For the first time since October, an NXT TakeOver event comes home to Full Sail University! NXT’s 11th quarterly special may be living up to its own subtitle as this may be the end for several of the men and women on the show. With the WWE brand extension just five weeks away, odds are half of the competitors on this show won’t be on NXT in time for SummerSlam weekend.
Before we deal with the future, let’s deal with the now, shall we?
NXT Champion Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor in a steel cage match
This is the first ever cage match in NXT history and has the potential to be the most violent match in NXT history. This is the culmination of the longest feud ever in NXT and one of the longest continuous feuds in WWE, period. Samoa Joe has been NXT Champion since April 21 when he beat Balor in Lowell, Massachusetts. However, this was after Balor had defeated Joe at TakeOver events in London and Dallas. On a side note, Joe is the first man to win the NXT, TNA, and ROH titles — one of the more random accomplishments in wrestling today.
Each match was better and more violent than the previous bout, with the two men waging war on each other. Now NXT is locking them within the confines of a cage, which should only encourage the match to be more violent. My only hope is Joe does not bust himself open in the first 30 seconds causing the ridiculous sight of a cage match being halted due to blood.
– Prediction: Balor has been in NXT longer and Joe just won the belt. I’m going with Joe to win, setting up a series of matches with the winner of the semi-main event.
Austin Aries vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
NXT’s acquisition of Nakamura has led to a series of never before seen, one of a kind matches. Some have been excellent (Sami Zayn) and some not so much (The Drifter), but this could very well not only steal the show, but steal the pro wrestling month.
Aries debuted in March and has had quite the different road than Nakamura as he hasn’t had the chance to have that one amazing showcase match. While Aries hasn’t had any bad matches, he has obviously been holding out for the right time and this is it.
While not officially announced as such, this match will probably set up the next challenger for the NXT title. Aries is better off as a heel and has been teasing aturn the last few weeks, bringing up that Nakamura’s debut got all the press clippings, leaving Aries in the lurch.
Prediction: Nakamura wins, setting up future title matches with Joe, pissing off Aries more, and setting up his eventual heel turn.
NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Nia Jax
This match has the chance to overachieve. Jax is a lot better than she’s given credit for, while Asuka is arguably the best woman wrestler under WWE contract. While the money, for lack of a better word, is in an Asuka-Bayley rematch, Jax has been a very effective monster and laid out the champ just last week.
This match has really been built up from each lady’s debut. Both ladies had their debuts being built up at the same time and had their first tv match within a week of each other. Asuka has had a series of hard hitting bouts with Emma, Dana Brooke, and Bayley, while Nia has beaten every B-level NXT woman before flattening Bayley just 3 weeks ago on TV.
Prediction: Asuka wins and leads to Asuka vs Bayley in Brooklyn, one year after Bayley won the title the first time.
NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha vs. The Revival
This is a rematch of a solid match from Dallas with both teams just getting better since. Jason Jordan and Chad Gable are easily the most popular team on NXT while The Revival have become better characters since losing the titles. This is yet another match where the losers will probably end up on the main roster, so you are left wondering if WWE needs a third super popular baby face tag team or another team of solid, yet unspectacular workers.
Prediction: American Alpha wins because WWE doesn’t care enough about tag teams to have 3 super popular teams at the same time.
Andrade Cien Almas vs. Tye Dillinger
My #1 question is wondering why they changed Manny Andrade’s name — a perfectly fine name that rolled off the tongue, while Andrade Cien Almas sounds forced and fake. Dillinger has won less than five tv matches and despite winning last week, I doubt he picks up two in a row.
The TakeOver: Dallas dark match against Chris Girard was a better match than three other matches on that show, so I am expecting a really good showing here. Dillinger has a fun gimmick and is popular with the crowd. However, his job is to lose.
Prediction: Almas wins and moves into a feud with Austin Aries.
**********
I honestly believe this could be the best TakeOver show since Brooklyn and possibly even better. Money in the Bank is being built up as perhaps the best PPV in WWE history, but after tonight, it will be second best of the month…at best.
Despite a promising opening half hour, Monday night’s edition of RAW ultimately flattered to deceive. Here are the weekly sparse hits and myriad misses from this week’s Money in the Bank build-up show:
— The Hits —
The comedy-laden opening segment
Given the scriptwriting standard we’re accustomed to, six men reciting lines at each other in the ring should have been a disaster. Instead, highlighted by Owens’ interruptions and Jericho’s obnoxiousness, Monday night’s opening segment was consistently amusing.
The other members of the MITB ladder match finally challenging Jericho on his record in the match he created was wonderful. Jericho maintaining that he won “the first one….the sixth one!” in “Apple…..Appleton…..Stupididiotville!” was hilarious, as was Chris responding to Cesaro’s “your hometown?” rejoindre with: I’m from Winnipeg, idiot!”. That of course led to the crowd chanting “stupid idiot” for the second consecutive week, to which Jericho delightfully responded: “I know you are, but what am I?”.
While I could do without wacky Dean Ambrose talking about fighting polar bears, at least we also had Owens’ “Ooh, Spanish!” as soon as Alberto Del Rio opened his mouth. It was nice to see Teddy Long too, despite his flubs, if only to hear the on-fire Jericho insult him. Great stuff.
Backstage segments
Further credit must be directed towards the writing staff for the quality of this week’s backstage segments. From Del Rio cutting a strong heel promo on Zayn in the locker room to Long dancing along to his theme on his smartphone to Ambrose finally getting serious in response to Owens, they all worked really well.
Big Cass’ intensity
I wasn’t crazy about Enzo & Cass’ Ali-laden tribute promo, but I really liked the idea of using Aiden English’s attempt to repeat the events of Payback to fire up Cass. Cass showed signs of being able to exhibit believable aggression during his short-lived recent singles run, and that was on display here again as he dismantled the Vaudevillains. I didn’t even mind the cheap DQ finish for not responding to the referee’s instructions.
— The Misses —
Meaningless matches
It was very difficult to care about any of the seven matches on this show, particularly the three matches involving the MITB participants. All six men are already in a key match at the PPV, and nothing is going to change regardless of the results of their singles bouts. Why, therefore, am I supposed to get invested? At least all three matches were fine, with those who most needed credibility picking up the victories.
