WWE NXT #244 Review (Aired - 19th April 2017)

On the 19th of April, WWE aired the 244th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 5th April. After last week's big farewell to Shinsuke Nakamura, this week we would have the last NXT match of Tye Dillinger as he'd attempt to settle the score with Eric Young (if Tye wins, that would put him at 1 win to Young's 5. Settled.) in a Steel Cage match. The Steel Cage match is of course a staple of faces trying to avoid outside interference because it always works! The show also featured NXT Champion Bobby Roode, Andrade 'Cien' Almas, The Iconic Duo of Peyton Royce & Billie Kay and a big return, could it continue with last week's solid effort and produce another fun show? Let's find out...

Itami knocked Roode out cold with the GTS

You may have noted my 'hmmm' about the placement of Hideo Itami last week at the goodbye ceremony for Nakamura, turns out 'hmmm' was correct. Roode would come out, suited and indeed booted to start the show by telling everyone how glorious he was, how he's improving NXT, how he didn't come out to say farewell to Nakamura because he beat him, twice, all lot's of decent 'heat', he even gets some boos from the normally Roode-loving Full Sail crowds. Of course while he was running his mouth, out would come everyone's favourite delayed push due to injury, Hideo Itami, managing to outsuit Bobby Roode but was wearing Plimsolls so Roode maybe still has him there. He would deliver a crisp slap, worthy of a dueling challenge to the face of the NXT champ and then a GTS much to the constant delight of the crowd before looking at the title and walking away. All good things here and putting Itami back in the ring with someone like Roode is a good plan as most of his injuries seem to have been sustained via rookie mistakes so a more seasoned performer like Roode should be able to work around such things.

• Next week we're getting Tyler Bate defending his UK title against the 'Gentleman' Jack Gallagher. That's going to be a lot of fun with a lot of well groomed facial hair.

• After the break, Roode was still in the ring, having only just woken up from that Go To Sleep

• Heavy Machinery lift weights. Almas has stolen the Del Rio 'everyone's a Perro' gimmick and is directing it at Drew McIntyre.

Almas def. Burch

Almas, his entrance and his fucking hat make so much more sense as he's fully embracing his heel role, Danny Burch entered to something approaching a pop. They worked a short, but quite painful looking match with lots of strikes, reversals and quite a lot of attention paid to the arm early on that did not pay off. Burch would quickly fall to a Big Boot into the corner crotch wipe, I mean Double Knees into the Hammerlock DDT. Another week, another match that is the defintion of Squash match but in that the 'official' term for Burch right now is 'Enhancement Talent', he certainly did make Almas good.

• We get a series of talking heads from the NXT Womens Roster talking about how unbeatable Asuka is or at least, how seemingly unbeatable is while also setting her up for her nigh-on inveitable fall by planting the seeds of arrogance being her hamartia.

• We also get a video package hyping up tonight's main event which I can't highlight enough is a Steel Cage match so that will prevent any run-ins.

Morgan & Aaliyah def. Royce & Kay

Morgan and Kay started proceedings, working a slow, feeling-out process. IN fact, most of the match could be described as slow as nothing really happened and none of it was done very quickly beyond Morgan using her legs to roll Kay around the mat. Aliyah worked the 'Canadian who likes cats but isn't Natalya' in-peril role well till Morgan would come in hit a dropkick on Kay who was doing stuff and Aliyah would small package Royce for the pin. An oddly brief match, it seemed planned but at the same time, it seemed like the match was only getting started then it was over. It wasn't the worst.

• Next week: Aleister Black kicks someone's head and Drew McIntyre tries to kick a specific head in the form of Andrade 'Cien' Almas.

