ROH TV 20th July 2013 Review

This week’s Ring of Honor television had been built up for quite some time, with Matt Hardy’s quest for a World Championship match being a focal point of the show for a few months. Of course, once again the show was harmed by being taped so far in advance, and by ROH already announcing that Jay Briscoe had left the company and vacated the World Title.

World Championship Match: 

Jay Briscoe © 

vs. 

Matt Hardy with Steve Corino

Matt Hardy has had something of a career renaissance in Ring of Honor the last ten months, creating a fantastic character that is easy to hate and performing consistently good promos and video spots to back it up. He’s also been helped by the ongoing SCUM storyline which has developed well over the last year and a half, as it gave him a reason to play the character he was and a group that has become not too dissimilar to the Mattitude Followers in 2003/04. The relationship Hardy has developed with SCUM leader Steve Corino is also an interesting one, with Corino seeming to worship Hardy, but you kind of get the feeling that if Hardy stepped out of line, Corino would kick him to the curb, just like he did to Kevin Steen.

Whilst, Matt’s promos and character have been top notch during his ROH run, his matches have been distinctly average, and unfortunately this was the case here, as well. Whilst the match told a decent enough story with Hardy taking advantage of Briscoe’s injured shoulder, Hardy was for the most part over reliant on his Twist of Fate move, which he used a total of four times throughout the match, and after the second attempt had failed to get a pinfall, as an audience member I wrote the move off for the rest of the match, I’m sure in Hardy’s long storied career, he’s picked up more than that move to use as a false finish. Each time, Briscoe would look close to mounting a comeback Hardy would pull out another underhanded tactic, such as hitting Briscoe with his boot, to regain the upper hand, which at times became frustrating to watch as it meant the majority of the match was worked at walking pace.

The ending saw Hardy go for his FIFTH Twist of Fate attempt, only for Briscoe to block and pull Hardy into a small package to pick up the pinfall victory and retain the World Championship. The ending wasn’t exactly an original one, and the fact that we’d seen Hardy hit the Twist of Fate four times before and fail to get a pin cover, it didn’t really have the element of danger that it should have. It’s a shame that such a strong story going into the match couldn’t deliver in terms of what we saw in the ring, as it left the whole build up feeling a little bit flat. It wasn’t an awful match, and technically there weren’t many areas that you could pull the match up on, it just needed a bit more variety and some insertion of pace to help it round of the story well.

After the contest, we went straight into the build for next week’s Steel Cage Warfare match, with SCUM’s Rhino coming out and annihilating Jay with a GORE. Whilst Jay’s brother Mark made a surprise return to attempt to even the odds, SCUM quickly gained control. With fellow SCUM member Jimmy Jacobs, Rhett Titus and Cliff Compton brawling at ringside with Team ROH member Michael Elgin, BJ Whitmer and Jay Lethal, SCUM took control using their signature zip ties to attach Team ROH to the ring ropes, allowing for the real destruction to take place in the ring. With Rhino destroying Mark Briscoe with multiple concertos (he’s obviously been learning from former stablemates Edge and Christian) Matt Hardy headed to the middle rope to take out Jay Briscoe’s arm once and for all with front elbow drop onto a chair that was wrapped around Briscoe’s arm. It was a good finish to the show that built up well for Steel Cage Warfare next week, as well as providing a storyline reason for Jay Briscoe to vacate the World title. 

Best of the Rest (In The World)

The only other match of the night pitted rivals Roderick Strong and Adam Cole in a rematch from June’s Best in the World iPPV. This match wasn’t advertised as it looked like we were getting an enhancement match with Cole facing Will Ferrera. However, with Strong coming out to talk about what happened at Best in the World, where Cole won by countout, with Cole apologising and challenging Strong to a rematch tonight. Strong accepted and we had our opening contest. It was a good set up to a highly anticipated rematch, their contest at Best in the World was one of the best matches on the show, that was left open for a rematch with the countout finish.

In comparison to the World Championship match, this was a much better encounter. The match had the changes in pace that the main event didn’t and therefore allowed them to tell a different story, with each man having periods in control of the match in what was a ultra-competitive contest, with a good combination of strikes, submissions and grapples keeping the match fresh. With the reversals coming thick and fast, as well as a number of near falls, a wrestling cliché appeared as Strong was sent crashing into referee Paul Turner who went crashing to the mat. After both men took each other out, it didn’t take long before Steve Corino, who was on commentary, threw a chain into the ring for Cole, only for Strong to get hold of the chain. With Cole taking Strong out with a Superkick, he saw the chain on Strong’s hand and decided to use it for himself, resulting in a Disqualification victory for Strong. It was another frustrating ending for Cole and Strong, and hopefully the two will be booked against each other in a rubber match soon.

There was also a nice package of interviews from Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal and BJ Whitmer building to next week’s Steel Cage Warfare match. All three men talked about Kevin Steen’s addition to Team ROH, with the trio all seemingly apprehensive about Steen’s involvement. Cleverly, we’ve seen very little of Steen and his team mates in the build up to this match, so it’s been left wide open to how Steen will react in the contest and how all the competitors will interact. We know Team ROH doesn’t like Steen, but they’re going to need him on side if they’re going to defeat SCUM next week, it’s an interesting concept. 

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's ROH on Sinclair?

1. Matt Hardy is currently a lot better at creating a character, than creating a wrestling match.

2. Adam Cole's slow heel turn is working well, the rubber match between he and Roderick Strong should be superb. 

3. Steve Corino is one of ROH's best assets at the moment, both on commentary and elsewhere.

WWE Raw 22nd July 2013 Review

Raw this week had a number of big names missing from the broadcast, with Randy Orton, Kane, Curtis Axel, an announced Big Show, Brock Lesnar, The Wyatt Family and a departed Chris Jericho all absent. However, this didn’t really seem to matter that much, as this Raw belonged to one man and one man only. That man is of course, Daniel Bryan.

Gauntlet Match: 

Daniel Bryan

 vs. 

Jack Swagger, Antonio Cesaro & Ryback

We kicked off the show this week with my all time favourite wrestling cliché, the contract signing. Any regular reader will know that last line was some nice British sarcasm. However, as contract signings go this one, between WWE Champion John Cena and Daniel Bryan, actually wasn’t too bad. There was enough talent in the ring to make it entertaining for the amount of screen time it was given. John Cena’s promo ability seems to have returned for the first time since post-Wrestlemania as he delivered a believable promo on why he choose Daniel Bryan for his Summerslam opponent. However, it would have been nice to hear more from Daniel Bryan on the situation, as Cena did the lion share of the talking, which Bryan is more than capable of doing on his own. The other thing that brought the segment down was the involvement of Brad Maddox. Now, I’m a fan of Maddox, and enjoy his delivery on the microphone which couldn’t really be faulted here, and he did play his role well, but he just felt surplus to requirements, being overused in a storyline between Cena and Bryan that really only needs two people to tell. Maddox went on to place Bryan in a Gauntlet Match, as the night’s main event.

As the show continued we got a number of backstage segments, hyping the match and developing the story. Firstly, John Cena went to visit Daniel Bryan in the locker room. Bryan told Cena to stay out of his Gauntlet Match, because he wanted to prove he belonged in the Summerslam main event. I like the dynamic between Cena and Bryan, both clearly have a mutual respect for each other, but bring something totally different to the table of WWE. Elsewhere, it seems the McMahon family can’t help but get involved when a wrestler begins to spike in popularity, we saw it in 2011 with CM Punk and now we’re seeing it with Daniel Bryan in 2013. Both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon visited Brad Maddox, wondering if he was being control by someone else, obviously referring to Vince McMahon’s apparent dislike of Daniel Bryan. I don’t understand why WWE thinks the John Cena-Daniel Bryan match, needs Vince, Triple H, Stephanie and Brad Maddox all involved, as if this will somehow sell the match more!

