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  • WWE Extreme Rules fan feedback

    Thumbs up.

    • Best match: fatal 4 way (world title match second best)
    • Worst match: divas
    • Four way was hot and well done. Styles-Reigns a worth main event in spite of the interference.
    • The Jericho- Ambrose cage mess really dragged live, and brought the crowd down; divas match also poor.
    • Vaudvillians were actually pretty good; have potential, and were protected for the moment by the finish.
    • Anderson and Gallows also strong . Baron-Ziggler was not much.

     –Mike Omansky

    Just wanted to provide some feedback on Extreme Rules. I gave the show a slight thumbs up, somewhere between thumbs in the middle, lol. The show had hits and misses, a few good matches, a few highlights, but due to lack of build not much else. I thought the main event for the world title was the best match of the night, although it was a tough choice between the main event and I/C title match. The I/C title match was awesome, but thought the main event was better in my opinion. Worst match of the night was probably a tie between the women’s match and the Asylum cage match. The women’s match could have been so much better, and it’s hard to have a cage match without violence and blood and keeping it PG.

    1. Ziggler – Corbin – Was not really into the match, either competitor could have won and would not have really made a difference.

    2. Doc & Anderson – Uso’s – Really good match, fast paced, Doc & Karl have been great since they started, The Uso’s looked good as a result, and usually not into the Uso’s very much. Hope they heat up the tag team scene with the addition of Doc & Karl and give them a run as tag champs.

    3. Kalisto – Rusev – Good to see Rusev win and get the U.S. title and paired back up on screen properly with Lana. I thought this was a hot act during his first run as US champ and they should have kept it that way instead of the seemingly lack of push that happened after the Cena fued and then Lana paired up with Dolph, just didn’t work. The League of Nations thing didn’t work out, and clearly neither of them was really having any on screen success without the other, so good to see them headed in the right direction again.

    4. New Day – Vaudevillains – Good to see New Day win. I was annoyed with their gimmick at first, but they have grown on me and I actually like the act now. Now I’m annoyed by the Vaudevillians, lol. Don’t really see how this can be a very long lasting gimmick for them as I just don’t see it sticking.

    5. Miz, Cesaro, Zayn, Ownes – Really great match, these guys are the future of the WWE and good to see them have a great match with each other. Was hoping they would get the title back on Owens as I thought he made a tremendous champion. But would be good to see either Zayn or Cesaro as champ too. And these guys are miracle workers making the Miz look good, lol. However The Miz has improved and I think a push with Maryse with him has been good. Improving as a performer and hope they just stick with that, stay away from the whole Miz TV thing, very annoying.

    6. Dean – Jericho – Really lackluster match, a whole bunch of nothing going on in the cage. Hard to have a cage match in today’s WWE. And the whole storyline between Dean and Jericho really was not going anywhere in my opinion. Cool spot at the end however with the bump into the tacks, that was cool at least.

    7. Charlotte – Nattie – Very disappointing since they are both so talented and this match was regulated to seemingly almost nothing and elevate who? Dana Brooks? I don’t think Dana is ready for the main roster yet. Her matches have left something to be desired that I’ve seen so far. Hopefully they will just keep her in the “Bodyguard” position for Charlotte and continue to push Charlotte as a really good heal. Daddy Ric can only do so much at ringside, so it will be good to have Dana there to take the bumps outside the ring. No disrespect to Flair, but he can’t actually do a whole lot of bumping at his age and keeping his physical role limited will be more effective I think.

    8. Roman – Styles – I thought this was a great match, AJ really took some hardcore bumps. I like Roman as champ and hope they go full heal with his character. Also want to see see Styles as champ. Also really cool to see the return of Rollins and would like to see him as champ again too, lol. But an amazing match of an otherwise somewhat lackluster card other then the I/C title match.

    Thanks,
    Jon Southerland — Clovis, Ca.

    • Thumbs in the middle. Very mixed bag.
    • Best match: Roman vs AJ. Maybe the best WWE match this year.
    • Worst match: Ambrose vs Jericho. Maybe the worst WWE PPV match this year.

    The women are hopeless if every title match has a screw job finish.

    Thanks,
    Erin J Hotovy

    Thumbs Up

    • Best Match: Styles v Reigns
    • Worst Match: New Day v Vaudevillans

    Another solid card. Styles had an insane match performance but important to say Reigns did a lot right in there as well. Wonder what is up next for Styles as a reward for the stuff he is doing out there since joining WWE. That main event delivered on a lot of levels. The passion of the crowds love/hate relationship with Reigns added here rather than detract and cant imagine that dynamic if RollinsVReigns is at MITB. The IC 4 way would be best match on a lot of cards. Big fan of the Kalisto-Rusev match as so much they did in that match was very tight. Kalisto has been doing some solid stuff from the del rio feud through the recent big men. Rusev is so underused but its hard to gauge how well they will handle the win based on the wackiness of the secondary titles. Usos and “The Club” had another good match, not sick of the feud though looks like its over (Wargames dreams shattered). The asylum match lagged in parts but overall felt good. Enjoyed Corbin Ziggler but think Corbin, who I am a fan of, needs a little more work on selling. The Dana Brooke spot took me out of the Charlotte-Natalya match. Get what they were going for but just came across weird.

    Network was perfect tonight, none of even those minor blips or hiccups.

    Thanks!

    Michael O’Brien | Brockton, MA

    Thumbs up just because of two superb matches. Roman gets the hottest heel reaction in years and Rollins was welcomed like he was HBK. Anything else but a double turn is plain simple stupid. 

    • Best Match: Miz vs. Zayn vs. Owens vs. Cesaro closely followed by Reigns vs. Styles 
    • Worst Match: Corbin vs. Ziggler

    Earlier in the day during the USA vs. Puerto Rico International Friendly soccer match on FS1, one of the announcers actually said “Puerto Rico, the shining star of the Caribbean”.

    Leonardo II Mendez | San Sebastian, PR

    Thumbs Up

    Worst Match: Corbin vs. Ziggler

    Had a couple of awkward moments & the rhythm could’ve been better at times, but I thought it was an ok match. Liked the finish, although thought he waited a little long to capitalize on the low blow.

    Usos vs. Anderson & Gallows

    Thought they were rushing a fair bit but decent match.  

    Rusev vs. Kalisto

    There were some awkward moments in the early going, thought the heat section left a lot to be desired, Kalisto’s comeback wasn’t as crisp, smooth & explosive as others, but I thought it was ok, & improved towards the end, which featured some nice spots & I liked the finish.   

    New Day vs. Vaudevillians 
    Didn’t last long but I thought it was a good solid match.

    Owens vs. Cesaro vs. Zayn vs. Miz
    Thought the crowd jumped the gun on the awesome chants, but it was a hell of an outing. No losers here. Was surprised to see Miz win, thought for sure the title would end up on Zayn or Owens.  

    Jericho vs. Ambrose
    Thought the crowd were a bunch of cocks. Thought they worked a real good match, with a good structure & nice pacing, but the crowd weren’t interested until the tacks, which frankly I was surprised to see used, I thought both they & the barbed wire 2×4 were just going to be teased, not that I feel that would’ve been a wise decision. They were out there trying to work, but the crowd wanted pace & spots. Ok, it was following a great match, but there was no need for some of their behaviour.

    Natalya vs. Charlotte
    Tough stipulation match to have given the two matches that’d gone before. I thought it was decent, but wasn’t a fan of the finish, thought it was very anticlimactic, & was pretty surprised by Dana Brooke’s appearance, given her ongoing program with Becky. Interested to see where they’re going.  

    Best Match: Styles vs. Reigns
    Thought it was an amazing performance from Styles, he worked so hard, & Reigns wasn’t a passenger. Lots of creative spots, great layout, great flow & rhythm to the match, very spectacular, although I would’ve liked a little more dramatics given everything they did, & for them to bring down the pace a little at times. Again no losers here.  

    Tom Griffiths

  • UFC 195 feedback, Lawler vs. Condit fight of the night

    UFC 195

    Thumbs way up. Some upsets, burst bubbles, and stylistic surprises, and as expected an off the chart main event. Some questionable decisions but what else is new.

    Best fight: Lawler-Condit

    Worst fight: wasn’t one

    Best performance: Condit even losing

    KO: Stipe

    Sub: Ortega

    Sheldon Westcott eats a couple of Edgar Garcia right hands and very quickly takes it down, ties him in knots, and gets the rather late TKO off about a zillion unanswered punches. Michonori Tanaka aggressive early but Joe Soto threatens off his back throughout and comes on very strong in the 3rd. Entertaining and competitive. 29-28 split Tanaka. Soto would have won by whole fight but by the rounds/points system you can see how it went that way. Dustin Poirer looks outstanding back at LW busting the Joe Duffy bubble, taking a wide but also entertaining and competitive UD with one 30-26.

    Striker Drew Dober surprisingly widely dominates the TD game and takes the 29-28 upset UD over wrestler Scott Holtzman. Similarly, Nina Ansaroff outstrikes Justine Kish, who seems overanxious, and Kish comes on late to dominate the ground game. Could go either way. Kish takes the the UD with two 30-27s, which seems weird, as Ansaroff certainly looked to win the 1st. Alex Morono takes a dubious 29-28 x 2, 27-30 SD over Kyle Noke in a very close one. Michael McDonald looking very rusty after two years off gets used as a mat rag by Masanori Kanehara but somehow reverses a sunk-looking arm tri into RNC for the tap in the 2nd. 

    Tony Sims looks good early at long range and stuffing Abel Trujillo’s TD, but Trujillo counters a power double with a Guillotine for the tap. He’s so strong he didn’t even need proper position, getting pressure using his neck, shoulder and chest. Facially Trujillo and Roman Reigns could be twins.

    Diego Brandao outboxes and outwrestles Brian Ortega for 2 1/2 rounds but misses a punch badly in the 3rd allowing Ortega to get position to chain subs till he locks up a triangle for the tap.

    Very interesting fight that might have been too subtle for the audience. Basically Lorenz Larkin’s low kicks vs. Albert Tumenov’s body punches. Very close. Like the earlier fight whole fight scoring would be Larkin who finished strong but points go 29-28 split Tumenov. Not popular decision. Both looked very good.

    A bigger bubble bursts as Stipe Miocic catches Andrei Arlovski’s always questionable chin with a short right that rocks him and does not let him off the hook and it’s over in 54s. Stipe screams at Dana for a title shot, which seems unarguable. Stipe was just ranting (not in a bad way) and I think on his promo he said at one point ‘I’m CM Punk, bro.’

    Carlos Condit turns in a career-best performance in his WW title challenge to Robbie Lawler. Most fluid and instinctive he’s ever looked. Pattern is set in the 1st with Condit constantly moving and leading and Robbie looking to counter after Carlos scores a flash KD. He then dictates the rest of the round, 10-9. Pattern holds in the 2nd but Robbie finds the range and drops Carlos, a lot harder and has him in brief trouble and evens it up. The 3rd is the swing round as it turns out with Carlos again just much much busier and Robbie throwing very little but landing most of it clean and hard. I thought the sheer volume made it Condit’s round. The 4th was similar until late when Carlos rocked Robbie late and had him in some trouble and I thought was enough for a 10-8. The corner told Robbie he needed a KO and he went out and tried to get it, hitting Carlos with everything but the kitchen sink, but he couldn’t drop him and Carlos fought back every time. Early round of the year candidate and fight of the year also. Robbie took the 5th, borderline but IMO not quite 10-8. Both collapsed against the fence at the bell. I had Condit 49-46 but the judges went 48-47 split for Robbie. No losers here. A rematch could be called for but Carlos said he may retire.

    Crimson Mask

    Good morning Dave, 
    I ordered the show on UFC.tv with a fight pass discount.  I definitely got my money’s worth.  A solid thumbs up show, with very good prelims, and a great main event.  I think a rematch at UFC 200 or that weekend HAS TO happen (sorry Tyrone).  And have a #1 contender fight on standby that weekend.  I scored the main event 47-47, with the champ winning rounds 2, 3, 5 @ 10-9.  I scored Condit winning 1 @ 10-9 and 4 @ 10-8.  Lawler did nothing in 4 and CC’s striking stats showed I was justified having a 10-8 score.  