Dillinger def. Young in a Steel Cage Match

Turns out, this match had a shit-ton of run-ins. Young did the 'I'm not getting in just yet' bit until Tye attacks and pulls him inside the structure so the match can properly begin. Once the match started, it was, like a lot of WWE Cage matches, not a technical masterpiece but it was a nice, intense brawl with a lot of there signature offense being adapted to suit the environment with one particularly crisp looking Superkick from Tye driving Young's head right into the wall, cutting open his forehead and a 'holy shit'-worthy Elbow Drop off the cage onto The Perfect Ten. The first two thirds of the match had some fine psychology with Tye playing the never-say-die babyface looking to show he can win via pinfall which was sadly hurt by his attempts to escape instead and Young, while the Elbow Drop was spectacular, it did make him seem more heroic briefly but Young, fr the most part wasn't even trying to win the match, just trying to hurt Dillinger. Of course just as Dillinger hit a Tye Breaker and crawled to the cage door, the assorted members of SaNItY would run in and slam the door nearly in his face, followed by Tye's buddies: Roderick 'not as small but still rather small boots' Strong, Kassius 'I look better with my shirt not tucked in' Ohno and Ruby 'my music was the best track from Sonic Generations' Riot to even the odds. Killian Dain would eventually flatten Ohno and Strong against the ring and climb in to make it a two on one but Tye hit a superb crossbody off the top onto both men and rolled out of the cage door for the win. Young and Dillinger play off each other superbly, even if I wish with NXT's love of history they'd have mentioned that Young actually helped train Dillinger back when he was starting out, but both mentioned put in intensity, some fine big spots and using the interference of SaNiTy to tell the final chapter in Dilllinger's NXT redemption tale. The show ends on a deserving 'Thank you, Tye' chant as he's carried up the ramp on the shoulders of Strong and Ohno.

Finally...

Don't be mistaken by the higher score below, beyond the most English promo ever seen on NXT between Bate & Gallagher and some solid work from Roode & Itami, up until the main event, this week's episode was eminently skippable. That said, the highlights of this week far overwhelm the fact that there was only one good match. I liked that for the second week in-a-row, in between match segments were used to push forward next week's action as NXT is the future, and the future is next week. Even I don't know what that was meant to mean. Either way, if you're in a hurry, watch the first segment and the main event and you're away.

ATPW Scale Rating: 5/10

Review: Jozef Raczka

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling

Welcome to the New Golden Age

During the weekend of April 14th - 16th, three promotions held huge events, Fight Club: Pro hosted the three day Dream Tag Team Invitational in Wolverhampton, Manchester and London, Insane Championship Wrestling held Barramania III in Glasgow and Over the Top Wrestling presented ScapperMania 3 in Dublin. Now why have I highlighted these events from the others? Each one of those events drew crowds of over 2000 fans, each, and that isn’t including the fans who tuned in to watch the shows on their preferred streaming service. 

Seriously collectively that's 6,000 people, think about that, that's amazing right? And it shows the incredible popularity that wrestling, British wrestling, has with the fans nowadays. I haven’t even mentioned the sold out Rev Pro show that happened on April 13th or the other shows by 3 Count Wrestling, House of Pain Wrestling, Pro Wrestling 4U and Absolute Wrestling that still drew good numbers over that weekend. Could you imagine that happening a few years ago? Nah, me neither. 

How has this happened? Now, some may say, its down to the imports coming across, The Elite and many others arriving. Sure that is indeed a factor, A factor. But many times before in British Wrestling we have seen big names booked, big names arrive, the show a sell out, and directly afterwards not one person talking about how good that show was, they may have only mentioned that import wrestler but that’s all. Well, this weekend that wasn’t the case, social media was a buzz of fans talking about all the shows and more importantly fans talking about every wrestler on it and even the production involved in making each one of those shows a success. 

Now like I said, imports are one thing, but to have fans talk about the whole show, that's a different thing altogether. That takes time, months, perhaps years to reach that level, and to have homegrown wrestlers trained, developed and connect with the fans to such a level that they have their own fan base, again that takes time. But it looks like that time is finally occurring. The UK and Irish Wrestling scene has finally reached a level after years of building that could act as the modern golden age, after all, WWE, NJPW, ROH and IMPACT are all casting their eyes on the talent that have been entertaining the fans for years and wrestling promotions are drawing record numbers across the country, that's a great thing. That is down to the training schools, the promotions and the hard work of each wrestler involved in progressing their own work rate to excel better at what they do.

One thing that should be said though is that while this is happening what about the future? Wrestling promotions can’t stop now, they need to make sure they have plans in place to keep this momentum going, that they have an influx of wrestlers ready to be pushed into the public eye and ready to seize the fans attention at a moments notice, because that one way they can keep this going. Case in point, don’t surround the hype of your show based around one big name import, how many times have fans seen a superstar name pull out from a booking or been forced to cancel on a show at the last minute and then fans go, they want a refund because there isn’t anyone that promotion hasn’t invested time or effort on demonstrating on why the public should see them. Why sacrifice a lot of money on a one show pay off if you can invest that money on training, vignettes, time and effort in showcasing new talent, that way in the future, that new wrestler you have helped develop, will draw more money over a longer time. Sure it’s slower, but the dividends will be greater, financially and more so to the fans. It is disappointing to me that we still see short term gains overshadow long term prospects. Also, if you are booking a big name import, have them face your biggest star, showcase your own talent and book them strong, it casts awful memories of the dark days in UK Wrestling when fans would see big names arrive and destroy a companies wrestler. I'm just saying, if you have invested months on building a star in your own promotion only for that star to be an afterthought in a match why should the fans pay money to come back to watch an afterthought, it makes no sense. The fans demand and deserve better and so do the wrestlers themselves.