Repetition, repetition, repetition
There was so much on this show that I’ve seen before, with much of it as recent as last week. Rusev’s match against Swagger was a repeat from last week’s Smackdown as was the Life Lessons promo. Enzo & Cass fought the Vaudevillains on last week’s Main Event too, while Ambrose vs. Owens is a match that I really never need to see again for a very long time. News of another Ambrose vs. Jericho bout on this week’s Smackdown only increases my jadedness.
Reigns/Rollins “History Revisited”
Although last week’s WWE 24 documentary on the returning Seth Rollins was a fantastic piece of television, airing clips of it here only underlines how utterly boneheaded it was to bring “The Future of the WWE” back as a heel. If this two-part video package was intended to get the crowd to boo him and cheer Roman, it failed as anyone who saw it would surely be inclined to get behind Seth.
Getting Rollins to call Reigns a “placeholder” and reminding us of his Wrestlemania cash-in is unlikely to build sympathy for a champion that few like.
The Cena/Styles follow-up
The feud that the company is billing as a “Wrestlemania match” did not have a great sophomore outing this week. Their promo was as meta as a bad episode of Community with Cena’s jorts self-awareness and AJ’s talk of getting the shovels. The explanation that Styles recruited the Club to help him best Cena out of fear of getting “buried” is weak sauce in the extreme. Very disappointing.
Stephanie’s characterisation
So apparently Stephanie McMahon is an all-out heel this week, in Shane’s absence, abusing the doddery Long and stealing his ideas. She did deliver one piece of big news however, informing us that she will be the head honcho of Smackdown when it goes live on Tuesday nights. Hands up who laughed heartily at the laundry list of the qualities she supposedly possesses: “intelligent, young, vivacious, smart, has business acumen, and can usher in the New Era!” That’s a no-hitter for you there Steph, I’m afraid.
The Golden Truth follow-up
One Smackdown repeat I would have liked to see was the karaoke version of R-Truth’s new song, complete with a bobbing Goldust head to help you sing along. If the company was willing to spend months filming vignettes for these two, it might be an idea to get out of the way and let them get themselves over. Not only were the lyrics not on-screen, but Michael Cole talked over the song for the second week running too!
Considering the amount of professional wrestlers there are (and have been) in the world, very few make it to WWE. Of those who make it to WWE, very few win titles. Of those who do, there aren’t very many who win titles on their first day in the company.
One of those who did was Santino Marella.
Many WWE fans remember the “Milan Miracle” and the subsequent years that Santino spent in WWE (mostly as a joke cracking midcard act) and many will have their favourite Santino moment.
In this Wrestling Observer exclusive interview, we meet Anthony Carelli, the man behind the Santino persona.
During the interview, we discussed:
– His recent release by WWE and how it blindsided him
– How close he came to being the SmackDown GM in the upcoming brand split
– Whether he got any heat for winning the IC title on his first night in the job
– Almost winning the WWE Heavyweight Championship
– Jim Cornette slapping him in OVW and why he decided against retaliating against an “old man”
– Setting up the BattleArts Academy and training kids and adults in wrestling and judo
The Octagon returns to the Los Angeles area this weekend for UFC 199 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on Saturday for the next big pay-per-view event. It is headlined by two title bouts as UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold defends against Michael Bisping, and UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz defends against Urijah Faber. Below are our studs, value plays and fighters to avoid when making your fantasy line-ups for Saturday’s UFC 199 event.
STUDS —
Luke Rockhold ($11,400)
Luke Rockhold has the highest salary of the 26 fighters competing on the UFC 199 card, and with him defending his newly-won UFC Middleweight Championship in the main event, he is poised to have a big night. He was originally scheduled to defend against Chris Weidman, but a neck injury suffered by Weidman forced him to pull out, thrusting Michael Bisping into the title fight on just two weeks’ notice. We’ve already seen what Rockhold has done to Bisping before, and that was with Bisping on a full training camp.
Bisping has come along well since being dominated and submitted by Rockhold in November 2014, but there isn’t much to show that a second fight between the two would be any different. Rockhold is one of the best fighters in the world, with excellent kickboxing and smooth submissions. There is a reason he has the highest salary on the card, and I expect him to defeat Bisping in similiar fashion to their first bout. Rockhold is the biggest must-own on the card.
Dustin Poirier ($10,600)
Dustin Poirier is looking for his fourth consecutive win since making the move to 155 pounds when he takes on Bobby Green in the main card opener on Saturday night at UFC 199. Poirier went into his last fight against Joseph Duffy as a solid underdog, but put on perhaps his most impressive performance in his UFC career when he dominated Duffy en route to a decision victory. His opponent on Saturday, Green, hasn’t fought since November 2014, and is coming off of major knee surgery. Poirier has shown excellent striking and a good submission game, and Green is a very solid fighter. However, Green coming off of the major injury raises a lot of questions, and they will all be in Poirier’s favor. Green is tough, but I expect Poirier to put up a lot of points and to get the win on Saturday.
VALUE PLAYS —
Luis Henrique da Silva ($8,700)
Luis Henrique da Silva is the latest addition to the UFC light heavyweight division and he enters his debut fight on Saturday with a perfect 10-0 record. He has also won all ten of his fights by stoppage, and only twice has he gone past the first round. He has also done all of this in just over two-and-a-half years of active competition, and at 26-years-old, he has every chance to become a threat at 205 pounds. He fights another undefeated 205-pound prospect in Jonathan Wilson in preliminary action.
Wilson does have one UFC bout in his career, a quick first-round knockout win over Chris Dempsey last August. Wilson has scored six of his seven career wins by knockout, so both men have power. You’re likely looking at a finish in this fight, so it’s a matter of finding value. I like da Silva to win this fight, and at just an $8,700 salary, he is going to be an excellent value pick that will help you fit your budget.
Dan Henderson ($8,400)
Dan Henderson is a legend of the sport, but a legend that is nearing the end of his career at 45 years of age. This is the last fight on his UFC contract, and retirement may be next, though continuing to fight is still on his mind. If this is his last fight, he wants to ride out into the sunset in impressive fashion. He is coming off the disappointment of a fight week cancellation of his bout against Lyoto Machida, and now he fights Hector Lombard on Saturday. Lombard is making the move back up to the middleweight division after some time at 170 pounds, and he is coming off a loss to Neil Magny in which he looked great for four minutes but faded quickly.