Now for the Gauntlet match, Bryan started off against Jack Swagger, who of course had Real Americans Antonio Cesaro and Zeb Colter at ringside. This was fairly good match, with Swagger dominating for most of the contest, before hitting his signature Swagger Bomb for a near fall. With Swagger taking time to gloat, Bryan caught him in the No Lock for the Submission victory. It was a good warm up match for what was about to come as Bryan’s second opponent was Antonio Cesaro. The two went back and forth with a number of interesting submission holds and vicious strikes. The match had me glued to my screen from start to finish, knowing exactly when to up the pace and when to bring things back in again, each man brought they’re “A game” and told a great story in the ring, that really helped to sell Bryan as someone with absolutely no quit. This is the closest I’ve seen to a Ring of Honor style match in WWE, typified by the repeated uppercuts that Cesaro used on Bryan for a near fall, it would seem that the two had a lot of free-reign when putting things together, which can only be a good thing. The ending was also clever, with Bryan jumping over Cesaro from the top rope, and with Cesaro about to launch Bryan into an uppercut, Bryan reversed into a small package to pick up the victory. If WWE still doesn’t believe Antonio Cesaro has what it takes to be a top star in their company then they probably never will.

The final opponent for Bryan was Ryback. Now after the classic contest we’d just seen between Bryan and Cesaro, it was clear that this match with Ryback would never live up to the technicality that we had just seen, however it was still a pretty decent contest, that had a good story to tell and worked well enough in telling that story. With Bryan exhausted it would appear the Ryback would simply come and pick the bones of a victory, however the heart of Bryan kept him going, as he frustrated Ryback at every turn. With Ryback unable to pick up a regular victory, he ended up powerbomb Bryan through a table that he had previously set up at ringside, after already delivering a powerbomb onto the floor. It made sense as a finish for the Ryback character, but was a frustrating one for Daniel Bryan, especially with what was to come. John Cena came out to make the save for Bryan, albeit a little bit too late, before challenging Ryback to a Tables Match next week. It was frustrating for me, as it felt like Cena and Ryback had attempted to steal the spotlight off of what should have been Daniel Bryan’s moment.

Punk Rocked

Some of the most epic story telling WWE has ever seen continued this week, with two masters of the microphone, CM Punk and Paul Heyman, duelling once more with some excellent promo and character work to build for Punk’s match with Heyman’s client Brock Lesnar at Summerslam. It was then however a little frustrating that the Beast Incarnate was only referred to and never actually seen onscreen. It’s been great to have Lesnar back with WWE over the last year and a half, but at times his contract does do more harm than good, with Lesnar only contracted for a certain number of appearances, WWE has to be extremely careful on which shows to place Lesnar. Whilst this can be effective, it does remove a certain gloss from the situation.

Punk started off proceedings by talking about the altercation between he and Lesnar the week previously. Punk somehow managed to put over both Brock Lesnar’s power and strength and his own ability to get back onto his feet. It’s a skill that not a lot of WWE wrestlers have on the microphone, they can easily talk about how good they are, but to build to a big match you need to have your opponent look good as well. Punk went onto talk about how Lesnar’s strongest weapon was fear, but he wasn’t afraid of Lesnar. It’s a idea we’ve seen before, Punk himself used the idea in his feud with The Undertaker, but it works here, as long as it isn’t pushed too hard, I’ll accept it being used again. Where the promo really hit its stride was towards the end with Punk talking about how he would slay the beast at Summerslam, the delivery was spot on, helping to show the emotion of Punk and making me want to see him get his hands on Brock Lesnar even more.

With Punk’s promo finished, Paul Heyman turned up on the tron, with the classic “Live Via Satellite” caption in the corner of the screen. Heyman did a good job of talking up Brock Lesnar and the story that he’s had with Punk over the last year or so, even stopping off on the way to get some cheap heat from the Texas crowd. With Punk desperate to find out where Heyman was, Heyman agreed to the match at Summerslam, with the nice touch of referring to Brock Lesnar as his “Best friend in the entire world”, a status once held by Punk himself. Heyman finished by saying that Punk should stop calling himself the Best, because The Beast is the Best. It was a strong segment that kept the momentum off the feud rolling as we head towards Summerslam, hopefully we’ll get to see the Beast next week on Raw.

So far, the story between Punk, Lesnar and Heyman has worked extremely well. The history between Punk and Heyman has really helped to push the story along in the times when Lesnar wasn’t scheduled to appear. However as we get closer to SummerSlam, it becomes more important that we do begin to see Lesnar more, as whilst the history between Heyman and Punk is rich, there is only so much for them to play with without going over old ground and becoming repetitive. All the players are currently in place for an epic encounter at Summerslam, WWE just have to keep that anticipation running over three more episodes of Raw and along with Bryan/Cena they could have a very successful SummerSlam buyrate.

Sheamus 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio

The opening match of Raw this week pitted World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, against long time rival Sheamus. It’s a match we’ve seen multiple times before including match at last year’s Money in the Bank, SummerSlam and Night of Champions, as well as episodes of Raw and Smackdown. Therefore whilst WWE attempted to push this match as a major contest on Raw, it was harm a little through over familiarity with Sheamus and Del Rio, and didn’t quite have the big match feel that WWE clearly wanted it to have.

The content of the match was also harmed because of the overfamiliarity the audience had with this match. Whilst the action was technically sound, there wasn’t really much difference in what was being presented to what we’ve seen from these two dozens of times before, therefore making it a frustrating encounter to watch. Whilst Del Rio works well in his heel role, I find it difficult to get behind Sheamus in his current face role, distancing myself from this match even further. I think Sheamus is capable of playing a believable face, but just not in the current character, there’s too many inconsistencies, between him being a hard-hitting no-nonsense competitor and the goofish Guiness drinking, potato eating, Irish stereotype.

Del Rio spent a lot of the time working Sheamus’ arm to soften it up for the Cross Arm Breaker, as well as Sheamus’ injured leg, which had a huge bruise from the All Stars Money in the Bank Ladder Match. The ending saw Del Rio miss a Cross Arm Breaker attempt, but with Sheamus going for White Noise, his injured leg buckled allowing Del Rio to take a roll up victory. I actually quite enjoyed the ending as it used the story that was being told throughout the match well. It was also good to see Del Rio pick up the victory, as mentioned in my Smackdown review, I hate it when champions lose on television.

Now, the main talking point for me coming out of this match was who will be Alberto Del Rio’s SummerSlam opponent. WWE seems to have missed the boat by not having a final blow off for Del Rio’s feud with Dolph Ziggler, instead opting to enter Ziggler into a feud with Big E Langston. Looking at the WWE roster left, they don’t really have a lot of options in terms of opponent for Del Rio. It has to be someone who has been booked strongly over the last few weeks, and someone who has yet to show signs of a feud heading into SummerSlam, they must also of course be face. Looking at the WWE roster, it would seem Rob Van Dam, Christian and outside bet of Randy Orton (who already holds a victory over Del Rio from Smackdown) would be the best options to pick.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere this week, Mark Henry came out to call out The Shield. Henry’s promo ability has certainly got better over the last few years and this was another strong performance. He seems to know how to work the crowd either way, whether getting them to boo him or cheer him. People will always cheer for someone who shows bravery and heart, as well as someone from their state, all of which Henry drew upon in his promo. Once The Shield were down, similar to last week, Henry fought valiantly against United States Champion Dean Ambrose and Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, but of course the three man advantage was too much with The Shield eventually gaining the upperhand.