Personally, I feel wrestling is changing, the fans are demanding more from promotions, they don’t just ask for good wrestling or entertainment, they now demand excitement and interaction. If they are paying the hard earned cash that they work for, and promotions are charging extra to cater for more imports, you better be giving those fans more than ever before. Fans will go away pissed off if they don’t get that interaction or excitement and hell mend you if you don’t give them that, thanks to social media, it takes less than a minute for someone to bad mouth a promotion and that status or tweet to gain traction and afterwards, other fans will see it and possibly lose interest.

Welcome to wrestling in the new golden age, with high rewards comes greater risk and if you’re a promoter, plan ahead, and get ready for story lines as well as financial spreadsheets to have short, medium and long term plans because, I say this only as a fan, with over 100 promotions in the UK and Ireland, the competition has never been bigger and expectations have never been higher.

Writer - Craig Hermit 

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling

WWE Monday Night RAW #1247 Review (Aired - 17th April 2017)

A week after the Superstar Shake-up and the sediment was beginning to settle on Monday Night RAW in the penultimate episode before Payback. This week's main event was a rematch of February colossal clash between Braun Strowman and The Big Show, whilst Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, The Miz, Cesaro and Samoa Joe were all featured across the three hours...but was it any good? 

Braun Strowman opened the show, popping the crowd with a list of things that he was proud of, which mainly included trying to kill Roman Reigns last week. The brief segment concluded with General Manager Kurt Angle booking Strowman v Reigns for Payback and The Monster Amongst Men being told to leave, despite a plea for more competition. 

Joe def. Jericho

A rematch from a March bout that ended in a Count Out, this week's opening contest bought two of the RAW brand's biggest names together for a solid opener that put Joe over strong, as he won clean with the Coquina Clutch, even after surviving a pinfall attempt. The two are strong enough that they could essentially walk through this contest and alongside a Colombus crowd that adored Jericho, that was enough to make this bout work. Two sequences that saw Jericho come close to victory stood out in particularly, firstly Y2J dodging a senton to hit a Lionsault for only the third time in history, before later being able to dodge an Enziguiri to earn a massive pop as he locked in the Walls of Jericho. Whilst the first part of the bout was pedestrian, the closing few minutes picked up, produced some sturdy near falls for the popular Jericho, before making Joe look like a world beater as he continues to run through the competition on RAW. The clean cut nature of the loss puts Jericho in an odd place heading into his United States Championship match with Kevin Owens at Payback, but that's more a symptom of the rushed nature of last week's shake up than anything else.

- Following the match, Joe cut a promo addressing Seth Rollins, who was on commentary, before The Kingslayer climbed onto the announce table to tell Joe that "Payback...is a bitch".

- Braun Strowman took out The Golden Truth as they were walking backstage, leading to Finlay, Joey Mercury and Adam Pearce running about in terror. 

- The lewd Mike Rome tried to interview Braun Strowman, who said he wasn't finished. 

- Gallows & Anderson issued an open challenge, because The Golden Truth were supposed to be their opponents, with Enzo & Cass answering the call. 

Gallows & Anderson def. Enzo & Cass 

Considering this was a thrown together match between two teams that have probably already faced off too many times over the last year, I found myself enjoying this standard issue tag bout. It wasn't anything special and didn't feature anything that would particularly stick in my memory if I hadn't been writing notes, but it filled it's screen time well and stuck to the performers strengths. Gallows & Anderson looked great, controlling Enzo and looking crafty in the finish, whilst both teams were over with the crowd, with Cass getting an especially big reaction when he tagged in for the hot tag. The finish was a cool departure from the norm, as Cass taking himself out by delivering a Cactus Big Boot that sent he and Gallows to the floor and with Enzo all alone, Anderson delivered a move that dropped the New Jersey native across the top turnbuckle for the victory. With The Revival out due to a Dash Wilder injury, it seems like the Tag division is getting a little jumbled up as WWE tries to work out it's next move. 

