Category: Pro Wrestling

AEW All Out (2019) – Review

Clive BallsLeave a comment

It’s going to be nearly impossible to review AEW All Out without reference to the other company in the room. So I won’t try. There’ll be a lot of WWE comparisons. We’re about to start a Wednesday Night War and this is the final shot across the bow before weekly programming commences.

All Out managed one amazing feat: watching on replay, there are no fights you want to skip. In fact, there’s many that make instant rewatches a must. Problem is, the WWE’s biggest weakness isn’t the standard of wrestling. Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Asuka and Charlotte head a long list of WWE Superstars whose in-ring performance can match anyone in the world. Dubious booking, bad storytelling and wasting talent are the main issues that have allowed the need for a viable rival to Vince McMahon’s juggernaut.

It’s hard to judge those finer elements until the TNT deal starts. The wrestling is top class. The polish around it needs buffing. The comparisons to WWE will start to shift to WCW if AEW isn’t careful. And we all know how that finished. Fans will give All Elite Wrestling time to mature. WWE has added the perfect production to their company after decades of experience. Cody and Khan have a period of grace in the bag.

What will help the credit with fans grow is the high standard of matches. Pound-for-pound, no WWE PPV in recent (maybe living) memory delivers match-after-match. Sometimes the action did make me wince. The bump Darby Allin took in the Cracker Barrel Challenge (dump the shameless sponsoring) was something AEW needs to review. He’s lucky to not have a broken back.

Cracker Barrel

A rundown of results offers little in the way of argument. It feels like Nyla Rose is the chosen one for the Women’s Championship. The Casino Battle Royale was probably the only average match on the card so maybe that’s taken the gloss off her ascension. On the night, it would have been good to see Hikaru Shida overcome Riho. It wasn’t to be and unless AEW goes for a David versus Goliath story, they’ll make the mistake of crowning Rose.

It was a night of top-class tag team action. The Dark Order defeated Best Friends to receive a bye for the upcoming tag tournament. They also revealed a build to the darker elements of their gimmick. It’s a shame WWE’s The Fiend has made that type of storytelling redundant for anyone else now.

SoCal Uncensored beating Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus was the feel-good moment. Already they’ve developed characters and they provided evidence they’ll be fun to watch too.

The Young Bucks and The Lucha Brothers went one more time. Having the AAA Tag Titles on the line meant the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Lucha Bros. did win. Having it as a ladder match meant the dangerous spots were also guaranteed. No one can argue with the lengths they went to, but it was brutal ballet at times. It’s also a question if the unmasking was actually accidental.

Omega and PAC put on a masterclass. The result was one that allows more layered storytelling moving forward. PAC starts his AEW career with a big scalp, looking strong. Omega is over enough – and good enough – to absorb this loss. He does need a few big wins post-Moxley.

Cody once again brought an emotional match to an AEW PPV. But the walk-in was clunky and the supporting cast a dated throwback. It was good to see the seeds of an MJF turn teased but not actioned. Cody is clearly main event talent, the fun we’ll have before he gets there makes the wait bearable.

The main event was a 50/50 booking. The choice was simple: make a star of Hangman Page overnight or use the name power of Chris Jericho heading into the Wednesday Night War. They both left everything in the ring and to be harsh, by the end, it was clear Page wasn’t at the elite level yet. He was drained and lacked energy, or the best seller on the planet and wants to make sure Ziggler never gets offered a spot in AEW.

It could be a blessing for Page. Now there’s a whole story to tell how he fell short. AEW should go for the long build here and have him struggle back to the top of the card during the next couple of years.

The blooded Jericho was probably a little unnecessary, dampened by the sight of referee Aubrey Edwards passing him the blade. A quick note on her performance, great that AEW is the first to place a female official in a World Championship match (talk about a revolution) but the ref should never be the show. Her theatrics at responding to every single blow is distracting. She needs to tone it down.

Jericho delivering the Judas Effect had the right feel to close out the show. He was the first Undisputed Champion. That moniker can now be recycled here in AEW as the first Champion. It’s not only deserved on his name alone. He still commands attention with his presence. His ringwork is still top drawer. With every occasion, he builds a stronger case for the claim to be the Greatest of All Time. It’s fitting his crowning moment came with the greatest wrestling commentator Jim Ross calling the action.