It was then that The Usos returned the favour from Smackdown, coming out to even the numbers for The World’s Strongest Man. With the fight then even, Mark Henry even threw The Usos out of the way to get at The Shield again building the intensity of the rivalry well. It was Roman Reigns who took the brunt of the attack, taking a Superkick from an Uso and then a Stinger Splash in the corner from Henry, before The Shield managed to pull Reigns to safety and live to fight another day. I’m interested to see where this feud is heading into SummerSlam, as WWE have a number of options to run with, but if they keep going like this WWE could have another big match to help sell SummerSlam.

Dolph Ziggler was also in action this week, against Darren Young of The Prime Time Players. Interestingly, Young’s tag team partner Titus O’Neil was not at ringside, although this could be to do with a bout against Christian earlier in the night (more on that later). Young’s run against a number of top WWE stars continues, after recent bouts with John Cena, CM Punk and Rob Van Dam, across WWE programming, it has to be wondered if WWE has bigger plans for Young than his current tag team role. The match didn’t particularly set the world a light, but it was solid and set up well for what was to come. With Young having control for most of the match, Young took time to gloat over Ziggler, allowing the Show Off to sneak through and hit a Zig Zag for the victory. I enjoyed the ending and it continued the character development for Ziggler well, as someone who may take a beating but always manages to get a victory.

After the match, Divas Champion AJ Lee and Big E Langston came down to the ring, with Big E attempting to take out Ziggler again. This time however, Ziggler was able to get the upperhand using his speed and brains to throw Langston out of the ring, before getting away from his larger opponent. Seeing as Langston got the better of Ziggler last week, it was important to keep Ziggler looking good here by returning the favour. We’ve also seen very minimal actual competition between the two, therefore making their inevitable SummerSlam contest even more anticipated as we really don’t know how it will play out.

Cody Rhodes was in action, in his first match as face in over five years for WWE, he took on Fandango, who was accompanied to the ring by Summer Rae. With Damien Sandow at commentary it was pretty clear we were going to get some involvement from him during the match from the outset. The contest was short, the content within the match was good, but it was clear it’s going take a little bit more time for Cody to get used to playing a face. As expected, with Cody just about starting to role, pulling out moves from his father and brother, as well as mentor Hardcore Holly, it didn’t take long for Sandow to get involved with his briefcase. What was nice however was Rhodes getting the better of Sandow taking out both he and Fandango with a Disaster Kick, before hitting Cross Rhodes for the pinfall victory. A decent enough contest, which would have benefitted from having an extra five minutes, but it didn’t do much to advance the Rhodes and Sandow feud heading into SummerSlam.

Rob Van Dam was also in action, this week against Wade Barrett. These matches are basically being used to refresh the WWE fans memory of what Van Dam can do in the ring and what he brings to the table that is WWE. It’s a shame then that Barrett has dropped so far down the WWE pecking order, since losing the Intercontinental Championship to Curtis Axel at Payback, I’m starting to think we may never see Barrett get pushed any further than this. The match was fairly good, with Van Dam getting a lot of his signature offence in, before hitting a Five Star Frog Splash for the victory. It’s still to be seen where Van Dam is heading into SummerSlam, although we should find out more on Friday as he faces World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio on Smackdown.

Whilst Darren Young had a losing effort to Dolph Ziggler this week, his tag team partner Titus O’Neil was in action against Christian. I couldn’t say I was particularly excited about this contest, as although I like both Christian and Titus, I wasn’t quite sure how they would gel together in the ring. I was pleasantly surprised, as the match told a good story and the action was solid throughout. O’Neil controlled throughout most of the contest, a role he certainly seems comfortable in due to his size and presence, with Christian working a natural underdog role. With Christian’s comeback building to a Killswitch attempt, Darren Young caused the distraction allowing for a near fall for Titus. It didn’t take much longer for Christian to hit the Killswitch and pick up a pinfall victory. Christian’s picked up a number of victories since Money in the Bank, could he be next in line for a shot at Alberto Del Rio’s World Heavyweight Championship?

Before taking out Daniel Bryan in the main event, Ryback was interview by Josh Matthews regarding his attack of Chris Jericho on Smackdown. I was relatively impressed with this promo from Ryback, he seemed to have gained an ability to show emotion in his speech and told an interesting story, comparing himself to a school yard bully. Even if it was a little bit Bully Ray, it was a vast improvement on Ryback’s previous offerings. It would seem like when Jericho makes his return to WWE, he will re-enter his feud with Ryback, or at least the door has been left open. 

We were also treated to the worst edition of Miz TV we had seen, with The Miz presenting us the cast of Total Divas. We got a clip from the new show, which premieres this Sunday, and it certainly didn’t make me want to sit down and watch the show, although I guess I’m not it’s target audience. There was even more debacle with The Miz getting Jerry Lawler into the ring, who ended up in an altercation with new Diva Eva Marie. I don’t understand why WWE, after having a fairly exciting and heated Divas feud between AJ Lee and Kaitlyn have gone backwards in presenting this on Raw, that really did go nowhere. Yes, they need to promote the show, but that’s what adverts are for.

There was another bizarre segment, with Renee Young interviewing Teddy Long and Hall of Famer Booker T backstage, about Vickie Guerrero being named the new General Manager of Smackdown. Booker and Teddy got into a war of words, with Long eventually saying he was glad Booker didn't get the General Manager job. I'm really not sure where WWE are going with Long and Booker arguing, are we going to see Booker T vs. Teddy Long at SummerSlam?

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Raw?

1. Daniel Bryan is the star of the show, no matter how much WWE wants it to be John Cena and Ryback.

2. I could listen to Paul Heyman and CM Punk verbally joust for most of Raw.

3. SummerSlam is shaping into one hell of show.

Five Questions With... Squared Circle Cafe

After last week's interview with British wrestler Will Jackson, it's time for our first ever multi person interview as we speak to the entire of Squared Circle Cafe.

Name: Daria
Age: 37
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts, USA but reside in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
Known For: Former wrestler, wrestling blogger for a former site Wrestling News Arena, and founder and hostess of the Squared Circle Cafe.

Name: Jeremy Moses
Age: 27
Hometown: Florence, Kentucky, USA by way of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Known For: Other than the show, vlogging on YouTube. I wouldn't consider myself famous in any sense of the word, though for what it is worth I have appeared on local television news in my hometown multiple times.

Name: Jaycee
Age: 30…ish
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Known For: Co-Host, Squared Circle Cafe

1. When did you first get into wrestling and what was the drew you to the sport?

Daria:

 As a kid, you're flipping through the channels, trying to find something to watch, and I stumbled across what was then known as WWF Wrestling. It immediately caught my attention and I tried to watch it as much as I can. My uncle took me to my first house show when I was a kid and I was hooked ever since. What drew me was the action in the ring, the promos, the vignettes, everything about it was spectacular. What really stuck out for me was the commentary, particularly Bobby Heenan and Gorrilla Monsoon. That's what I wanted to do.

Jeremy:

1997, during the heyday of WCW. I fell into it on a Monday night because I was 12 years old, bored out of my mind, and had just gotten my own room with my own television. And of course, my schoolwork was done.