    Happy WK Eve,
    James Brown

    Thumbs up

    Best fight Robbie Lawler vs Carlos Condit

    Worst fight Drew Dober vs Scott Holtzman

    Best KO Stipe Miocic

    Best Sub Michael MacDonald

    Best Performance Robbie Lawler & Carlos Condit

    Robbie and Carlos was a war, scored it for Condit but 3rd round was so close that i cant be upset about it, way more upset over the Kyle Noke decision. Poirier vs Duffy was also a great fight that is gonna go unnoticed because it aired on Fight Pass and due to the main event euphoria

    Wade Haugen

    Thumbs Up

    Best Fight: Lawler vs. Condit

    What a terrible decision.  I could see a draw if you gave Lawler a 10-8 2nd round and a 10-9 5th but I can’t see how you give him the fight.  Rest of the show was fun if not inconsequential outside of the Miocic KO win.  

    Mike Hiscoe

    Thumbs up show fight of the night lawler vs condit. Worst fight was Justine kish vs Nina Anasaroff. Just an awesome main event. I think the reason I had lawler winning 48-47 was in that third round even though condit threw more, a lot of the punches didn’t land while when they were exchanging lawler got the better of him. Three was the only close round. Every other one was solid by condit in 1 and 4 while lawler in 2 and 5. Again great show.

    Corey Lieb

    Thumbs up. Best fight lawler vs condit. Think fight is great but being overhyped. Maybe best round 5 I’ve seen, but lot of fight was lawler failing to get off. I scored 3 to 2 for condit. Lawler would have won pride rules. Enjoyed lawler macdonald and lawler Hendricks both times better. Wish Hendricks hadn’t missed weight as I still think he and lawler is best fight to make. Love condit but don’t think he’s top 3 in division at moment. Other than lawler , think Hendricks, woodley, and macdonald all beat him. Don’t think this decision was any more controversial than Hendricks lawler 2 which I thought was more clearly for Hendricks than this was for lawler. 

    All that said, loved the fight. 

    Mark Libell

    Thumbs way up.
    Best match was obviously Lawler/Condit. One of the best fights ever, I think. Hope they run it back, I’d pay double to watch it.
    Worst match I’d say Kish/Ansaroff for lacking anything that looked like pro-level technique.
    With that main event, easy thumbs up, but the co-main was a great performance and Brian Ortega and Michael McDonald had 2 outstanding submissions. Fun show on the whole.

    Jeremy Sexton

  • WWE Survivor Series 2015 Reader Feedback

    Thumbs way down.
    All the talent and possibilities they have and those are the final two standing? Shows who the bosses want, we get. Sheamus and Reigns. Wow. Couldn’t have booked it worse if they wanted to lose viewers tomorrow night and the foreseeable future as fast as possible.
    Awful.

    Brian Mazza

    Thumbs uppish.

    Best match: Ambrose v Owens

    Worst: Undertaker/Kane v The Wyatts

    The matches were mostly entertaining if not especially memorable. The curse of the show was match endings seemingly : the traditional Survivors match (pretty good until New Day walks out, hen… well…), Charlotte/Paige, Ziggler/Breeze & the Reigns/Ambrose final were all marred by it. Only Reigns/Del Rio & Ambrose/Owens built to a satisfying payoff.

    The “surprise” Sheamus win makes sense from a story perspective, but I can’t say it makes me interested in future directions, & it didn’t do Roman any favors. For a second it looked like they were doing a double-turn with him & Triple H…

    Steven Grant

    Henderson NV

    Dave,

    This show sucked, thumbs down.

    Best match ADR vs Reigns
    Worst match 10 man tag w/Shameus

    Ambrose’s upper body is awful. Needs to get on the main event gimmicks. He looks like me when I work out and I should not be a wwe main eventer.

    I don’t know if it’s too late for this but I loved the Tenryu retirement show, big thumbs up.

    Best match Tenryu vs Okada
    Worst match tag w/Ogawa

    Thanks, Erin Hotovy

    Hi Dave,
      Just thought I would provide some Feedback on Survivor Series. I gave the show a thumbs in the middle, not that bad, good in spots, but not really that great either. Better then a “B” show, but not by much. I would have to say the best match of the night would probably be the Taker/Kane match VS The Wyatts since it was a cool spectacle but mostly just big spots at the right time, and the worst match of the night would have to be the 5 on 5 elimination match during the main show. I missed the elimination match on the pre show.

    Roman / Del Rio – I thought this was a pretty good match, my two choices for the winning the title when the tournament began was both of these guys, I think Alberto would be a great heel champ, and I think Roman would have also made for a great heel champ as well, but more on that later. Good win for Roman.

    Ambrose / Owens – Was not all that surprised to see Ambrose win, even though I was pulling for Owens since I think he is one of the most talented guys on the roster right now. But they have been building on the friendship between Roman and Dean during the tournament and what would happen if they met in the finals, so I saw the Ambrose win coming. Ah well.

    New Day / Sheamus / Barrett VS Lucha Dragons / Usos / Ryback – Match was entertaining and good for comedy because of the New Day, but also got my vote for worst match of the night because it was just a comedic throw away match. It’s hard to watch matches like this where it’s just built around the comedy segments. And I’m a fan of New Day and they have won me over with their comedy spots, but hard to take them seriously as a result and they are tag champs right now so it dilutes the title as a result.

    Paige / Charlotte – Not a bad match for the Divas title, was very good in spots and very physical, but have seen better. I think the whole angle with Flair and her late brother really just ruined the match for me, so it was hard for me to get into this match as a result. Although WWE really retracted on the angle they used on Raw and tried to back track and utilize damage control, the match was really ruined in my opinion from that tasteless angle which still has me dumbfounded why they would go that route and mention Reid Flair the way they did. Just bad taste and was not necessary at all to get the match over. But good to see Charlotte retain since Paige is starting to get annoying in my opinion as they are making her character a little too whiney and complaining. Just stick to having good matches and get the ball back rolling on the Divas revolution.

    Ziggler / Tyler – Didn’t really care who won this match since the whole feud has really been pointless. But good win for Breeze since it would be dumb to have him lose after just making his main roster debut. However having him with Summer Rae is not doing him any favors. Poor Summer just seems to be the career killer for everyone, lol.

    Taker /Kane VS the Wyatt Family – I thought this was a very good match for what it was and who was involved. I knew Taker and Kane couldn’t really do much to carry the match that long in this latter stage of both their careers and the Wyatts would really have to step up and make it look good. I think it would have been better and really a no brainer to have a traditional 5 on 5 elimination match since it would make everyone look that much better, but this seemed to work out just fine too. Really cool entrance by Undertaker, was expecting more in general throughout the night in honor of the Taker since they were celebrating his 25 years since his debut in WWE in 1990 but this match served it’s purpose well. I thought a good angle they could have utilized if they went for a traditional elimination match would be to have mystery surprise partners for Taker and Kane, possibly Sting, Batista, and Brock as his partners would have been awesome. But that’s just me playing fantasy league booker, lol. But good match otherwise.

    Roman / Dean – Not sure what to say about this match. I think Roman as a face is going nowhere fast. Evident by crowd starting to boo him. Was hoping Roman would turn heel during the match on Dean and win the title as a heel champion. I think Roman as a heel champion would be awesome. Face Roman not so much. When Roman did win the title, I automatically thought something was up since they still had plenty of time left on the show for something to happen, which I knew would not bode well for Roman. And of course that’s exactly what happened when Triple H came to the ring then Sheamus cashed in and won the title. Kind of lazy in my opinion. And Roman gets screwed out of the title again since WrestleMania. Face Roman is just not going to get over. Heel Roman will make a great champion. But Shemaus as champ? Wasn’t he just in a comedy filler mid match card? Well it was an entertaining show but not the greatest. They can only improve from this point. Go heel Roman!

    Thanks,
    Jon Southerland
    Clovis, Ca.

    WWE Survivor Series

    Thumbs in the middle: Not that great of a show, it started good but lost steam down the line. Way too many video packages and outside the ring stuff. Between the end of the Ziggler vs Breeze match and the start of the main event there were 37 minutes with just ten of in-ring action for the Taker match, only to do a rushed final. 

    Best Match: Ambrose vs Owens

    Worst Match: Tag Opener 

    1. Goldust, Neville, O’neill & Dudleys vs Dallas, Miz, Stardust & Ascension. A total throwaway match. 

    2. Reigns vs ADR. Good opener. Finally Del Rio had a good match. ***1/2

    3. Ambrose vs Owens. Very good but these two can be better; given the result, it’s possible they’ll have a feud. ***3/4

    4. Ryback, Lucha Dragons & Usos vs. Barrett, Sheamus & New Day. It started good but once the New Day walked away the match died. In fact, they never got the crowd fully back for the rest of the show. **3/4

    5. Charlotte vs Paige. They really tried and did some cool spots but the crowd was dead. Maybe it was the New Day walk out effect, the Charlotte’s brother angle effect or that people just don’t care about the divas. Maybe a bit of all. ***

    6. Breeze vs Ziggler. Too short to be something. **

    7. Taker & Kane vs Wyatt & Harper. They put Harper there to take the bumps. Taker did his thing so it was fine. Hopefully this is the end of their feud. **1/2

    8. Reigns vs Ambrose. What they did was good but way too rushed. It was clear that there was an angle coming. ***

    9. Sheamus vs Reigns. In 2015 Sheamus is the WWE champion once again. Those title matches vs Ryback (given the result of the tag match) will be great. What’s next, Barrett turning on him? I just hope that this is not an excuse to do the dreaded Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan match at Mania (N/R)

    Leonardo Mendes Toledo

    Thumbs Up
    Best Match: Reigns v Ambrose
    Worst Match: Charlotte v Paige

    I think they made a big mistake with the succesful cash in. Could sense that was coming for Triple H to sucker him with a handshake and when Reigns is a face who sees right through it, made him stand out. If he was able to beat Sheamus too, I have to think that would have really cemented him. “This guy survived a tourney, hunter, and a cash in? Wow”. Not like they have to protect the briefcase anymore since two people have failed. This would get the case off Sheamus and potentially also allow an opponent for TLC by The Authority sending Sheamus against Reigns. But no, now Reigns is champion for a moment now has to chase *again*. No matter how the storyline spins it most audience members will now see reigns as a guy who blew it *again*

    Anyway this was another good event. At this point I forget the last PPV I didnt like. Had technical issues first 10-15 of the preshow, as a lot folks did apparently on Twitter. All three tournament matches were great. Im a sucker for Owens but thought Ambrose-Owens was the weakest of the three just slightly off but still good. Liked both elimination matches, The New Day one more. The trombone moment was priceless especially with Wade. The divas match should have started with Charlotte going balistic and there wasnt enough of that. More stiff than WWE womens matches but just lacking a little. Glad to see Breeze win after the tourney handling.

    Think WWE was hoping the crowd would take over singing for Lilian as many other sports teams have done at times like these but they didnt get going.

    So TLC will likely be the aforementioned Sheamus-Reigns match and guessing basically they “have” to have Sheamus retain which frankly sucks, makes Reigns keep choking. If theres some title held up or other wackiness its Bryan-Orton/Authority all over again.

    Reigns may not be perfect right now but they had the chance to strap a triple rocket to the guy and see what happens ans they went the other way here. Too bad.

    Michael O’Brien

    WWE Survivor Series Feedback

    Thumbs Up

    Best Match: Roman Reigns vs Alberto Del Rio

    Worst match: Goldust, Dudleys, Titus O’Neal and Neville vs Acension, The Miz, Bo Dallas and Stardust

    I enjoyed the show as a whole and am glad to have watched it. I am however disappointed in the finishing Money In The Bank angle. WWE had a chance to light a spark tonight with a great match between Reigns and Ambrose if they were given time but they went with booking that wasn’t really for me. I do hope they move toward Reigns winning the title from Sheamus at TLC or Rumble as I don’t see it as a Mania main event but they will probably want The Authority involved no matter what. They really need to move on from the booking of MITB surprise wins as it is played out after ten years. They could keep MITB and just get rid of the rule that it is any time and place.

    All that being said the in-ring action was good tonight. The semi-finals were good. Charlotte and Paige had a much better match than I expected and was the best stuff from Charlote since she came to the main roster. I liked the main show elimination match as a showcase for The New Day, Xavier Woods is one of my favorites to watch right now.

    I didn’t have a lot of interest in Undertaker and Kane, but did think that Luke Harper made the most of the showcase.

    Dave Musgrave

    Oshawa, Ontario

    Thumbs way down.

    Best match:  Ambrose/Owens or Reigns/Del Rio

    Worst match:  Reigns and Ambrose or that atrocious tag match between BOD and Wyatts.