Chris Jericho First AEW Champion
Thank you, Jericho.

AEW is here, wrestling fans have a choice again.

9/10

WWE Great Balls of Fire 2017 – Review

Clive BallsLeave a comment

Before we begin, apologies for delayed reporting. Currently in Tokyo and Danny Simms said my diligent output was putting him to shame. Top tip for site editors: don’t hire staff more talented than you are, you’ll only begin to feel inadequate. While in Japan, an eye has been kept on WWE, so here comes the first of two reviews.

After choosing the worst name for a PPV, WWE had its work cut out. It was either going to bomb in style or redeem itself on air. Overall, it kinda swung to the latter. Just about.

The theme of the night, for this fan, was how – finally – WWE Creative haven’t been scared to create the correct results. In the case of this PPV, for differing reasons.

First bout of note was Bray Wyatt versus Seth Rollins.

These two have been billed as the future but sold down the river with misdirection. But at this point, a Wyatt defeat would be like serving him his P45 (for non-UK fans, firing him). A man can only claim deity status so many times before it becomes white noise during regular defeats.

Okay, so this wasn’t a classic clash. Which is surprising given the talent on show. But it doesn’t matter. It was always going to be about the result here and they handed the win to Wyatt. He needed an eye gouge but it’s hardly the type of cowardly move that could condemns him.

The Kingslayer has enough in the bank to move on and seek revenge. Wyatt is fighting for his WWE career.

Cesaro and Sheamus against The Hardy Boyz in an Iron Match was further example of WWE investing in the Hardy’s legacy. The result was secondary to allowing them another type of bout added to a career retrospect that’s second-to-none.

The levels maintain throughout the bout were exemplary.

The brothers trailed by a deficit that appeared unattainable . . . until the final minutes. Cue the high-risk spots – one of which left Matt bleedy profusely – and last second drama.

It was the Swiss Superman and the faux Irishman that left with the gold but the Hardys are surely taking slow steps to a Broken story.

The best thing that can be said about Alexis Bliss and Sasha Banks ending in a count-out is that we’ll get to see it again. Nice to see an original gimmick as Bliss used her double-jointed nature to fool opponent and ref.

Dean Ambrose and The Miz is another match that needed the right result, regardless of in-ring quality.

WWE needs to move past these two; The Miz doesn’t deserve to drop a belt only he has made credible in the last year.

So, the only thing that matters, is to say WWE Creative got it right again.

Then they did the unimaginable. They let Braun Strowman beat Roman Reigns in their ambulance match.

It was a brutal bout and Reigns didn’t look weak (golden boy protection). If the shock of the fall wasn’t enough, Reigns did something that was pure heel: he attempted homicide on a live PPV.

After fighting out of the ambulance, he threw Strowman in the back, drove out of the arena into the parking lot and then reversed – at pace – into an overhanging trailer.

The ambulance was partly crushed, Strowman inside.

My beady eye noticed the stunt was pre-recorded but this can be forgiven.

Oh, and The Monster Among Men eventually walked (hobbled) away from the wreck.

Which leaves us the main event. Lesnar v Joe.

Some will say Samoa Joe deserved a chance with the strap. I can’t disagree with the sentiment but we have to remember, he was here through chance. Injuries to others, thus, changes to the programme, meant this was a placeholder.

But Creative allowed Brock to once again appear beatable. Joe took his best, and for a while, traded with Lesnar.

He attacked him before the bell and never let up.

Brock Lesnar left your Universal Champion but the seed has been planted that he can be overthrown.

Expect Joe and those involved in the ambulance match to make that come true at SummerSlam.

6/10

WWE Extreme Rules 2017 – Review

Clive BallsLeave a comment

The build to RAW’s latest PPV wasn’t a smooth affair. Okay, put simply – it was underwhelming. The ratings don’t lie but a number of factors are at play. As ever, we can point fingers at WWE “Creative.” It’s also easy to say that the forever MIA Brock Lesnar hiding the much-derided Universal Championship doesn’t help.

The worst offender in recent times has been lazy bookings. Back to meaningless or repetitive matches and title changes signposted with future plans no longer a surprise.