Jaycee: I became a wrestling fan a little later than most folks. It was in 1994. I was around 18 at the time. What sparked my interest was a video game called WWF Royal Rumble for the old Sega Genesis console. My friend D and I would play that game religiously. That got us interested in the characters, that snowballed into buying the magazines, then watching Monday Night Raw, watching old wrestling matches, etc. It didn’t take us long to become WWF fans. It was kind of funny how I first became a WWF fan though I was going to school in Atlanta, which is the former HQ of WCW.

2. Tell us a little about the Squared Circle Cafe and how that came about?

Daria: 

I used to write on a message board, but wanted to try reaching a greater audience. I saw a news site, the now-defunct Wrestling News Arena, was looking for bloggers, so I applied for a job. I was hired and brought in for a column called, "Enter My Mind." It received a lot of attention, as I wrote about the world of wrestling from a female POV. I still felt I wanted to say more. I had seen how some wrestlers and other wrestling sites had podcasts, so I thought, "I can do that." I always love to talk wrestling and saw this as an opportunity to say more than what I was writing on WNA. It started out as a 15 minute show on Blog Talk Radio, but after a few months, it stretched to 30 minutes. My two best friends, Jaycee and Jeremy, who are also huge wrestling fans join me almost every week and we just have fun talking wrestling. It grew to two hours as of last year, where we now have special guests on from the wrestling world on for interviews.

Jeremy: 

Well, I'm sure Daria already gave you the history behind the actual show, so I'll go into how I came to be on the show. I joined in shortly after it began, and just kinda settled into a routine. Of course, having a girlfriend, then a fiancee for all of 11 months made my appearances somewhat sporadic in 2012, but hey, some things gotta come first (if you smell what I'm cookin'). Other than that, it just was a natural fit for me, talking wrestling with fellow fans and I still enjoy doing it when I am not busy and am healthy enough to focus. I actually came up with one of our slogans, and it holds true: We're a weekly show FOR wrestling fans, BY wrestling fans.

Jaycee:

Our show’s tag line is “For Wrestling Fans. By Wrestling Fans”.  It’s a group of friends having an open discussion on our favorite thing, which is wrestling, and we invite others to join in. This beautiful creation started with Daria. I remember her telling me that she was starting a pod cast and to check it out. I came in about the 2nd or 3rd show. I was listening to the show and the next thing I know, I’m on the air! She later asked me to become a part of the show. I said sure and here we are.

3. How much wrestling do you get to watch each week and what's your favourite shows to watch at the moment?

Daria:

 Oh man, when am I not watching wrestling? RAW, SmackDown, The Main Event, Saturday Morning Slam(when it was on and will when it comes back), Ring of Honor, whatever clips I can find on YouTube. However, I will admit I've been having a hard time watching TNA. It's not appealing to me as much as it used to be. I also try to go to a few indy shows here in the area, with a few of my good friends very close to being signed to major companies.

Jeremy:

In my town, we are able to consume 9 hours per week most weeks (6 hours WWE programming, 2 hours TNA, 1 hour Ring of Honor on local Sinclair Broadcast Group stations). I would say that out of that, I might get through 8 hours average before each broadcast of the Cafe -- life just gets in my way sometimes, though I do record them. As for favourite show, WWE Smackdown takes it for me at this moment in time. Less nonsense than on those 3 hour Raw’s and more wrestling. Ring of Honor and TNA are tied for a close 2nd, but only because I grew up with the NWO storyline, and I’m not a fan of many rehashes of it. The New World Order was cutting edge...in 1997. Now? It’s been done to death. Sorry, got on a bit of a rant there.

Jaycee: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and the occasional Sunday for a PPV. I’ll even DVR a show even if I’m attending it in person. What can I say? Can’t break that WWE habit.  But I am trying to broaden my wrestling horizons. I try to watch Impact Wrestling every Thursday and catch some ROH shows on YouTube. I’m hoping at some point one of the local stations will decide to carry ROH shows. My favorite wrestling show to watch right now? I’ll have to say it’s a toss up between Main Event and NXT.

4. What are your Top Three matches of all time?

Daria:

Gee, you had to narrow it to three, didn't you? This was tough, considering there are so many matches I can watch over and over. But, for this list, I'll put two from the past and one from recently.

1. Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker, Wrestlemania 26: Although I loved the match from the previous year, this match was incredibly emotional, which made it even more intense. The Streak versus the Career. With HBK being my all-time favorite wrestler, with The Undertaker being a close second, this was a match that had me glued to my seat and to the screen. In the end, I was in tears, seeing Shawn leave, but also relieved the Streak remained.

2. The Ultimate Warrior vs. Ravishing Rick Rude, SummerSlam 89: OK, this match is a bit odd to list, but it was on the very first PPV I was allowed to watch. I loved the Warrior and saw the whole saga of how he lost the Intercontinetal Championship and wanted to see him get it back. Bobby Heenan is also my favorite manager, so it was cool to see him at ringside, cheering Rude. And with the pop-up appearance of Rowdy Roddy Piper, which helped Warrior regain the belt made this a match I will never forget.

3. Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart, Wrestlemania XII, Iron Man Match: Two of the best of all time in the same ring for sixty minutes headlining Wrestlemania? Of course this was a match I had to see! And when it went into overtime, I knew Shawn was going to get his dream. I was never more excited to see a guy win a title than I was for HBK.

Jeremy:

For me, it comes to these:
a) CM Punk vs John Cena, MITB 2011 -- That crowd made that match, but Punk and Cena told an awesome story.
b) Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels, Wrestlemania 25 -- Just epic technical wrestling.
c) Michaels vs Flair, Wrestlemania 24 -- Again, sound technical wrestling and a great in-match story.

Jaycee: Just three? Ha, you’re making this hard! Ok, well my fist pick has to be the Terri Invitational Ladder Match between the Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian at No Mercy in 1999. The second one is at Wrestlemania 2000- The triangle ladder match for the WWF Tag Team titles between the Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian. And finally, Night of Champions in 2009, Jeff Hardy vs CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship.

5. Where can our readers find your work and what have you got coming up?

Daria: 

We are on BlogTalkRadio.com every Saturday night, 6:30PM to 8:30PM EST, unless we have a special guest who requires another evening to be on the show. The weekend of June 22nd, 2013, I will be attending one of New England's biggest wrestling events, the NE Fan Fest, where you can meet many former and current wrestling stars from all over. You can follow us on Twitter, @squaredcafe, like us on Facebook, and we have a Tumblr page,squaredcirclecafe.tumblr.com. We will have more wrestling guests on in the future, so be sure to check the sites for any future announcements!

Jeremy: 

I can be reached on twitter: @JeremyMoses26 plus I vlog about life and news stories that pique my interest over at YouTube.com/JMos22. I am actually currently on medical leave from the show and haven't done much vlogging lately, but hope to return shortly after July 4 – just have to put my health first!

Jaycee: 

Well you can listen to Squared Circle Café every Saturday evening on BlogTalkRadio.com from  6:30pm to 8:30pm EST- http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dariachick

We’re also on Twitter- @SquaredCafe

We have a blog on Tumblr- http://squaredcirclecafe.tumblr.com/


And any questions/comments/concerns/vents can be sent to our show’s email address at squaredcirclecafe@gmail.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We'd like to thank you, Daria, Jeremy and Jaycee for giving us this fantastic interview.

Next week: Scottish Wrestling Ring

WWE Smackdown 19th July 2013 Review

WWE has started making Smackdown feel a little bit more important over the last month or so, starting with The Shield’s first loss, it has steadily began building from there, with news of a new General Manager this week things can surely only get better as the show finally feels like it has a focus again.