He still has power but Henderson still has a chin, but Lombard can be knocked out if a punch connects. And Hendo still hits very hard no matter his age. Lombard is in a must win fight, and that could make him fight reckless, which opens the door for Henderson. With that right hand, a salary of $8,400 always makes Henderson a value play. He has a very good chance of winning this.
FIGHTERS TO AVOID —
Jessica Penne ($10,200)
Jessica Penne is one of our two fighters to avoid on this card. She hasn’t fought in nearly a year and is coming off a beating at the hands of strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk in Germany last June. She is still a little undersized for 115 pounds, and she will be taking on an opponent who will have the size advantage over her in Jessica Andrade, who is moving down from 135 pounds. Andrade had mixed success as a bantamweight but has lost two of her last three and a move was likely necessary if she wants to fight for a title in the future. Penne is more well-rounded and is the betting favorite. I like Penne to get the win here, but I don’t expect her to get a finish, and I don’t expect her to rack up a lot of points in getting the win. There are better options on this card, so she will be a pass for me.
Clay Guida ($8,500)
Clay Guida is an interesting one. He is still one of the more beloved fighters on the UFC roster, and he probably has a job for life. He has been firmly established as a gatekeeper but can still score a win on any given fight night. He is being used as a stepping stone on Saturday for the undefeated Brian Ortega, who is going to get a push in the featherweight division. It is another chance for Ortega to build his resume, but another dangerous one. Guida is still a great wrestler but can be submitted and Ortega is great at submitting opponents. Guida can still be competitive, but I don’t think he can against ranked opponents, which Ortega is. However, we have seen fighters who are being groomed for stardom have their hype trains derailed, and Guida is capable of doing that to Ortega. It is just too risky to think it will happen to where you would want Guida in your lineup. Guida is a pass for me.
OUR LINEUPS —
RYAN FREDERICK: Luke Rockhold ($11,400), Dominick Cruz ($11,300), James Vick ($9,400), Luis Henrique da Silva ($8,700), Dan Henderson ($8,400)
Luke Rockhold is my top pick. I fully expect him to finish Michael Bisping in their championship bout in the same kind of fashion that he finished them the first time they fought. Bisping may be better than he was then, but so is Rockhold, who is one of the best in the world. I’m also putting Dominick Cruz on my roster. I think he beats Urijah Faber, and I think it goes the distance, and that 25 minutes is more chances to rack up points. James Vick is undefeated and has looked good, and Beneil Dariush is having a quick turnaround after being finished, and I like Vick in their fight. Luis Henrique da Silva and Dan Henderson are my value plays, and I have them both on my roster. I see them both scoring knockout wins, which will be big points.
PAUL FONTAINE: Luke Rockhold ($11,400), Max Holloway ($10,800), Elvis Mutapcic ($9,600), Dong Hyun Maestro Kim ($9,300), Urijah Faber ($8,100)
This is a tough show to pick a team for with a lot of big favorites. I’ll start with Faber, who if I’m picking straight up, I think he probably loses. But the way he wins is by catching Cruz in a quick submission and if he does, it will be a lot of points. Even if it goes five rounds and he loses, he might score a lot of strikes. Rockhold to me is almost guaranteed to score an early finish, as he’s done in his last five fights. Holloway is similar as he’s rung up 8 straight wins since losing to Conor McGregor. I like the Maestro to beat Polo Reyes, who has a 5-2 career record with both losses coming inside the distance.
PEACH MACHINE: Dominick Cruz ($11,300), Dustin Poirier ($10,600), James Vick ($9,400), Jessica Andrade ($9,200), Dan Henderson ($8,400)
I always go with Hendo. I’m sure it’s a bad choice, but Hendo was pissed that Machida didn’t fight him last month, so I’m hoping he takes it out on Lombard. Poirier is a total killer and I like him to finish Green. Andrade is tough and Penne has been out for a long time. This will be a good fight. I believe Cruz is the smartest fighter today and I expect him to make Faber look silly.
With the wrestling world still speculating on how WWE will handle the July brand split/extension, much of the discussion has been about how the championships should be structured in this new era — most importantly, what should be the biggest prize in the game.
The Brand Extension Shouldn’t Lead To A Championship Split
As reported in a recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the current plan is that the brand extension will lead to the world title being once again split in two. Of the many rumours that have flown around the Internet, it’s the prospect of once again losing a single world champion that has most upset hardcore fans.
It’s not hard to see why. Since John Cena and Randy Orton unified the WWE and World Heavyweight Titles in December 2013 at TLC, the world title has been far stronger than it was previously. It has once again become the focal point of the promotion with Daniel Bryan’s chase of the WWE title proving far more of a money-drawing storyline than his previous World Heavyweight Title reigns. The flip side of this development is that tug of war between the hardcore fanbase and Vince McMahon about who should be world champion has intensified now that the promotion can’t split the difference.
Despite this, one can understand why the WWE is tempted to revert back to having two world titles.
As Brock Lesnar’s previous title reign proved, the WWE’s mantra of promoting sports entertainment and focusing on telling stories is remarkably hollow. The promotion is actually incredibly dependent on the world championship to provide meaning to its main event picture. When Brock Lesnar was away, the twenty-eight strong writing staff was bereft of ideas about how to justify Cena and Seth Rollins facing each other that they turned the Money In The Bank briefcase into an ersatz world title.
Therefore, both promotions will clearly need their own singles title for their main event picture to be built around when the world champion isn’t there. Furthermore, considering that both shows will largely conform to the WWE house style, each champion will play a pivotal role in defining the brand to viewers.
However, there’s no reason why that role can’t be played by a secondary champion exclusive to each brand if these titles are properly protected. And there would be added value in having a WWE title above them. An undisputed world champion that can perform on both brands would stand out as a special attraction that would help highlight key television shows as must-watch and could drive extra business for the biggest shows of the year.
