TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1215 - Sami Zayn v Kevin Owens 6

Aired - 5th September 2016

After #1214 had seen Kevin Owens win the vacant Universal Championship, #1215 would feature the newly minted champion going up against his fiercest rival, Sami Zayn, in the main event. After producing a number of WWE classics over the last two years, could Owens and Zayn create another masterpiece and kick start the era of The Kevin Owens Show?

I don't think that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn could ever have a bad match, actually I don't think that they are capable of doing anything less than very good bout together. Using a number of motifs from their previous outings, Zayn fought well from underneath, getting a number of near falls, whilst Owens came across as a dick as he repeatedly went to hit Zayn with an apron powerbomb. The match was full of the smooth reversals that you'd expect from two familiar opponents, whilst still having the impact of two guys who hate each other's guts. The finish called back to Zayn's match with Seth Rollins two weeks earlier, as The Underdog from the Underground would hurt his ankle as he went for the wristlock springboard tornado DDT, and after had been able to hit a nasty looking half and half suplex on the floor he was unable to get across the ring quick enough to hit the Helluva Kick, allowing Owens to nail a superkick and powerbomb to get the win and take their WWE series to 3-2. A brilliant piece of booking to have Owens first match as champion against Zayn, as it guaranteed a very good main event, whilst also allowing Owens to pick up a win over the man that most recently defeated him. At the close of the show, Owens would end up having a stare down with Roman Reigns, with General Manager Mick Foley booking a match between the two for #1216 with the possibility of The Juggernaut joining the title bout at Clash of Champions with a victory. It's definitely worth noting that the final image as RAW went off the air was Reigns standing on the turnbuckle, as seen above.

After the shocking events of last week, Seth Rollins would get an opportunity to take out his frustrations on Kevin Owen's Jeri-KO tag team partner, Chris Jericho. This lead to the second TV bout between the two being the match of the night, driven by the fire of The Architect as he batter Jericho around the ringside area on numerous occasions, whilst the level-headed Y2J was able to take control between the ropes, using anything opportunity that Rollins left open for him, including using the referee to hit a triangle dropkick! As Rollins continues his babyface turn, Jericho was a clever opponent to place him with, as he's been doing some of the best heel work of his career recently and his style clashes with Rollins' in all the right ways. After Rollins had hit a slingblade and a blockbuster, the pair put on some slick sequences, with near falls dotted throughout, that made for an exciting final third. Jericho catching Rollins springboard flying knee and turning it into the Walls of Jericho was a particular highlight, as was a sequence that saw The Architect block a superplex, then miss a Frog Splash before Y2J hit a Lionsault. If the lead up had been enthralling the finish picked things up a notch, as Jericho kept up with the man 15 years his younger in a swift back and forth sequence that saw Rollins get the emphatic win with a Pedigree.  

Bayley continued to shine on the big stage as she defeated Women's Champion Charlotte in a smashing opening match. The pair produced a simple narrative, that they performed well and kept the crowd hooked throughout a number of near falls. Bayley had appeared to injure her right knee when trying to hit her running baseball dropkick, under the bottom turnbuckle, and like a shark who smells blood, the Nature Girl went straight for the leg on the outside. The leg injury would used to create a number of hope spots, as Bayley would appear to be about to make a comeback, either for the leg to give out or Charlotte to manage to hit the target with another vicious move. One of my favourite moments was Bayley managing to block a Figure 8 attempt, only for the champ to lock in a single leg Boston crab. Each of these little moments meant that when Bayley went for a school-boy pin out of nowhere, the crowd popped big, but they'd pop even bigger when Bayley kicked out of a roll up and sent Charlotte in Dana Brooke at ringside and even bigger when Bayley hit a Bayley to Belly to get the win! It was star performance from Bayley, her selling was perfect throughout every moment, getting across the pain and making that victory seem even more impressive. A Women's title match at Clash of Champions is surely coming her way!


The arena show began with a red-hot in-ring celebration for the new Universal Champion Kevin Owens, presented by Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and General Manager Mick Foley, interrupted by Seth Rollins. The interactions between the four was enthralling television, that jolted around like a dodgem car as it headed toward Foley booking a title match between The Prizefighter and The Architect for the 25th September supercard, Clash of Champions. Owens was supremely good as he looked every inch of the top guy his belt suggest that he is, turning on Kansas City's "You Deserve It" chants, claiming they were trying to steal the spotlight from him and also claiming that he had the match "98% won" and Triple H only helped to do what was right! He's great about being a dick. Rollins bought the passion of a babyface, but his verbiage suggests he hasn't quite turned yet, as he seemed to using some heely hypocritical phrases when complaining about Owens relationship with Triple H. The crowd went nuts when the two had a bit of a scrap and that probably should have been it as the bickering between McMahon and Foley over whether Rollins was suspended or not was a bit awkward and unnecessary. Still this was an exciting start to the show and kick-started a new feud that will only get better over the next three episode's before Clash of Champions!

I feel like the less said about The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) segment with Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) and their retired counterparts from the future The Old Day the better. Seriously, I just want to forget that it even happened. *takes deep breath* So, basically The Club continued their retirement gimmick, as they talked about attacking The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) two weeks earlier and then introduced The Old Day, who were apparently from the future where they live in The Club's Retirement Home. Whilst there were some cool touches on the entrance, like a slower version of the New Day's theme, the crowd gave Gallows & Anderson complete indifference throughout and all the jokes were lame. Just when you thought The New Day would save the day, they began talking about what would happen if they touched their "older selves". How am I supposed to react to that? Not every sci-fi trope works in wrestling. The segment would conclude with E, Kingston & Woods taking out the Old Day after The Club had scarpered. 

Also in the tag team division, The Shining Stars (Epico and Primo) picked up a surprise victory over Big Cass and Enzo Amore in a lively encounter. Things began with Cass & Amore interrupting Epico and Primo and doing a weird skit about being in labour, because it was Labour Day in the US, which wasn't funny at all. Cass just about made it work with a bizarre breathing routine thing that kept the crowd involved. The match was much better than I was expecting it to be, as Epico and Primo were finally given a bit of time to show off what they could, which included Epico hitting the Trileda [belly to back suplex, german suplex and a brainbuster in quick succession] as Amore worked the face in peril role. Cass' polished hot tag routine would run into the shock finish as after Primo had thwarted a Badaboom Shaka Laka attempt, Epico was able to roll-up Amore to pick up the victory. I enjoyed seeing a different tag team getting a spotlight to show what they could provide Monday Night's and after being held back by their gimmick it looks like The Shining Stars might finally be ready to cash in on their potential.