This being said, the opening bout – the Intercontinental title match between Dean Ambrose and The Miz – should have been a damp squid. We’ve seen this mix months previous on SmackDown Live and those in the know have told us The Miz is being lined up for gold in order to play sacrificial lamb to Roman Reigns further down the line.

The stipulation here went against the ethos of the PPV. Instead of doing anything, it was a case of Ambrose losing the title should he get a DQ. That – obviously – played a large part of the narrative. As it should. But congrats to WWE for avoiding some contrived way to get Ambrose disqualified. Sure, they hinted at it, and made out he was close to doing something silly. But he didn’t.

The action in between these teases was good. The Miz really deserves all his props lately. He has always been strong on the mic, now he mixes it like a champ in the ring, and does bring prestige to belts.

He took the gold here by way of distraction. Not the obvious Maryse one. It was her expulsion to the back that allowed The Miz to throw The Lunatic Asylum into the ref and allow the official to debate his intention.

A skull crushing finale later, and we had a new IC Champ.

Extreme The Miz

That was a solid base to the show. The filler that came was weak, topped with a healthy bun.

So why did the show fail between curtain opening and shutting?

It was a mix of things, individual to each match.

Take Sasha Banks and Rich Swann v Naom Dar and Alicia Fox. This one failed for a few reasons. First off, the style and pacing was something you’d expect to see on Main Event. In doing so, the joint-best female performer, Banks (Charlotte is the other), is degraded to making Alicia Fox look like an almost equal.

That’s like asking Roman Reigns to beat Undertaker then go twenty minutes with Heath Slater the next night.

Except here, the match was thankfully short. It wasn’t PPV billing, nor PPV class.

Alexa Bliss v Bayley didn’t actually fail for the reason some are crying about (crying like Bayley). It was wise to make Bliss look so dominant. She has been given the baton and the WWE needs to let her run with it.

It failed by allowing Bayley to go stale before our eyes. When she’s on screen, a feeling not dissimilar to the Cena effect occurs. But she doesn’t have his backing – just impending disconnect. There should have been a post-squash match change in attitude displayed by Bayley.

The steel cage match for the Raw Tag Titles was all about too many matches between the opponents in the weeks before, and tepid action once it began. It doesn’t help that the Hardyz are being begged to turn Broken by the WWE Universe. A cage match teased that chance.

Instead we got a few certainties. A Whisper in the Wind from the top of the cage and a Sheamus and Cesaro win. See, in wrestling, if a superstar (or team in this case) win too much en route to a PPV, it means the ones that seemingly have no momentum win.

They cash in the jobber tax (not to be confused with Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion, that’s the Jobber Lotto coming up trumps).

A final nail in this match’s coffin was how the idea of both teammates escaping didn’t fully explain the rule about reentry (which invalidates the initial escape).

Refer to Payback 2017 review regarding the Cruiserweight division. As a side note: if I were to offer any review for Neville v Austin Aries in their submission match for the gold, I’d have said it was very good. A good advert for 205 Live (which shouldn’t be a RAW element).

The Fatal 5-Way to become number one contender was a lift that brought the event back to the level The Miz and Ambrose set – and took it on a few more notches.

After a generic start – wrestlers taking it in turns to fight, hide, and showcase – an alliance of Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt formed. This better controlled the traffic from Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Finn Bálor. It wasn’t long after this partnership broke down that Bálor went on the rampage.

Samoa Joe Bray Wyatt

The kick Reigns took to the face from The Demon King from the ring apron looked legit and painful. As did a multiple body pile-up spear through the barrier from Reigns, and a Rollins splash through an announce table.

Reigns and Rollins was teased as the finishing pair before it became Reigns and Bálor. As the Big Dog ate a Coup De Grace from the Irishman, Joe snuck up behind and locked in the Coquina Clutch.

A well-balanced packed main event and a good choice of winner moving forward. He may be visiting Suplex City to take a defeat but he’ll still leave looking strong.

5/10

WWE Backlash 2017 – Review

Clive BallsLeave a comment

This year’s edition of Backlash, now a SmackDown Live exclusive PPV, didn’t really whet the appetite in the build-up. The question is, was this just unfair? More a sign of WWE’s PPV oversaturation or weak bookings? Let’s see, shall we?