    I don’t know what I expected from this clueless company.  The worst part is this show was good until the last two matches.  They were both so bad that it just invalidated the rest of the show.  If I didn’t enjoy the network as an entity and NXT so much I’d cancel my subscription tonight.  I sure as hell have zero interest in watching Raw now.  I mean, I was glad Sheamus cashed in but I don’t care about him as a champion, I don’t hate it like I hate Roman Reigns as a champion, but I really don’t care at all.

    And I don’t mind Reigns as a worker, I usually enjoy his matches.  The match with Del Rio was great.  But once he’s in the Cena spot you know WWE is going to write the same shitty stories with Reigns that they do with Cena.  That match with Ambrose should have been great, but it was completely devoid of any drama and suspense and the finish was flatter than Pepsi. 

    I like that guys like Owens, Neville, and Breeze are making main roster money but I selfishly wish they’d just stayed in NXT instead of being on Raw.  No wonder Finn Balor says he doesn’t want to be on the main roster.  I don’t blame him.

    By the way I didn’t think it possible since I loved him as a kid but I absolutely hate the Undertaker now and can’t wait for him to retire already.

    – Ben Brennan

    Best match Roman Reigns vs Alberto Del Rio

    Worst match Sheamus vs Roman Reigns

    Almost gave it a thumbs in the middle due to the ending but I really did enjoy everything else on the show…but they Lex Lugered Reigns, he will never be the guy after this.

    Wade Hauge

    Overall: Thumbs up show. Going into the event WWE had two main objectives; crown a new champion and cement a #1 heel. When Sheamus cashed in the briefcase and defeated Reigns, he achieved the objectives and in doing so provided a needed change to the landscape of WWE. All of the tournament matches were meaningful, different and enjoyable.  The Undertaker match was pure nostalgic fun. The rest of the card was take it or leave it. I would have left the WWE Divas title match.

    Best Match: I would provide a slight edge to Ambrose/Owens over Reigns/Del Rio, though both matches were very good.

    Worst Match: The Divas match was long and missable. They tried and failed.

    Preshow Survivor Series Match: Neville, Dudley Boys, Titus and Goldust vs. The Ascension, Bo Dallas, Stardust, and The Miz. Entertaining addition to the Survivor Series pre show. I am glad to have Goldust back. The wrestlers looked like they were having a good time at the onset. The crowd was tame for the majority of the match and the heat segment did wane. Nonetheless, it was a crowd pleasing finish with the babyface team getting a strong victory. **

    WWE World Championship Semifinal Match: Alberto Del Rio vs. Roman Reigns. Good match. Pedestrian and somewhat clunky beginning with some well timed and unexpected transitions going down the stretch. Crowd was only lukewarm for Reigns, but they appreciated the action and effort in the ring. If the plan is to make Reigns earn the belt with two long and hard fought matches. Step one was successful. ***

    WWE World Championship Semifinal Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens. Very good match. They went back and forth to start, settled into some formula heat during the middle, and took it home with an awesome closing sequence. The crowd is interested, but they don’t seem invested in cheering one wrestler and booing the other. ***1/2

    WWE Divas Title Match: Charlotte vs. Paige. Disappointing contest.  The action was okay at best and the story was inconsistent and difficult to follow. Many contrast the difference in presentation of women in NXT compared to WWE. Not enough emphasis is placed on the disparity of in ring quality between women in NXT and WWE.  The fact that the same women who shined in the ring in NXT look confused and uncoordinated in WWE is baffling. *1/2

    Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler. The action was crisp, the crowd was cold. Call it the crowd, call it the spot on the card, call it whatever you want; the reaction and crowd response was absent. **

    Survivor Series Match: Ryback, Lucha Dragons, and The Usos vs. The New Day, Shemus, and King Barrett. Bizarre layout for a heel vs. face Survivor Series match. Up to the point that the New Day left, the action was strong. Once the New Day left, the air was let out of the room. The most unlikeable character in the match, Sheamus, was the most valiant and courageous of the ten.  The last five minutes felt like dead air. **

    Brother of Destruction vs. Wyatt Family. Fun nostalgia match that served as another enjoyable pit stop on the Undertaker retirement tour. Taker looked good and Kane, Harper, and Wyatt fulfilled their respective roles sufficiently. An angle closing match that ended with an emphatic exclamation point that pleased the live crowd. ***

    WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose. Shorter than expected, but intense and competitive while it lasted. The match ended before they reached the peak, which made the finish less predictable. All of the after the bell shenanigans, from the show of respect, to the confetti, followed by the spear to Triple H, and concluding with the MITB cash in and Sheamus victory were all spot on. **3/4 for the match.

    Derrick Hubbard

    Definitely a THUMBS UP.  A solid show all the way around.

    Good tournament matches, a good backstage promo by Kevin Owens, a surprisingly good women’s match sans Sasha Banks, and a good surprise to close the show.  I *swear* when I saw that confetti, so evocative of Daniel Bryan’s title victory where he immediately lost the belt, I knew that Sheamus would be cashing in.  (I was less sure he would win, but I saw the cash in, especially with so much time left.)  I’m not sure I understand Reigns being angry with HHH, or how this is going to play out in a way that makes sense.  Also, I can’t wait until some heel or wise baby face gets intentionally counted out or disqualified at one of these unfair cash-ins.

    BEST MATCH:  I honestly think it was Reigns-Del Rio.  Del Rio looked great, and worked well with Reigns.

    WORST MATCH: Breeze-Ziggler was technically good, but lacked a bit of emotion for me.  Still, I do like Prince Pretty.  (He needs some work on promos though, as we saw in the Social Media Lounge.)

    Richard Orloski

  • UFC 193 Fan Feedback

    Hi Dave,

    I was at Etihad Stadium for UFC 193 today and saw the whole show from the first fight.  A long day and the Struve fight took the wind out of the sails, but everyone left buzzed after the main event.

    Thumbs up, even without the historical main event.

    Best Fight: Ronda & Holly

    Worst Fight: Struve & Rosholt (although at times this looked more like training and sparring)

    Prior to the main event I wasn’t sure what I thought he best fight was, as there were several goods ones and several impressive performances, particularly from Nguyen, Matthews and Whittaker.  The co-main event was also very good, although there was a mexican wave during round 4 for some reason.

    Holly’s performance was stunning and near faultless.  To see it unfold, see Ronda start to succumb to damage and fatigue and culminate in the KO was amazing.  At the end of round 1 it looked like Ronda was in big trouble, but you still never bet against a champion with a reign like hers.  Holly winning felt like a feel good moment too and the place erupted.  This was a fight we won’t be forgetting.

    Crowd reactions were good all day, although there were a few flat spots, so will be interesting to see how that translated to TV.  Ronda got the biggest reaction for the day, but the biggest overall reaction was the finish to the main event and then the start of Holly’s interview.  We couldn’t hear what she was saying at first.

    Daniel Arnephy

    UFC 193

    Thumbs Up. This event didn’t have a classic back-and-fort fight but from a historical standpoint (first show on that part of the world, massive attendance, and the end of Ronda’s streak) this was a classic show. Saw the event at a local bar and like Ronda’s last few matches the place was packed with more women than ever. She, Floyd Mayweather and maybe Miguel Cotto, are the only ones who moves the needle that way, and the other two don’t draw as much young-single women. As for the future I think that UFC just hit the lottery; instead of just having Ronda vs. Cyborg as the next big fight, now they have all kinds of potential ones: Rousey vs. Holm 2 (UFC 200 with Ronda talking more than ever), Rousey vs. Cyborg (who now looks like the biggest idiot because of all the wasted opportunities to make the weight and face Ronda), and Cyborg vs. Holm, plus all the future combinations out of those matches. Fedor, Silva, Barao, and now Ronda; Aldo next?

    Best Fight: Holm vs Rousey. Just because of the result. The reaction to that result was like when Lesnar beat Undertaker at Mania, total disbelieve. As to why it happened is anyone’s guess. Holm played her plan perfectly; Ronda walked into Holm’s forte instead of insist on her clinch and ground game strength. Also, and this is just trying to find out something where there is nothing, on the weigh-in Ronda looked skinnier than ever and in the fight she looked bigger than ever; maybe that weight change has something to do with her less than stellar performance. Again, Holm fought the perfect fight, so she deserves all the credit. 

    Best KO: Holm. Her name is Holly and she’s “The Preacher’s Daughter”, so maybe it was a miracle; we’ll see at the rematch.

    Leonardo II Mendez

    San Sebastian, PR

    Dave,

    I’m not going to get into details about the fight itself but Rousey didn’t look like herself.

    However this was the first UFC PPV I have ever purchased and my wife was just as pumped as I was.

    Thanks

    Craig Staunton

    Thumbs sorta down. Kinda lackluster card, even with the upset. Usual shitty homie local yokel officiating (and production work on this one. Lotta indy mistakes.)

    Best fight: Matthews-Arreola, except the finish.

    Worst fight: Walsh-Kennedy & Rosholt-Struve

    Best performance: Holm

    Worst performance: Rousey

    KO:  Holly (HM to Moontasri)

    Sub: Nguyen by default

    Ben Nguyen remains impressive blowing away Ryan Benoit with a clean quick KD, mount, backtake and RNC. Late sub Anton Zafir gasses doing 1stR top control and James Moontasri coming up from 155 to 170 takes him out with a SBK/SBF combo that breaks some bones. Patrick Walsh and Steve Kennedy go three almost comically inept rounds that have the Ozzie crowd booing both homies. Kennedy loses. Dan Kelly dominates Steve Montgomery early and late and should take a 29-28 and does on all cards. 

    Danny Martinez just too strong for Richie Vaculik and takes a competitive but clear 30-27. Very easy night for Gian Villante, paint job on Anthony Perosh, who suffers his second consecutive quick KO and at 43 might wanna rethink things. Kyle Noke blows Peter Sobotta away, dropping him quickly with a front kick to the floating rib and finishing with G&P. In a smelly finish to the most dramatic and competitive fight of the night, veteran Akbarh Arreola drops local phenom Jake Matthews with a HK in the 1st and has him in trouble but Matthews survives and finishes the round on top. Matthews gets the early TD in the 2nd and busts Arreola up with elbows till the bell. The Ozzie cut guy doesn’t use the Enswell and the Ozzie doctor stops the fight in the corner with Arreola clearly still able to see out of the eye.

    Jared Rosholt plop and schmops Stefan Struve for 2R then Struve sort of wakes up and probably wins the 3rd. The joint with great force is stunk out. 29-28 UD. Dreadful.

    Uriah Hall steps in late again this time with nothing to gain and everything to lose, having just beaten a much higher profile guy in Mousasi and Robert Whittaker being no gimme. Whittaker keeps Hall off balance most of the fight. Uriah makes a few too many mistakes than you can with this guy. Hall gives his best shot to pulling it out in the 3rd but too little too late. 30-27 or 29-28 and it’s 2 column from A and 1 column B.

    Bigfoot Silva looking visibly aged and Mark Hunt looking comparatively lean, for him. WAY anticlimactic after their war a couple years back as not much action for 3+ minutes then Hunt scores a KD with a right to the temple and the Ozzie ref VERY quick to jump in and stop it. Feh.

    Valerie Latourneau more competitive than expected with Joanna J and stays in the fight all the way. Doesn’t come close to winning but shows JJ may not be as all that as she looked the last couple times out (against smaller fighters, Valerie is bigger.) I had 50-47 (3-0-2 in rounds), cards were 49-46 x 2, 50-45 (VL appeared to at least draw the 1st.)

    The main has already been beat to death so here’s the 20/20 hindsight.  Like I and many others said going in, Holly Holm was the right style to trouble Ronda Rousey. Like was obvious, Ronda wasn’t her usual self mentally or physically. And obviously Holly’s MMA cred was a big question mark. But here’s what the key turned out to be: the assumption going in was was the the question was, has Ronda’s striking improved to the point where she could neutralize Holly’s enough to impose the clinch or ground game where she would have an overwhelming advantage, or rather how long would it take. It turned out that the answer was Holly’s grappling was more than good enough to neutralize Ronda’s and that the overwhelming advantage was Holly’s on the feet, or it was last night anyway. Ronda’s gotten away with that stupid side headlock on everybody else (except McMann blocked it and it didn’t matter anyway). Holly was the first one to use the basic counter every wrestler knows, the Greco Roman Backdrop, successfully. Edmund was no help and Ronda needs better wrestling, better Muay Thai, and somebody in the corner who’ll tell her that she just got her ass kicked when she did, not that she ‘did great’, and that if you’re getting countered to STOP FUCKING LEADING. Bad part for business is obviously that Holly has the personality of Wonder Bread but oh well.