Cesaro and "The Celtic Warrior" Sheamus's Best of Seven Series had already reached Match Three and with Sheamus already 2-0 up, the drama was beginning to build between the pair. I'm a sucker for storytelling and especially continuity, so having the bout revolve around the back that Cesaro had injured in the previous match after being sent back first into the ring post, made me a very happy man. The Swiss Superman made the moment, as after an initial face-shine with plenty of uppercuts, he took a back bodydrop and had to roll out of the ring because of the pain. Clasping his back and grimacing as he tried to fight off his foe was marvelous stuff, whilst being unable to fully push Sheamus into the air with his regular uppercut, because of the back was even better. The narrative would conclude with The Celtic Warrior hitting a series of Irish Curse Backbreakers with more venom than they've had behind them in years, before a Brogue Kick would take him to 3-0 in the Series. The duo are scheduled to have Match 4 of the Series on 7th September in London at a house show and if there first three matches have been anything to go by, the duo will thrive in an environment with less restrictions and the heightened theatre.

Sasha Banks proved that she was worth more than her weight in gold, as she put on a mesmerising performance on the microphone, despite what the lame Kansas City audience would've had you believe. The segment had been pushed as being Banks' time to deliver some bad news and it followed all your usual tropes of a retirement speech, calling back to Daniel Bryan's emotional "farewell" in February. It felt real, an element that is so important but often lacking from modern day WWE and was easy to build an emotional connection towards, not just because of it sharing tropes with previous speech, but also the stories that Banks chose to tell and the reality behind them. Luckily for us, Banks wasn't out to retire however and after Dana Brooke had headed to the ring, interrupting Sasha as she mentioned she had received some bad news from her Doctor, in an attempt to send Banks away "on her terms", proving she spent way too much time with The Club last week, the former Team B.A.D. member quickly got the better of Charlotte's protege making her tap to the Banks Statement. The segment ended with Banks revealing that the bad news was for Charlotte, as she would taking back the Women's title when the pair met at Clash of Champions.

Over the last few weeks, the main thing that's been making me tear my hair out while watching RAW has been the Prime Time Players explode storyline. The storyline had about as much momentum as a clamped car when it began and somehow it's managed to go backwards. This week Darren Young would go over Jinder Mahal, after Titus O'Neil had tried to get involved. Young even managed to make the transition into his finish clunky as he fumbled around before hitting the Gutcheck double knee gutbuster. Things were made almost unbearable by O'Neil on commentary only having one thing to say about Young and his life coach, Bob Backlund, "When was Darren great in the first place?". It was boring a few weeks ago, it's pain inducing now and with no heel heat it's clearly not working. Young would brawl with O'Neil after the contest and the number of people who gave a fuck decreased even further.

Best of the Rest 

• Sin Cara put up some fight against Braun Strowman, but eventually lost by countout after being dragged under the bottom rope and straight into the barricade
• A backstage segment with Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley opened the show as an emotional McMahon promised Foley that she had nothing to do with Triple H's involvement in last week's main event.
• Ann Esposito got in the most offence of anyone against Nia Jax so far, but Jax still proved she's not like most girls with a quick victory with a powerslam. It would appear that Jax is moving into a feud with Alicia Fox, who was presented as a close friend of Esposito. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.83/10

If we forget that The Old Day skit and the Titus O'Neil and Darren Young feud exists, then this was a cracking episode of Monday Night RAW. With those two things, as well as lacklustre crowd, then it's still closer to good than it is average. 

Whilst not having Triple H appear on the show seemed like miscue, there were three good matches at the top of the card, with Owens v Zayn, Jericho v Rollins and Bayley v Charlotte all scrapping it out to become match of the night, as well as a strong storytelling bout in Cesaro and Sheamus' Best of Seven Series on the undercard as well! Add to that a red-hot opening segment as Owens celebrated his title, as well as the Sasha Banks promo and you've got over an hour of good to great wrestling television! (RAW's run-time is around two and a quarter hours without ad-breaks) 

With Roman Reigns v Kevin Owens already booked for next week and number of other storylines only just beginning, it looks like we should be in for an entertaining three weeks as we head towards Clash of Champions. That's if we can put up with The Primetime Players scrapping for that long! 

Words - James Marston

Banner - Kai Stellar

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #630 - Brother Nero & Matt Hardy v The Tribunal

Aired - 11th August 2016

For the first time in four week's TNA aired IMPACT Wrestling live, as Brother Nero and Matt Hardy teamed up to face The Tribunal and Lashley put his World Heavyweight and X-Division Championships up against "The Cowboy" James Storm's King of the Mountain title, but would that produce a great hour and a quarter of television? 

Matt Hardy and Brother Nero [Jeff Hardy] have been all over TNA's product for some time now and their storyline progressed as they teamed up to face The Tribunal (Baron Dax [Marcus Louis] and Basille Baraka [Tom LaRuffa]). Before the bout, there was a tremendously entertaining segment that began with Hardy calling out Nero, as well as planting a seed that he'd had a premonition that Tag Team Champions The Decay (Abyss, Crazzy Steve & Rosemary [Courtney Rush]). As with pretty much anything involving The Hardy Boyz in 2016, it was incredibly watchable and immensly quotable with Nero perhaps outshining Hardy's madness with lines like "Let's talk about last week, why did you bite a part of a man's face off?" and "If I'm a mule, you two [The Tribunal] are miniature donkies". The only let down was that we had to hear the Tribunal talk, with their act boiling down to telling they crowd that they smell and being French. 

The match took on a similar style to that of Hardy & Nero's bout with Chuck Taylor and JT Dunn on #629, with Obsolete Mule doing most of the work, whilst Broken stayed on the outside, for the most part. The most interesting stuff though came on the outside, as Hardy appeared to hypnotise a fan to rip up his pro-Jeff Hardy sign and join him in screaming "Delete! Delete!". It was different, but not out of place from the rest of this bonkers feud. The first story development would see Hardy bite the fingers of The Tribunal's manager, Al Snow, before throwing Dax into the steel steps. We hadn't seen Hardy do anything to aid Nero the previous week, so it was cool to see this change, especially as Nero went on to pick up the win with a Twist of Fate on Baraka. The sinister conclusion as Nero seemed to snap, hitting Dax, Baraka and Snow with numerous Twist of Fates, before hitting a slingshot crossbody to Snow that would put him through a table. I became clear that Nero had joined his brother on the Broken side, as he through himself off the top rope through another table, in a what the fuck did I just watch moment. It's the logical direction for the story to take and with both brothers now Broken it opens up even more storyline possibilities. 

Lashley's dominance continued as he ended "The Cowboy" James Storm's King of the Mountain title reign after just a week, in a bout that also had The Destroyer's World Heavyweight and X Division titles on the line! This was a good show-closer, that had a captive audience from the opening bell. The first spot of the match was a brilliant call back to Storm's 2011 World title win, as he nailed Lashley with a Last Call superkick, but unlike the victory over Kurt Angle, the referee, Brian Hebner, was too busy getting ring announcer, Jeremy Borash out of the ring, resulting in only a two count for Storm. The crowd were so into the moment and those that could remember back to 2011 were at the very least given a nostalgic buzz. It was a shame that it took two or three minutes before commentators Josh Matthews and "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero made the connection between the two events, as an on-the-ball commentator would have upped the drama and made the moment even better. 

