavyweight Champion.

mayhem - 5th anniversary show match card

LCW Heavyweight Championship – Lumberjack Match

‘The Man For All Seasons’ Xander Cooper (c) vs ‘The Heavyweight House Of Pain’ Stixx

LCW Young Guns Championship – Fatal Four-Way

TK Hayward (c) vs Paul Malen vs Alex Gracie vs White Tiger

LCW Tag Team Championship – Ladder Match

DNA (Cy Gregory & Marc Massa) (c) vs The Hunter Brothers

Alexis Rose vs Toni Storm

The Alpha Brothers (Ricky & Johnny Alpha) vs Ladz Ladz Ladz (Gabriel Kidd & Zak Northern)

Chris Tyler vs HC Dyer

sunday
icw friday night fight club taping
glasgow, lanarkshire, scotland

Finally the weekend finishes with Insane Championship Wrestling tape another edition of 'Friday Night Fight Club' in Glasgow at The Garage. This edition of 'Friday Night Fight Club' could well be the biggest yet as there is a lot on the line on May 8th. Firstly, Joe Coffey shall be facing Jack Jester with the stipulation that if Joe Coffey wins he'll receive an ICW World Heavyweight Championship match at Shug's Hoose Party III on July 31st. However a loss for Coffey will result in him quitting Insane Championship Wrestling. Coffey needs to go through a former champion to get a championship match or it shall indeed be the end of his time at ICW. This Sunday shall also see the start of the ICW Tag Team Championship tournament. May 8th shall see two quarter-final matches take place as The 55's Kid Fite and Sha Samuels will face Alexander Henry and Jason Prime of The New Nation while The Rich Kids Of Instagram competing against Davey Boy and Joe Hendry of The Local Fire. All four teams will be looking to make their intentions clear right from the start and show others they are in it to win it. Sunday will also see a new number one contender to the ICW World Heavyweight Championship decided as Chris Renfrew faces Grado. Both these men have been champion before. Indeed it was Renfrew who ended the reign of Grado earlier this year so there is prior conflict between these two men. However, while the winner will be named the number one contender, the loser will not only record a loss, they will never challenge for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship ever again. While the reward for the winner will be great, the repercussions for the loser will alter their entire future in ICW.

friday night fight club taping match card

ICW Zero-G Championship

Lionheart (c) vs ‘Liverpool’s No.1’ Zack Gibson

If Joe Coffey Wins He Receives An ICW World Heavyweight Championship Match At ‘Shug’s Hoose Party’. If He Loses, He Quits Insane Championship Wrestling

‘Iron Man’ Joe Coffey vs ‘Big Kink’ Jack Jester

ICW World Heavyweight Championship Number One Contender. Loser Never Receives A Championship Match Again

Chris Renfrew vs Grado

ICW Tag Team Championship Tournament Quarter-Final

The New Nation (‘Class Apart’ Alexander Henry & ‘The Primate’ Jason Prime) vs The 55 (Kid Fite & ‘The East End Butcher’ Sha Samuels)

ICW Tag Team Championship Tournament Quarter-Final

The Local Fire (‘Local Hero’ Joe Hendry & Davey Boy) vs The Rich Kids Of Instagram (Austin Osiris & Kyle Khaos)

BT Gunn vs Kay Lee Ray

‘The Vigilante’ Johnny Moss vs ‘The Deity Of Deviance’ Mikey Whiplash

‘The Bollocks’ Kenny Williams vs Wolfgang

That wraps up this week's preview of the weekend's wrestling schedule. Of course, there are many more events taking place over the three days. To find out more about the shows we've highlighted here as well as all the others, check us out at www.wrestleropesuk.wordpress.com for the latest show and match announcements, British Wrestling event list, interviews, exclusive columns, reviews, reports and results!