Okay, I don’t think there’s any need to do a match-by-match account here. Unlike some, I don’t believe the WWE will ruin the spectacle of special events by doubling their number under the Brand Split. When it comes to good sports entertainment, you can never have too much.

This is only true should the PPVs remain a level above the weekly programming. Sadly for Backlash, it played out like a regular episode of SmackDown Live. As such, even the big-name clash of the night, felt more like a grapple-by-numbers than a titanic showdown.

That was, of course, Kevin Owens vs AJ Styles for the US title. That belt, with these two fighting for it, kinda becomes the premier title on SDLive. Unlike RAW, who have to promote the Intercontinental Title in Brock’s absence, the blue brand has turned to the US Title out of choice.

That came about after fluffing the Superstar Shake-up and sending Bray Wyatt away when the battle with Randy Orton still had legs.

Many are saying the US Title bout lived up to expectation, and the Styles count-out means we’ll revisit it, so maybe I’m being harsh. If I am, it’s because I was drained by the earlier bouts.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Dolph Ziggler was so, so predictable, it was painful to watch. Almost as cringe as the latest Ziggler heel character. Anyone who questions why a guy with great in-ring ability was never fully invested in should watch this match.

His character acting is second rate, and the best wrestlers over the years – like Chris Jericho – can flip between heel and face and retain certain personality traits. It makes it more believable. Nowadays, Ziggler in a WWE ring is just distracting.

Oh, and yeah, Nakamura won (obvs).

The best highlight of the night was Breezango. The Fashion Police shouldn’t work – but it does. A quality comedic act always goes over in WWE. This one works on many levels. Not only is Tyler Breeze great as master of disguise, it is a slow but effective rehabilitation of Fandango’s in-ring prowess.

Tyler bags the laughs, Fandango bags the moves.

Here, it also made the champs – The Usos – look like the deadly, dominant foe their new personas require to maintain momentum.

SmackDown Live has been called the Land of Opportunity since the Brand Split. This has been true, but with Jinder Mahal facing Randy Orton for the WWE Championship, it felt like we were about to jump the shark.

They didn’t just jump the shark, they pole-vaulted over it.

Not one for a conspiracy (he is really – editor), it does beg the question if the SmackDown writers have spat their dummy. They wouldn’t have a large say in the men that moved in the Brand Split. Right now, they would like to be feeding The Miz into the main event scene. Instead they have been left threadbare with their best wrestlers looking at the secondary title.

So what to do? Demonstrate that the Land of Opportunity can appear great or ridiculous.

Jinder Mahal comes with the Singh Brothers, a regular trick from a heel – sidekicks. They caused the distraction that allowed The Maharajah to sneak a win. Disbelief? Not really, just disappointment.

It shows body image is still king with Vince McMahon. I’m not saying Jinder has taken steroids, he just happens to have hulked up in months and suddenly developed a bad case of “Backne” (acne on the back, it’s a play on words thing).

It shows Vince McMahon will sell the prestige of his top title to better penetrate the large and ever-expanding Indian market.

It also shows us that Randy Orton was once again uninspiring when given the ball and told to run. JBL repeats, about every thirty seconds, “If you designed a WWE superstar from scratch, he’d look like Randy Orton.” No arguments, he’d look like Randy Orton, you’d just have to remember to add charisma.

After being the best of the two brands since the split, suddenly SmackDown Live is in serious trouble.

WWE Payback 2017 – Results and Review

Clive Balls1 Comment

To some degree, this year’s edition of Payback manages to live up to its name. Also, we got matches that went against the predictions of many fans and pundits.

To kick us off was the United States title bout between former best mates Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. Beforehand two things were continually repeated. The first was it’d be match of the night. The second, there was no way Y2J could beat Owens.

Not because he’s not good enough or worthy, but because he’s leaving WWE again soon to tour with Fozzy and it’d undo putting KO over at WrestleMania.

Don’t cha just love it when a certainty goes the other way.

It was a good match – as expected. The story of the characters translated into clever spots. Owens reading the Jericho playbook and pouncing with various counters. And the finger stretch of KO. Well, that happened again and it made Jericho go ballistic.

Jericho Owens Payback 2017.png

An injured finger meant no ability to reach the rope and Jericho secured gold with The Walls. Expect him to drop the title on SmackDown Live this week.