The key would be not to expose them. If they were to appear weekly, let alone twice a week, they would quickly cease to be a special attraction. Worse they would undermine the ability of the two promotion-specific secondary champions to be taken seriously as headliners. This would naturally be a role for Lesnar, who could storm into either brand for a month-long residency before his latest title defence and then disappear again. It would also solve the problem that the WWE has of struggling to provide meaning to Lesnar’s matches.
RAW and Smackdown Need Their Own Champions
Back when the NWA World Champion would tour alliance members, the individual territories still retained their own national or promotional champions. This was because the promotion couldn’t grind to a halt when Ric Flair or Harley Race was elsewhere; they still needed something to build their everyday main event picture around. If WWE was to give Lesnar a floating WWE Championship, each brand would be in the same situation. They would need championships to build their weekly programming around.
The temptation would be to suggest that the Intercontinental and U.S. titles could be repurposed for this role with each brand getting one of the secondary titles. This was exactly the approach originally planned for the first brand split with the I-C strap having been pegged to be the premiere title on RAW. Triple-H rightly vetoed this idea due to the belief that the title had been clearly defined as a secondary belt and wouldn’t be taken seriously as a prize worthy of main eventers. This is even truer today. While either belt can gain the illusion of respectability when placed around a headliner’s waist, they quickly slide back to their previous irrelevance.
It’s not helped that the names of the championships are literally meaningless. This is not the 70s where it was perfectly logical to have a national champion underneath the world champion. The same problem existed when there was a WWE and a World Title. The names are such generic buzzwords that they do not indicate what the titlist is champion of. The championships being meaningless is yet another barrier to fans taking them seriously.
It would be far better for the WWE to start again by crowning RAW and Smackdown champions, and actually calling them that. That way fans know that the person who holds the RAW title is recognised as the best wrestler on RAW, and the person challenging for the Smackdown title wants to be recognised as the best wrestler on Smackdown.
As reported in the Observer, the current plans are for Reigns and Cena to be the champions of their respective brands. While both men have their problems with connecting with the fanbase, putting the new belts on them would be a clear statement of intent that both titles are of equal worth and will be properly protected.
How Should The Championships Be Awarded?
One of the things that most embittered fans about the last split in the championship was how Triple-H walked out with the big gold belt and proclaimed himself world champion. For all the talk of RAW having always been the ‘A-Show’, it took years the stench of that introduction to leave the title with his matches for the belt being of secondary importance to the WWE title matches as late as 2004. It’s therefore crucial that the new championships are properly introduced. Given that the aim of these moves is to create a big splash to help Smackdown’s ratings, it would make sense that everything builds to big matches for the shows on July 19-20.
Making Brock Lesnar the undisputed world champion should be relatively straight forward. Just have The Beast appear in the next two weeks to destroy Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, insert himself into the WWE title match at Money In The Bank due to both men having screwed him out of the world title he never truly lost inside the ring. It’s a rematch of the unannounced main event of Wrestlemania 31, and provides a way for Lesnar to regain the title without pinning Reigns. It also allows the Reigns vs. Rollins programme to continue with neither man once again conclusively beating the other. This would then justify leaving Lesnar out of the draft.
The new RAW and Smackdown champions should be crowned in big matches on the first shows after the draft. The easiest way to do this would be to have the type of multi-man matches that are usually reserved for pay per view. RAW could have a special Money in the Bank-style ladder match for their world title and Smackdown could have an Elimination Chamber match. Such multi-man matches would naturally feed into the draft, with the six men drafted for each brand being the ones entered into its championship match. Assuming the twelve men were picked on the 11th July Raw, the promotion would have a week to promote two huge title matches for the first week of the new era.
Monday night’s edition of RAW had its moments without exactly firing on all cylinders. Here’s where it went right…and where it went very, very wrong.
— The Hits —
Trios pow-wows
Tag team main events are usually throwaway affairs in the WWE universe. As such, those backstage huddles featuring all six Money in the Bank ladder match entrants were very welcome. Recycling the “Sami is Canadian too” joke from last week worked well, as did Jericho’s continued brilliant use of the word “idiot”. That, of course, led to a wonderful “stupid idiot” chant during the main event, directed at the Fozzy frontman. The match itself was merely fine, but featured a hot finish and a much-needed attempt to rehab a cooled-off Dean Ambrose.
Cena’s return and AJ’s turn
While I’m not entirely sold on AJ’s full-fledged heel turn, it must be acknowledged that its execution was excellent here. Further, the company is quite light on the heel side at the moment. While I could have done without the cringeworthy, jingoistic intro, John Cena’s comeback promo was one of his strongest in some time. Delivered with fantastic fire, it underlined the veteran’s new role as the gatekeeper of the WWE: “The future must go through me”.
The Golden Truth shine
I’m as surprised as you are, believe me, but Monday night’s first hour segment involving the Golden Truth actually worked. Key to its success was allowing two of the most naturally amusing men on the roster to be themselves, free from the writers’ awful input. Truth and Goldust’s contributions on commentary during The Usos’ quick win over Breezango were often hilarious with Truth reprising his inability to distinguish Byron Saxton from Jonathan Coachman – despite the fact that “Coach has talent” as JBL helpfully pointed out.
I must admit I’m also a big fan of Truth’s remixed rap, heard in its full form on Smackdown, but sadly cut off here by a commercial break. Credit also to Tyler Breeze for his inset promo (“The Ewww-sos”) for showing how his mastery over his character has been shamefully wasted on the main roster.
Enzo & Cass
They seem to be featured here every week but even though their promo ostensibly just listed cheeses at one point, everything this team touches turns to gold at the moment. Although, I could do without that double team Rocket Launcher finish as they never seem to execute it convincingly.
–The Misses–
Using The New Day to distract from the brand split fiasco
Last week’s news that the debut of live Tuesday night Smackdown would usher in another brand split conjured up many appalling vistas. Chief among them was the prospect of having to watch nine hours of WWE programming in three days on PPV weeks, closely followed by the harebrained possible reintroduction of two world titles. Worries about the potential for tag teams to be forcibly separated weren’t exactly high on folks’ lists of concerns.