Both men played their roles well, with Lashley beating the shit into Storm shortly after the start, controlling the bout whilst The Cowboy was a hot and fiery babyface getting a number of hope spots before hitting a lung blower and Eye of the Storm [Spinning crucifix cross] for a near fall. After this though, I feel like the last portion of the bout should have been booked a little tighter than it was, however if this is Storm's final match in TNA (which seems to be the case, as of writing) then having Lashley kick out of two further Last Call's is perhaps a little more understandable, as it gives The Dominator a further rub and makes him look even stronger than before. The finish, however, didn't do a whole lot for me, as Lashley no-selling a codebreaker and hitting a spear, made it even harder to suspend my disbelief, because this didn't make much sense at all. There were ways of putting over Lashley strong in the finish that would have been more effective. However, the match did benefit from not having the interference that has hampered a couple of TNA main events recently.

Lashley and James Storm had been out earlier on as well, in an opening segment that involved Ethan Carter III, "The Miracle" Mike Bennett, Moose and Eddie Edwards. For me, this segment was trying to do way too much at the same time and actually ended up achieving very little across the ten minutes. EC3's initial promo was uncharacteristically lacking direction, treading over ground about searching for perfection and being on a quest to be the best, whilst Lashley came out said he was the best and then Storm interrupted Lashley and chatted about poop whilst his microphone appeared to break. The segment would conclude with Lashley and Storm brawling up the entrance way, whilst EC3 would be jumped from behind by Bennett and Moose, with Edwards making the save, with a tag match being scheduled for later on. 

The debut had been teased for week's and Aron Rex [Damien Sandow] finally made his debut in TNA as he came to the ring to cut a promo. I've got a lot of time for Rex on the microphone, but this speech did next to nothing for me. It was the kind of promo that we've seen numerous times from ex-WWE talents after they've been fired and headed out to TNA. I'm sure that dumb smarks were jerking off to it, because it was semi-shoot talking about how WWE never gave him the right opportunities and how he'd get those opportunities in TNA etc. The fact that the character started the promo by saying he wasn't going to talk about what he went on to talk about was very frustrating. The crowd weirdly chanted "You deserve it", which didn't help the situation. Josh Matthew's saying that it was "shoot" on commentary was just stupid. I'd have preferred Rex to have gone straight into a storyline and to have been debuted in a way that had actual significance or shock value, as this was way too pedestrian and didn't give me any reason to find out what Rex would be up to next. 

The aforementioned Moose & Mike Bennett vs. Eddie Edwards & Ethan Carter III tag contest was a decent opening contest, that featured some cool spots, but could have done with a bit more time. The section which I'd have liked to have seen extended slightly was Bennett & Moose's heater, as Edwards could have done with having a longer time as the face in peril. It would've made more of the franky fantastic hot tag sequence that saw EC3 cleaning house, before both he and Edwards nailed suicide dives in stereo. The heroic duo played the moment perfectly, building towards the dives and making the moment feel special. Edwards would also later pull out a Frankensteiner on Bennett, for another highlight. The finish cleverly built up the fledgling Bennett and Moose unit, as after The Miracle had sent EC3 into the steel steps, Moose would nail Go to Hell (Sitout chokebomb to an opponent seated on a turnbuckle) on Edwards, with Bennett getting the pin. It showed what the two could do when on the same page, but also teased that they might not be on that page for all that long. 

In the only women's action, Gail Kim's quest for a Knockout's Championship shot as she clashed with Marti Bell, in a bout that Maria Kanellis-Bennett had made a No DQ match. Kim and Bell showed potential with an early scrap, but the match quickly descended into an interference-laden affair as the MKB & Kim feud slapped the viewer hard in the face. The First Lady of Wrestling and her apprentice Allie [Cherry Bomb] were out at ringside almost instantly, whilst MKB would send Allie into the ring with Bell's knightstick after a few minutes also. Kim would even get the win after sending Allie and the knightstick into Bell. Despite a nasty looking blockbuster from Kim at one point, I'm pretty certain that if allowed to wrestle for more than two minutes that Kim and Bell would have been able to create some compelling action and used the No DQ gimmick to create some cool spots, with MKB already making the match No DQ then the idea of her putting Kim through hell to earn an opportunity would still have been present, whilst Bell would hardly have been hurt from losing clean to someone who will be inducted into TNA's Hall of Fame in October!

Best of the Rest 

• Drew Galloway [Drew McIntyre] challenged Ethan Carter III to put his World Heavyweight Championship shot at Bound For Glory on the line against him, in a passion in-ring promo, that heigtened the rivalry between the pair as Galloway called EC3 a "snake in the grass". 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.22/10 

This episode wasn't quite as good as the previous week's, but was still a step in the good direction, remaining the right side of average. That's thanks mostly to the show's top two matches, with Hardy & Nero v The Tribunal proving to be the best thing on the show, mainly because I'm in love with "Broken" Matt and the revelation of a "Broken" Nero should prove glorious, whilst Lashley v Storm also featured some good quality action. The only part from the undercard that I felt managed to come close to this level was the Edwards & EC3 v Moose & Bennett tag bout. If Galloway's promo had been a bit longer it would've bump up the score, as well.

It's a shame that the rest of the undercard didn't manage to match these standards, with the opening segment lacking clear direction, Rex's debut being the same old shit and the No DQ bout between Kim and Bell being a bit of a mess. 

The next episode has got a four team Ladder match to decide the #1 Contenders to The Decay's Tag Team titles, so that's gonna be great, yah? 

Words - James Marston 
Banner - Kai Stellar 

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #629 - Ethan Carter III v Mike Bennett 4

Aired - 4th August 2016

With less than two months until the biggest show of the year, Bound For Glory, Ethan Carter III and Mike Bennett battled in the final of the Bound for Glory Play-Offs for a shot at Lashley's World Heavyweight Championship and James Storm got a shot at Eli Drake's King of the Mountain title, but would TNA kick-off August in style? 

With an opportunity to main event the biggest show of the year on the line, TRP's Mike Bennett and Ethan Carter III met in the Final of the Bound for Glory Play-Offs in a good main event. This was a match of two halves for me, with the first part seeing Bennett focus on EC3's injured ribs and the second part featuring interference from Bennett's muscle Moose and Eddie Edwards, as well as Maria Kanellis-Bennett. Both parts have their merits, with the first portion of course being my favourite with some great selling from EC3, especially when delivering moves during the shed-load of hope spots he had, but I have to say that I would've preferred that the two had been meshed together a bit better without feeling like two different bouts. Bennett's near falls towards the end of the match would have been stronger if they'd have involved the injured ribs in some way or another. 