WWE Championship Mr. Money in the Bank Randy Orton 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio

This match was made by returning Smackdown General Manager and Hall of Famer Booker T, making his first WWE appearance in three months at the start of the show (more on that later). For me, it felt like WWE had sort of booked themselves into a corner with this match, as whatever the outcome here, I would have had something to complain about. Firstly, the World Heavyweight Champion shouldn’t lose cleanly in a non-title match, as it devalues the title, and if the World Heavyweight Champion does happen to lose in a non-title match, the victor should be revieving a World Heavyweight Championship down the line, they’ve proven they can beat the champion, if they don’t then go after the title, it makes the belt look meaningless. Secondly, WWE couldn’t really have Randy Orton lose either, holding the Money in the Bank briefcase for the WWE Championship, Orton has to look strong, as repeated losses will make his subsequent WWE Championship reign look like a fluke, as we’ve seen many times before with WWE, with reigns for CM Punk and Daniel Bryan both falling flat.

Therefore, I was fully expecting to sit through this match with very little interest, especially seeing as it’s a match that WWE has used a lot in the past including at match at last year’s Hell in a Cell Pay-Per-View. For the early part of the match, this was true, as it felt a lot like Del Rio and Orton were going through the motions, with a lot of re-hashed spots and rest holds, that made it difficult to engage early on. Having said this the match was technically sound, and it was difficult to complain about what was actually happening in the ring, it just needed a hook for me to be fully invested in the contest.

The match really did pick up towards the end, in both terms of pace and intensity. With a huge enziguiri from Del Rio taking Orton off the apron it felt like the match finally sparked to life, with Del Rio working well as a heel, talking smack to Orton using Orton’s signature build up for an RKO, even attempting Orton’s finisher which was reversed. After this there came a number of nice reversal including Del Rio reversing an RKO in a Backstabber, and the finish which Orton roll out of a Cross Arm Breaker, duck a Superkick and hit an RKO for the pinfall victory. It was quick and snappy ending with Orton’s RKO looking the best it has in a while.

It’s interesting to think that this is the kind of match that Randy Orton would have been losing six months ago, as his star had truly dimmed with WWE seemingly punishing Orton for his second wellness policy violation. Therefore it would seem like the punishment is finally over, as with the Money in the Bank briefcase in hand, and a new lease of life in the character Randy Orton seems to be heading back to the top, he just has to stop going through the motions in his matches and bring the action all the time, if he wants to win back a lot of the fans that he’s lost over the last few years. 

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announces a New Smackdown General Manager

It was a big week for Smackdown as the opening segment saw the blue show gain a new General Manager. The show kicked off with Smackdown Senior Adviser Teddy Long announcing that Vince McMahon would be on Smackdown tonight to give Teddy a job evaluation, and as Teddy rallied the crowd to see if he was doing a good job, he was interrupted by a returning Smackdown General Manager Booker T. Booker thanked Teddy for stepping in for him, before pulling out his signature catchphrase “Can you dig that, Sucka?” which the Smackdown crowd seemed to love. Of course, Booker was then interrupted by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon who headed down the ring. It’s not often that Mr. McMahon appears on Smackdown, so when he does you know it’s for something big, making the show feel important once more.

Vince said only one person could be in charge on Smackdown and got both Teddy and Booker to come up with a match for the show to help him make his mind up, with Teddy choosing Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel with the Intercontinental Championship on the line and Booker choosing the previously mentioned Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio match, but before Vince could make a decision Raw General Manager Brad Maddox headed to the ring, to throw his hat into the ring to become Smackdown General Manager as well, announcing that Rob Van Dam would make his Smackdown return on the show. Vince then went on to make his decision naming Vickie Guerrero as the new General Manager of Smackdown. It was an interesting choice, with Vickie being fired from her role as Raw General Manager two weeks ago, I was glad to see Vickie get a regular spot on WWE television again as I genuinely do enjoy her as a heel character, but it’s a shame we lose Booker T who had only just made his return.

Vickie went on to cut a good promo on the fans being the reason she lost her job on Raw, re positioning herself as a fully blown heel, which is definitely the best role for Vickie to play, as the crowd just loves to boo her. It was good to see Vickie back with the confidence that made her earlier run as Smackdown General Manager so enjoyable in the first place, instead of the beaten down character we saw her playing on Raw a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how Vickie fits back into this heel role, and the Smackdown General Manager role, hopefully she’ll be back up to her old tricks to keep the show interesting again.

We got a glimpse of what Vickie will be like as General Manager, with a few backstage segments where she quickly disapatched of some old foes. Firstly, Teddy Long as she suckered him in to believing she could have a job for him before calling security, in a fun segment. Then it was Raw General Manager Brad Maddox’s turn, as he offered a hand shake to Vickie only to receive thunderous slap from the new Smackdown General Manager. I’m hoping that we see Vickie align herself with a wrestler again soon, similar to her runs with Edge and Dolph Ziggler, as this could really bring a lot of spice to Smackdown, making the show must watch television over the next few months. 

Best of the Rest (In the World)

Elsewhere this week, the feud between Chris Jericho and Curtis Axel came to a close with Jericho getting a shot at Axel’s Intercontinental Championship. It’s been an exciting series of matches between Jericho and Axel with Y2J handing Axel his first loss under Paul Heyman’s tutelage on 8^th July Raw, followed up with another victory on the same week’s Smackdown. Both matches have been very well worked building towards the finish well, therefore I awaited this match with anticipation expecting it to surpass the previous two and with the rumour this could be Jericho’s last match in WWE for some time I was expecting something special.

On that count I was not disappointed, with Jericho and Axel putting on a classic Interconintental Championship match, that had me gripped from the beginning. Yes, I knew the likelihood of Jericho winning this one was slim, but somehow the way the story was told had me believing that he might by the end. As the match built with neither man having much control for very long, going back and forth with some nice reversals, including Jericho ducking a clothesline and turning it into a bridging Northern Lights suplex for a near fall. Of course, towards the end the involvement of Axel’s manager Paul Heyman increased, distracting Jericho on the top rope, but Axel didn’t have control for long as he spent two agonising spells in the Walls of Jericho, really helping to cement Axel as a top competitor when he made it to the ropes. The ending saw Heyman distract Jericho again, allowing Axel to hit a big boot, followed up with Hangman’s Facebuster for a Pinfall victory and to retain the Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Ryback headed to ring, and after some struggle from Jericho, finished off Y2J with a Shellshocked, possibly setting up for a rematch when Jericho returns to WWE.

The brand new Number One Contender to John Cena’s WWE Championship was also in action, as Daniel Bryan took on Preston’s Wade Barrett. The match was disappointingly short, as it showed promise of being a really good contest if given enough time to breath, with Bryan and Barrett having good chemistry in the ring with a number of well-worked reversal. This match was basically their to showcase Bryan’s ability as he picked up a quick submission victory after transitioning a crucifix roll up into a No! Lock. It’s important for Daniel Bryan to pick up victories heading into Summerslam against Cena, however it’s still disappointing to see Wade Barrett in the position he finds himself in at the moment.

Miz TV also returned this week, with regular guest Paul Heyman. We’ve seen Miz and Heyman square off in this segment a number of times, and somehow each time Heyman and Miz come up with something different to bring to the segment. Whilst I have been critical in previous reviews of The Miz as a face, I actually think he did a pretty good job here, even if it is strange to see The Miz as WWE’s moral compass. The Miz told Heyman he could say whatever he wanted, with Heyman ofcourse cutting a great promo asking CM Punk to back down from a fight with Brock Lesnar at Summerslam. The Miz then cut a scathing promo on Heyman, telling him he was revolted by him and the fact he swore on his children and still lied. I was really impressed with The Miz here who did a great job with his promo and got the delivery pretty much spot on. I enjoy the Miz TV segments with Heyman, as The Miz isn’t directly involved in the storyline, so is a lot more free to experiment with his role. 

The opening match of the show saw former stablemates Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger face off, with Swagger’s new stablemate Antonio Cesaro at ringside with their manager Zeb Colter. It was a good solid television match, that followed a coherent story, with Colter and Cesaro getting ejected after Cesaro had given Ziggler and uppercut behind the referees back. With Colter and Cesaro gone, Ziggler was able to take advantage after breaking out of the Patriot Lock to hit a Zig Zag for a pinfall victory. After the match, Ziggler cut a quick promo about dumping Divas Champion AJ Lee on Raw, saying he was sorry he didn’t do it sooner. This of course sent AJ into a rage backstage as she threw chairs around, before being calmed down by Big E Langston, who went onto kiss her on the forehead. It would appear that we’re moving toward Dolph Ziggler vs. Big E Langston at Summerslam, which leaves me wondering who Alberto Del Rio will face at the Biggest Party of the Summer.

New World Heavyweight Championship Mr. Money in the Bank Damien Sandow also appeared on Smackdown to explain his actions against Cody Rhodes at Money in the Bank, and Cody’s subsequent attack on Raw. Damien did a good job of playing the obnoxious heel, saying that forgiveness is a trait of the strong, before Cody came down to the ring. Damien offered to allow Cody to be the “Protector of the Case” and that he forgave Cody for his attack on Monday. As Sandow offered Rhodes the briefcase, Cody smashed it over his head instead, with Sandow escaping Cody before any real damage could be done. I liked this segment and I’m really getting into this Rhodes-Sandow feud, if WWE can keep this up they could make two new main eventers in one go.

The Shield’s Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns were supposed to be in action against The Usos, however the match never really got going. After The Usos quickly gained an upperhand, fellow Shield member United States Champion Dean Ambrose entered the ring to help his teammates. As The Shield beat down the Usos, Mark Henry came out to make the save, taking down the Shield after some help from the Usos. Mark Henry seems to fit nicely in this new rivalry with The Shield, I’m just wondering how the payoff for this feud is going to come about, with Henry get a shot at Ambrose’s United States Championship or find himself a partner and take on Rollins and Reigns?

Rob Van Dam made his return to Smackdown in a match against The Prime Time Players’ Darren Young. Van Dam looked a lot more comfortable in the ring than he did in the early part of his match with Chris Jericho on Raw, with The Prime Time Players making good foils for Van Dam’s in ring antics. Van Dam got the majority of the offence in after a swift comeback, hitting most of his signature moves including a huge leap of a Rolling Thunder, before picking up the victory with a Five Star Frogsplash in a decent television contest. I’m waiting to see RVD enter into an actual feud heading into Summerslam, as this will be the real test to see if he can still compete at this level for WWE. I’m also interested that Darren Young has been positioned in a number of high profile match ups over the last few months, against the likes of John Cena and CM Punk, performing well, and am wondering if WWE has any plans of making him a singles competitor full time.

Finally...

What have I learnt from this week's Smackdown?

1. Randy Orton will only put in a decent match on his terms, otherwise he will simply go through the motions.

2. I've really missed Vickie Guerrero as a fully blown heel.

3. JBL does a lot more research than Michael Cole, for their commentary.

TNA Impact Wrestling: Destination X Review

It was a big week for Impact Wrestling as they presented their special episode Destination X on free television, headlined by a World Heavyweight Championship contest between Bully Ray and Chris Sabin. It was a night where TNA had to deliver some quality wrestling action and hope that the show would get strong rating. They delivered on the ratings, but was the quality there? Let’s find out.

World Heavyweight Championship Match: 

Chris Sabin 

vs. 

Bully Ray ©

This was the match that TNA had been building up to over the last month or so of television, therefore it was the one that most needed to deliver, in terms of both in ring action and story development. We kicked off the show with World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray in the ring. Bully quickly glossed over his match with Sabin, before calling out his wife Brooke Hogan. For me, this made absolute no sense, for one you’ve just made your main event look like nothing, and then dragged up a storyline that should have been over months ago and wasn’t even that good to begin with. After Brooke said her piece, her Dad Hulk Hogan came out to tell Bully it was over, before the two of them left. Hopefully this is it now for the Bully and Brooke story because I’m not sure how much more I could take of it, to be quite honest. Main Event Mafia turned up on the screen to tell Bully he’d lose his title in a fair fight tonight to close what was a pretty poor opening segment.

As we built up to our main event, Chris Sabin received two pep talks to get him ready for Bully Ray. The first came at the hands of General Manager Chris Sabin. Sabin seems to be Hogan’s newest best friend, we’ve seen him latch onto the likes of Jeff Hardy, Austin Aries and Abyss before, and to be honest they really didn’t need Hogan there, and neither does Sabin. The second pep talk was much better, as Austin Aries turned up just before the big match. Aries spoke about how he did the same thing last year to win the World Heavyweight Championship, as well as the series of matches he had with Sabin on television over the last month, which once again helped to build Sabin as a credible contender and lead well into the main event.

The opening section of the match, with Bully Ray and Sabin swapping kicks and chest slaps was a good start, that helped to show Sabin’s attitude and heart as he fought well against the stronger man before Bully got the upperhand. Just as the match seemed like it might be heading somewhere with Bully working the previously injured knee of Sabin, out came Aces and Eights and Main Event Mafia, which is where the match began to lose pace. It was an over complication that the match didn’t need, as well as detracting from Sabin, as he isn’t a member of either group, so it didn’t quite make sense to have them out there, for what essentially became a Lumberjack Match. The action in the ring continued to be fairly good, as Bully methodically worked over Sabin, even untying Sabin’s boot and removing Sabin’s protective knee braces.

It was all building well for a comeback from Sabin, as at every turn Bully would get the better of Sabin and continue his assault of offence. Then there was another turn for the worse, as a missile dropkick from Sabin took out both Bully Ray and referee Brian Hebner. Sabin apparently had the pin here, after a missile dropkick but the ref was down so couldn’t count the pin. This of course saw the Main Event Mafia and Aces and Eights storm the ring to continue their fight, in another piece of over complication that this match really didn’t need. After the warring factions had left the ring, Bully Ray attempted a powerbomb, but Sabin had control of the signature weapon of Aces and Eights, the hammer, bringing it down on Bully Ray to pick up a pinfall victory and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Once again, this ending made absolute no sense to me, Sabin has been on a journey over the last two years that TNA have been constantly hyping leading into this match, so why would they then cheapen his victory by having him win with a hammer shot? This match really only had a simple story to tell, yet it was over complicated by Aces and Eights, Main Event Mafia and a Hammer shot that really weren’t needed. However, I’m happy to see Chris Sabin as World Heavyweight Champion, as after the work he’s put in over the last two year, especially in the last two months or so, he thoroughly deserves to hold that big belt. 

Aces and Eights and Main Event Mafia Feud Continues…

Aces and Eight continued to dominate the show this week, with their current fued with the Main Event Mafia continuing. We started with Aces and Eights backstage with new Vice President Mr. Anderson explaining that DOC had left the group after Knux voted for Anderson the week previously, which was a pretty crap way to explain away DOC’s absence after being released from the company, before the group looked to be heading out to the arena. Later in the show, the Main Event Mafia were also shown backstage, with Sting and Kurt Angle readying the group for “Part One of Tonight’s Mission” with Rampage Jackson saying he was going to knock someone out. It was quick short segment that set up the dynamic of the group well, and built up the anticipation for the confrontation later in the night.

Main Event Mafia then came to the ring,  with Angle and Sting both delivering similar promos to what we had seen earlier backstage, before Magnus did a solid job of his promo, eventually calling out Aces and Eights. It’s great to see a Brit positioned so prominently on a main stream wrestling show, and doing so well. Aces and Eights turned up on the tron, with Mr. Anderson telling the Mafia to come backstage and meet them there, which Samoa Joe accepted on behalf of the group. It was pretty obvious that we were going to get an ambush from Aces and Eights, as the set up was little contrived.

As expected when Main Event Mafia arrived backstage, they were met by Anderson who goaded them into entering the clubhouse. Just as Kurt Angle was about to enter he was ambushed by Bully Ray, with Devon looking the door on the rest of Aces and Eights and the Main Event Mafia. Bully Ray threw Angle into the back of a pickup truck, which hastily drove away. It was a bizarre segment, and I’m not quite sure what was being implied with Angle being driven away, what exactly were Aces and Eights planning to do with Kurt? Later in the night, Bully was seen talking on the phone to the driver of the truck, telling them to take Angle to the spot they had agreed on earlier and make him an offer he couldn’t refuse. It was this point when I realised I had no clue what was happening and I don’t think TNA did either. We also found out that Wes Briscoe had been injured in the fight with Main Event Mafia thanks to Rampage Jackson.

Later in the night the truck that drove Angle away, reappeared this time being driven by Angle. Angle was then seen with the rest of the Main Event Mafia during the main event between Bully Ray and Chris Sabin, making all the previous segments feel pretty pointless. I’d hope that TNA will follow up on the offer that was supposedly given to Angle, and who was actually driving the truck for Aces and Eight, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. It was disappointing that after weeks of build up to a confrontation on this episode, we actually saw very little of the altercation between the two factions. 

Best of the Rest (In the World)

Elsewhere, on the sole Bound For Glory Series match of the night, Bobby Roode faced off against old tag team partner Austin Aries. There was a lot for this match to play off in terms of story, with it being a year since Austin Aries defeated Bobby Roode for the World Heavyweight Championship, at this very event. Also thrown into the mix was the fact that Bobby Roode is yet to pick up any points in the Series losing every single match and his search for that elusive first win here. All these points were highlighted in a backstage interview with Bobby Roode prior to the match which helped to refresh the audience’s memory of past events and build up the match well.

As expected the match was a cracking television contest that was only really held back by being restricted to around eight minutes of television time. The dynamic between the two was interesting here, with both still presumably playing heel, this could have be a difficulty that we’ve see na lot of heel vs. heel matches walk into in the past, but with so much history between the two and with Aries still being extremely popular with the crowd, it was one the match avoided well. The spot of the match for me, saw Aries dive between the ropes and send Roode straight into the steel steps, with the build flowing well, this spot looked pretty painful for Roode. After some nice back and forth Aries picked up the win and seven points in the Bound For Glory Series with a Brainbuster. This match wasn’t up there with their contests at last year’s Destination X or Hardcore Justice, but was certainly a very entertaining television bout and a great way to open up the show.

There was also three qualifying matches, for an Ultimate X match to take place next week, for the vacant X Division Championship. For me, it felt strange that TNA would have a new X Division Champion decided at Destination X, and it gave the show an uncompleted feel. The first match focused on what TNA referred to as the “Past” with Homicide making his first TNA appearance in three years (bar this month’s One Night Only: Hardcore Justice 2), Sonjay Dutt making his first appearance in four months and Petey Williams first appearance in two months. It was a little disheartening then, when the three men labelled as the past of the X Division delivered the best of the three qualifying matches. The three used the three way concept well making sure each man was involved for the optimum amount of time. The end was also clever, revolving around Petey William’s Canadian Destroyer and Homicide’s Gringo Killer. With Petey heading to the top rope, Sonjay who was trapped in a tree of woe, managed to German Suplex him from the position allowing Homicide to finally hit a painful Gringo Killer, before Sonjay took control hitting a Sonjay Cutter and a Moonsault Double Footstomp to the victory.

In another three way qualifying match, this time labelled as the “Present” of the X Division, Manik, Kenny King and Chavo Guerrero did battle. It seemed like a strange decision to have Chavo in the match, as he’s rarely wrestled in the X Division since his debut, instead spending most of his time in the tag team ranks. The match couldn’t quite capture the excitement of the one that had gone before it, sticking mainly to a one on one style, whilst one man sold a move for an extended period of time. The one on one action was solid, but it’s important that these wrestlers nail the three way format, because that’s all they’ll be wrestling for TNA. There was a bizarre tower of doom tease that didn’t quite happen, and I’m really not sure what was meant to be happening. After the confusion of that spot, Manik picked up the win with an Elevated Double Chickenwing, into a Double Knee Gut Buster to advance to next week’s match. 

The final three way qualifying match, saw the “Future” of the X Division do battle for a place in Ultimate X next week, with the debuting Greg Marascuilo, formerly Trent Barretta in WWE, facing off against British Bootcamp’s Rockstar Spud and Rubix (also known as Chikara’s Jigsaw). The match at times utilized the three way element well, especially in an exciting opening segment, but the match couldn’t keep this up, as it quickly descended into one on one action. At the times the match seemed a little awkward with moves not quite linking up as smoothly as they should have, but this was probably down to nerves and an unfamiliarity with each other. Marascuilo went on to pick up the victory with a Cradle Belly to Back Piledriver on Rockstar Spud. All three men were impressive in the bout with a number of good highflying moves, I think each has something to offer to the X Division and will hopefully be seen more often.

Knockout’s Champion Mickie James also appeared at Destination X, getting into a confrontation with new Number One Contender Gail Kim. James’ opening promo seemingly talking about the Ladder Match between Kim and Taryn Terrell last week on Impact Wrestling, only to reveal she was actually describing her concert in the same week. It was a nice piece of work, which fitted well with James’ self centered character. Kim came out to reply to James, with the two eventually getting into a cat fight, having to be separted by the referees. It would appear Kim is playing the face in the rivalry, after James disrespected Kim’s match the previous week, it’s an interesting dynamic and I’m hoping it will payoff with the two facing off for the Championship next week.

AJ Styles also turned up this week, cutting a promo in a darkened stairwell, reminiscent of a number of Raven promos. Styles spoke about the X Division saying it was in his past, before moving on to his opponent in the Bound For Glory Series next week, Jeff Hardy. It was a decent promo that quickly summed up where Styles’ character is at the moment but it would have been nice to get a little more depth as well. 

Finally...

What have I learnt from this Destination X?

1. Winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship is great for Chris Sabin, the over complication of his win, not so great.

2. After week's of build up, it was disapointing not to see a proper showdown between Aces and Eights and Main Event Mafia.

3. The "past" of the X Division is better than it's "Present" or "Future". 

Bound For Glory Series Standings

1. Magnus - 49 Points (Non-Mover) 

2. Samoa Joe - 19 Points (Non-Mover)

3. Jeff Hardy - 17 Points (Non-Mover)

4. Austin Aries - 14 Points (Up Two)

4. Christopher Daniels - 14 Points (Non-Mover)

6. AJ Styles - 12 Points (Down One)

7. Hernandez - 7 Points (Down One)

7. Mr. Anderson - 7 Points (Down One)

9. Bobby Roode -0 Points (Non-Mover)

9. Jay Bradley - 0 Points (Non-Mover)

9. Kazarian - 0 Points (Non-Mover)

12. Joseph Park - -10 Points (Non-Mover) 

WWE NXT 17th July 2013 Review

It was another big week in the history of NXT, with the Tag Team Championships on the line in the main event, as well as the crowning of a brand new number one contender for Bo Dallas’ NXT Championship. To add to the important feeling of the night, we also got appearances from Hall of Famer Ric Flair, and main roster wrestlers Sheamus and Antonio Cesaro throughout the night.

NXT Tag Team Championship Match: 

Adrian Neville & Corey Graves 

vs. 

The Wyatt Family (Eric Rowan & Luke Harper) © 

with Bray Wyatt

It’s been a busy week for the Wyatt Family, turning up on Raw to attack R-Truth, before taking out 3MB and Justin Gabriel on Main Event, as they continued to send messages to Kane in the build up to a possible contest at Summerslam. Over in the alternative universe of NXT, The Wyatt Family have been feuding with Adrian Neville & Corey Graves for sometime now, with The Wyatt Family taking out Neville’s former tag team partner Oliver Grey and interfering in a number of Corey Graves’ matches, with all the matches we’ve seen with these two versus The Wyatt’s in varations combinations involving the likes Bo Dallas, Kassius Ohno and William Regal, it seemed this match could very well be the last of the feud that has built well to this over the last few months. In the build up to the contest, The Wyatt Family attacked Sheamus during a backstage interview about Sheamus’ match next week, leaving him lying.

In terms of the story being told, the match was nothing much out of the ordinary, with The Wyatts dominating Corey Graves for most of the opening section. Rowan and Harper continue to look impressive in the natural big man tandem role, with a number of nice double team moves added to their arsenal, it only helps to add variety of the match which is needed when telling a basic story like this one. Corey Graves’ selling has also improved in recent weeks, at first I questioned how Graves would transfer into a face role on NXT, as seeming like a natural heel on the earlier episodes of the new format, however coupled with his great rallying promos, his stronger selling ability has really turned him into a fan favourite, which was needed here for Graves to really work the crowd up in anticipation of the hot tag.

The moment when Graves managed to make the tag to Neville, after Harper had missed a running big boot in the corner, was made ten times better by Neville really reaching out for the tag, making it seem of the upmost importance that the tag be made, as Graves did a good job of edging towards his corner. William Regal also did a fantastic job on commentary in really building up the moment, why Regal isn’t on regular WWE programming I’ll never know. After some fantastic high-flying action from Neville, including a great hurricanrana from the apron to the floor on Luke Harper, and a top rope springboard moonsault onto both of this opponents, things swung into the favour of the challengers. That is until Bray Wyatt got involved pushing Neville off the top rope, for a near fall for his family. This brought out Sheamus in a pay off of the segment we saw earlier, as Sheamus took out Wyatt sending him into the steel steps. With Graves taking out Rowan’s knee, Neville headed to the top rope, hitting Red Arrow to win his team the NXT Tag Team Championships. It was a good ending and a logical one with The Wyatt’s now competing on the main roster WWE shows, and having Sheamus come down to even the odds, elevated the match by association.

I’m not sure how many appearances the Wyatt Family have left on NXT, so I’m enjoying their run on the show while it lasts. It’s been an enjoyable run for the trio and I hope they can continue to relate this success to the rest of the WWE, because as a group they have a lot of potential. I see Neville and Graves, as almost placeholder champions however, yes both men are extremely talented in differing ways, but I see both guys having separate careers, rather than continuing as this tag team. It will be interesting to see who steps up to challenge Neville & Graves, as NXT is currently pretty bare on tag team combinations.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on NXT, there was a triple threat match to decide the new number one contender for Bo Dallas’ NXT Championship, featuring Sami Zayn, Antonio Cesaro and Leo Kruger. The story has built well heading into this one, with Cesaro and Zayn having a long running series, and Kruger’s involvement with Dallas interweaving heading into the triple threat. The match as well as similar well built and well paced, with solid action throughout that involved all three of the competitors involved for an optimum amount of time. The three men meshed together well, which can be a problem within triple threat matches, with each man bringing a new element to the contest. Sami Zayn brought his high flying skills to match, hitting a nice running senton over the top rope to Cesaro and Kruger. Whilst Cesaro brought a technically sound power game to the proceedings, and Kruger bringing some nice character work, as he remains something of an unknown entity on NXT.

The highlight of the match for me, saw Cesaro german suplex both Kruger and Zayn at the same time, it was an impressive moment that was reminiscent of Kurt Angle in the way it was delivered. The ending saw some more good work between Zayn and Cesaro, with Cesaro eventually hitting the Neutralizer, only for Leo Kruger to run in and steal the victory, becoming Number One Contender for the NXT Championship in the process. It was a good ending, that built on Kruger’s character as a former poacher, as he poached the victory off Cesaro, whilst also leaving it open for another Cesaro and Zayn match in the future. However, I’m not quite sure Kruger is the ideal opponent to face Bo Dallas, who simply can not get over with the NXT crowd, therefore surely have Dallas defend against a face, before eventually turning on them would have been the better option here.

Dallas himself was in action later in the night, against Scott Dawson who was accompanied by his manager Sylvester LeFort, who cut a good pre-match promo hying up Dawson for the match. It wasn’t a particularly great contest, with Dallas looking increasingly sloppy in the ring with some poor looking dropkicks and an awkward bulldog. Dallas simply isn’t ready to be competing at this level, and whilst Dawson did a good job working over Dallas, it doesn’t really matter when the crowd doesn’t like the guy you’re beating down. Dallas picked up a fairly speedy victory after a comeback, with his belly to belly suplex finish, which still doesn’t look anything like a finishing move. After the match, Leo Kruger came out and took Dallas, finishing him off with Kruger End. The crowd confirmed my earlier thoughts about the decision to have Kruger named number one contenders by chanting “Thank You Kruger”.

Ric Flair made a second consecutive appearance on NXT this week, to accompany his daughter Charlotte to the ring for her first match on NXT against Bayley. In terms of looks, Charlotte looks like she might have just wandered off the set of ITV’s Gladiators, with a strongly muscular physique, much more so than any of the Divas on the current roster, she also looks incredibly tall. I was actually pretty surprised by the match, as I expected to see Charlotte look a little awkward in the ring (she might be related to the Naith, but so was David Flair) but she appeared calm and athletic throughout with a number of interesting moves to boot. Being up against Bayley also helped as the two women’s styles fitted together well, and Bayley’s character is always a joy to watch. After Charlotte won the contest with a forward somersault cutter, she celebrated in the ring with her father, performing his signature strut. Whilst Charlotte looked pretty good for her first match, one thing that will need to be worked on is character, as I’m not sure how far she will get on the gimmick of being Ric Flair’s daughter. 

Finally...

What have I learnt from this week's NXT?

1. You can still make a well-trodden story feel exciting and fresh, given the right combination of action and character, as seen in the Tag Team Championship contest.

2. Leo Kruger was the wrong choice for Number One Contender, not because he isn't ready, but because he is a poor fit for Bo Dallas at this time.

3. William Regal is the best commentator around, bar none.