But that’s the draft-related horror that New Day asked us to consider in RAW’s overlong opening segment in which their comedy was used to distract from the fact that company is figuring the detail of this guaranteed failure out as it goes. The idea that the Vaudevillains denying us the “pleasure” of Stephanie’s dancing is supposed to generate heel heat was where the real humour lay, however, as was that team’s failure to upbraid The Club for getting them disqualified from what was effectively a number one contendership opportunity.
Rollins The Mute
Following on from the abrupt ending to his in-ring promo on Smackdown, the returning Seth Rollins went one better on Monday night by saying absolutely nothing – for a very, very long time. I’d love to tell you what Rollins’ fakeouts were supposed to achieve, but sadly I’m not one of the 28 typewriter-armed monkeys that this company employs. On that note, every time I hear Roman’s “I’m not a good guy….” catchphrase or JBL parroting Vince’s “polarising figure” nonsense, I want to scream. Nails on a chalkboard, every time.
Dolph Ziggler baiting Baron Corbin into a “technical wrestling match” (translation: a match) only to kick him in the cojones was extremely dumb. Not only did Dolph cost himself a third loss to Corbin, he also made himself look like a coward. Wouldn’t a real babyface pour everything he had into besting the balding one in a fair fight?
Titus confronts the “Bulgarian Blowhard”
Speaking of poor writing, is anyone getting tired of Zack Ryder cutting pre-match promos about overcoming the odds only to lose comprehensively? What is the point of that exactly? US Champion Rusev crushed Ryder in short order before being confronted by proud American Titus O’Neil. O’Neil nervously delivered his scripted verbiage, including the embarrassing insult transcribed above, to a relatively underwhelming response. Still, at least this means the Bulgarian won’t be dropping the strap to the returning Cena any time soon as many predicted. Finally, what was up with Lana’s accent in her pre-match introduction?
The Charlotte follow-up
Where do I start with this one? I could talk about how Stephanie felt it necessarily to once again verbally tear strips off one of her major champions. I could talk about the lameness of the talking heads’ contribution in the preceding video package. I could discuss how little sense it makes that Charlotte throwing off the yolk of her cheating father is being portrayed as a heelish progression for her character.
Whichever way you look at it, Monday’s follow-up to what was a disastrous promo from the Women’s champion last week was just as crummy as the distraction finish she caused in Dana Brooke’s match against Natalya. Apparently it’s important that all these women are made to look dumb, face or heel. Dreadful.
One of the traditional events on the UFC calendar is Memorial Day Weekend in Las Vegas. While not a pay-per-view event like usual, the Octagon is back this weekend, on Sunday this time, for UFC Fight Night 88 on FOX Sports 1. The event is headlined by undefeated bantamweights Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt. Below are our studs, value plays and fighters to avoid when making your fantasy rosters for Sunday’s event.
STUDS
Abel Trujillo ($11,200)
Abel Trujillo has the highest salary of the fighters competing on the UFC Fight Night 88 card, and it shouldn’t be a surprise for many reasons. Most of the bouts are evenly matched, but Trujillo will have an advantage as he fights a replacement fighter taking the fight on short notice making his UFC debut in Jordan Rinaldi. Trujillo has put up a solid 5-2 UFC record (with one no contest, though one of his wins was actually a loss that was overturned), with his only official losses coming to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, both of whom are top-five ranked fighters. All of his official UFC wins have come by stoppage, and he is a dangerous and powerful fighter. Rinaldi has a solid 12-4 record, but he gets a tall order in making his UFC debut. Trujillo is a very good bet to score a finish and he is our top play for the card.
Aljamain Sterling ($11,000)
Aljamain Sterling enters Sunday night with an undefeated record, a new contract with the UFC, title shot aspirations, and the fight he wanted as he takes on Bryan Caraway. Sterling is a huge favorite in the bout, and with good reason as he is a perfect 13-0 with nine finishes, and three of his four UFC wins have been finishes. Caraway is a tough and durable fighter, but has garnered a reputation of late of turning down fights in what people seem to see as him trying to maintain his positioning in the division. If Caraway wants to fight for a title, he can’t turn down fighting Sterling. That may be a mistake for him. Sterling is young and hungry, and the 135-pound division is thriving with talent. He may be the most talented prospect, though the main event fighters on Sunday have something to say about that. He is just too talented for Caraway, and I expect Sterling to have an impressive showing on Sunday. He’s an excellent play.
VALUE PLAYS
Jeremy Stephens ($9,300)
With so many close match-ups on this card, it is hard to find a lot of value as I see the true underdogs having trouble picking up wins. That is why I’m going with Jeremy Stephens as a value play despite the fact he is fighting former bantamweight champion Renan Barao. Barao is moving up to 145 pounds as he is now going to have trouble making 135 pounds with the IV ban, and he is someone who has looked different in recent fights. Make of that what you will, but there have been noticeable changes in a lot of fighters, and Barao is one of those. Stephens has just a .500 record in the UFC, but he has been around a long time and is capable of making a solid run in the division. He has the knockout power and is known for exciting fights, and Barao has been taking beatings lately and not looked himself. Stephens is a sneaky play to score an upset and has some solid value.
Chris Camozzi ($8,900)
Chris Camozzi is another good value fighter as he looks to score his third straight win. He takes on Vitor Miranda, who has won three straight, but Camozzi is the toughest opponent he has fought in the UFC. Miranda is also getting older, but he is coming off an impressive win. Camozzi is also coming off an impressive win, and a rather quick one. This fight should be closer in the betting odds, but the longer odds make Camozzi’s salary a very good one to look at. Both men are very good kickboxers, but Miranda is a big middleweight, and he fades late. That could open the door for Camozzi to attack late. Camozzi has dangerous muay Thai and is very underrated despite his lackluster UFC record. Both men are on solid streaks, and Camozzi has a very solid chance at getting the upset. He is worth looking at for some value.