    Crimson Mask

    First…I LOVE HOLLY HOLM!

    Now, onto business… What do you do if you’re UFC? Putting on my Promoter/Fantasy Booker hat for a minute…

    The plans, as I understood them, was to do Rousey V Cyborg at UFC 200 in July. That’s now out the window. So now, it’s the Holly v Ronda rematch/ Scrap that too, and do THIS instead…

    HOLM v CYBORG -and- ROUSEY v CARANO

    –Gina “retired” with 1 loss. Rousey has 1 loss. 
    –Gina was the absolute darling of MMA. But left before the explosion. UFC, open your pocket book/do whatever it takes to compel Gina to come back.
    –Ronda: chance to rehabilitate your holier-than-thou attitude.
    –“Embedded” –and the media of course– could build THIS fight
    to be bigger than an immediate rematch of Rousey v Holm could ever be
    –On the same card, the “indestructible” bad guy (well, bad girl) Cyborg invades to attempt to destroy the now also-seemingly-indestructible-but-everyone’s new darling Holly Holm.
    –The winners face one another later in the year. And oh yeah, now that Rousey is no longer the call-all-the-shots-boss, if weight is an issue –for any of these ladies– go to catch at 140lbs., which is probably better for all 4 anyways.
    –Now, you have a division with real depth and fan and media appeal. And that’s BEFORE you get to Zingano and Meisha (which –all due respect Dana– feels lackluster at this point)

    You’re welcome Dana. If you wanna throw me 10 cents for each PPV buy, I won’t turn it down.

     Rick Bassman

    Good show overall. For what it’s worth the place I watched the fight at tonight had close to about 300 people packed in. Would say 3/4’s of the crowd stood and cheered the finish of the Holm fight. Very few left with their heads down. Hall/Whitaker was my favorite fight aside from the main event 

    Ken Phillibaum

  • Weekend Feedback: UFC 192, WWE, TNA and more!

    UFC 192

    Thumbs Up

    Best Fight: Cormier vs Gustaffson

    Best performances: Sage Northcutt, Albert Tumenov

    This was a pretty solid card up and down. Prelims had a lot of decisive fights which were very entertaining and some potential new prospects pending how they do once they step up in competition.

    I think we need to give Rashad a break after having such a long layoff due to injuries. His next fight will be the one to judge of where he really stands. Maybe he should get Texeira or Saint Preux next.

    Benavidez vs Bagautinov was a big disappointment. Can’t see Benavidez getting a title shot after this performance even though he is ranked #2. It is time for Johnson to move up a weight class but I would be interested in seeing John Lineker get one more shot after his last performance but he may have trouble making weight and keeping weight at that division.

    Gustaffson vs Cormier was a good display by Cormier of imposing his will to dominate how this fight was going to be fought. Gustaffson stayed competitive. I would like to see Gustaffson rematched with Rumble Johnson next to see if it was just nerves infront of the hometown crowd in that first fight between them. Not really any exciting matchups next for Cormier but I guess it may be Bader if Jones isn’t back in time. Can’t see that drawing anything.

    WWE Special

    I like the concept of the live house shows as specials. Liked the one from Japan and liked this one. It is different from the norm with less production which makes it unique.

    Best Match: Cena vs Rollins

    Worst Match: Nothing was really that bad in my mind as I had the mentality going in of being entertained with a house show. Girls match by default.

    Liked how the ladies match has the storyline continuing with the Paige dissention although why they teamed with Paige in the first place in this one after what went down on Raw doesn’t make sense. Good finish in that match.

    Was hoping that they would have given Jericho vs Owens  a bit more time than what they got. That had the potential of being the show stealer. Good match for the time they got. Liked the pre match promo by Jericho.

    Brock vs Show was good for what it was. Was worried a couple times the way Show was landing on his shoulder taking those Germans that he may do some damage to himself. Great power by Brock F-5’ing Show. Botched ending but liked that Brock threw the belly to belly in there before attempting the F-5 again instead of going right back to it.

    Solid main event for Cena & Rollins to end the show. We know it is coming but hope we don’t get a Rollins vs Kane title program out of this. Does anyone else get the feeling that this new Kane character is a copy of the Abyss/Joseph Park story?

    Observer readers…Check out my current ebay auctions featuring some great wrestling memorabilia including some fantastic Stampede wrestling programs which feature Owen Hart, Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid, Bad News Allen, Keichi Yamada, Shinya Hashimoto, Hiro Hase and so many more. Seller name is grantsindex. Email me if interested in multiple items and we can make a deal

    Email me for some recent Wrestling Observer specials including  Starrcade, Halloween Havoc, Observer Hall of Fame, Summerslam & more.

    grantsindex@nexicom.net

    Grant Zwarych

    Wrestling Observer Index

    WWE @ MSG

    Thumbs Down: For a house show fine but nobody outside of MSG needed to see it. Not a single person in the world would buy the Network for a show like this instead of the upcoming Hell in a Cell, so there was no real purpose to show this on TV. A total overexposure of the product, which is one of their big problems. 

    Best Match: Cena vs Rollins

    Worst Match: Neville vs Stardust

    1. Orton & Ziggler vs Rusev & Sheamus. Average match. The face team won by a referee distraction, go figure. **

    2. Neville vs Stardust. This was cool the first 300 times. Now nobody cares. *3/4

    3. Bellas & Fox vs Becky, Charlotte & Paige. UFC did a better job with a five minute video for the Rousey vs Holm fight that WWE would ever do with their women division and their crappy revolution. Match was fine. **

    4. Owens vs Jericho. Good while it lasted. For a 25th anniversary celebration a 7-minute match was kind of a joke. If I was Jericho I’ll quit the company and just dedicate the rest of my life to talk trash about the McMahons on the podcast. ***

    5. Dudley vs New Day. Lame finish but the Dudleys need to win the title in a Tables match, so this feud would go until December. **1/4

    6. Lesnar vs Show. The world’s greatest five-minutes match. ** 

    7. Cena vs Rollins. Good but clearly below their previous matches. The escape the cage is such a lame stipulation, it kills the purpose of the cage gimmick. ***3/4

    Leonardo II Mendez

    San Sebastian, PR

    Thumbs down Best match: Tag titles Worst match: Gauntlet for Gold match.

    Initial impression: TNA didn’t tell the PPV company that Matt was added to the ME. Whoops.

    Building looks pretty full for a show that was probably 90% papered. Still looks like they’re barely using a quarter of the arena. It looks like someone dusted off the old WCW Thunder stage too.

    Ultimate X match – great opener. Fast paced. Camera missed a few .major spots. Uno retains after knocking some local off the rope. Local guy looked great too. At the end Shane Helms came out and raised his hand. Helms has let himself go too.

    EC3 comes out for a boring 20 minute promo and the crowd does not give a shit.

    Gauntlet match is next which is an 12 man Royal Rumble sort of. Our first is Anderson who awkwardly stands around for a minute looking for his mic. Jessie Goddards is second, and fucks up a press.

    The timer than stars at 2 seconds as Christy Hemme starts counting from 10. Eli Drake is out next.

    Out #4 is Al Snow who brings out Head to the ring. A call back to a better time in his length.

    No countdown for #5 is a bad Sheamus knockoff named Aiden O’Shea. Still no eliminations, #6 is Robbie E. Usually Rumble ring filling up spots going on. Boring.

    Eli Drake is eliminated by Head. Out #7 is Shera. His music wont stop. This is the worst cover of Natural Born Killers I’ve ever heard off. Everyone does the dance. Why is everyone doing the dance.

    Sheamus ripoff knocked off by Shera. 20 seconds after the countdown finishes out comes Gyrus. Out 9th is Chris Melendez. Tyrus eliminates Snow, Melendez, and Shera.

    Out 10th is Tommy Dreamer wearing Dusty polka dots.

    11th is Abyss. Abyss and Tyrus knock everyone out and then entering 12th is… The Pope. Who then proceeds to Mil Mascaras himself. That was pointless. Apparently this was the final entrant, so I imagine imagine Rockstar Spud as at gorilla heard Popes music and turned around and went back to the locker room.

    Tyrus eliminates Abyss. Jessie eliminates Robbie E. Kennedy throws out Dreamer. Kennedy throws out Goddard, and were down to Kennedy vs Tyrus for #1 Contender. Whoever wins we all lose. Tyrus pins Anderson.

    It should be noted that the countdown were utterly fucked. Graphic would never show, Hemme wouldn’t announce it, it seemed to be of a variable length, or wrestlers would just come out.

    That was a waste of a half hour. Tyrus turns on EC3.

    Minus Six Stars.

    Tag Title match – good match. Slowed down at times, but a lot of good spots and a good story.

    Galloway comes out to remind us this is triple threat tonight and he has a 141 and 2/3% chance to win tonight.

    KOTM title match in a straight singles match. Ho hum. Lashley dominated for most of the match. Eventually Roode gets some offense, every does their finisher and the opponents finisher, and Roode wins with a Roode bomb.

    Matt Hardy comes out for a promo. Great promo.

    Billy Corgan is out to remind us that last night was the greatest night of Earl Hebners life. First 20 years of his career is not shown.

    Knockouts Title – HOF referred missed blatant use of chairs because Robert Irvine was arguing with him because Kong was grabbing chairs. Fail eventually managed to kick out and get a small package on Kong for the win. They’ve had better.

    Jeff Hardy comes out looking like Willow has bred with a referee.

    Angle/Young – Hemme announced it as a no DQ match. Apparently Kurt didn’t get the memo because he cuts a promo shocking Young that its a no DQ match. Young pilesdrives Angle and the doctor comes out to check Angle. Dr and Angle say he’s in no cpnditi9n to continue, but the ref doesn’t ring the bell so I guess theres no ref stoppage. Young threatens a piledriver on conceete and Christ this match is just really uncomfortable. Retire Kurt. Angle counters gets some offense and wins after an ankle lock in a match that was stopped for medical reasons 10 minutes prior. Not a great match.

    World Title match – The end of the match happened when EC3 attempted to get himself DQd in a Triple Threat match. Where there were no DQs. EC3 threatens to injure Matt with a folding chair with a nice padded seat.  HOW FUCKING STUPID DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO BE FOR THIS ANGLE TO MAKE SENSE IN A MATCH? Jeff has enough, attacks EC3, Matt gets the pin on Galloway for the title.

    Gregory Valko

    Thumbs in the middle

    Best Match – Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong

    Worst Match – Gauntlet Match

    This was a very thumbs-in-the-middle show as there was nothing that was really good, but there also wasn’t anything bad on the card.  The presentation was affected by both a mostly subdued crowd and lighting that was so low that at times it was difficult to identify wrestlers.  That appeared to be the case live as well with Josh Matthews misidentifying wrestlers all night (or he just doesn’t care).

    Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong was my favorite match on the show, obviously it wasn’t anything like their matches 8 years ago, but they can still have a good match and the crowd was awake for this one.  

    The Matt Hardy title win was both nice and sad.  I’m happy for Matt that he appears to be in a positive place right now both personally and professionally, but it was kind of sad to see the family celebration in a dark arena, with no one watching at home, and no idea when (or if) we’ll see this followed up of television.

    Lee Hamilton

    Hey Dave,  

    Decided on a whim to drop $50 on TNA tonight.  I’d say thumbs slightly up. Typical TNA.  Some good action. Some really bad acting.  Some questionable calls.  

    Best Match – 3 Way World Title Worst Match – #1 Contender Gauntlet (Not even close)

    1) Ultimate X – Big spotfest but that was the goal.  Nothing wrong with that, got the crowd going. Couple of cool spots.  

    2) #1 Contender – And kill the crowd dead with this.  Definition of minus five stars.  I’ve never hated a match more.  The worst punches/acting/stupidity/surprise entrants I’ve ever seen…and to become the top contender for the world title. Way too long, way too awful. I could go on for days how bad this was. 

    3) Tag Title – Really liked this.  The fact that I miss watching the Wolves was one of the reasons I ordered. 

    4) Roode / Lashley – Another solid bout.  This ppv would’ve been so much better if they cut the gauntlet, threw the KOTM title in the trash and just made this the #1 contender.

    5) Kim/Kong – Didn’t mind this.  Kong reminds me of Andre in the 90’s but Gail worked hard. 

    6) Angle/Young – Don’t buy Young as a threat at all.   Didn’t do it for me. 