New rule for these WWE PPV reviews: unless it’s a 205 Live event, I refuse to comment on the Cruiserweight Division. With such a strong identity, it shouldn’t be present on RAW or its PPVs.

No problem welcoming The Hardy Boys (or Boyz, whatevs). They defended the tag gold against Sheamus and Cesaro. This was a better match than expected. Matt took the ring to start and the crowd once again shouted “Delete.” This time he acknowledged and used the chant himself.

Whether this means WWE has given permission or if Broken Matt Hardy is willing to face legal trouble, is something we’ll find out in the passage of time. We’ll also see if the heel turn from the contenders after their defeat means their beatdown will be a catalyst for The Hardys becoming broken in the WWE.

Broken Matt Hardy.png
Broken Matt Hardy?

Another shock result was Alexa Bliss beating Bayley. The smart money was on Bayley retaining but with the heat growing between these two. It’s easy to see why Vince wants to pull the trigger on Alexa’s push. She has a good look and is convincing in the ring. The problem WWE has now is the RAW Women’s Division feels flat.

Alexa Bliss Payback Champion.png

This match summed it up. It wasn’t bad but it won’t live long in the memory.

Unlike the House of Horrors match. It was horrific, alright. Okay, elements were conceived well. The music was eerie, the camera work decent (apart from when you could see the cameraman’s shadow, d’oh) but this wasn’t the supernatural fright fest Bray promised, we expected, and the match needed.

A reincarnated Sister Abigail? Nope.

Monsters coming out of walls? Nope.

Dangerous props hurting Randy Orton at will? Nope.

A dirty kitchen with a heavy refrigerator? Er, yeah, that’s about the sum of it.

WWE House of Horrors.png

Maybe Bray Wyatt loves watching reality TV shows where filthy houses get cleaned and he sees messy ones as horrible? In this case, it was a House of (cleaning) Horrors. But a scary place Randy “can never leave”? Please. It’s best for everyone concerned if we leave the concept fast.

Wyatt jumped in the limo back to the arena.

To fill the gap, The Kingslayer faced one of HHH’s henchmen, Samoa Joe. These two are a great example of wrestling in this world of entertainment. No doubt that Seth Rollins is the more agile but Joe holds his own.

To tell the match they went down the old path of Rollins still suffering from a dodgy knee. It’s a leveller and gave Joe something to focus on. It gave us a Texas Cloverleaf to admire – and we just don’t see enough of those nowadays.

Rollins won as expected but with a clever reversal into a pin from a submission position. It was intelligent and doesn’t harm Joe at all.

What isn’t intelligent is the continuation of the House of Horrors match, as per the stipulation – it ends in the ring. Why was Wyatt still staggering around after a cosy limo drive to the arena? I mean, no matter the beating, you ain’t so bad after 30 mins of chilling.

Michael Cole trying to big-up the House as a place of purgatory is almost as laughable as the match itself. And guess what . . . yeah, Randy made it back from that place and looked fresh as a daisy. At the match restart, only one thing was expected – RKO from Outta Nowhere.

We got that but also Jindar Mahal with the WWE Championship as a weapon. That same title Bray Wyatt has suddenly lost interest in when it comes to the rematch he is owed. WWE messed up transferring him to RAW. It robbed him of a legit WWE Title rematch and all of his momentum.

This meaningless win just places him in further limbo.

Two men far away from that are Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. They faced off with the former Shield man heavily bandaged. There’s always the fear with Roman this means he’ll suffer only to look like even more of a Superman.

Roman Reigns Braun Strowman Payback 2017

 

But this match showed WWE Creative can listen at times. The best way to keep Reigns face (although, why on earth do they want to?) is to garner sympathy. He suffered through this match with only a slight comeback. Strowman’s victory came from a clean pin. Reigns kicking out with one surprise before falling.

After the match, more shocks came. Strowman took the steel steps into the ring, stood them tall on their side, and dropped Roman onto them. Then – this was the kicker – he picked them up, lifted them tall over his head, and slammed them into a defenceless Reigns.

The blood was pouring from Roman, and even the chants of “Thank you, Strowman” didn’t take away from the impact. This was brutal and even I felt sorry for Reigns.

Overall, a decent PPV.

7/10

Roman Reigns Payback 2017