The BFG Play-Offs have been somewhat marred by the high amount of interference, meaning that whilst the match have been fairly entertaining, that no one in particular has been able to stand out or really make the tournament their own. Bennett had previously beaten a Brother Nero who could barely walk and Drew Galloway [Drew McIntyre] after accidental interference from EC3 and out of the two men in the final he was the man who could've benefited the most from a strong showing in the earlier round. EC3 has had four shots at the belt on TV this year already, whilst The Miracle is yet to fight for TNA's main prize. Yes, Bennett is a heel and part of that is getting cheap victories, but there's a different a cheap victory and a lucky victory. Taken in isolation I don't think the overbooking would have bothered me as much as it did produce a number of strong false finishes, one coming off EC3 ducking a singapore cane shot and hitting a One Percenter [Headlock Driver] and another coming from a cane shot and MIP [Samoa Driver] from Bennett. However, in the context of the tournament, I feel that the bout and the entire tournament in general could have been booked a lot cleverer and done more to help the likes of Bennett, Bram and Eli Drake all of whom had yet to hold TNA's top prize. 

In the semi-main, "The Cowboy" James Storm ended Championship Wrestling From Hollywood's Eli Drake's [Shaun Ricker] two month run with the King of the Mountain title in good short bout, that had a number of strong near falls. The action wasn't always the smoothest, but the contest was full of bright ideas like Drake jumping to the top rope to meet Storm for a superplex, that although they could have been performed crisp, were still impressive. There was a good sense of the tension between the two, as they scrapped on the outside before the match, whilst both men bought some fire to their performances throughout. The final stretch called back to their previous encounters on screen with Drake taking a sip of The Cowboy's beer, spitting it indirectly into the referee's eyes, meaning that a school-boy roll-up from Storm was missed by the ref. Moments later Drake nailed a belt shot which made for smashing false finish. It could have gone longer, but Drake and Storm did a good job with the time allocated in what has to be one of the strongest bouts of the King of the Mountain Championships tumultuous history. 

Following the match, there was a segment that arguably should have been held off til the next episode, in which World Heavyweight & X Division Champion Lashley would head to the ring to challenge Storm for a future title for titles bout down the line. The Destroyer isn't the best talker, but can usually do a job with the right material, however the material wasn't great here. He spent most of his time critcising WWE for sending football teams title belts, which seemed like an odd thing to talk about, because I don't remember anyone having much of an opinion on that practice in the first place. It placed the attention on an entirely different company rather than building an upcoming Lashley v Storm bout. Luckily, Storm was on blinding form on the microphone, building a story for the contest on his own, talking about not having a World title shot for years, as well as bringing up his first title win over Kurt Angle in 2011, as he went on to accept the challenge. 

The Hardy saga continued this week as "Broken" Matt Hardy revealed his desire to win the tag titles to Brother Nero [Jeff Hardy] and their road to the belts, currently in the possession of The Decay [Abyss & Crazzy Steve] began. After the promos full of the eccentricities that have made the Broken character such a fun character to watch, Hardy would introduce CHIKARA's Chuck Taylor and Beyond's JT Dunn as Nero's opponent in what was essentially a handicap contest, with instruction that The Obsolete Mule was banned from hitting anything from the top rope. The match got overshadowed somewhat by Hardy's action at ringside as he assaulted a planted fan, pulling him over the guard and biting his face, leaving his mouth covered in blood. It was weird moment, but it certainly made me sit up and take notice. Hardy would eventually take the pin after spending the entire match on the outside, in what became a very silly, yet thoroughly entertaining contest.

The show had begun with a segment involving the two men who would battle in the main event, as Ethan Carter III and Mike Bennett took part in an interview with Jeremy Borash. This was mainly put together to add the storyline element to the main event, as Bennett and Moose would eventually assault EC3, where Moose would end up hitting his Go to Hell [Sitout chokebomb to an opponent seated on the top turnbuckle] on EC3. The lead to this featured two strong promos from both men, who fit very well together as characters, with EC3 able to mix some comedy in whilst still getting across his dislike for The Miracle and Bennett always managing to get under the crowd's skin with his attitude. The interaction added an extra layer to the main event, whilst also getting across both men's motivation for the bout clear. 

Gail Kim continued to build her case for a shot at the Knockout's Championship with a victory over the Champion SHINE's Sienna [Allysin Kay] and SHIMMER's Allie [Cherry Bomb] in a handicap bout. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this encounter, as when Maria Kanellis-Bennett announced it I let out a little groan. There were elements of it that I didn't quite warm to, which were mainly the supposedly comedic efforts from Allie based around her being unable to do simple moves like a body slam, however I can see why someone else might have found them funny. What I did like however was the way the story of the bout played out, with the Sienna and Allie odd-ball team, hinging on Sienna's reactions to Allie's outright annoying behaviour. With Sienna reluctant to do any more than the minimum work, this created an interesting story, with Kim doing a stellar job as the underdog babyface. The finish worked well with Kim managing to dodge The Silencer [Running low-angle shoulder block] from AK47, leading to Allie taking the brunt of the move and Kim continuing on her run to earning a shot at the title she lost in April. 

If two handicap matches (Yeah, I'm counting the Hardy Boyz v Taylor & Dunn as a handicap match, because that's what it was) weren't enough for ya, TNA wasn't gonna let you down as Al Snow teamed with duo The Tribunal (WWE's Baron Dax [Marcus Louis] & Basille Baracca [Tom LaRuffa]) to face ICW's Grado and Mahabali Shera. This was a basic contest, that mainly hang on Shera's ability to make a babyface comeback and Dax & Baracca's ability to control the match and cut off the ring. Unfortunately, both weren't done particularly well, with Shera's comeback mainly consisting of scoop slams and no-selling and The Tribunal's heat segment seeing them constantly whip Grado into the side of the ring nearest Shera. A section where Grado and Shera hit some double team moves, including Shera throwing Grado into the Roll n' Slice cannonball, was the highlight of the contest. The finish was a bit of a weird one with Shera blocking a brass knux punch from Snow and hitting his Sky High sitout spinebuster for the victory.  

Best of the Rest 

• Rosemary continued to tell Bram about her childhood in a delipated barn, she told him her boyfriend touched her up there and because like Nia Jax she's not like most girls, she kicked off and went dead dark and shit. Bram told her to get over it, so World Tag Team Champions The Decay (Abyss & Crazzy Steve) turned up and apparently killed him. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.56/10 

I've noticed that this review can probably come across as a bit negative, but I honestly rather enjoyed this episode of IMPACT Wrestling. The two headline bouts were good matches and also had accompanying segments that either set them up the bout or took the storyline in a different direction. Outside of this was an entertaining development in the Hardy saga, including an appearance from one of my favourite indy performers Chuck Taylor. 

The handicap bouts could have been spread out a little, but the only match that I actively disliked was the Grado & Shera v Snow & The Tribunal situation, which failed to capture my attention. 