Ambrose appeared on "Miz TV" 

The Miz brought some of the fire and realism, that transformed him into a top star on SmackDown, to RAW as he wonderfully ripped into Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose during an episode of Miz TV. I get a feeling that some of the words coming out of Miz's mouth were a window onto how creative views Ambrose, as words like "wrassler" and "lazy and complacent" very well could have been coming from Vinny Mac himself (especially after some Dean's recent PPV efforts). The hometown audience for both men added some extra energy to proceeding, loudly supporting The Lunatic Fringe as he mocked Miz's maroon suit and reminded us how little he cares about images and other things. The closing moments saw both men attempt their finishers, before Miz escaped up the ramp with his wife, Maryse, in tow. The two have had a fair few matches on TV over the last three years, none of them have set the world a light, but I'm hopefully that with a little more fire behind them we may see the two put on something a little better when they next lock horns.

- Kalisto made his RAW return, by getting put in a dumpster by Braun Strowman, with The Big Show sort of making the save by shouting "Pick on someone your own size" like a big brother confronting a school bully. 

- Neville and Austin Aries came to ringside to watch the following match, for reasons that weren't quite clear. 

Perkins def. Gallagher 

After TJ Perkins and Jack Gallagher had ripped it up on 205 Live last week, I was hopeful that this rematch would receive a more appreciative audience, with the Colombus audience being hot for most of the show. However, whilst Ohio State University was much more interested in what Perkins and Gallagher had to offer, the match wasn't a patch on what the pair had done last week. In part this was because the focus was more on Neville and Austin Aries sitting at ringside, instead of what was going on in the ring. Gallagher's Mary Poppins dive to the outside is always fun and Perkins continually rolling to the outside was a nice classic heel tactic, but with the Cruiserweight Champion and #1 Contender at ringside, it all had the feeling of treading water. Of course, that was the case, as after Perkins threw Gallagher into Aries things broke down, allowing Perkins to nick a Detonation Kick victory. Nothing particularly wrong with anything here, but after seeing the 205 Live match it was a little disappointing. 

- Titus O'Neil propositioned newcomer Apollo Crews, by rhyming things with his name, it was weird and I don't want to see either a match between the two or a team, but at least we got to see Crews chatting with Akira Tozawa beforehand. 

- Cesaro & Sheamus interrupted the makeshift Mike Rome's interview with The Hardy Boyz, although they are still all good pals. 

Bliss def. Banks, James, Jax to become #1 contender to RAW Women's Championship

A well-booked four way here, that opens up an interesting clash between Alexa Bliss and RAW Women's Champion Bayley soon, whilst putting off bigger money matches with Sasha Banks and Nia Jax. Nia was the star of the show here, as despite an alliance with Bliss that was teased last week being completely no sold, Jax walked through her competition, hitting big slams, surviving a guillotine choke from Banks and hitting the move that would win the match. Jax time will come, but I like that she's been held away from having one on one title match just yet. It'll make her a bigger star when the time comes, especially if handled correctly. Outside of the Jax dominance, thinks were a little hit and miss, as whilst Bliss and Banks had a very good sequence of reversals based around the Banks Statement, a sequence with Bliss and James was sloppy. It was perhaps surprising to see the respected veteran James stand out as the weakest link in the match, but against women five to twelve years her junior she just didn't seem with it. 

- The upset Charly Caruso spoke to the Big Show, who was still angry about Strowman's antics. 

- Curt Hawkins cut a promo describing how he made The Big Show into a star last week, before challenging someone to face him.

- Finn Balor defeated Curt Hawkins in just over thirty seconds. 

- The big Mike Rome spoke with Chris Jericho, with Y2J saying there was no shame in losing to Samoa Joe, before chatting about his US title match with Owens. Elias Samson drifted into the background and eventually ended up on the list in a pretty entertaining interview segment. 

- Bray Wyatt made an appearance in his smoky lair, cutting a promo about the upcoming House of Horrors Match with SmackDown's Randy Orton. Filled with weird imagery, including a bloke with antlers (Moose?), it still did very little to clue us in on what the match will actually be. 

- Emma purposefully put a stop to Dana Brooke's friendship with Alicia Fox, recalling Brooke's poor jokes about Fox getting covered in powder on last week's 205 Live. 