    7) 3 Way – Really liked this match.  Making Matt the champ is questionable for a company trying to make new stars but maybe they try to pop whatever number they can putting the title back on EC3 on tv.  

    Adam Hicks,  Ohio

    AAA Heroes Inmortales

    Best Match: Garza Jr./Psycho Clown/Rey Jr. vs. Hijo del Fantasma/Myzteziz/Texano Jr.

    Worst Match: nothing down right bad on the show

    Thumbs Up

    Nothing that was blow away (as I felt Rey de Reyes was an overall better show despite others not liking it) but certainly right there with the WWE, TNA, and NXT shows.  Aerostar deserves a much bigger push.  The three way tag title match was a real surprise since I’m not a fan of three way matches and Joe Lider was involved in the match.  Watching the PWG BOLA DVD’s this weekend, along with this show, makes it clear that Jack Evans has really grown as a wrestler.  If this were 1999/2000, he would be praised big time for incorporating MMA kicks and submissions, along with his usual good high flying.  Still waiting for that blow away Rey Jr. AAA match but he continues to be really solid.  

    Tim Cooke

    Thumbs in the middle just because the live crowd was great and my son was into it. Best match was Roode vs Lashley Worst match was a tie between the X division botch fest and the Gauntlet match where the rules were not explained to the live crowd and there were loads of technical glitches.

    The building was almost full and the crowd was into it the whole night. These weren’t necessarily TNA fans, but that area is a wrestling hot bed. The size and energy of the crowd was a pleasant surprise.

    Christy Hemme announced the Young-Angle match as No DQ before they even entered the ring so Angle’s promo was anti-climactic. I was surprised to read results that said the match had been stopped as there was no mention of this to the crowd. We just saw the medics come out. Everyone in our section was put off by this as it has been so overdone recently. Kurt Angle looks rough in person.

    No mention of the third announcer.

    Everyone in the live crowd assumed this was it for TNA as the ending felt like a finale with the locker room emptying to celebrate with Matt Hardy. No fan I spoke with had any idea if or when TNA was filming more television. The crowd, Along with referee Jeff Hardy, had no idea the title match was no DQ. We could not hear most of the backstage spots and rarely did they have a live feed on the entrance screens.

    Thanks, Heath Mullikin

  • UFC 192 and WWE Live from MSG Feedback

    By Mike Omansky

    Return date announced: Saturday Dec. 26th, holiday tour.

    Tickets went on sale after the show at box office.

    Presale at Ticketmaster also.  Code:  HOLIDAY

     Crowd into show, but most alive for 3 big matches:

    — Owens-Jericho

    — Lesnar-Show (Lesnar most over wrestler of the night)

    –Cena-Rollins — really into it in last 10 minutes, after Cena put on STF and there were near escapes from the cage.

     Untelevised matches, prior to broadcast:

    1. ZACK RYDER W BO DALLAS, rough-Ryder and pin.

    2. MARK HENRY W BRAD MADDOX, squash, under a minute, slam and pin.

    No offense for Maddox.

    By Bryan Revello

    Cool notes/observations from the MSG show last night:

    Randy Orton was more over with the crowd than expected.

    The New York crowd still eats up Zack Ryder.

    There was a buzz in the building that Ric Flair would be on the show but it did not happen.

    Did anyone count the number of suplexes that Brock gave to Big Show? I lost count after 3.

    The women’s match had a worse reception than anticipated although I did hear one “I love you Becky” chant in my section.

    The crowd loved Brock Lesnar and popped hard.

    The New Day are just as amusing in person.

    Brad Maddox received quite a few “who are you?” chants.

    The Jericho-Owens match was a delight to see live.

    The steel cage came down as quickly as any steel cage I have ever seen live.

    If this event was advertised around Brock Lesnar, why did Brock-Big Show semi Main Event?

    Everybody in the crowd knew Kane was coming.

    The presale code for the upcoming December 26th event at MSG is holiday.

    —-

    Thumbs up, not a runaway good show but almost consistently good.  I expect to se e a lot of thumbs down for the slower pace, and the idiot Houston fans were quick to boo (what do you expect, they have to deal with the Astros and the Texans) but this was one of those solid cards that I just can’t complain about.

    Best fight – again, no FOTY candidates but it’s got to be Cormier/Gustuvson.  I don’t particularly like Cormier but I have to give him tons of credit for outstriking the striker and proving he deserves the title.  Alexander, on the other hand, fought a horrible strategy and how he got three rounds can only be explained by it being in Texas.  It’s a state law that you can’t put on an MMA show in Texas without a screwed up decision.

    Worst fight – no real glaring candidates but I have to go with Bader and Evans because I just kept thinking, the winner of THIS is going to get a title shot?   It just showed exactly how weak 205 is.

    Jordan and Magomedov was not good, but when you get an injury in the first round, all you can do is all you can do, so I can’t fault them for that.

    The only other comment I have is Sage Nothcutt.  If this kid has the talent to fight his way up the ranks, he’s going to be a mega-star and from what I hear, Dana White knows exactly what he’s got.  He oozes charisma like and early Rock and as my wife put it, “that is one good looking guy”.  I’m not going to say he’s going to be a male Ronda Rousey (although with the talent he could be) but he’s going to be a huge star.

    Mike DeGeorge

    UFC 192

    I missed the first prelim and most of the 2nd. (Lewis-Pesta & S. Pettis-Cariaso)

    Thumbs way up. Mostly lackluster on paper, almost all entertaining in reality, and the main was just epic.

    Best fight: Cormier-Gustaffson

    Worst fight: surprisingly, Benavidez-Bagautinov

    Best performance: Cormier, Gustaffson but plenty of standout performances

    Worst performance: Jouban

    KO: Martins, Tumenov

    Sub: Namajunas (default but would have won it most nights)

    Picked up watching with Chris Cariaso dominating Sergio Pettis for the last couple minutes of the fight, but Pettis had apparently won the 1st & 2nd very wide. Stunning UFC debut from heavily hyped Sage Northcutt, who looks like Action Figure Ken (as in Barbie), blowing away the smaller but weight-missing Francisco Trevino with a blitz of strikes, TDs and G&P.

    Rose Namajunas unsurprisingly far too skilled for Angela Hill and outstrikes her, takes her down, takes her back, sinks RNC and hooks as Hill rises, figure-4s the leg for good measure, and puts her to sleep standing. Brazilian veteran Adriano Martins catches previously unbeaten Russian Islam Makhachev coming in with a right hook and scores an upset one punch KO. Albert Tumenov just shreds Alan Jouban, doing a paint job from the opening bell and not letting Jouban even get started, or last long enough to pull his usual comeback, ending it with a clean KO. Texas ref on the case with the stoppage. Yair Rodriguez takes a competitive card sweep UD over Dan Hooker, with one sorta hometown 30-26, despite breaking a foot early in the fight.

    Julianna Pena just too big and strong for Jessica Eye, who for some reason chose to challenge Pena at her forte of grappling and performed well, but not well enough. Jess is just too small for bantam but they don’t have flyweight. Some weird reffing in the 2nd docking Eye a point for a first offense and then restarting them standing when Pena had been in top position at the foul, but didn’t change the outcome. 

    Joey Benavidez pretty much paintjobs Ali Bagautinov in a fight conducted almost entirely at long range for a UD with one 29-28. Crowd doesn’t like any of it but a couple of flash TDs were the extent of Ali’s effective offense.

    In a fight between totally opposite styles and physical types, tall rangy Russian Ruslan Magomedov methodically drills human bowling ball Shawn Jordan for three rounds with every strike in the book as Jordan lumbers in looking for a bomb or a TD. He’s only successful a couple of times and Magomedov does considerable damage the rest of the time for a UD with one 29-28. I gave him a 10-8 in the 3rd. Magomedov is like a HW Mousasi, who I believe I saw in his corner. Nobody’s going to be in a hurry to fight him. 

    Ryan Bader displaying recent acquisitions of hand speed and actual footwork does a 3R paint job over long inactive Rashad Evans, who looks great till the fight starts. He looks tiny next to Bader who beats him to the punch all night and takes hiom down whenever he wants to. Shad has very little offense. Have seen people call this ‘close’ and even giving it to Evans, neither of which are anywhere near reality in this or any other dimension. 30-27 X 3 was the only possible score.

    Tyron Woodley-Johny Hendricks scrapped when Hendricks got sick making weight. Tyron gets the WW title shot. Hendricks will be considered a MW from now on and will look like Sky Low Low up there.

    Daniel Cormier  defends the LHW title vs. Alexander Gustaffson and they blow the roof off the joint. Cormier takes the 1st with an early tiltawhirl slam and top control which was one expected scenario and I think everybody started thinking ‘oh well’

    Alex blasted back in the 2nd keeping long range, beating Cormier to the punch, busting him up and taking HIM down TWICE. Cormier comes back late in the round with damaging uppercuts from collar tie, and all the sudden this fight was even and belonged with both their fights with Jones. 

    The 3rd ventured into epic territory with Cormier dominating most of the round and busting Alex up, mostly with those inside uppercuts, but at the very end of the round Alex floors Cormier with a massive knee and left hook and has the ref looking VERY close. This was each guy earning a 10-8 round, so I scored it 10-10. 

    The 4th was also hard to score, as Alex has by now successfully turned it into a boxing match, but isn’t necessarily winning. Cormier is the aggressor, but Alex is doing most of the landing, but very little left on his punches. Alex starts figuring out the uppercuts. Cormier landed a big clean right late and I thought that would tip the round on the cards but personally I thought it was even also..

    Both were battered and exhausted in the 5th, but Cormier kept his pace up and Alex’ output dropped severely, so Cormier clearly won the round. So you had Cormier clearly winning two rounds, Alex one, and two could have gone either way or even. I had 49-48 Cormier but I score rounds even when I think they are. One judge split the swing rounds, one gave both to Cormier, and one gave both to Gustaffson, so it ended up a 48-47 split, 49-46 SD for Cormier, who afterward thanked Gustaffson on the mic for ‘making me a better fighter and a better man’. Can sure make a case for Alex having been involved in the two best LHW fights ever. Great fight.

    Crimson Mask

    Thumbs down

    Best match: Sheamus and Rusev v. Ziggler and Orton

    Worst match: Cena v. Rollins

    While the show had its moments, the good bits were sparse and mostly featured the mid-card.  On the plus side, the opening tag match featured some excellent wrestling and The New Day cut an entertaining, creative promo.

    Outside of that, the in-ring action was disappointing, particularly the main event.  Having a good main event is tough as it is, but it might be impossible for Rollins and Cena to work a good WWE cage match.

    Casey Goldman

    How you doin’ Dave,

    Thought it was an ok show. As the show was going on I was very much disappointed, as I didn’t expect it to be a show mainly consisting of house show matches, in some cases reduced house show matches, as this was not the case with Beast In The East, but I felt the main event was very good, and given time to digest and understand what they were presenting I thought it was fine.

    In fact I enjoyed Rollins-Cena more than their outings at Summerslam or Night of Champions, as I myself like a methodical pace to my wrestling with bursts of increased tempo as I find it more captivating and dramatic, and also providing timing is good it usually produces greater importance and emphasis on moves and sequences, as well provides more time for selling. On the other end of the scale I thought the New Day-Dudleys finish was incredibly lazy, as we just recently saw the exact same finish.

    Another thing to note is that I did have some technical problems. Whenever I watch a PPV on the network I always do so on a 15-20 minute delay, as I have found that it largely prevents freezing you sometimes get, which can be particularly irritating mid-match. However on this occasion the stream stuttered throughout which was far from ideal. Whether the two were connected or it was the fault of my internet or otherwise I do not know, but I thought it was worth mentioning.    

    Thumbs In The Middle

    Best Match: Cena vs. Rollins

    Worst Match: Dudleys vs. New Day

    Thanks Dave

    Tom Griffiths

    Hi Dave,
      Just wanted to give some feedback on the live WWE show from MSG. I gave the show a thumbs up, it was a fun show to watch and just the feel and vibe of watching a show from Madison Square Garden is always awesome. Too bad they don’t run regular television from MSG very often, apparently due to financial reasons charged by MSG? But awesome to see a show from the “Mecca of professional wrestling” as the late great Gorilla Monsoon would always say. I think the best match of the night would be tie between the main event cage match and the I/C title match and the worst match of the night probably the Divas tag match since this “feud” with Page and her teammates really has no direction and is confusing, but I digress! lol

    1. Shemus / Rusev VS Orton / Ziggler – Good opening tag match to get the crowd going, didn’t think it really mattered who won this match, but a good opener as Orton and Ziggler get the win.