Opinion: WWE Funny vs Standard Funny or How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Just Watch the Product Damnit (Jozef Raczka)

ADVANCE WARNING: I make no bones about this but I've only watched wrestling properly since 2012. So if I have missed out something that happened during your beloved attitude era, please tweet me and I will add it to the list of things I invariably don't watch and just re-watch Daniel Bryan anger management sessions
again

Wrestling funny is different to standard funny. It's hard to describe how but it is. It's different in the same way that watching a great wrestling match is different to watching a great fight scene from a film. It would make sense that wrestling would have comedy segments, I mean it is a ridiculous art-form. Take the very idea of The Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt, we have an undead necromancer (and one time hell's angel) taking on the leader of a southern voodoo cult but in a ring in front of an audience and with no actual magic but no one bats an eyelid because this is wrestling things like this happen, it gets silly, one time a man fell in love with a mop. But wrestling funny is a complicated thing, especially WWE funny as Vince McMahon seems to love a good body fluid gag. Sorry when I say a good one, I mean he probably loved it when Roman Reigns spiked his daughter's coffee causing her to vomit profusely on Vickie Guerrero in what is perhaps the most apt metaphor for how the WWE treated Vickie after Eddie's death.

Currently WWE, I feel, is trying to change certain reactions to this. I mean look at the big pieces of 'original programming' they've been pushing: The Edge and Christian Show that Totally Reeks of Awesomeness and Camp WWE. The interesting thing is comparing the two. Just before we continue, this isn't going to be a review of either show, not because they don't deserve it but because if they are or aren't funny is far too subjective a discussion for this occasion. But the simple thing is, Camp WWE is the new collaboration between WWE Studios and Seth Green of Robot Chicken and Oz the dreamy werewolf from Buffy fame (not Oz, the failed gimmick of Kevin Nash. Though he'd make a great werewolf). It's kind of your standard post-Seth McFarlane animated show for 'adults': a combination of mildly racy gags (Ric Flair fucks everything) with well-timed swears and occasional cartoon violence. Whether that's your cup of tea or not, the interesting thing about the first episode is how little it needs a knowledge of wrestling to be enjoyed, it's a product that could probably slot in next to Family Guy with little or no difficulty. I want to also take a moment to note that Vince McMahon already after one episode might be one of the greatest missed opportunities for the voice acting world, when he says he's going to hunt Cena down 'like a sexy dog', you believe it.

When you put it next to Edge and Christian Show, it couldn't be more difficult. The main difference is that Camp WWE is the wrestling equivalent of a 'what if...' Comic where they take loose versions of wrestler characters and translate them to a summer camp comedy environment but Edge and Christian are these days, basically Adam Copeland and William Reso. They are just two good friends who used to wrestle and now like to make jokes about it, it is a programme that is 100% built on knowledge of the product and fits in as many in-jokes as it can. As it happens, Edge and Christian's show, if taken entirely by the first episode, feels a lot more forced, it is entirely alienating to a non-wrestling fan. It is as much a show where everything is about wrestling as Camp WWE is a show that is attempting to make wrestling about everything. 

See I think that the Camp WWE approach has the ability to bring in new fans. I mean, Robot Chicken has an entirely different fanbase that can get eyes on the main show, if it worked for Total Divas, it could in theory work for this, if it wasn't hidden away on the Network where only 'we', the beloved few can find it. And herein lies the rub of 'wrestling funny', it's why Edge and Christian Show works if its for you, wrestling funny is only for wrestling fans. Have you ever tried to explain to someone who doesn't like wrestling why Ric Flair is awesome? It's impossible. Even I don't really understand it but then as I've acknowledged, I've heard about all his great matches, I've only seen I think one match of his pre-2004. Wrestling is a thing that you either get or don't and in many ways, the humour goes with that, sure you can have great spectrum crossing segments like Sheamus meeting Beaker or Drew Carey in the Royal Rumble (I still secretly wish they'd have him win) but for the most part, wrestling funny comes under 'it's hard to explain why, but it is'. 