FIGHTERS TO AVOID
Jorge Masvidal ($9,600)
Jorge Masvidal is a very good fighter, somewhat underrated by a lot. He took former lightweight champion Benson Henderson to the wire but came up short in his last fight. He has a 6-3 record in the UFC, but he is a fighter you should avoid for a simple reason- he isn’t much of a finisher. He has 16 wins by decision out of his 29 career wins, and he has only scored two stoppage wins in the last six-plus years. He is also facing a very dangerous opponent in Lorenz Larkin, who is better on the feet in a pure kickboxing term. Masvidal is more well-rounded, but he tends to abandon his solid takedown game to get into a battle on the feet. That will cost him against Larkin. I like Larkin in this fight, and I don’t see anything but a decision happening. I would avoid Masvidal at his salary. If his salary was lower, he’d have good value, though.
Jake Collier ($9,100)
Jake Collier is 1-2 in the UFC and is on the chopping block coming into Sunday’s card. He has to get a win. That might be a challenge against the debuting Alberto Uda, who is 9-0 with eight finishes in his career. Uda is a crafty striker, and a dangerous one at that, and has very good submissions. Collier eats a lot of punches, and that cost him in his last fight, which was a knockout loss to Dongi Yang. Collier is solid but unspectacular, and he hasn’t shown that he has what it takes to compete at the UFC level right now. Perhaps with a few more fights under his belt, and a loss here would send him back to the regional circuit. His prior UFC bouts make it hard for him to be trusted on a fantasy roster, much less against a dangerous foe. He is a solid pass in my eyes.
OUR LINE-UPS
RYAN FREDERICK- Aljamain Sterling ($11,000), Alberto Uda ($10,300), Thomas Almeida ($10,200), Jessica Eye ($9,500), Chris Camozzi ($8,900)
I’m starting my roster off with Aljamain Sterling. I think he is a future champion at 135 pounds, and he is getting the big push this week. I expect him to finish Bryan Caraway and to be impressive in doing so. Alberto Uda is making his UFC debut, but with eight finishes in nine career wins, an undefeated record, and a struggling opponent, I see him getting a finish. Thomas Almeida is in his first main event, and he does have a tough opponent in Cody Garbrandt. I see him finishing Garbrandt, and even if it goes five rounds, that’s a lot of points that can be scored. Jessica Eye is also on my roster. She is hungry and is better on the feet than her opponent, Sara McMann, who hasn’t shown much in the UFC. I like Eye to get the win. Last on my team is Chris Camozzi, who I see landing a barrage of knees in the clinch on Vitor Miranda and getting a stoppage win.
PAUL FONTAINE- Abel Trujillo ($11,200), Paul Felder ($10,800), Renan Barao ($10,100), Cody Garbrandt ($9,200), Bryan Caraway ($8,400)
Many of these matches are very close and extremely tough to call and the main event is one of those. I’m taking a chance but I needed two underdogs to fit some guys on the team that I really like. Both guys are finishers and both have faced a similar level of UFC competition. Both are 24 years old. It’s really almost a pick ’em in my eyes so I’m getting a bit of a break on the price for Garbrandt in that sense. I’m much more confident about Barao. He probably should’ve been fighting at 145 all along but didn’t want to be in the same weight class as Jose Aldo, who was the champion and his training partner. He shouldn’t lose any of his speed and may have even better cardio as a result of not having such a drastic weight cut. And Jeremy Stephens is not getting any younger. I really like Paul Felder in his fight over Josh Burkman and feel like this is a glorified enhancement match for Felder, who had lost two in a row last year before rebounding with a submission win in his last fight. Trujillo is the biggest lock on the card, in my opinion and his price showed it. He has just two losses in the last 5 years and they’ve been to Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov. He’s facing a debuting fighter with 4 losses in the same time period to people who literally aren’t in the same league. My last pick is Bryan Caraway who is a big underdog in his fight against Aljamain Sterling. I see Caraway frustrating Sterling with his wrestling and maybe sneaking in a submission win or a decision.
Barao hasn’t fought in a while which is good. He needed to take some time off after two decimations by Dillashaw. I think he’ll be back in old form and destroy Stephens. I’m taking Sterling because I hate Caraway. I also feel like Sterling is gonna be a star soon. Larkin is in top shape at 170 and I’m not sure how Masvidal is going to fare moving up. He’s done so before, but I’m leery. Saffiedine is facing Rick Story who has been out action for a while. He hasn’t fought since 2014. Saffiedine dispatched of Ellenberger, who I consider a better version of Rick Story, so I’m taking Tarec. Garbrandt is my “make him fit” pick because I don’t like anyone else. I like Garbrandt more than Almeida so I’m fine with it. Let’s go Ascension!
It’s time to run down the highlights and lowlights of the first RAW in the build to next month’s highly anticipated Money In The Bank PPV:
–The Hits–
The matches had stakes….for once.
For long-suffering fans that have been long accustomed to three hour RAWs filled with meaningless time-filling matches, Monday night’s show was refreshing. Five of the seven matches on the card were high-stakes Money in the Bank qualifiers, with only Chris Jericho’s win over Apollo Crews lasting less than 10 minutes. This relatively strong episode of RAW proved just how much better televised wrestling is when the in-ring content feels like it actually matters.
The ‘Phenomenal’ main event.
One day removed from putting his body on the line with outrageous abandon at Extreme Rules, AJ Styles produced the goods again in his show-closing MITB qualifier against Kevin Owens. Owens’ heel mannerisms were as on-point as ever, again dubbing himself the ‘Headlock Master’ and failing to deliver on a teased dive. Telling Cole to “shut up, I can hear you from here!” at one point was also a major highlight.
Both men pulled out all the stops in this 18 minute bout with AJ hitting a springboard 450 splash and Owens busting out his springboard moonsault and a package fisherman buster. While it was marred slightly for me by the expectation of interference from the spurned Club, that refreshingly did not arrive with Owens instead picking up the clean victory. I felt that the powerbomb onto the ring steps, coupled with the aforementioned battering he sustained the previous night, provided adequate cover for Styles to take a second consecutive loss here.
Good booking and clean finishes.
The main event wasn’t alone in having a well-executed clean finish that made sense. All seven matches on the show finished conclusively without distraction or interference. (I’d love for someone to go back and check when that last happened!)
Although the match took time to build, putting Sami Zayn over Sheamus clean with a hot finish felt like a significant moment for the Canadian. Later, Cesaro’s selling of his shoulder, including failing to execute the swing, was marvelous, and the finish, consisting of a quick uppercut/Neutralizer combo, was thrilling.