J. Hardy def. Cesaro

Jeff Hardy's first RAW singles match since beating Dolph Ziggler in an Extreme Rules match in March 2009, bought us a fun, first-time ever clash with Cesaro. The Swiss Superman controlling the contest from the ad-break, nailing running uppercuts on the outside and dodging Hardy's hope spot Swanton Bomb, was certainly the best thing for the match, as even with the popularity of Cesaro, he was always going to come off second best to a Columbus audience getting to see Hardy live for the first time in four years. In the last few minutes the action began to pick up, with Cesaro blocking a Twist of Fate with an uppercut and then hitting a springboard corkscrew uppercut moments after Jeff blocked a Swing attempt. There was the feeling that in a different context (and maybe a few years ago) the pair could have torn the house down together. The clean as a whistle finish, with a Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb, felt a little peculiar, doing very little for Cesaro & Sheamus title challenge. Some interference from Sheamus or perhaps anything that would've suggest friction or even the shock value of having Cesaro defeat Hardy clean himself, could've really built some interest into the upcoming RAW Tag Team title match at Payback and therefore this bout feels like real missed opportunity.

- The physical Mike Rome bumped into Heath Slater & Rhyno backstage, before Braun Strowman walked past and Rhyno dropped his crackers.

Strowman v Show ends in No Contest.

They broke the freakin' ring! For only the third time in WWE history and for the first time since Mark Henry v Big Show at Vengeance in 2011, the ring collapsed after a superplex spot. Whilst the whole spot had been signposted from the beginning of the show, by WWE using their old ring with no screen around the apron and classic ringposts, the spot got a huge reaction from the crowd. As well as the big deal they made of "re-enforcing" the ring during the build to their last match. Chances are, seeing how the previous two breaks happened in Orlando in 2003 and San Antonio in 2011, that this was the first time almost all of the crowd had seen such a spot live and in the flesh. The rest of the match was similar to their February bout, starting slow with weird spots like arm drags, before shunting into a series of near falls. The crowd was hot throughout even through dated spots like the battle to do a powerslam, but were positively molten when Strowman jumped off the middle rope and into a Knockout Punch. The build towards the superplex was handled well, with both superstars ending up on the top rope at various points, only for one to thwart the danger. It's Strowman v Reigns at Payback, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a Strowman v Show again next week with a gimmick of some kind. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.17/10 

Another solid edition of Monday Night RAW, which considering the storylines are still trying to find places to settle following the shake up is pretty commendable stuff. The shift to have longer matches and only one lengthy talking segment (that was arguably the shows highlight) is certainly a positive, with almost every match on the card, at least, matching my expectations. The show isn't currently missing out on having it's top champion missing, because there's strong storylines and popular characters pulling their weight and with Bray Wyatt v Randy Orton scheduled for Payback the big show shouldn't suffer either. The show's still not batting for six, as certain booking decision were a little questionable, but RAW's still not out. 

Review - James Marston 

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling

WWE NXT #243 Review (Aired - 12th April 2017)

On the 12th of April, WWE aired the 243rd episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 5th April. Starting off proceedings with a rather fun new theme tune that sounds like they couldn't be bothered to keep paying Astroid Boys for their UKCT theme and some lovely new opening credits, this was clearly a soft reboot for the developmental brand This week's main event featured the emotional goodbye of the King of Strong Style, Shinsuke Nakamura, as he heads off to Smackdown to make Dolph Ziggler job again. With matches also featuring Aleister Black (neé Tommy End), Drew McIntyre (neé Galloway), Tomasso Ciampa, Jonny Gargano, Ruby Riot, Kimberly Frankele & Oney Lorcan, could it improve on last week's dissappointing presentation?

Match 1:

 Aleister Black

def.

Corey Hollis

(0.30)

Not so much a match as a single delayed kick. Hollis bounced around the ring till he jumped straight into a Black Mass from the former PROGRESS & WxW Tag Champ for a quick pin. Black celebrated his quick victory with a Full Lotus in the centre of the ring. Obviously not a technical competition but it served its purpose and the crowd are already willing to take their coffee Black.

• Tye Dillinger talks about his excitement on joining the Smackdown roster but says he has unfinished business with Eric Young, business that will be settled next week in a cage match to stop his pesky friends interfering. Those always keep people out Tye, good call.

Match 2:

#DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa)

Def.

Dylan Miley & Michael Blais

(3:00)

Ciampa and Miley start proceedings, Miley looks like every other guy on the WWE roster if Vince re-drew him to his personal tastes, he controls both of the former NXT Tag champs with some big lad offense including a brutal looking stalled suplex at least until he tags in partner Blais who gets rocked easily by Johnny Wrestling and the Psycho Killer who hit the (FINISHER) for the win. After the match, Miley would murder his tag partner for the crime of losing. Some more fundamental, basic structure tag stuff but it did its job in establishing Miley as a monster to watch. That said, it's a shame that even if they got the win, this really had nothing to do with #DIY.