This was the best episode of IMPACT Wrestling since #626 Destination X, as TNA continues to put out a mostly above average to good television product. With the next episode once again featuring two high profile matches, as Matt Hardy & Brother Nero team up to face The Tribunal and James Storm puts his King of the Mountain Championship on the line against Lashley's World Heavyweight and X Division belts, I'd expect that episode to reach similar levels.

Words - James Marston

Banner - Kai Stellar 

TV Review: WWE Cruiserweight Classic #8 - Akira Tozawa v Gran Metalik

Aired - 31st August 2016

The Cruiserweight Classic had reached the Quarter Final stage and this episode featured two mouth-watering clashes, as Dragon Gate's Akira Tozawa tangled with CMLL's Gran Metalik and DDT's Kota Ibushi battling WWE veteran The Brian Kendrick. Would WWE be able to up the ante for the stellar Second Round stage? 

Arguably, the show's main event was the opening match between 4 time CMLL World Welterweight Champion Gran Metalik [Mascara Dorada] and 2 time Open the Triangle Gate Champion Akira Tozawa. In a first time meeting, the duo put on a great encounter, across a mixture of different styles. The pair melded their Mexican and Japanese styles tremendously well, with stunning dives, hard strikes and technical submissions, whilst the final few minutes bought a drop of sports-entertainment drama to proceedings. The narrative unfolded at a satisfying pace, with the duo going toe for toe from start to finish, exchanging periods of offence and using similar routines when doing so. Considering that Tozawa came out of the Dragon Gate dojo, which has more than a tad of a Lucha Libre influence and Metalik has had over 200 matches for NJPW then it really should have come as no surprise that the pair meshed so well. 

The narrative would reach it's peak, as it should, in the finish, with Tozawa able to kick out of the bridging German suplex that has eliminated FSW's Jack Gallagher and Kenneth Johnson in the second and first round respectively, before escaping a package version of the move and nailing a Metalik Driver [Samoan Driver] to get the three count. The tournament structure had allowed Tozawa to build up his German suplex as a legit finish, which meant it was a hugely convincing false finish, garnering a superb crowd reaction and also giving Metalik the rub having kicked out of it. As part of the storyline it was the natural conclusion to the match, with Metalik proving that his finisher was the deadlier of the two, after the pair fought an even back and forth encounter. Having Tozawa attempt the package German also gives Big Over somewhere to go if he returns to WWE and if that happens a rematch between the two would be a must. Metalik goes on to face either wXw's Zack Sabre Jr. or ICW's Noam Dar in the semi finals in two weeks time. 

Whilst I think, Metalik v Tozawa should have been the main event because of the international star power, I also felt that The Brian Kendrick and Kota Ibushi managed to one up them. Whilst the previous match melded two styles together, Kendrick v Ibushi made sure the two men's styles were kept completely separate and this presented a wonderful story as the match became less about Kendrick v Ibushi and more about The crafty veteran against the flashy up and comer. It was established early on that Golden Star had the edge on Kendrick in almost every category, hitting a snug roundhouse kick and a beautiful triangle moonsault in the opening exchanges, and from here on in we'd see The Post-Apocalyptic Scavenger pull out a number of sly acts that would keep him the running. Trapping Ibushi's leg in the guard rail as he attempted to get a countout win and hitting a neckbreaker on the apron that bought the 3 time IWGP Junior-Heavyweight Champion's surgically repaired neck across the metal turnbuckle were among the highlights of Kendrick's clever performance. 

It seemed clear that Ibushi was destined to reach the semi-final, but that certainty was called into question on numerous occasions in the closing stretch of the bout, as Kendrick got a number of tremendously close nears and Ibushi spent plenty of time in the Bully Choke [Grounded Reverse Chinlock], which both men played perfectly through their faces and movement. Twice Ibushi ended up in the hold that's put away Tony Nese and Raul Mendoza, with the second occasion seeing 34 year old DDT star missing a Phoenix Splash directly into the hold, and each time it was equally dramatic with Ibushi selling perfectly before, after and during the hold to get over it's strength and add to that turmoil. Throw into the mix a nasty Burning Hammer near fall for the former TNA X-Division Champion, with Daniel Bryan screaming for Kendrick to get to the cover on commentary and you had more drama than an Eastenders omnibus. When Ibushi got the win with mid-rope deadlift German suplex and the Golden Star Powerbomb [Elevated Sit-out Powerbomb] to claim the victory, it was a satisfying conclusion to a great contest. Ibushi goes onto a semi-final with EWF's TJ Perkins or WWE's Rich Swann.  

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 8.38/10

I wondered whether WWE would be able to lift the quality of the action that was produced across the three Second Round episodes for the Quarter Final and they definitely did, producing the best episode of the Cruiserweight Classic to date. Two very strong match, featuring a variety of action over the show meant that this was a more than satisfactory watch. By this stage you'd expect all four talents to be able to put on great matches and they delivered as Akira Tozawa, Gran Metalik, The Brian Kendrick and Kota Ibushi bought their A-game to help WWE raise the bar for their inaugural international series. 

With the next episode featuring two equally intriguing bouts as Zack Sabre Jr takes on Noam Dar and TJ Perkins battles Rich Swann, it has to be expected that the penultimate episode of the show will continue the trend.

Words - James Marston 
Banner - Kai Stellar

TV Review: WWE NXT #211 - Tye Dillinger v Buddy Murphy 2

Aired - 31st August 2016

For the second week in a row, Tye Dillinger found himself in the main event of NXT, this time taking on former Tag Team Champion Buddy Murphy, but would that be enough to end NXT's summer with a bang? 

This week's headline encounter saw "The Perfect Ten" Tye Dillinger continue to build momentum with a victory over Buddy Murphy in what was a solid outing for the pair. Whilst Dillinger is clearly a crowd favourite thanks to his Perfect Ten gimmick, I was particularly impressed with Murphy here, as he not only worked hard to allow Dillinger to look as good as possible, but also had a couple of promising moments himself. Whilst he may look like a boot-leg version of Triple H circa 2002, Murphy showed that he's got a little more about him this week, which included hitting a tasty meteora for a two count. Dillinger seemed to be resting on his Perfect Ten popularity to pull him through the match, as his comeback was especially basic here, not really containing anything to get too excited about, en route to getting the pinfall with the Tye Breaker [Fireman's carry neckbreaker]. I feel like if Dillinger wants to continue to main event NXT, then he needs to add a little bit more to his in-ring work, especially if working as a babyface. 

After thirteen previous attempt, Steve Cutler finally got himself a televised victory with a quick win over Kenneth Crawford, thanks to a Fisherman suplex slam, in the semi-main. I wasn't at all impressed with Cutler in his triumph however, as not only did he look like the budget lovechild of Baron Corbin and Corey Graves in his pre-commentary days, but he was pretty damn sloppy in the ring. The crowd clearly didn't have much time for him either, showering the bout with the sound of complete indifference. Crawford showed some moments of promise, including a nice running shooting star press, but also had his own fair share of slips and trips during the match. Considering Cutler has been in NXT since 2014, had a years worth of Indy experience before being signed and has faced talents now on the main roster like Baron Corbin, Chad Gable and Aiden English on a regular basis, he's nowhere near where you'd expect him to be at this point in his career. 