    2. Stardust VS Neville – Awesome Neville match as always, good to see Neville get the win. Not really digging the comic book aspect of this feud, but understand it since it’s geared for a younger audience really and seems to be a way of promoting the new video game coming out this month.

    3. Team Bella VS Team PBC – Um. Ok. This whole angle between both teams is just confusing and seems to lack focus. They need to get back on track with the divas revolution and have great divas matches for the title, not waste time with confusing angles and soap opera drama. They can do better then this and they have the talent, but choosing an off direction. Let’s see, Paige turns on her teammates for no reason, but continues to team with them, and then the match ends with her teammates turning on her. Waste of time trying to figure this out. Just get back to focusing on great matches for the title, especially with Charlotte as champion who is extremely talented.

    4. Jericho VS Owens for the I/C title. Great match, both competitors awesome. Jericho always has great matches and Owens is just incredibly talented and has really impressed with every match I’ve seen with him so far. I hope they keep the I/C title on him for a long time. Good win by Owens, gives him credibility for beating Jericho, and Jericho does not look bad or hurt by the loss since Jericho at this point in his career still looks good regardless if he wins or loses.

    5. New Day VS Dudley’s – Good tag match with two great teams. I was very annoyed by the New Day gimmick when the first started and just hated it. But amazingly these 3 guys were able to turn a goofy gimmick into a positive and actually make it work. As goofy as the New Day gimmick is, they are actually getting it over and it’s been entertaining and fun to watch. The Dudley’s are always impressive and their return to WWE has just been awesome so far. Good match with Dudley’s winning by DQ. It continues the feud for both teams which is a good thing.

    6. Lesnar / Big Show – Basically a squash match for Lesnar beating the crap out of Big Show but very good as it worked just watching Lesnar and his crazy strength throwing Big Show around like a rag doll. Lesnar seemed to be in a very good mood for once and appeared to be having fun which is a good thing. Awesome feats of strength as I’m sure picking up the Big Show is not an easy thing. But the crowd was way into it and it worked.

    7. Cena / Rollins cage match – Very good main event and good cage match. Sometimes cage matches don’t work and take away from the match. But these two have good matches with each other and good chemistry. Cena seems to be stepping it up lately with having good matches starting with his Owens feud. I’ve hated just about every Cena match in existence and I’m just tired of seeing the guy and having forced down our throats for so many years on TV. But my opinion really changed after his matches with Owens and Cesaro. Good win, but makes the champ look weak and Rollins needs to look as strong as possible as the champion. They already portray Rollins as a crybaby world champion who constantly complains, which seems to be the wrong direction in my opinion. And with Cena taking time off soon you would think it would make sense for him to drop the US title. Make Rollins a duel champion again as that seemed to work. Not sure where the Rollins and Kane feud can go,
     since that’s not really a match I want to see or an angle that is very interesting.

     Anyway, it was a good live show and great production by the network. Awesome promos about MSG cut by both Paul Heyman and Chris Jericho. The only negative of the show would have to be the announcing. The new guy Rich Brennen was actually not that bad and seemed to be doing well. But I can’t say the same for JBL or Bryan Saxton. JBL just babbles with his 30 year old references and he seemed to be hazing the new guy Brenned and Saxton just sat there not really saying much of anything. Bad announcing and commentary really takes away from the matches and the program and this seems’ to be happening way too often. But otherwise a great show and very entertaining.

    Thanks,
    Jon Southerland
    Clovis, Ca.

    Two thumbs up. A good solid show and then the main event happened which was just fantastic.

    Best fight: Daniel Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson. Again, really great stuff here. Back and forth match, and until the last round where they both gassed out, the entire fight was non-stop action. I had Cormier winning and was happy to see that he did. Judging was a bit odd, with one of the judges giving the fight to Cormier 49-46 which seemed odd, but the right man won either way in my eyes.

    Worst fight: Joseph Benavidez vs. Ali Bagautinov. Nothing really at all interesting happened here. The Magomedov fight wasn’t amazing either, but I seemed to be more into that one because you at least had the broken rib story going on there. Neither guy really tried to do anything crazy. Very safe fight that left everyone bored and booing in the building. Benavidez won, but this didn’t make me want to see him face Johnson anymore, if that’s what Dana was hoping for.

    Brandon Marshal

    Thumbs up
    Best Fight: Cormier vs. Gustafsson

    About as good as you can hope for from a card with five straight decisions. I had Cormier 49-46 but it was close. The UFC 193 promo at the end walked a fine line between genius and super cheesy but it came off on the right side of that. It should be really effective if enough people see it.

    Mike Hiscoe

    Overall: Thumbs up. My main question going into this event was will the live special be presented more like a PPV or more like a house show. In some ways it resembled both. Honestly, I think it provided a template for what a three hour RAW could be. Let the stories be told and developed in the ring, let the wrestling take precedence over the backstage drama and book finishes that accomplish the goals at hand without leaving the fans disappointed.

    Best Match: Very enjoyable cage match between Rollins and Cena. The Kane factor developed the story without compromising the drama and story be told in the ring.

    Worst Match: The Diva’s Tag was lame.

    1. Sheamus and Rusev vs. Ziggler and Orton. Standard formula tag match that built nicely to a hot tag and peaked with a climatic finish. I enjoyed the body slam story during the heat. A looser Orton who is enjoying himself is a better version of Randy Orton.

    -I can do without the RAW recap. Especially, being it is the third time I have seen the same replay in a week.

    2. Stardust vs. Neville. The action was crisp, the template was basic, the crowd was tepid.

    -Top notch Heyman mic work. No matter main stream press, tv promo, or ppv interview, the guy knocks it out of the park.

    3. Team Bella vs. PCB. The bulk of the match was slow. This is not a problem if the heat builds anticipation for the hot tag and consequential uptick in pacing. The story in the match prevented this from being the case. As a result, the crowd waited a long time to be disappointed.

    4. IC title match: Jericho vs. Owens. Heartfelt and crowd engaging promo from Jericho to start. Good to descent action throughout with some nice transitions and near falls towards the end.  I appreciate Owen’s  breaking the rules to retain the title. He is a heel who is good enough to be competitive, but needs to cheat to win. Good match.

    5. Tag Team Title: The New Day vs. Dudley Boys. The action in the match was enjoyable, the finish was lame. With that said, 1 lame finish on the show is better than every Raw. Moreover, if they did not want to switch the belts on this occasion, they accomplished the goal and gave the crowd a little extra something to pop for. 

    6. Big Show vs. Lesnar. Simple and effective in story and execution. Make Lesnar look vulnerable at the beginning, ensure he looks invisible by the end.

    7. US Title Match: Rollins vs. Cena. Deliberate pacing almost to a fault at the onset. The longer the match lasted, the better the action was. By the end, the drama was at an appropriate level for main event title match inside a cage In MSG. Great effort by Rollins and Cena and a fitting capstone to the event. The Kane factor effected the finish, but did not compromise the enjoyment of the match.

    Derrick Hubbard

  • New Japan Destruction in Kobe feedback

    Thumbs up

    Best match: Nakamura vs. Goto

    Another good show. I thought the tag title match came off too rehearsed or choreographed and not like two teams in a fight.

    I knew Nakamura won the match when I watched but it was still very good. Had I not known the outcome, many of Goto’s near falls would have been very convincing.

    The show did a very good job of setting up matches for the near future which is great when you don’t have weekly TV to set up big shows.

    Mike Hiscoe

    Below are my thoughts on the Kobe show from this weekend

    -Overall I give the show a thumbs up

    -Best Match: Goto vs Nakamura

    -Worst Match: Juice Robinson, Capt. New Japan, and Nakanishi vs Nagata, Tiger Mask, and Liger

    -Kudos to New Japan for setting up feuds for their King of Pro Wrestling Show during Destruction in Kobe. Although the thought of another Ishii/Makabe match is down right infuriating.

    Luis Gonzalez

    Slight thumbs up

    Best Match: Nakamura/Goto

    Worst Match: Nagata/Liger/Tiger vs Nakanishi/CNJ/Robinson

    1) Shohei vs Finlay: Fun opener, not as strong as the young lions have been recently but when you look back at previous young lions from the past decade there is really no reason to complain. (**1/2)

    2) Yuji Nagata, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs Manabu Nakanishi, Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson: This was just a match. (**)

    3) CHAOS B Team vs Great Bash Heel, Mascara Dorada & Ryusuke Taguchi: There was some good stuff here, mostly involving the juniors, but I am not interested in Makabe vs Ishii IV, particularly considering Makabe has already beat him 3 TIMES. (**1/2)

    4) TenKoji & Matt Sydal vs Bullet Club: I actually really enjoyed this, mainly because if you’d told me four years ago that Evan Bourne would be teaming with Hiroyoshi Tenzan to face Luke Gallows and Kenny Omega in a New Japan ring I’d question your sanity. Nonetheless, there was some good stuff here and the finishing stretch with the juniors was great. (***1/4)

    5) Tetsuya Naito vs Katsuyori Shibata: You put these guys together and it will never be bad, but especially with the awesome build-up and high expectations from their G1 match, this fell a little short. Also, can we be finished with these low blows? Such a waste of a finish every single time. (***1/2)

    6) CHAOS vs Bullet Club: Whenever AJ and Okada were in, this was incredible. They turned it up to a level nobody expected, and really made me interested in their 10/12 match. The other stuff was fine but this match’s job was to sell me on the King Of Pro Wrestling match and it absolutely succeeded. (***1/4)

    7) IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship: reDRagon (c) vs Time Splitters: I thought this was a hell of a match, and was my match of the night to this point, but the crowd just didn’t get into it. It’s sad to see, because these four guys are incredible talents and this match would have gotten over so big in the US. More straight tag team matches for this junior title, please. (***3/4)

    8) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Wrestle Kingdom 9 In Tokyo Dome 1/4/2016 Certificate Gimmick: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Bad Luck Fale: This was the perfect spectacle match. Tanahashi was phenomenal here, and Fale held up his end of the bargain and was the fierce giant he needed to be. While certainly not any sort of match-of-the-year contender, I’m sure this surprised a lot of people and certainly exceeded my expectations. (****)

    9) IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hirooki Goto (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura: This was exactly what you would have expected and maybe a little bit better. That’s not a bad thing when these two guys are in my top 10 workers for this year, but we’ve seen this match before many times. Nonetheless, the finishing stuff was great, Goto adding arm submissions to his arsenal was absolutely fantastic, and the final minute or two delivered in a big way so I can’t hate on this match at all. (****1/4)

    Overall a really good show but very similar to everything over the last 6 months. I’m sensing that New Japan’s main event scene is as strong as ever but the same matchups keep getting repeated, which can only go on for so long. The undercards simply have TOO MANY AMERICANS. So far this year New Japan has debuted: Jay White, David Finlay, Juice Robinson, Beretta, Matt Sydal, Kenny Omega, Michael Elgin and Cody Hall, with The Briscoes & Jay Lethal rumoured to be coming. The crowd doesn’t really care about these meaningless introductions 90% of the time, and what’s more concerning is that not a single Japanese wrestler has debuted this year. Just something to think about.

    Brian Jackson

    Thumbs up. Best match Goto vs. Nakamura 

    Yohei Komatsu and Sho Tanaka vs. Jay White and David Finlay

    I actually like these tag match quite a bit with the younger guys… they’re always really good. I can’t wait to see what Komastsu and Tanaka look like in couple of years.

    IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship: reDragon vs. Time Splitters

    This match was really good but the crowd would have way more into it if was an American crowd. 

    IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    Really good match, but basically the same one we have seen all year. 