To the best of my knowledge, no finishing moves were kicked out of on the show either despite it being filled with clashes between top guys. This is something the company has moved away from in the last half-year or so, which makes the silly decision to double-down on Roman Reigns’ unbeatable, unsympathetic superman image by having him kick out of two Styles Clashes on Sunday all the more glaring.
Enzo’s comeback.
Although the recently concussed Mr. Amore appeared to forget his lines at one point – with Cass on the verge of jumping in to save him – his comeback was still absolutely electric. Even the repetition of the “no dimes” gag wasn’t enough to nullify this man’s bountiful charisma. Having Cass squash Bubba Ray Dudley underlines how high the company is on the big man. If he learns to work quickly and keeps his lil’ buddy in his corner to do his talking, the sky’s the limit for these two.
No McMahon interaction.
Following on from Stephanie and Shane’s segment being cut from Extreme Rules, we saw no interaction between the McMahon siblings on this show. Given that last week’s main event Women’s title segment revolved around them, all I can say is this: long may it continue.
–The Misses–
Charlotte’s third hour nightmare.
While I must give credit to her always emotional father for being able to cry on cue, Charlotte Flair’s promo at the top of the third hour was an absolute unmitigated disaster. Charlotte has demonstrated before, on the RAW after Wrestlemania, that she is not capable of handling the heckling of a hostile crowd and her attempts to overcome Baltimore’s dissatisfaction here was even worse than that bomb. Like Richard from Silicon Valley, Charlotte becomes more inarticulate as the pressure increases. Hark at the line: “You’re just….to me….DEAD!”.
WWE pulls a Del Rio with Seth Rollins.
Despite Rollins’ massive babyface reaction on this show and on the previous night’s Extreme Rules, the WWE chose to instruct the former champion to cut an unambiguous heel promo in the opening segment. Forfeiting the natural sympathy accrued by a guy who has been through rehab hell is reminiscent of the opportunity missed by the company earlier this year when they forced the returning Alberto Del Rio into the perplexing Mex-America nonsense, against the wishes of the fans. The company has just exited a program between Roman Reigns and AJ Styles, where the latter remained a babyface, and it was arguably the most well-written main event feud in some time. The decision to go in a more black and white direction with Rollins feels like a huge misstep.
Apollo Crews loses his first match of consequence.
After schlepping around primarily on the C-shows, Apollo Crews finally met a WWE opponent of significance in Chris Jericho on Monday night. Alas, he conclusively lost the weakest of the five MITB qualifiers and botched a spot where he was supposed to kip-up and avoid a Lionsault along the way. Falling victim to a beatdown by Sheamus earlier in the show was supposed to provide cover for the loss, but the fact that Crews was still smilin’ upon his entrance and showing no ill-effects whatsoever completely ruined that. The future is not looking bright for him.
Hulk Hogan. Ultimate Warrior. Ric Flair. Sting. Bret Hart. Shawn MIchaels. Steve Austin. The Rock. John Cena.
For many people, these are the names that drew them into professional wrestling and made them fans of this crazy industry.
But it took announcers to help us to make sense of what was happening in the ring. Whether that was Gordon Solie, Gorilla Monsoon, Tony Schiavone, JIm Ross or today’s Michael Cole and Mauro Ranallo, fans relied upon them to put the words to what we were seeing in the ring.
Over the last few weeks, WWE released several wrestlers, but it also released some announcers and interviewers. One of them was RIch Brennan, best known for his time commentating on NXT and SmackDown.
But there is more to him than that. He has commentated on other sports and has been a professional wrestling referee. He worked for Booker T and set up countless rings and technical equipment while on the road with NXT. And he has been produced by the aforementioned Cole. Yes, you read that correctly.
I recently talked with Brennen and we discussed all of the above, plus how he got into WWE, whether he has any bitterness towards them, calling matches without knowing what is happening versus being aware of key points beforehand, whether he had to ‘unlearn’ his commentary style when he joined WWE, his deep appreciation for MIchael Cole, calling big matches in NXT, what the future holds for him in and out of wrestling and much, much more.
Let’s go back roughly one year ago where in the seventh week of John Cena’s U.S. Open Challenge, the United States champion threw down the gauntlet and received a response from Neville, who had by that point been up from NXT for as many weeks as Cena’s reign.
Still early in his run on the main roster, Neville had been given decent opportunities to showcase some of the in-ring abilities that had made him an attraction during his run in NXT, even earning a visual pin on then-WWE Champion Seth Rollins in a losing effort the week after his debut. But the fact that he had worked the vast majority of his television matches to that point with names like Curtis Axel, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, and Wade Barrett had already solidified him as a guy firmly in the middle of the go-nowhere midcard mix.
On this particular night, in just under 15 minutes, Cena did more to elevate Neville’s stock than the previous six weeks of television combined. The former Pac kicked out of the Attitude Adjustment — though this was far from uncommon for Cena’s opponents during this period — and was given a significant amount of time to shine on offense. He took full advantage with an incredible twisting Asai moonsault to the floor, a Phoenix Splash from the second rope for a near fall, and a perfectly-executed Red Arrow that left the audience with the distinct impression that Neville had the champion cold just before the match was thrown out due to Rusev’s interference. If WWE had any interest in making Neville a top star, this moment would have been the ideal foundation for that project.
Moreover, Cena’s gimmick of issuing an open challenge that would then be accepted by a wrestler who may not have otherwise been given a platform on Monday nights once again resulted in an exciting television match that put the United States title a level above where it had been for most of its post-WCW existence. While previous champion Rusev had done a surprisingly capable job of keeping the belt relevant with an undefeated streak and a back-to-basics foreign heel shtick, he never felt like much more than a midcard act, working with and bowling over guys like Jack Swagger and Mark Henry.
When it became evident that he was being put up against Cena at Wrestlemania, it also became evident that Rusev’s lot was being built up to be toppled by the company’s resident uber-patriot. The clear line of logic behind putting a mid-card belt on Cena, who had spent nearly the entirety of the prior decade as the company’s singular top draw, was to use his star to help elevate a championship once held in high regard back to its former glory.