No Way Jose looked to build momentum following his Takeover: Brooklyn II loss to Austin Aries, with a swift success over Angelo Dawkins. This was a real nothing match, in which there seemed to be a vacuum on entertainment or anything notable before Jose got the pin with a Cobra clutch slam. If I'm going to criticise Steve Cutler for his tenure in NXT, then I need to bring up that Dawkins has been with the company since 2012 and lost 21 TV bouts in a row. His character is undefined as he comes to ring doing a weird stirring motion, whilst wearing two headbands like a shit Bobby Lashley and being extremely cocky for a chap who has lost 21 matches in a row. Jose finished things off by dancing in the crowd, which was nice. 

In his first appearance in the Full Sail Arena since winning the NXT Championship from Samoa Joe at Takeover: Brooklyn II, Shinsuke Nakamura came out and said a few words about his win. The crowd love The King of Strong-Style and they hang of his every word as he explained that he was still hurting from his match with Joe, but that doesn't matter because he has the belt in his signature charismatic style. It would certainly be impossible to criticise what was present on screen across the 6 minute segment, but I can't help feeling that it lacked any feel of drama and didn't advance anything in terms of story. As cool as it was to have Nakamura speaking directly to the crowd, everything that was done could have been done in a backstage interview, with this time given over to a lengthier main event or something with a bit more drive behind it. Closing the show with a promo that no matter how enthralling, was still a straight forward promo was a odd decision that didn't pay off completely. 

In the weakest contest of the evening, Liv Morgan and Aliyah worked a sloppy and illogical match in front of a crowd that was as dead as a dodo. There was some promise early on, but the match quickly showed up both women as not quite being ready for this kind of spotlight. Things like Aliyah not moving Morgan away from the ringropes when going for a pin shouldn't be happening by the time talents have come up to television, whilst Aliyah's wear down hold looked more like a finisher, which effected the flow of the contest and made it hard to believe that Morgan could actually have escaped it. Morgan picked up her first TV win with a nasty looking Reverse Roundhouse Kick, that needs a lot more polishing. With Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Alexa Bliss, Emma, Charlotte and Carmella all departing the roster over the last year or so, it's left Asuka holding up a skeleton of a division that Morgan and Aliyah aren't ready to contribute positively to. 

Best of the Rest 

• With Johnny Gargano out injured, Tag Team Champions The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) to advantage of the situation, attacking Tomasso Ciampa during an interview before destroying him in the ring.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 2.95/10 

Man, this was not a good episode of NXT. When the highlights are an average main event between Tye Dillinger and Buddy Murphy and an inconsequential promo from Shinsuke Nakamura, you know that the hour of TV that you've just watched probably wasn't that good. The three squash bouts left a lot to be desired, with no one involved coming off all that well. There's some talent down the lower portion of NXT's roster that currently aren't up to scratch, which is worrying considering the length of time that some of them have been attending the Performance Center. 

I'd expect the show to improve over the next few weeks, there's plenty of stars on the roster to do that, but there's questions that need to be asked about why more home-grown talent like Steve Cutler and Angelo Dawkins aren't cutting the mustard.

Words - James Marston
Banner Credit - Kai Stellar

Wrestle Ropes' Ready for the Weekend: September 2016 Week One - TCW, LCW & IPW:UK

This weekend we are back with another dose of wrestling goodness which shall see us travel to Darlington on Friday night. That is followed by a trip to Leicester on Saturday before a final stop on Sunday to Tonbridge in Kent. Let's get Ready For The Weekend! 

We kick off the weekend on Friday night when TIDAL Championship Wrestling return to The Dolphin Centre in Darlington with Come Out & Play. The event is scheduled to see three of their four championships on the line. 

The first championship defense will be the Tag Team Championship currently held by Caz Crash and Sam Wilder of The Proven. They'll be defending against the relativity new duo of The Service's Sean Only and Daniel James.The Tag Team Championship have been fought for by a number of teams since it's inception but this is the first time that The Service have challenged. The Proven have been worthy champions, picking up a win over Go Team Sports (Ace Matthews & David Graves) at July's High Tide 2016. The Service would really like to become champions as their whole intention in TCW is to cause trouble. Holding gold would be a key component of them achieving that goal. 

The next championship up for grab this Friday is the Women's Championship. The champion, Violet O'Hara maybe be small in stature but she easily makes up for that in fight. She's took on all comers in recent months and in Darlington will face Little Miss Roxxy. LMS has a great foundation as she was trained by current TCW Champion, Rampage Brown and British Wrestling legend, Marty Jones. O'Hara is probably going to need all that fight she has in her this Friday when she faces LMS who will be look for her first championship reign. 

The third and final title being defended in Darlington is the Open Championship which is round the waist of Liam Slater at this present time. His challenger is one of the most highly regarded young stars in British Wrestling, “The Righteous” Joseph Conners. Both these men are looked upon as the next big stars of British Wrestling but for their match this Friday they will be doing things in a more traditional way. Their match will be contested under World Of Sport Rules. The match will be broken down into six 5-minute rounds. A round can be won by pinfall, submission, disqualification, etc. The first man to score 2 falls in the match will be the winner. These matches are the way that champions were decided in previous years and it seems almost fitting that a way of tradition shall decide a champion for the future.

Match Card

World Of Sport Rules (6, 5-Minute Rounds, 2 Falls To A Finish) for Open Championship

Liam Lazarus vs “The Righteous” Joseph Conners

Singles Match for Women’s Championship

Violet O’Hara (c) vs Little Miss Roxxy

Tag Team Match for Tag Team Championship

The Proven (Caz Crash & Sam Wilder) (c) vs The Service (Dan James & Sean Only)

Singles Match

“The Gimmick Killer” HT Drake vs Josh Bodom

Singles Match

JD Boom vs Micky The Dragon

Three Way

Mihai vs “The Mexican Sensation” El Ligero vs Gabriel Kidd

Moving on to Saturday and Leicester Championship Wrestling host Face Off 2016 at their home, Brockington College in Enderby, Leicester. This event will be the last that owner, John Shipley will be in control for as a new owner will take control afterwards. The event certainly won't be a quiet one with numerous championship defences and a Money In The Bank match all taking place. 

One champion who will be action twice is “The Heavyweight House Of Pain” Stixx. Firstly, he'll be defending the LCW Championship against “The Heat” LJ Heron. “The Heat” is a dangerous man who can strike from almost anywhere and with devastating effect. His spear has defeated almost everyone at some point and he'll look to use it against Stixx to win the LCW Championship. 