    John Juett

  • More weekend big show feedback

    ROH- thumbs upBest match- fish vs lethal  this was a good show…i like the tag title change…i kind of thought the knights of krd flopped. I was at some of the shows they were introduced under the mask and the crowed was always groaning. Looking forward to aj and lethal that should be really good. Adam Cole vs Kyle o’Reilly is always awesome.  CMLL- awesome main event best match of the weekend.  la sombra with out the mask errr….i dont know about that. I think there was money left on the table with that one. I love dragon lee this guy is super underrated those matches with kamaitachi are some of the years best stuff. i wish there would be more mixing of njpw and cmll…i would have loved to see some njpw guys on this show and cmll guys on njpw shows.  belator dyninite thumbs in the middle 1- this felt like an early an early pride event with older guys fighting young guys, but nothing really stood out. kick boxing in america is always looking for that right match and its never came.  night of championships- thumbs up- best Cena vs Rollins  it was a good show and i didn’t get boarded…I cant say i disagree with anything of the out comes. i thought Cena and Rollins was very good.  jonathan juett

    WWE Night of Champions Best Match: John Cena vs Seth Rollins Worst Match: New Day vs Dudleys The Seth Rollins show was quite amazing. Yes he lost to John Cena (and dropped the U.S. title back in the process) but he got to pin a legend, albeit one who has a tainted WWE record (0-2 in big shows).  NOC was the occasion to have “legends” put over future talent. I have more faith in Rollins as a main eventer than I do in Bron Strowman however. Although Jericho does have the unbeatable aura, if they keep bringing him back only to job on PPVs, he’ll lose that soon enough – shades of Mick Foley. Owens gains back momentum and the program with Ryback has a basis in reality (bashing the self-help books). But where does Owens go from here with a heel champ and Sheamus seemingly ready to cash in his shot at any turn? Rusev is another heel treading water, doing jobs to Dolph Ziggler and apparently waiting for Lana to return to revive his heat (and his push). Bravo to Charlotte for grabbing the Divas title. Now it’s just a matter of time until they turn Paige and segue the Bellas back to reality TV fulltime (or revive the Divas tag belts for them). Jeff CohenFlushing, NY How you doin’ Dave,

    Thumbs In The Middle

    Neville & Lucha Dragons vs. Stardust & The Ascension ***1/4
    Thought the right team won with Cosmic Wasteland being a new faction, and I’m happy to see a feud between wrestlers this far down the card with some legs, as I presume this isn’t the end.   

    Owens vs. Ryback ***1/2
    Thought they rushed certain things but felt it was a good match. Also was very pleased/relieved with the result as they need some heels with some steam and I’m a big admirer of Owens. Having the IC title is seen as a curse nowadays but they looked after Ryback during his reign and hopefully they do the same with Owens.  

    Ziggler vs. Rusev **3/4
    Didn’t really care for most of the match, wasn’t really much emphasis or dramatics on anything, was largely just a bunch of moves and didn’t think the layout was very good either, it got better towards the end but also got botchy. Glad to see they went with Bryan’s finish and interested to see where things go from here.

    Worst Match: Dudleys vs. New Day **3/4  
    This has to be the worst match I suppose on account of the DQ finish, but I was probably the only person pleased to see it. I was hoping to see a three way on this show with The PTPs involved and getting beat, as I felt it was too early to beat The Dudleys or for New Day to lose the titles, this accomplished that. I guess I’m too old school, but the trombone has to go! Not that I don’t find Woods entertaining, but the heat section of the match isn’t supposed to be overly exciting, in one aspect to give the crowd an incentive to get behind the babyfaces, the trombone negates that. And much like Mizdow, Woods’ antics are killing the babyface team.      

    Nikki Bella vs. Charlotte ***
    I thought this was a good effort by the ladies and felt Charlotte performed very well in the match. However I will say I felt the story-spots ratio was a little off, thought the work on the leg was a bit heavy and feared at numerous points they would lose the crowd, but luckily they didn’t. Also Nikki never really gave Charlotte any space to sell, she was just on her, on her, on her. On another note I’m gaining optimism for the divas revolution as it appears to have taken strides forward the last week or so.

    Wyatts vs. Ambrose, Jericho & Reigns ***1/2
    Thought this match was better than the feud’s outing at Summerslam and thought Strowman’s involvement was laid-out very well. Numerous thoughts went through my head towards the end of the segment as at one point I thought Strowman was getting beat and it was the end of him, then I was shocked to see Jericho get beat on his return as it takes the wind out of his sails, then I was/am interested to see whether this develops into a Jericho heel turn which would be beneficial to the roster, or, whether it was to establish the end of the alliance and Jericho’s return was a one night thing.

    Best Match: Cena vs. Rollins ***3/4
    Lots of nice pretty moves and sequences during the match and wasn’t as irritating as some of Cena’s recent PPV encounters, but still a little too much sizzle and not enough steak for me. However can’t discount it was a very good match. Best part of the match for me was when the crowd started doing the Mexican Wave and the performers regained control by Rollins conducting the wave, whomevers idea that was whether it be Cena or Rollins it was excellent. Also a Japanese style finish where Cena hit three moves in a row before pinning the guy was nice to see.

    Rollins vs. Sting ***3/4
    If it wasn’t for the unfortunate incident with Sting at the end of the match this would’ve been my match of the night easy. Yes, I realise Rollins was very much the glue in this match but at 56 years old Sting was absolutely incredible. Really good pacing, good fundamentals, good building, good layout, nice spots, thought it was very good. Plus, Rollins got a clean win!

    Thanks Dave

    Tom Griffiths

     Thumbs Down, think every match under delivered… Best:  Rollins vs. Cena. (US)    ***1/4     same as we’ve seen on Raw multiple times over the past year, not as good as SummerSlam Worst:  Nikki Bella vs. Charlotte (Divas).   1/2*    Utter failure, felt like Charlotte would have accomplished something by both winning the title and denying the record, but just winning the title means nothing as we have another largely undeserving champion  Ryback v. Owens. (IC)   **1/2  (that this was the best match of the first half of the show is a big problem)Ziggler v. Rusev.   **New Day vs. Dudleys (Tag).   *3/4Nikki Bella vs. Charlotte (Divas).   1/2*Wyatt Family vs. Reigns/Ambrose/Jericho **3/4Rollins vs. Cena. (US)    ***1/4Rollins vs. Sting (WWE).   ***
    Ed Branscomb  WWE Night of Champions: Thumbs UpBest Match: Cena vs. RollinsWorst Match: Ryback vs. Owens The preshow six man was a fun way to kick things off.  It’s amazing how Neville was NXT Champion and now he is on the losing end of the preshow.  Not like I should have expected him to actually be treated somewhat better than this.  I guess this feud continues. Kevin Owens winning the I-C Title sounds good in theory, but will he be like all the most recent Champs and actually be worse off in the end?  Match was okay and I’m getting real tired of the roll up finish.  It’s being used far too often. Ziggler vs. Rusev was mostly a good match and I hope this feud is over.  Looks like Summer Rae is back to no storyline and not sure where Lana fits in now.  Remember when Rusev wasn’t in a meaningless undercard feud?  Oh wait I can say that about almost the entire roster at this point. Tag Title match was fun and I guess they had to do the DQ to keep the program going since it was too soon to put it on the Dudley’s.  I guess they will meet again.  It’s not like there are any other real times on the horizon right now. Was nice to see Charlotte win the Divas Title and celebrate with Ric, but still not as good as the NXT women’s matches.  I also didn’t like how they talked about the history of the Divas title and forgot to mention that everyone they talked about was a Women’s Champion before the Divas Title ever existed.  They need to split these teams up though as it isn’t really helping anyone I don’t think. Six man tag was fine and I was happy to see Chris Jericho, but had a feeling he was doing the job when he came out.  Not sure about his possible heel turn though unless he is sticking around to feud with Ambrose maybe.  Cena vs. Rollins once again top match on the show like last month, although not as good as Summer Slam.  I guess the U.S. Open Challenge will be back on Raw tomorrow. Sting vs. Rollins was good overall.  Too bad Sting got hurt during the match and honestly not sure if Sting will ever have a victory in his WWE tenure.  I don’t count that nonsense from Raw against the Big Show.  Not sure I want to see Kane vs. Rollins for the title however. Well at least Lesnar vs. Taker in Hell in a Cell next month so that should be good I guess.  It says it is the final time so I guess that means they have new plans for Taker at Mania next year. Robb Block  

  • Feedback to ROH & CMLL shows

     Thumbs up

    Worst: women’s match…not terrible, but the other matches were better.

    Best: Atlantis vs sombra…f’ing phenomenal match…I watch very little cmll, like just the anniversaries & fantasticamania stuff, but this was the most dramatic match I think I’ve ever seen…more dramatic than last year’s due to the far superior match quality & family involvement.

    Ross Blair

    ROH ASE 7

    Thumbs Up.

    Best Match: Tag Title Match
    Worst Match: Silas vs. Dalton (by default, I still enjoyed it).

    Enjoyable show as always. I enjoyed the booking of the main event. It’s not something ROH does constantly and the way it played out makes sense.  Looking forward to Final Battle.

    Mark Doyle
    Saratoga Springs, NY

    Heya Dave!

    Thumbs way up for the CMLL Show!!! First iPPV this antiquated fan has ever bought, and the best $10.00 I have spent toward any PPV. No glitches, no complaints, no way! After having feed issues from the Terra.com days, I am pleasantly shocked!

    Best Match: ATLANTIS vs SOMBRA – Somebody should compile a DVD charting the feud from beginning to tonight for students entering the biz… THIS IS HOW IT’S DONE! Atlantis, Sombra AND Rush all delivered in making this a match that set me on the edge of my seat like I was a kid again. And Sombra and Rush — these cats put over Atlantis like he’s on the level of El Santo, and in polished fashion! La Sombra was already a great rudo, he has now become a super heel.

    Worst Match: There was no worst match, though Ultimo Guerrero should score an award for working best he could with Thunder.

    Best yet— this show was so bitchin’ that the L.A. Park & Wagner situation became a complete non-issue after tonight.

    Oh— I am just a tad disappointed the mascots didn’t scrap it out a bit more. C’mon, I gotta bitch & moan about something!

    —Kurt Brown

    Thumbs middle

    Best match: Sombra vs Atlantis

    Worst match: Dark Angel vs Princess Sugehit

    There’s a reason CMLL is in the place they are right now – draw big houses two times a year for big shows, and occasionally do well with an older, established star. Meanwhile, there’s a sea of mid-carders whose legs have been cut out from underneath them or have never been pushed.

    Booking of Rush/Volador was great. Match wasn’t that good. I guess that is the 83rd Aniversario main event, with the hair on-the-line? 

    Long-term, Sombra should have won. He’s their most promising young wrestler and by far the most-charismatic guy they have. I look at Universo 2000 as an example of putting over a guy and making him into a draw. They could have done that with Sombra – except instead of being 35 with Universo 2000, Sombra is 25. But, it’s CMLL. 

    Marcus Origer

    It’s gonna be tough for WWE to surpass the number of fuck finishes on
    the show tonight.

    Thumbs down show
    Best match: ROH Tag Title – Young Bucks/Kingdom/Addiction
    Worst Match: World Title match  – Jay Lethal vs. Kyle O’Reilly.

    Half the card ended with interference or fuck finishes. It was totally
    fucked over Lethal (and what the hell did he do with his tights) who
    should have gotten an actual win on his first night defending both
    titles. Not the rollup with the tights or the fuck finish that was the
    main match

    TV Title – Lethal/Fish was good, but the finish was bad.

    Castle/Young was not as good as their Best of Both Worlds match, and any
    time a wrestler decides to get DQ’d in front of a ref when they have a
    stip for losing totally loses me.

    Briscos/ANX was good, but Cole/Detmer on commentary really were
    distracting for me. Great to see they didn’t bury King on his return
    from TNA, but it felt like they were trying to promote too many feuds at
    once.

    Moose/Alexander – Moose needs to stop doing anything that takes him
    above the middle rope. Ending was good, rest of the match sucked. Lot of
    cringeworthy unprotected headshots with a chair as well.

    ACH/Sydal – Pretty Good match, shouldn’t have been on PPV. It was a 3rd
    match in a best of 5, with them tied at 1-1. Corino tried playing up the
    2-1 advantage, but it really didn’t matter. Matches 4 and 5 should be on
    PPV as potential feud ending ones….not a non deciding match.

    Tag Title Match: Addiction/Young Bucks/Kingdom Great match. Even if
    ended on interference, it brought good closure on the KDR angle that
    gave Addiction the title win in Austin to begin with. Interesting to see
    where this goes, especially after the ME. Great action, everyone did
    well, and I didn’t mind that it was the 4th fuck finish on a 7 match card.

    #1 Contenders Match – Styles/Elgin/Cole/Strong
    Kind of shocked that Nigel made no mention of the interference in the
    previous match, given that was his reasoning for making it a 3 way to
    begin with on the TV tapings. It was a good match, but honestly, Elgin
    and Strong should not have been in this position. Elgin was in a much
    better position after his G-1 performance, but not close for a world
    title shot. Strong already had 2 shots against Lethal and couldn’t win.
    Cole was my favorite to win, and I didn’t think AJ would win as a part
    time guy. Glad to see we’re getting AJ/Lethal or Fish/Lethal soon, but I
    was more happy that this match didn’t end in a fuck finish after we’ve
    had 3 or 4 already.