• In the aftermath of NXT Takeover: Orlando, Ember Moon spent an hour or two wandering around the Amway Center as they packed away the set and mournfully contemplating her loss while someone played piano for her. This was actually quite a refreshing change of pace for backstage/promo segments focussing on the emotion of the idea instead of any actual issues between the superstars. It not only built up the prestige of the Womens Title but did a lot to sell a re-match between Asuka and Moon as something special.

Match 3:

Ruby Riot

def.

Kimberly Frankele

(2:25)

It's now time for the Shimmer Main Event as former CHIKARA Grand Champion Kimberly took on the woman once known as Heidi Lovelace. Kimberly would control the action early on with some lovely stiff chops and kicks getting a nearly fall off a facebuster and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker combo, Nikki Cross would come to ringisde and do her nutter shtick somehow causing in fact a distraction allowing Ruby to get a comeback sequence leading to her wind-up Pele Kick finisher staring down Cross as she got the pin. Cross would then walk away laughing and looking all manic like. It did what it had to do but these two have had many significantly better matches, most of them longer than 3 minutes it's obviously building towards a one-on-one between Riot and Cross which should be good.

• The Iconic duo are mucking about backstage till they go to taunt Aliyah because if you remember, Peyton beat her last week. the segment ends when Liv Morgan pushes Billie into an ice bath. Banter, hijinks, shenanigans. Ha.

Match 4:

Drew McIntyre

def.

Oney Lorcan

(5:15)

Drew's not using Bad Dreams anymore, he has an entrance theme that's Metal as Fuck but also has bagpipes to remind you, he is Scottish. He gets a hero's welcome from the Full Sail crowd who've been surprisingly tolerable this taping with their most inventive chant being 'welcome back'. A nice change from their normal tone of 'we are more important than the wrestlers'. Talking of the wrestlers, for the time they were given they put on a good match with Drew playing heavily off his strength and size advantage but Lorcan managed to once again showcase his comfort levels with opponents of all sizes by using his blend of big ol' strikes and, well, running strikes but he's good at hitting people. The match featured some fine back-and-forth with highlights including an attempted crossbody to the outside by Lorcan, caught and reversed into an Apron backbreaker, a beautiful suicide dive by Lorcan and an Avalanche Front Headlock Suplex by Drew leading through a massive Alabama Slammer and a Test-sized Big Boot for the pin. Sadly no Futureshock DDT but that maybe be down to Almas and Roode already having DDT finishes. Fine, crisp stuff from both men making Drew look like a world beater with Lorcan still looking impressive in defeat.

• Drew gets a top-of-the-ramp interview talking about how he went away and won stuff, he has RAW talent, can put the SmackDown on anyone but he wants to be on NXT. Do you see what he did there?

Thank You, Shinsuke

The Two-Time NXT Champion has his graduation speech, coming to the ring in a black t-shirt, black blazer, charcoal grey trousers and what may have been winkle-pickers but I apologise if my shoes calls are as bad as my spot calls. He has the standard 'I'm going to Smackdown but NXT will always be home' type spiel, making you realise quite how big an impact he's had in just the year he's been here. It's also notable quite how fluid the speech is showing quite how good Shinsuke's English is. Also he's a charismatic, charming fucker who could probably drag a doctor off a plane and knee him in the head and still be cheered. Thank you for the past year Nakamura, now go kick the head off SmackDown: Live. In his own words, 'We Are NXT. YEAOH!'

• As the show finishes, the NXT roster and Regal come to the ramp to applaud Nakamura as he leaves including a surprise appearance by Finn Balor to rapturous applause, presumably as the cameras cut out, Mahal came in to concuss everyone. Hideo Itami, looking as good as ever is stood next to Regal, hmmm...

Finally...

With the new opening, the Full Sail debuts of Black, Riot & McIntyre and the fond farewell to Nakamura, this was clearly an episode all about building up the roster after losing arguably its top Main Eventer, Tag Team and Midcard hero in Nakamura, The Revival and Dillinger. It managed to present a lot of potential options going forward with everyone from McIntyre to Miley managing to show something. That said, while the in-ring action was solid if unmemorable, it did enough to present the developmental brand as one moving forward and developing quite nicely indeed. Now if they can just wrap-up the 'Who injured Itami in the car park' storyline...