Whether Stixx does walk away still champion or not, he'll be back in the ring later that night when he joins his partner, Joseph Conner to defend the Tag Team Championship against The Alpha Brothers [Johnny Alpha & Ricky Alpha]. This is the first time that Stixx and Conners will make a championship defense together and they'll hope it to be successful against the brotherly duo of The Alpha Brothers who are gunning for the gold. 

Anyone who is still a champion this Saturday after their matches will have to keep one eye open for the Money In The Bank holder who will be decided this Saturday. Xander Cooper, Gabriel Kidd, Alex Gracie, Chris Tyler, Paul Malen and Jim Hunter will all participate in this year's match with a blend of experience and youth. Anyone in this match is more than capable of winning and no one is a real favoruite. Whoever does win, could well be guaranteed to be a future champion.

Match Card

Singles Match for LCW Championship

“The Heat” LJ Heron vs “The Heavyweight House Of Pain” Stixx (c)

Tag Team Match for Tag Team Championship

The Alpha Brothers vs “The Righteous” Joseph Conners & “The Heavyweight House Of Pain” Stixx (c)

Four Way for LCW Young Guns Championship

White Tiger (c) vs TK Hayward vs Brett Ryans vs Tyler Owens

Six Man Cash In The Bank Ladder Match

Xander Cooper vs Gabriel Kidd vs Alex Gracie vs Chris Tyler vs Paul Malen vs Jim Hunter

Singles Match

Alexis Rose vs Lana Austin

Singles Match

H.C Dyer vs Lee Hunter

Also Scheduled

LCW Owner John Shipley Bids Farewell

We round of the wrestling weekend on Sunday with IPW:UK celebrating their 12th anniversary at The Angel Centre in Tonbridge. 

The event is probably the last time that Noam Dar will be competing for IPW:UK due to him joining WWE's Monday Night RAW roster in the very near future. He'll be going up against “The British Messiah” Timothy Thatcher, the current EVOLVE Champion. Both of these men are flying high in their careers right now and this match will be a great showcase of both men will be a real treat for those attending. 

Back at Royale Rewards in August, Tom Dawkins and Zack Gibson and a blistering match which only ended because they reached the 20-minute time limit. While the match showed that they can match each over at ever instance, we never found out who was the better man that night. Well this Sunday we shall as these two men compete once again but this time with no time limit. This match will go until there is a winner and it's time to see how far these men can go. 

The main event this Sunday will see a situation that has been on-going for a number of months come to a head. Sammy Smooth has been attempting to challenge for the World Championship since winning the Royale Rewards. Be it either Joseph Conners not being in attendance or heat of the moment decisions, Smooth hasn't yet managed to have a fair match. This Sunday while he won't be fighting for gold, he'll be out to prove a point as Smooth, Scott Star and The London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch) will face Conners, Jimmy Havoc and The Swords Of Essex (Paul Robinson & Scotty "Essex" Wainwright) in an 8-man no disqualification tag team match. To say there are a lot of variables and opportunities in this match would be an understatement. While Smooth will be looking to get a win over either Havoc or Conners, London Riots could get themselves a shot at the Tag Team Championship if they manage to get the win over The S.o.E. While this Sunday is a celebration for IPW:UK of the previous 12 years, it could also show us where the future is heading.

Match Card

8-Man No Disqualification Tag Team Match

Jimmy Havoc, “The Righteous” Joseph Conners & The Swords Of Essex (Paul Robinson & Scott Wainwright) vs SmoothStar (“Smooth” Sammy Smooth & Scott Star) & The London Riots (Rob Lynch & James Davis)

Singles Match

Noam Dar vs Timothy Thatcher

No Time Limit Singles Match

“Blackbelt” Tom Dawkins vs “Liverpool’s No.1” Zack Gibson

Tag Team Match for Tag Team Championship #1 Contendership

DND (Danny Duggan & Cieran Donnelly) vs Rampage Brown & T-Bone (w/ Sexy Cupid)

Singles Match

Adam “Flex” Maxted vs Kid Fite

Singles Match

Pollyanna vs Leah Vaughan

10,000 Cuban Peso Open Challenge

Cuban Heat (w/ Ricardo Rodriguez) vs ???

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!

Words - Andy Scotland 
Images & Editor - James Marston 
Image Source - facebook.com

TV Review: WWE Smackdown Live #889 - Baron Corbin v Dean Ambrose

Aired - 30th August 2016

Just 12 days before BackLash 2016, World Champion Dean Ambrose was in action against Baron Corbin, but would that be enough to keep the excitement building for the 11th September supercard? 

This week's Smackdown Live main event was a decent enough clash, between World Champion Dean Ambrose and Baron Corbin, but I'm unsure about what the show closing angle involving #1 Contender AJ Styles was attempting to achieve. The match was perfectly fine stuff, nothing to get too excited about, but a well structured encounter in which Corbin looked comfortable in his first Smackdown Live bout since the start of the month. He's put together some nice spots, like the rolling out and directly back into the ring to take control and has moves like Deep Six, that he pulled out moments after a tasty suicide dive from The Lunatic Fringe. In the role he had to do here, that a bruising heel challenge for the World Champion, there's no doubt that The Lone Wolf has improved from the performer we saw leave NXT in April. After Styles had caused the DQ, throwing Ambrose over the announce table was where things went slightly south for me. Ambrose would hit Dirty Deeds on Corbin and then thwart Styles' Phenomenal Forearm attempt, leaving The Phenomenal One crotched on the top ring rope. It just didn't click for me and Ambrose playing it for laughs, didn't make it easy to believe that Styles was a serious contender for the belt and whilst that obviously isn't a problem for die-hard pro wrestling fans, it very well could be for the audience that WWE is competing for.

The show's semi-main event was a solid tag team bout from the Women's division pitting Natalya and Alexa Bliss against Becky Lynch and Naomi, whilst a strong angle involving Carmella attacking Nikki Bella at the commentary table as the build towards the crowning of a new Women's Champion in an all-encompassing Six Pack Challenge on 11th September. The angle probably ended up overshadowing the bout, but with a fairly limited run time over an hour and a quarter each week, it makes sense to cram as much into the Women's division as possible in these early weeks to help to create a deep and rich sector. The contest was a strong, yet unspectacular tag bout, with all four women working well together and getting good reactions from the Dallas crowd. Natalya and Bliss seem to have good chemistry as duo, whilst that's also present in the worked between Natalya and Naomi, however the issues between Bliss and Lynch do come across as a little forced with their in-ring confrontations being the weakest action of another stellar bout. Bliss getting a second pinfall over Lynch, following the distraction of Carmella at ringside, seems to suggest we'll be seeing more of those two, so I'm hoping that we get to see them click heading out of BackLash.