    World Title match:
    WWE is going to have a hard time fucking it up more than ROH. You eject
    the interference and start a conga line of interference instead. Match
    never really got going before the fuck finish. Lethal needed to be
    booked stronger than he was. Two fuck finish victories for your True ROH
    Champion on a PPV? Fuck. I at least expect that WWE is going to drop a
    title off of Rollins, which is the right call.

    – Greg Valko

    Thumbs up.

    Best match: Atlantis vs Sombra
    Worst: Maximo/et al vs Polvora/Dragon Rojo/Rey Escorpion

    Almost all matches had good moments, even the mostly inconsequential ones. Good showing by Disturbio in opener. Young guys good, but Virus is great as cagey veteran. Second match was fine; told Maximo had great heat live. women’s match was okay, but too slow paced and lost the crowd. May have better to have Dark Angel wrestle a ruda like Amapola or Zeuxis. Dragon Lee could’ve stole the show if the main event was not so good. Shame Niebla got a spot that could have gone to Cavernario or Hechicero. semi-main had good action, but a horrible finish. Main was great even if my prediction was wrong. Not quite the twilight of the 80s Luchadors, as Dr. lucha wrote in the lucha issue of our new magazine.  Were they already setting up hair vs Mask with Rush and Atlantis for next year?

    Almost no problems with the stream. Lost audio a couple times, but no video issues or buffering. Over 10,000 viewers on youtube, thought 9,000 or more likely did not pay. Certainly worth $10.

    Mark Coale
    Odessa Steps Magazine

  • More feedback to last night’s NXT show

    Thumbs in the middleBest Match: Banks vs BayleyWorst Match: Vaudevillains/Blake & Murphy 1) Jushin Thunder Liger def Tyler Breeze: This was kind of disappointing, and I’m not saying that because the last time I saw Liger was when he was doing Shooting Star Presses in WCW. Liger has proven he can have great matches even at his age (vs Yohei Komatsu, BoSJ Night 1 this year), but this just seemed off. I guess that’s adapting to American style for you. (**1/4) 2) The Vaudevillains def Blake & Murphy: God do Blake and Murphy suck. This was a completely nothing match with a cool finishing stretch that didn’t make up for the incompetence of one half of the competitors. (**) 3) Apollo Crews def Tye Dillinger: Fun match that showcased ‘Crews’ really well. (**1/2) 4) Samoa Joe def Baron Corbin: Good big guy match. Yeah. (**3/4) 5) Bayley def Sasha Banks to win the NXT Women’s Championship: Great match, with a great moment to end it. This reminded me of a toned-down New Japan main event match where everything builds up to a crazy finish and the crowd goes wild. Extra marks for the whole presentation, really came across as a big match. (****) 6) Finn Balor def Kevin Owens: Eh. Ladder match in 2015. (**1/2) Overall a decent show but nothing really reached the level of the women’s match. The main event was literally every ladder match you’ve ever seen in WWE. What a waste of one really talented guy and one overweight good talker. Nothing else really did anything for me.

    Brian Jackson
     NXT Takeover: Thumbs UpBest Match: Baley vs. Sasha BanksWorst Match: Breeze vs. Liger (not bad at all, just by default) Great show and lots of fun from top to bottom.  Liger vs. Breeze was good, but nothing great and the worst match of the night just by default since nothing was bad.  Enjoyed the Tag Title match much more than expected.  Entertaining and fun.  Crews had a nice debut over Tye Dillinger who seems better than I recall.  Even Joe vs. Corbin was good and I am not a Corbin fan.  Women’s Championship was excellent.  The difference between the presentation on NXT and WWE even after the call up of some of the ladies recently is still a big one and WWE is not doing all it can to make it feel as important.  Finn Balor over Kevin Owens another good match and a great finish to the night as NXT delivers yet again.  Not sure how Summer Slam will measure up, but assuming at least the top few matches should be very good. Robb Block
     Overall:Thumbs UpBest Match:Sasha vs. Bayley (Not even close)Worst Match:Crews vs. Dillinger Tyler Breeze vs. Jushin Thunder Liger-Great appearance(or debut?) from Liger here. Nice intro spot for Breeze in beginning. Good little match. Liger had complete control of the crowd, like a multi-decade legend would. WWE wouldn’t be dumb if they just signed Lfor a short run. Hey, the guy is under a mask, it doesn’t matter how old he is! He gets over like crazy, and that’s all that matters. Honestly, Liger could fill role left vacant since Rey Misterio left the company. ***(3 stars)Blake &  Murphy (with Alexa Bliss) vs. The Vaudevillians (with Blue Pants)-This was a pretty good match. Easily the best Vaudevillians match I’ve seen. Blue Pants got a huge reaction. Nice build-up to a emotional title win for the Vaudevillians. ***(3 stars)Crews vs. Dillinger-Crews definitely seems like he is going to be a real player. Great athlete and a ton of charisma. Just what WWE looks for. Not much of a match. Mostly just showcasing Crews arsenal. **(2 stars)Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin-Joe is super over in Brooklyn. This is what you would expect:A Slobberknocker. Very good match, easily the best of Corbin’s NXT run. Corbin still has a ton of upside, but you gotta give Joe the push as his time is now. Joe took a beating in this match to build this thing to a fever pitch. Some really great striking exchanges between the two toward the end of the match. But ultimately, Joe is built for Main Event combat, not these mid-card feuds. Regardless, Joe continues to build onto his BAMF Reputation which will see him in the main events in WWE very soon. *** 1/2 (3 & 1/2 stars)Bayley vs. Sasha Banks(NXT Women’s Title)-The emotions were running high even from the entrances. Bayley seemed like she was stepping onto a different plane, charisma-wise. Tonight she proved to me she can be as big a star as Sasha, Charlotte, or Becky. She was like a female Dusty out there. She had the crowd in the palm of her hands. Sasha, of course, had a masterful entrance as well. Complete with Vehicle and Security leading her to the ring. This had a big fight feel and the crowd was amped. Everyone knew they were seeing excellence in that ring. The match itself was gritty, championship story-telling at it’s finest. A strong face and a strong heel, complimenting each other perfectly. . In my opinion, the best Women’s match in NXT history. I know that’s a bold statement, but this match had it all. Both ladies left it all in the ring. This match felt like a female version of Dusty-Flair. At times, you could visibly see them getting emotional as the crowd got more and more into the match. Gutsy Greatness. An emotional Bayley victory, and the crowd became unglued. Bayley again proved she can be a monster babyface on the big stage. After Bayley won and was having her moment, you could see Sasha laying on the mat and visibly crying as she stared into the rafters. I will never forget that image. Emotional scene after the match between the Four Horsewomen of NXT was the cherry on top of the match. This was easily most crowd reaction for a Women’s match I’ve ever seen. Unreal match.**** 1/2 (4 and 1/2 stars)Balor vs. Owens (NXT Championship Ladder match)-Another great performance by these men. An even more epic entrance by Balor tonight. Loved the appearing and re-appearing in the red fog. Another match with Big Fight Feel. This was tame in comparison to most Ladder Matches in terms of danger. But what the lacked in Tables and a plethora of high-impact spots, they made up for with more psychology. My favorite spots were the Powerbomb by Owens on Balor as he stood on the ladder, or the Double Foot stomp from the ladder that sealed the win. These two don’t turn in bad performances. Excellent. **** (4 stars)BTW-Can’t wait for the Dusty Tag Classic! I hope it’s similar to the Crockett Cup. NXT delivers their best show on the biggest stage. Bravo. J.C. Gethicker
      Hey Dave, No long-winded review, but since this is the first proper show I’ve seen live since Mania… Thumbs UPBest match: Bayley vs SashaWorst match: by default, I’d have to say Crews vs Dillinger If you’re the kind of fan who (for whatever reason) is ultra resistant to watching any wrestling that doesn’t have the WWE badge on it, then this show will be one of the reasons why you’d fall (back?) into love with wrestling. Bayley vs Sasha had me on the edge of my seat throughout, but in truth, this was a perfect card. Every match was different, and built up to the double crescendo of the main events. If only WWE could replicate this on their bigger shows, rather than the turgid messes we usually get every week. SummerSlam will have to be a hell of a show to even come close to topping this… and given all of the back shots, Kevin Owens took tonight, I’d be stunned if he was even able to make it to SummerSlam. No disappointments at all from the card, and with the announced UK tour, I am eagerly awaiting their night in Wembley on 12/16. Ian Hamilton@theianhamilton  Thumbs up show. Best match was Sasha vs Bayley. No bad matches. Liger vs Breeze Nice response to Liger. Liger taking selfie’s nice. Liger’s focus on the back is solid. A basic showcase for Liger. Almost booked like a newcomer to a territory who they have hopes to get over. 2 1/2* coming soon Nya Jax Vaudevillians vs Blake and Murphy Blake and Murphy are growing on me. Blue Pants is the equalizer. Vaudvillians are having a good, solid shine. Blake sets up the heat by cheating. Good heel psychology. Though the heat was lackluster. I get not wanting to outshine the faces but at least make it interesting. Like the distraction spot to keep the heat. Built to a hot finish. 2 1/2* Apollo Crews vs Dillenger Crews owned that crowd. Crews sold too much.  Regal introduces the Dusty Rhodes tag tournament. Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin As far as prescence, best Corbin’s looked. Joe showing off his ring generalism with all the different rope stops. Heel Hook by Corbin was a game changer. Back and forth fight. Loved this finish.Where it was the vet taught the student a lesson.  2 3/4* Babyface Steph loses her milfness. Bayley vs The Boss That is an opening. Fun back and forth so far. Sasha’s charisma is off the charts. Sasha in control and playing the bully role or mean girl. Love Bayley kicking her in the mush while Sasha talked trash. Big spot was the hand getting hurt again. Sasha  all over it. Sasha has such a mean streak. Liger flip dive alla Misterio over the ref. Nice counter by Bayley and gives her some much needed seperation. Loving Bayley using her left arm. The stomping on the hand was sick. Reversal of the Bank Statement. Bayley to Belly she kicks out. Bayley took a nasty bump. Frankentoyota into a Bayley  to belly. 4 3/4* Balor vs Owen Ladder Match Balor is no Zayn so I don’t think they’ll be able to follow that. Owens mocking the Zayn chant. Balor is a believable worker, but he needs to work on his story telling. Owens getting heat was well done. Just couldn’t follow the girls. 3 1/4*  Pete Schirmacher   8/22/15 NXT TakeOver: BrooklynOverall: Thumbs UpBest Match: Bayley vs. Sasha BanksWorst Match: Vaudevillains vs Blank and Murphy This show was a great example of the problems faced when watching NXT, the great wrestlers are fantastic and the novice wrestlers are a bore. Yet this is how it should be. It’s a developmental league and by it’s nature it’s just going to have some boring newbie matches. Liger-BreezeNot as good as any of his matches in ROH but still good. Liger is immortal it would seem.Vaudevillains-Blake and MurphyZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZzzzzzz……Don’t care about these guys and the match was what it was. Bliss is undeniable, though.Crews-DillengerCrews looks and wrestles like a Dragon Gate wrestler made in a laboratory. Can’t imagine he’ll be in NXT all that long. Joe-CorbinI just haven’t been super impressed with the matches I’ve seen Joe have in NXT. Maybe they just don’t appreciate how “firm” he usually is or maybe it’s just the level of talent he’s working with but his match against Jay Briscoe in ROH was better than anything he’s done in NXT. Joe physically looked great though. Bayley-BanksSasha Banks is a genuinely good wrestler. Not just grading her on a “good for a women” curve either. Her selling is just the best. I can’t quite put it into words, and I don’t want to use the word “stiff”, but there is something about the way she moves around the ring and wrestles that is so much smoother and more intentional than the other Divas. When Nikki Bella does an Irish Whip it looks like she’s waiting for the girl to start running as she eases her arm forward, when Banks does it looks like she’s really whipping her as hard as she can. With all that said, great match and hopefully one day, after Vince is gone and they put the Diva’s belt in a metal grinder, they can be taken seriously on the main roster.Balor-OwensGood ladder spot fest. I hope Balor buys Kevin a beer or something because he did him some huge favors with the massive bumps he took. Kevin is a mad man when it comes to these kind of matches. Makes me wish they wouldn’t have asked him to do it. -Matthew Burrill@mattb425