But there are weird exceptions to all rules and just focusing on recent years, there has been one major exception to the rule of 'wrestling funny is only funny to wrestling fans' and that is of course, The New Day. There have been many articles (and many better ones than this) written about how the New Day have managed to get where they are purely off starting to do what they want to do but it is worth noting, they are just genuinely funny people. I defy anyone to not draw even the slightest amount of glee from their Wrestlemania entrance this year, they fell out of a giant box of cereal dressed as Dragonball-Z characters. It's genius, it's the perfect mix of nerdy, stupid and endearingly bonkers. But what works about them is their comedy isn't based on their abilities as wrestlers (in fact it has far more of a link to Xavier Woods' side job as host of YouTube gaming channel, UpUpDownDown), it is just about them making each other laugh more than even playing to the audience. Compare that to whatever the fuck they've been doing with R-Truth for the last few years and it's clear that they're light years ahead of a lot of others.

I'm not trying to say that wrestling isn't funny and can't be funny, it's just a peculiar kind of funny and frequently an alienating one. WWE's attempts to mine that are confusing. Is Camp WWE meant to be a casual animated show for wrestling fans or a casual wrestling show for animation fans? No one knows. All I know is that when I saw NXT Live at Sheffield Arena last year, there was a comedy match between Tye Dillinger and Bull Dempsey. Not only did Tye out-wrestle Bull but he also was funnier, unrelated, but at one point the crowd started a 'This Is Wrestling' chant. Ignoring the fact that no actual wrestling was going on, what we were watching was wrestling. It was a ridiculous, confusing charade that was designed to delight those who got it and baffle those who didn't but I'll be damned if those who got it, didn't seem to be having a ball.

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.

PPV Review: WWE Payback 2016 (Reigns vs. Styles)

On 1st May 2016, WWE aired Payback 2016 live from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, USA on PPV and on the WWE Network. 4 weeks removed from WrestleMania 32 and with 3 weeks until Extreme Rules 2016, Roman Reigns put the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the line against AJ Styles, Chris Jericho went one on one with Dean Ambrose and Sami Zayn collided with Kevin Owens...but was it any good? Let's take a look.

payback 2016 match card

Match 1 – WWE Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Tournament Final – Big Cass & Enzo Amore vs. The Vaudevillains: Aiden English & Simon Gotch

Match 2 – Singles – Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn

Match 3 – WWE Intercontinental Championship – The Miz (C) with Maryse vs. Cesaro

Match 4 – Singles – Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose 

Match 5 – WWE Women's Championship – Charlotte © with Ric Flair vs. Natalya with Bret “Hitman” Hart

Match 6 – WWE World Heavyweight Championship No Countout No Disqualification – AJ Styles vs. Roman Reigns ©

Commentary - John “Bradshaw” Layfield, Michael Cole, Byron Saxton & Kevin Owens (Miz vs. Cesaro only)

Sponsors - Tapout (Sports Clothing and Accessories), JC Penney (Mid-Range Department Store), Hulu (Ad-Supported Streaming Service) and Cricket Wireless (pre-paid Wireless Service Provider)


Theme Song - We Don't Have To Dance by Andy Black (Glam Metal)

fast-forward...WWE Tag Team Champion The New Day kicked off the show, with a brief promo about Beyonce and DMs...The shows hype package aired with a focus on this being the first show of a "New Era"...

cass and amore vs. the vaudevillains ended in a no contest

Ah man, poor Enzo Amore. Arguably the biggest match in the career of all four of these guys and after a promising opening it get's cut short by a nasty looking injury. Having never wrestled, it's difficult to say what exactly went wrong when Simon Gotch of The Vaudevillains went to through Amore to the outside, but to me it seemed like a simple miscalculation by both men, that resulted in Amore hitting his head off both the second and third ropes and then the canvas before rolling to the outside. It would later be revealed that Amore had suffered a concussion, so hopefully he'll be back in the ring sooner rather than later and we'll get a satisfying conclusion to WWE's Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's tournament. 