And at this point, it was working exceedingly well, particularly when comparing the U.S. title’s standing at the time to that of WWE’s other singles titles. On the same show as Neville vs. Cena, Daniel Bryan — who, like Cena with the U.S. Title, had been chosen to reinvigorate the Intercontinental Championship after winning it in a ladder match at Wrestlemania –surrendered the gold as a result of what was ultimately a career-ending injury, sadly having never gotten the chance to do what he had intended with the title.
The main event on this night saw Rollins defend his championship against Randy Orton in a match that also went about 15 minutes and ended unceremoniously in a disqualification. Between Cena’s and Rollins’ matches, however, only one of the two felt like it mattered for something both in context and in a vacuum.
The seeming end-goal for Cena’s run with the U.S. Championship would be something perhaps comparable to having Brock Lesnar end Undertaker’s streak, only on a significantly smaller scale. Like how being the one to beat Lesnar carries a weight that could potentially launch a wrestler to the moon, Cena’s prestige would make the championship a valuable asset that could greatly benefit whoever ultimately won it from him. Defeating Cena and winning the United States Championship would ideally help create a new top star who could maintain the integrity of the title with similarly exciting matches before passing it on to the next burgeoning star and stepping up into the main event scene.
Or, at least, that may have been the concept.
Now consider the United States title in its current state.
Kalisto is entering the fifth month of his reign as U.S. Champion, a fact that is surprising enough in and of itself. More astounding is the fact that heading into Extreme Rules, he is riding a three-show streak of not being featured on the main card of pay-per-views. The sum total of the work put into making the title an important piece of the larger picture appears to have been all for naught.
Since winning the title back from Alberto Del Rio at Royal Rumble, Kalisto has defended against Del Rio in a pretty great 2/3 falls match at Fastlane, against Ryback at Wrestlemania in front of a mostly empty stadium, and once more against Ryback at Payback in a match that was probably most notable for his opponent’s weightlifting belt bearing the words “The Pre-Show Stopper.”
That each title match was relegated to the pre-show is all the more confounding when one considers that there was room made on Payback for a match between Curtis Axel and R-Truth that was barely Raw on Hulu worthy, the main card of Wrestlemania lasted nearly 5 hours, and the segment from Payback with Vince, Shane, and Stephanie was given 30 minutes to basically reach a non-conclusion.
Kalisto is by no means to blame for whatever luster the title has lost during his five months as champion.The impetus for his initial U.S. title win was doubtlessly the buzz generated by his spectacular Salida Del Sol from atop a ladder at last December’s TLC show, and it was buzzworthy enough to have catapulted Kalisto to the level of a Rey Mysterio in terms of popularity and merchandising. Putting the United States Championship on him, in most scenarios, would be an indication that he was destined for bigger things as a singles star, and that WWE had at last realized its dream of a merch-moving, bilingual, Hispanic superhero for whom children would clamor.
As with the payoff of Cena’s U.S. Open Challenge, however, there is a considerable gulf between what could have been and what is.
Del Rio, the man from whom Kalisto won the championship, cannot be blamed either. As the surprise choice to go over Cena in the Open Challenge, ADR returned from a year away from the company at October’s Hell in a Cell and won the title clean in a short, forgettable match. Despite having gotten himself over to an even greater degree in AAA and Lucha Underground as a babyface than he ever was during his run with WWE, and despite getting a strong babyface reaction from the crowd in Los Angeles upon his return, the call was made to pair Del Rio with a Rascal-bound Zeb Coulter and position him as a heel right out of the gate.
Within three weeks of the title change, both Del Rio’s self-made momentum (and, seemingly, his renewed passion) and the sense of importance that Cena had brought to the U.S. title were buried six feet below the surface of a field somewhere in Mex-America. By the time Del Rio lost the title to Kalisto on an episode of Raw in January, he was just another guy and the United States Championship was once again just a mid-card belt.
Given the presumed importance of both elevating the United States Championship andbuilding a top Hispanic superstar, the bungling of Del Rio and Kalisto as well as the championship they both have held in Cena’s stead, is staggering. Somehow, it is nonetheless unsurprising. It is a result indicative of a larger problem with WWE’s booking approach for the past several years: Cena was the lynchpin of the plan to elevate the United States Championship, and once he was pulled away, the interest in keeping the championship relevant went with him and the whole thing fell apart.
WWE had a real opportunity to keep the belt relevant post-Cena with a refreshed Del Rio, and it failed by completely ignoring what made him such a hot commodity on the independent circuit, sticking him with a dead-on-arrival gimmick, and then shoving him into the background as part of a stable. It then had the opportunity to make Kalisto into its next money-drawing luchador, and it instead killed his buzz by putting the belt on him, putting it back on Del Rio a day later, putting it back on Kalisto less than two weeks later, and then minimizing his role on TV with do-nothing feuds and a five-month absence from major shows.
With the way things are headed, Rusev may wind up reclaiming the United States title at Extreme Rules (at the very least, he has vowed to eat his opponent’s heart, which should make for a great show). Monday marked one year since Rusev last faced Cena for the same title, and in the 365 days since, he has not only proven his ability to survive through bad storylines, but his capability of thriving in them and remaining entertaining (see: throwing a fish at Lana, his all-too-short-lived gimmick of stealing television monitors). Having Rusev end Kalisto’s lame-duck championship run and go on a tear comparable to his undefeated streak could both allow him to cultivate his character and put him back on the map as a viable threat for the world title.
But there is also the specter of Cena looming large over the United States title chase scene. Having already announced his return for Memorial Day, it is not outside the realm of possibility that he will challenge Rusev for the belt, win it back, and resume the Open Challenge seven months after it ended as if the intervening months had never happened. That would likely be preferable for WWE’s purposes, allowing them to smokescreen their failures with Del Rio and Kalisto by closing the loop and trying it again.
Having Cena swoop back in and reclaim the title may not be the best approach for the championship or those orbiting it now, but it is easy to see from WWE’s perspective how John Cena would restore the belt’s tarnished credibility instantaneously. If they were able to comprehend why it lost so much of the credibility that Cena worked so hard to build in the first place, then perhaps putting so much effort into bolstering the importance of championship belts would not be necessary in the future.