ATPW Scale Rating: 4.5/10

Review: Jozef Raczka

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling

Winners and Losers of the 2016 WWE Draft

Since Raw and SmackDown split their rosters in the middle of last year things have been overwhelmingly positive from my point of view. Many stars managed shine brightly after being given extra exposure on TV and natural fears of watering down the entire roster were wavered by WWE’s brilliant slow build to many WrestleMania feuds including, Wyatt v Orton, Jericho v Owens, Rollins v HHH.

Admittedly, Raw has struggled to produce 3 hours of good television most weeks but SmackDown Live in particular has become a cesspool of joy and wonder; with interesting angles, top-class matches and by going they have ditched the god awful piped crowd noises, making for much more enjoyable viewing.

People will moan about Roman and the booking of champions forever and a day but with every negative there are more positives and I am here to run down my selections for biggest winners and losers since WWE did away with their ‘Super Show’ and divided the wrestler into two.

 

Winner – The Miz and Maryse

Hands up, who thought The Miz would be one of the most entertaining and must-see wrestlers of the last calendar year? Nobody? Yea, seems about right. What a turnaround year this guy has had, since being drafted to SmackDown alongside his lovely wife, the twosome have been on a tear.

Moving to the blue brand as Intercontinental Champion set him in good stead anyway but ever since THAT promo on Talking Smack with Daniel Bryan, he’s been on another level entirely. His intensity, his promos, his matches (see @ No Mercy versus Dolph Ziggler) have all been better than ever before and having recently shifted back to Raw, he’s sure to gain another fresh burst of life. 

Everyone is talking highly of the Miz now and he’s worked him damn ass off to be in the discussion as one of the best in the company at the moment, so massive props to him. I wish his Intercontinental Championship tour had never stopped but all good things must unfortunately come to an end; hopefully he continues to show his absolute best side this year, and with Maryse by his side, I see absolutely no reason why that shouldn’t happen.

 

Loser – Kalisto

Imagine being 5 foot, 6 inches tall, weighing in at 170 pounds. Now imagine a Cruiserweight division is re-birthed on Monday night Raw. Now imagine being drafted away from that and onto the Tuesday night show whereby you will not really achieve anything of note and have to watch you fellow shorter professionals, such as Neville, smash it out of the park under the umbrella of the purple-roped division.

Kalisto was actually cooking on gas before the draft hit, he was a former US Champion and had a couple of very respectable matches with Ryback (5 star Classics according to the Big Guy himself) but since turning to the blue brand he’s all smoke and no fire, with loss after loss after loss building on his resume. Safe to say, he did not do really good Lucha things as he promised…

Honestly, I don’t think Kalitso is a bad wrestler per say; is he the next big Mexican star WWE is looking for? No, he’s a little botchy and Cien Almas is clearly a better luchador, but he can have really fun matches – such as his chairs match @ TLC versus Baron Corbin – and is capable of amazing athletic feats. Hopefully now he’s back on Raw he can kill it with the other Cruiserweights and input some extra diversity to the rather thin roster too. In fact, I would be surprised if he was the champion soon.

Winner – Alexa Bliss/Naomi

I must admit, when I first saw how the female wrestlers had been split across Raw and SmackDown, I feared for the state of the blue brand’s performance. With Becky Lynch the only true main event level star moved over initially, the star power didn’t really feel apparent; but then stepped up the other women, especially these 2, as they both epitomised perfect heel and face champions at the top of the division.

Bliss was the first breakout top woman as she tussled with Becky Lynch in a programme which, despite leaving a little to be desired in the ring, truly delivered on weekly television with bitter scathing promos from the pair. Alexa managed to de-throne Lynch and carried herself as a brilliant champion, vastly improving from her NXT days, becoming a wrestler who we just love to hate.

The championship baton was then taken by Naomi as she twice knocked off Bliss, at both Elimination Chamber and in her home state, at WrestleMania. Slapping the title on Naomi instantly rocketed her from lower-midcard to main eventer, and thankfully the fans have got behind her and she’s really, really over now; her ‘Feel the Glow’ persona is turning heads and making people take notice, which is a complete 180 from her Funkasaurus days.

Both look set for a solid 2017 too, Naomi has the belt and can hopefully put in a good stint against Charlotte, whilst Alexa has just moved to Raw where she got a bigger pop than a can of Pepsi and perhaps has a henchwoman in the form of Nia Jax. Overall, a very interesting scenario for both, onwards and upwards for them.