As well as being involved in the show closing angle, AJ Styles would also be in action this week as he collided with an Apollo Crews who struggled for screen time since the brand split (despite earning an Intercontinental title shot at SummerSlam on the first Smackdown Live!). The match was decent fair but not in the range that many will know Styles and Crews could produce given the right opportunity. After a physical opening exchange, two spots in particular stood out in the 8 minute bout, a lovely moonsault off the apron by Crews as well as the former Dragon Gate catching a diving crossbody from the Phenomenal One and turning it into a Samoan drop. Outside of this the match was as smooth as you'd expect, but lacked the change of gear that would have picked it out as a must-see. The finish came off as a bit flat, coming directly after the samoan drop spot, with Styles pulling Crews across the ropes with a stunner, before hitting a Phenomenal Forearm to pick up the win. Crews v Styles was probably on the same level as Ambrose v Corbin in the main event, but I can't help feeling that putting the two bouts together and having a tag main event (Styles & Corbin v Ambrose & Crews) would have created a much more satisfying action. 

Rounding out the top of the card and arguably the best part of the show was Bray Wyatt's "Sermon for the Serpent", which addressed new rival, Randy Orton. I've always found The Eater of World's fascinating to listen to, because his character allows him to take a different tone and style with his promos than the majority of WWE's roster, he has the ability to pull something out of nothing, but it's when he has something to get his teeth into that he's at his best and that was on display here. He weaved the characters stories together well, discussing Orton's Viper gimmick, as well as the idea that he hears voices in his head, which all made for perfect fodder for Wyatt's cult leader character. To help the words, the segment was shot beautifully with the, now former, Wyatt Family leader sitting in his rocking chair with the cameras pointed upwards from the ring apron, creating an ominous look that got over Wyatt's size well. The closing moments where Orton would appear, and eventually attempt to fight Wyatt in the ring, were well timed and made sure that the moment The Viper got in the ring the crowd was buzzing to see the pair scrap, only for Wyatt to pull off his disappearing act for the second week in a row. With a match between the pair confirmed for 11th September, we won't have to wait long for one of the biggest first time matches (broadcast, at least) that WWE currently has. 

In the opening segment, Dolph Ziggler would end up substituting for Daniel Bryan in an angle that began on last week's Talking Smack ending up getting an Intercontinental Championship match with The Miz at BackLash for his troubles. As much as it didn't have the fire that the Bryan and Miz confrontation had and as much as it showed that neither guy had particularly progressed since 2008, I felt like both (as well as Maryse) put in positive performances, in a well structured exchange. Miz may have fluffed a couple of his line, but it came across as passion because he genuinely looked pissed off that people perceive him as a "soft-style" coward, whilst The Show-Off came through the curtain like he'd just downed a can of Monster and bought just as much passion as Miz did to proceedings. The fact that Miz ended up walking away, whilst Ziggler challenged him to a fight, and then had to "held back" by Maryse, played up the coward gimmick well and I'm interested to see where the feud goes next week heading into BackLash, because they'll have to be creative to keep it going. With the fact the pair have had at least two TV singles matches a year since 2012 (a massive six in 2014, four already in 2016 and a grand total of SEVENTEEN) will make it hard for the pair to produce something new, but I'm willing to wait and see what they can pull out.

The third Quarter Final in a tournament to crown new Tag Team Champions, saw The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder) advance to the Semi-Finals over The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch) , in an unsatisfying contest. Giving the opening contest less than three minutes was never going to produce a tag classic and the clash ended up feeling a bit of an extended squash match. The main problem for me when watching this, is that the potential for a feud between the two teams is obvious, with The Vaudevillains being the old-school entertainers, whilst Hype Bros are an upbeat neon clad ball of caffeine. An opening exchange that saw Ryder hit a front dropkick through the 2nd and 3rd ropes on Gotch, leading to English to nail a sweet running neckbreaker onto the floor, showed that the potential wasn't just in the character juxtaposition, as well. It's seems odd to have three (currently) babyface teams advance to the semi-finals and weakens any potential championship feud that will definitely need heel teams like The Vaudevillains, Breezango or The Ascension. 

In a move away from the regular WWE production style, there was an intriguing segment in which Renee Young went to interview Heath Slater in the single-wide trailer that he calls his home. We'd meet Slater's wife Buelah and learn that the tag partner that the One Man Band acquired last week, 2 time ECW World Television Champion Rhyno, was already best friends with Slater. The undoubted star of the segment was The Man-Beast who has some wonderful comic timing and was given the funnier of the jokes involved in the skit. However I don't feel like the segment quite came together as it could have, with Slater lacking some of the charm he's had on previous appearances on RAW and Smackdown Live during the Free Agent angle. If these types of segments continue then I'm sure they'll become much more comfortable as WWE works out their particular style for them, and as a first attempt this was definitely watchable and contained a couple of funny moments, but it wasn't quite a home run either. 

Slater and Rhyno became the Kings of the undercard as they also took part in the Quarter Finals of the Tag title tourney, taking The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher). Yep, the Headbangers returned for their first WWE appearance since losing to the Dudley Boyz on an episode of Jakked in May 2000! Whilst barely longer than the Hype Bros v The Vaudevillains bout, I found this clash a much more enjoyable outing. Mosh & Thrasher looked surprisingly good, with Mosh pulling out a springboard crossbody to knock Slater off the apron as well as a brilliant Stage Dive [powerbomb and diving leg drop combination] for a false finish. The dynamic of Slater & Rhyno as a duo was presented well, with the former Nexus member struggling, before The Man-Beast dragged him over to their side of the ring for a tag and nailing a Gore for the win! As they go on to face The Hype Bros in the semi-finals, I'm hoping we get to see Beauty and the Man-Beast advance to the 11th September final as they present by far the most interesting story for that match against either American Alpha or The Usos. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.25/10

This was an episode that had a lot of good ideas, some which paid off like the Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton segment, some of which were disappointing but still entertaining like The Miz and Dolph Ziggler's altercation, some of which could have been improved upon with a little bit more though, like both Dean Ambrose v Baron Corbin and AJ Styles v Apollo Crews and some of which were brave and different like Renee Young's trip to Heath Slater's home. The strongest encounter was probably the under the radar Alexa Bliss & Natalya v Becky Lynch and Naomi clash that was aided by a strong angle between Nikki Bella and Carmella. 

While I have a number of thoughts about next week's go-home show for BackLash, I'm mostly hoping that the talented tag team division finally gets the chance to show-us what it can do, after a strong twelve man tag bout on the SummerSlam Kick-Off show. The two semi-finals have tonnes of promise with The Hype Bros taking on Heather Slater & Rhyno and a highly anticipated confrontation between American Alpha and The Usos, I'm just wishing that both bouts are allowed to live up to their potential to set up a Final that the audience can look forward to.

For those counting, this week puts RAW level with Smackdown Live at 3-3 in their week to week ATPW Scale Rating battle since the Draft.

Written content - James Marston
Banner Credit - Kai Stellar