owens defeats zayn

They've wrestled each other in WWE NXT, WWE house shows, PWG, ROH, CZW, IWS and more, they've took their rivalry across the USA, Canada, England, Italy, UAE and Belgium, but this was arguably the biggest chapter in the on-going saga that is Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn. And boy did these two bring it on the big stage. From the hype package onwards it was clear to anyone that this was two characters with major beef and with that package filling in a little of the extra details on the background, Owens and Zayn set about producing a satisfying collision. It can be very difficult to get across the hatred between two characters within the confines of a normal one on one contest and many matches have ended up falling flat because of this, but from the opening exchange it was clear that the pair would be just fine.

With a captive audience, Owens and Zayn went about creating a great match, that played to both the performers and characters strengths. The bigger Owens controlled the pace of the bout well, taking time to interact with the crowd and whip them into a frenzy, whilst The Underdog from the Underground's offence came in fits and bursts as he scraped and clawed to try beat his most-storied rival. There was a brilliant sequences in the second half of the bout that started with Owens hitting two cannonballs in the corner and concluded with The Prizefighter dodging a Helluva Kick by nailing a big lariat, with lots of twists and turns in between. The action was crisp and smooth throughout the whole bout, it was clear that these two have almost 13 years of in-ring history, with a lot of the match seemingly happening on instinct.

The clash was built nicely around Owens attempting to hit the Pop-Up Powerbomb with the former ROH World Champion almost executing the move on various occasions, meaning that when he finally did hit the move it was a satisfying conclusion to the contest. Having Owens win the bout completely clean was the most interesting development here, I've been saying for a while I've got a feeling that he'll be turning face sooner rather than later, but it has to be said that the finish kind of cut the legs from underneath the enjoyable feud with Zayn. A post-match interview with Byron Saxton seemingly shifted Owens onto a new-path almost instantly, as he declared his interest in earning back the WWE Intercontinental Championship and joined the commentary team for the next match.

fast-forward...Promo package for upcoming WWE Network shows, including Camp WWE, The Edge and Christian Show that Totally Reeks of Awesomeness, Swerved, Holy Foley, The Stone Cold Podcast, Extreme Rules 2016, Money in the Bank 2016...

miz defeats cesaro to retain wwe intercontinental championship

This cat and mouse bout kept the Rosemont crowd as energetic as ever, as Cesaro and The Miz fit a lot of narrative elements into just over ten minutes of action. The match featured Cesaro strongly, showcasing his explosive power with The Miz playing his chickenshit heel role very well as he was helped by his wife and manager Maryse at various points throughout the bout, whilst also focusing on The Swiss Superman's taped up shoulder. The clash flowed well, with a number of big moments being placed along the story, like Cesaro powering out of a headlock with a beautiful deadlift verticle suplex and a well-timed false finish that saw Cesaro run shoulder first into the ringpost and Miz hit a Skull-Crushing Finale only to get a two. 

The end of the fight was a little bit scrappy, with Sami Zayn returning to fight with guest commentator Kevin Owens, which would eventually cause the distraction that saw Miz steal a school-boy roll-up victory, moments after the referee had missed Miz tapping to a Crossface. Things felt a little directionless here, with that a little to do with Owens having already beaten Zayn clean twenty minutes earlier, with a feeling of WWE creative throwing as much shit at the wall as they could and hoping that something would stick. This was seen most clearly in the brawl between all four men, which would once again see Owens standing tall after taking out both Cesaro and Zayn. Whilst still very watchable, I felt like the closing stretch of the encounter could have been much more satisfying with the two performers still to fully explore Cesaro's injured shoulder. 

ambrose defeats jericho

This was the weakest of the three marquee matches on the show in my opinion. That isn't to say that Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose was a bad match, because it wasn't, but I felt that the elements of this bout that were done well, were done better by either Zayn vs. Owens earlier on or Styles vs. Reigns later on. The pair looked a little bit awkward with each other at times and that lead to clunky sequences, with Jericho's reversal of an Bret's Rope elbow drop from Ambrose into a Walls of Jericho standing out as a particular dodgy sequence. Ambrose blocking a Codebreaker and falling back to hit a Wacky Line with Y2J just standing about waiting to get hit also lacked the slickness that might have made it work. 

Although I've started off with a fairly negative paragraph, this certainly wasn't a bad match, far from it. The pair worked a number of big spots that suited their chat show based feud, like their battle on the announce table that mirrored their clash a few weeks earlier on Monday Night RAW and Ambrose's long spell in the Walls of Jericho that would eventually lead to a lovely false finish with a small package. I thought that Jericho's character work was the strongest element of the contest, as he's slotted into a grumpy veteran role, arguing with the referee to help take control and spending large amounts of the contest employing a more ground and pound type offence than he's used in the past. 

The finish was a little different from what we're used to in WWE, as Ambrose blocked a Lionsault with his knees before managing to roll through and, after a lengthy struggle, hit Dirty Deeds to pick up a pinfall win. I thought Jericho really fighting to try to escape the move was a nice twist, as it not only put over Jericho's fear of the move, but also the strength of Ambrose for managing to hold on and hit the move. This is arguably the biggest win of Ambrose's career so far and puts him in a strong position as we head towards the summer. Quick shout-out to Jericho hitting a Double Underhook Backbreaker in this match, which was formerly used by CM Punk, under the name Welcome to Chicago!

charlotte "defeats" natalya to retains wwe women's championship 

A hit and miss kind of effort here from Charlotte and Natalya, as elements of their encounter worked really well, but unfortunately there was a couple of moments of clunkiness that creep into the clash. The overall storyline of the bout was probably the strongest part of the whole affair as Natalya started off going for the Sharpshooter, before Charlotte would begin to dominate the match with a focus on her opponent's legs. The idea of the WWE Women's Champions frustration at not being able to put Natalya away would creep into the final third of the match, which Charlotte handled well. The bout was let down a little with a couple of spots that were good ideas, but failed to be fully realised in their execution, like the spot on the outside where Natalya would rana Charlotte into the steel steps for example.

I have to admit that the finish resulted in me letting out an audience "Uh". Almost twenty years after the Montreal Screwjob and we're still bringing it up in angle? I get that Bret "The Hitman" Hart was back in the company and he was always going to be involved in the finish of the match in one form of another, but this? Referee Charles Robinson calling for the bell with Charlotte holding Natalya in the sharpshooter was a fairly unimaginative finish that left a sour taste in the match. It was a shame that having attempted to shift the focus back onto Women, rather than Divas, that the defining moment here was focused on the involvement of the competitors older male relatives.

vince mcmahon puts shane mcmahon and stephanie mcmahon in control of monday night raw

This would have been a good segment on Monday Night RAW, it would have been a great segment had it been ten minutes or so shorter, but it really had no place on PPV. There were parts of the segment that were indeed pretty entertaining with all three McMahon's putting on good character based performances, that seemed to work particularly well for the live crowd inside the Allstate Arena. Vince allowed the crowd to get "CM Punk" chants out of their system, showing that he really wasn't that bothered by it all, before helping his daughter get even more heat than she was already getting from her stellar performance. Shane had a pretty easy job as the protagonist, coming in last after Vince and Stephanie had already set him up with open goal. Shane repeating his gladiator style pandering to the crowd, by getting them to cheer when he pointed at himself and boo when he pointed as Stephanie was fun the first time round, but already tired by this point.

I think the biggest problem with this segment was the outcome. Having Vince decide that both Shane and Stephanie should be in control of Monday Night RAW wasn't a big enough decision that it earned it's place on PPV and needed a near twenty minute preamble. It didn't get me excited about the upcoming months at all, with the idea that Shane and Stephanie's antics will probably dominate television looming large in my mind. I know many were expecting a brand split (which is weird because I remember a lot of people looking forward to end of the brand split), and I was kind of expecting to see a major swerve and have a completely new authority figure appointed, but unfortunately this moment just couldn't live up to the expectations that WWE had created by placing it on a major show. 

fast-forward...The Kick-Off Panel Renee Young, Booker T, Jerry “The King” Lawler and Corey Graves chat about what we've seen so far tonight...Highlights of Kalisto retaining the WWE United States Championship over Ryback from Payback Kick-Off 2016...Hype package for Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles later on...News on Enzo Amore's injury given by Cole...

styles defeats reigns by countout with reigns retaining wwe world heavyweight championship...shane re-starts the match with no countouts...styles defeats reigns by disqualification with reigns retaining wwe world heavyweight championship...stephanie restarts the match with no disqualification...reigns defeats styles to retain wwe world heayvweight championship

If you ever wondered whether AJ Styles could hang in a WWE main event, then this match surely answered that question as Styles put in a terrific performance opposite WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns. The two men slotted together extremely well to make the wrestling portion of the match a pleasure to watch, pulling together a number of component to create a rich encounter. Styles was presented as the "veteran" of the bout, with the commentary team emphasing this throughout much of the earlier part of the bout, with the exclamation point coming with Styles leading Reigns in a chase around the ring before rolling inside to take control. Reigns' power was also a focus, presenting an interesting audio-visual combination as the majority of the crowd was in opposition to the current champ. 

The sports-entertainment elements of the bout drove the narrative, as we saw Styles win the match twice. Firstly, Styles won via countout after hitting a Phenomenal Forearm that sent Reigns through the announce table, with Shane McMahon heading out to restart the match with No Coutouts, before The Phenomenal One picked up the win again, this time by disqualification after Reigns inadvertently hit his challenger low after Styles came off the top rope with Stephanie McMahon out to restart the match this time. It was a fairly obvious way to get across the relationship between Shane and Stephanie being in joint control, whilst also allowing Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to get involved in the action without causing a DQ. Not the most original piece of booking, it did manage to do a number of jobs at the same time.

The final portion of the clash coming after Stephanie McMahon coming out, was definitely the best part of the match. There was a lot going on with Gallows and Anderson coming out to attack Reigns, The Usos coming out to help their cousin, lots of sweet near falls, brawling around the outside and into the crowd, which built nicely to an exciting conclusion to the action. The finish that saw Styles dodge a Superman Punch from Reigns, before Reigns ducked a Phenomenal Forearm attempt and nailed his challenger with a Spear to pick up the victory and finally retain his championship. Taking in a lot of different styles and having a strong variety of action, Reigns and Styles produced a brilliant WWE main event, that set WWE on right path heading out of WrestleMania 32.

fast-forward...The show closed with Mr. McMahon encouraging Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon to book a rematch between AJ Styles and Roman Reigns for Extreme Rules in three weeks time...

finally...

atpw scale rating - 6.42/10

For me, this was WWE's best PPV offering of the year, so far, just about edging out January's Royal Rumble event. The three marquee bouts all delivered to some degree and whilst Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose wasn't quite the match that it should have been, we still got a world class main event between Roman Reigns and AJ Styles with plenty of quality action and sports-entertainment tomfoolery, whilst Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn bought their war to it's highest point so far. Cesaro and The Miz's WWE Intercontinental Championship bout was the highlight of an undercard that was let down by a couple of bizarre booking decisions. Had it not been for the unfortunate injury to Enzo Amore cutting the opening match short, I'd expect that this show would have gotten a much stronger rating, as well!

WWE made a real statement with this PPV, in terms of it's post-WrestleMania 32 direction, we'll have to see if they can continue their strong form in three weeks' time in Newark, New Jersey for Extreme Rules 2016.