Loser – Rusev

Rusev is such an odd commodity in WWE, he blows hot and cold with the season as some months he’s an unstoppable force and the next he’s a beatable object. The Bulgarian/Russian has all the talents to make it to the top of card; solid wrestler, easy gimmick and most of all awesome, amusing promos, the man doesn’t take himself too seriously.

I wish however, that WWE had taken Rusev a bit more seriously since the draft. Unfortunately for RuRu he ran into the Roman Reigns first, leading to him losing his precious US title and then he fell much, much further. He was paired with infinite jobber Jinder Mahal before getting absolutely pummelled by Big Show and taking a break from TV in order to address his current injury. I had such high hopes for the brute but he really wasn’t given a great platform to deliver the goods from.

SmackDown becomes home for the handsome European as he aims to rebuild his shattered status, honestly a face turn could be massively effective for him as long as they make sure he is a serious threat to opponents rather than going full Euro-Joke character a la Santino and Vladamir Kozlov before him. Just like I did with the last draft, I have huge hopes for Rusev getting to the main event scene at last.

Winner – Baron Corbin

By debuting with a win in the Andre Battle Royal at Mania 32 and instantly stumbling into a stale rivalry with Dolph Ziggler, big banter man Baron Corbin looked set to be another flash in the pan, who would never elevate beyond the level at which he debuted. But wow, has SmackDown Live treated him well!

He shook his early woes and is now right amongst the main players on Tuesday nights, now rubbing shoulders with Cena, Styles and company without looking even slightly out of place. Credit to the man himself too because he’s clearly been putting the hours in to improve his craft too; his promos are far less wooden than before and he holds his own in matches, no longer being carried or helped along by his more experienced foes. Hell, he even wrestled his first PPV main event after being out of NXT for less than a year when he took part in the Elimination Chamber this February; impressive stuff for sure!

Corbin will be the WWE or Universal Champion one day, I have little doubt about that, will it be before the next draft is carried out though? Well since he is confirmed to be staying put on SmackDown it feels he is closer than ever to getting his grasp on a top championship belt, so keep a watchful eye on the big man this annum.

Loser – The SmackDown Live Tag Team Division

Nothing sums up the SmackDown tag teams’ struggles quite like the fact that theirs was the only title not to be defended at this WrestleMania, and to be sadly honest, I doubt many people cared as the build between American Alpha and The Usos was very poor despite a good start when the teams first exchanged promos.

Things started well for the division as the undrafted Heath Slater’s surprising rise become the unlikely feel-good story of the summer. Following his crowning moment with Rhyno the roster quickly cooled off and become largely redundant on SmackDown; the Wyatts held the straps as a small part to their larger story and American Alpha had a forgettable run before dropping to the Usos but all of this has been carried out with a murmur, rather than with a bang.

What makes matters worse is the talent is there and SmackDown have built people beautifully, but the tag titles have fell by the wayside as everything else has accelerated past them. New Day joining team blue is exactly the sort of star power they required but my hopes are still resting on FaBreeze getting a title run at some point, they could really inject some fun and life into it!

 

Winner – Braun Strowman

I wanted to finish on a high, and there is no larger high than that which has been experienced by Braun Strowman since being drafted to Raw. I’ve always been a massive mark for this giant bastard since day one but after getting to Raw exclusively he’s rose more than anyone could have ever imagined. 

After crushing a huge list of jobbers and lower card talent he became a legitimate and threatening player on Raw during his entertaining feud with Sami Zayn and his role amongst the Raw Survivor Series team. He is living proof that slowly building somebody and using enhancement talent in the correct manner can make somebody into an absolute superstar, in both the eyes of management and of the audience. 

Sure he may have lost to Roman Reigns but that won’t stop this freight train of destruction, he is set to be a mainstay at the pinnace of Raw for the foreseeable future. Though it is unlikely I would really love to see them go all-in on Braun and have him trade a win back with Roman, but who knows? His segments are something very enjoyable and must-see every week, the polar opposite of his stature before the draft.

All in all, Braun is bloody brilliant.

Conclusion

So like I said beforehand, most things since the draft have been superb; the build from the initial draft until Mania was done extremely well and we have a whole host of very impressive men, women and tag teams across the two brands. Hopefully the rough edges are smoothed out over the course of the year and we see yet more successes as part of the most recent Superstar Shakeup, here’s to WWE delivering again!

Words - Thomas Brady 

Editor - James Marston

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling