WWE TLC

from Boston

THE LUCHA DRAGONS vs. THE NEW DAY vs. THE USO'S "LADDER MATCH": The last few ladder matches in the WWE have been pretty tame. Gone were those Jeff Hardy suicide Swanton Bombs from the tops of ladders, etc. Then all of a sudden, out-of-the-blue, came this match (and, eventually, the main event). This match was awesome and insane, a literal spot-fest of crazy, sick, death-defying moves. Thank the luchadors mostly, as they delivered the majority of epic moments. The Lucha Dragons did a double moonsault out of the ring onto a ladder that was on top of The New Day. Kalisto did a dragon rana onto a ladder...and then...what I think was the wildest move in WWE since Foley's HIAC toss, Kalisto delivered his Salina del Sol on Kingston from the top of the ladder down onto a ladder bridge. The Salina Del Sol is sort of a sunset flip into a power-bomb (from the top of the ladder through a ladder!) Really, though, descriptions can't even begin to reveal how exciting and ridiculously over-the-top this match was. It was, honestly, the best match the WWE's had this year. Breathtaking in it's sheer madness. ****

RYBACK vs. RUSEV: Weak. Crowd was mostly quiet. A typical, dull, 80's style strong-man match. 1/2*

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. JACK SWAGGER "CHAIRS MATCH": Ugh. How much are they paying Del Rio again? And where was Swagger exactly for the last year? 1/2*

THE DUDLEY BOYZ & TOMMY DREAMER & RHYNO vs. THE WYATT FAMILY "TABLES MATCH": They had a re-match on RAW that was better (a better Philly crowd helped). Bubba poured lighter fluid on a table and was about to light it on fire when he was put through a table. Really...don't even tease it. The elimination stip helped because multiple tables were broken but I just kept thinking these ECW guys are too old for this shit. **

KEVIN OWENS vs. DEAN AMBROSE: Good match. Ambrose won the IC title. It was fast-paced. **1/2

CHARLOTTE vs. PAIGE: Charlotte cheated to win. Flair was ringside. This is at least a feud with more substance than usual in a Diva's match. Not very thrilling, though. Just okay. *1/2

SHEAMUS vs. ROMAN REIGNS "TLC MATCH": Excellent match. After the first ladder match, these two had a lot to live up to. Also add the fact that the internet and hardcore fans hate both Sheamus and Reigns and are sick of Reign's push and failures and angry that Sheamus, who was doing literally nothing a few month's ago, became champ. These two knew all of this and knew they had to overcome everything. Even the fans in the building chanted, "We want Cena" and "Cena sucks" early on. But from the beginning these two beat the hell of out of each other. They broke a ton of tables, destroyed each other with ladders and chairs. Reigns picked up Sheamus and slammed him down onto a ladder bridge at ringside that looked like it broke Sheamus' arm. It was hard to watch it was so brutal. Then the League of Nations hit the ring and eventually Sheamus Brogue Kicked Reigns and climbed up and grabbed the title to win. But then Reigns went nuts, destroyed the League with chairs. HHH and Stephanie came out to stop Reigns. Reigns hit HHH with chairs and put him through the Spanish announce table then speared him when HHH got up. The crowd loved Reigns more at the end...and perhaps this was the night Reigns finally became a star. On RAW, Reigns pinned Sheamus to become champ after Reigns super-man punched Vince McMahon. So they're pulling out the old Austin vs. The Boss gimmick. They've tried everything to get Reigns over. He was mercilessly booed in Philly at the Royal Rumble and on RAW in Philly he was mostly cheered...so perhaps it all finally worked. Took you long enough, guys. ***1/2

WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

Atlanta

GOLDUST, THE DUDLEY BOYZ, NEVILLE & TITUS O'NEILL vs. STARDUST, THE ASCENSION, THE MIZ & BO DALLAS (18:10): An un-announced pre-show traditional 5 on 5 SS elimination match. Cesaro hurt his shoulder so they randomly put Titus in the match. The Dudley Boyz shouted, "Get the tables!" but never got them. This was not good at all. *

ROMAN REIGNS vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO (14:01): Champion Seth Rollins blew out his knee in Dublin two and a half weeks ago...which led to a tournament to crown a new champ. This was the first semi-final. There were one or two near-falls near the end that were semi-dramatic. I say "semi" because we all knew Roman was winning. Both wrestlers are not good wrestlers nor entertaining so realistically this was as good as a match between them will ever be. **

DEAN AMBROSE vs. KEVIN OWENS (11:19): The second semi-final in the tournament. Owens, for whatever reason, put on great matches with Cesaro and Cena this year...but no one else. Ambrose is at least wild and all over the place...which provides some excitement. This match was about as good as this tournament; not bad, not good, could've been a lot better. **

RYBACK, THE USO'S & THE LUCHA DRAGONS vs. THE NEW DAY, SHEAMUS & KING BARRETT (17:33): Another un-announced, traditional, 5 on 5 elimination SS match. The New Day left half-way through which was a let-down. Ryback jumped off the top rope onto everyone. It was okay. **

CHARLOTTE vs. PAIGE (14:15): Super slow! The contract signing for this match was actually the main event on RAW last week. During that segment Paige brought up Charlotte's dead brother, Reid, to mucho internet controversy. Which means there was heat for this that, if done earlier, could have produced more of a build-up to a division that sorely needs it. I'm not sure if Paige or Charlotte are just dull in the ring or if the big house WWE environments don't work with women's wrestling but NXT produces stellar women's matches all year and the WWE does not. Mysteries of the universe, I suppose. 1/2*

TYLER BREEZE vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (6:05): Short, not good. Ziggler should just quit. And everyone said these two were on fire at the house shows. Note to self: if a match is great at the house shows it won't be good on a ppv so don't believe the hype. *

THE UNDERTAKER & KANE vs. BRAY WYATT & LUKE HARPER (10:19): The two should-be-retired guys put a Wyatt through the Spanish announce table. That was the highlight. The crowd loved this...for some reason. I'm not sure who I'm more tired of, the Wyatt family or The Undertaker and Kane. *1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. DEAN AMBROSE (9:02)/ ROMAN REIGNS vs. SHEAMUS (0:34): When Reigns speared Ambrose and pinned him and won the title and it was only 10:35 PM I kind of figured Sheamus would come out. First HHH came out then Reigns speared him. Then Sheamus came out, kicked Reigns in the face and cashed in his MITB contract and only got a 2-count. He kicked Reigns in the head again and pinned him and won the title and shook HHH's hand. The new corporate Rock is Sheamus! There are a lot of problems with this...but I can't stand Reigns so anyone with the title other than him is okay. Sheamus has been booked about as strong as The Miz lately so him all of a sudden as the top guy is weird. I do enjoy the MITB cash-ins but the "corporate champ" angle is twenty-years old and stale. The Ambrose/Reigns match was too short and this show was weak. The ending was exciting, though. It's something. **

WWE HELL IN A CELL

Sunday, October 25, 2015
Los Angeles

SHEAMUS & RUSEV & KING BARRETT vs. CESARO & DOLPH ZIGGLER & NEVILLE: The pre-show match. It was RAW-type stuff with some good action at the end. The crowd loved Cesaro and popped big for his swing. Just fucking give him the title, already, Jesus Christ. **1/2

JOHN CENA vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO: These two fought two years ago at the "Hell in a Cell" ppv. I gave that match 1/2* and said that, "Cena and Del Rio bore me." Well Del Rio is back after wrestling in ROH and Lucha Underground and AAA in Mexico (he's still the AAA champ). Del Rio was the mystery opponent and they put him with manager Zeb Coulter, who used to be his nemesis. I guess it was a good surprise...albeit Del Rio is and always has been a bore so long-term it's a mistake. At least Cena had a great year and finally ended up in some great matches ten years too late. Nothing has changed with Del Rio. I'm curious now to see if his matches in AAA are just as boring and lifeless. This was perhaps Cena's worst match this year. And now we move on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. *

ROMAN REIGNS vs. BRAY WYATT "HELL IN A CELL": I wish instead of wasting the Cell on this match they'd have put the women's match or the Dudley's match in the Cell. This match didn't need a cell, as all they did was break tables and use a Singapore cane. They're ready to finally give Reigns the title it seems (he's facing Rollins next month at Survivor Series) and I still can't figure out why. The crowd's respond to him a bit more favorably then they did a year ago...but he's still awkward as fuck on the mic and his big Superman punch move is silly. He just seems like he's forcing it, like he's trying too hard. He's a complete fake. I don't buy it. And Bray is just not a good wrestler and his weird family gimmick is tired. The table spots were semi-cool. **

THE NEW DAY vs. THE DUDLEY BOYS: Already sick of The Dudley Boys. The New Day is funny on the mic but mediocre in the ring. A lame match. 1/2*

CHARLOTTE vs. NIKKI: There was one good spot; Nikki slammed Charlotte onto edge of the ring from the floor. The rest was typical, maybe a tad better than the usual women's matches on the big stage. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. KANE: Rollins put Kane through the Spanish announce table and it didn't break. The rest was lousy. I'd say I hope we never see Kane wrestle again but it looks like he'll be teaming up with The Undertaker to wrestle The Wyatt family at Survivor Series. Be gone, demon! Go back to whence you came from! Maybe they'll do an Exorcism match and Kane will lose and disappear. Where's Vince Russo when you need him? *

KEVIN OWENS vs. RYBACK: They did five minutes in the dead slot. It was forgettable. 1/2*

THE UNDERTAKER vs. BROCK LESNAR "HELL IN A CELL": Blood! Haven't seen that a lot lately in the WWE. Besides that, they did the kick- out-of-each-others finishers deal. That was at least dramatic. Lesnar also peeled back the ring mat to reveal the hard wooden bottom. Lesnar ended up getting slammed on the wood but then low-blowed 'Taker and finished him off with the F-5. Post-match the Wyatt family came out, beat up 'Taker, then carried him to the back. This match was about as good as their Summer Slam match. **1/2

WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS

 Houston, TX

NEVILLE & THE LUCHA DRAGONS vs. THE ASCENSION & STARDUST: This was on the pre-show. Rightly so. Neville is kind of fun. The Lucha Dragons are mildly amusing. The other team, collectively known as The Cosmic Wasteland, is not. The Cosmic Wasteland sounds like a bad 90's Rob Liefeld idea. Right? * (out of ****)

KEVIN OWENS vs. RYBACK: I actually liked this match. I guess because Owens has been one of the top guys these past few months in the WWE. They also had a fast pace which was good. Owens won the IC title here. **1/2

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. RUSEV: Eh. Supposedly these two had been putting on good house show matches lately. You couldn't really tell. Pretty dull stuff. *

THE NEW DAY vs. THE DUDLEY BOYZ: The Dudley Boyz (is it with a s or z?) were cool when they came out as a surprise on the RAW after Summerslam. Now, though, a month later...any excitement they can generate has pretty much nullified. The New Day are a great, fun, fresh team. They kept the titles on a DQ. It was pretty bad, actually. *

NIKKI BELLA vs. CHARLOTTE: Hmmm. So Sasha Banks and Bayley had a phenomenal match last month at the big NXT show in Brooklyn. This was ten times worse. Charlotte was decent in NXT but just isn't all that entertaining on the big stage. Nikki Bella is a pretty girl and a bad wrestler. So you get this slow, plodding, mediocre match. Why the women's NXT matches are so great and the WWE's women's matches are so poor has to baffle millions. *

CHRIS JERICHO, DEAN AMBROSE & ROMAN REIGNS vs. THE WYATT FAMILY: The best part of this match was before the match when everyone was in the ring awaiting Ambrose and Reign's mystery partner. A fan dressed as a Shield member ran into the ring and stood behind Ambrose and Reigns until security ran in and pulled him out. Ambrose, off mic, said that was their mystery partner. Bray Wyatt, off mic, laughed and pointed and said is that your partner? Their partner ended up being Jericho, who lost the match for them. For whatever reason this match was flat and felt like a RAW match. *1/2

JOHN CENA vs. SETH ROLLINS: Match of the night! Cena, really, surprisingly, has been in some really good matches all year. Crazy. I used to loathe him. Rollins was great here, too. Back-and-forth with a clean finish. It worked. Cena won the U.S. title that he lost last month. ***

SETH ROLLINS vs. STING: Rollins retained the World title. Or whatever it's called these days. Let's face facts; Sting is too old to be wrestling. The match was slow, mostly boring. The crowd only got into it when Sting cinched on his Scorpion Death Lock. Sting did get thrown through the Spanish announce table. He also stopped mid-match while the ringside doctor looked him over which was weird. After Rollins won clean, Sheamus ran down to cash in his MITB contract but Kane came out to thwart him. Kane is...back? Groan. *

WWE SUMMERSLAM

from Brooklyn, NY

What a hell of a month. Exhausted yet? NJPW just finished up it's G1 Climax 25 tournament last Sunday night. They did 19 shows starting in late July and finished with three shows in a row at Sumo Hall last weekend. This weekend had a live NXT Takeover special on Saturday night headlined by a Finn Balor/Kevin Owens Ladder Match. And now a 4 hour Summerslam. So you might be a little wrestling-fatigued by now. Oh, well.


SHEMAUS vs. RANDY ORTON: These two? Again? Why? The show opened with host John Stewart and Mick Foley talking in the ring. That was more entertaining than this match. 1/2* (out of ****)

THE NEW DAY vs. THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS vs. THE LUCHA DRAGONS vs. LOS MATADORES: The New Day won the tag titles here. Maybe there was just too many wrestlers in this match. It was average stuff. I will admit that Titus O'Neill had a fun flurry. And I usually hate that guy. **

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. RUSEV: These two were outside the ring and failed to make the ten-count. Wait...what? Apparently they needed the Japanese 20-count. Yeah, super lame. Remember when Ziggler was entertaining? Those were the days. *

STEPHEN AMELL & NEVILLE vs. STARDUST & KING BARRETT: Amell is the star of The CW's "Green Arrow" show. Which means he isn't a real wrestler...so when he leaped off the top rope to Stardust and Barrett on the floor the announcers acted like someone just parted the Red Sea. It was pretty boring except for Neville's few high-flying maneuvers. *1/2

RYBACK vs. THE BIG SHOW vs. THE MIZ: Remember when Daniel Bryan won the IC title at Wrestlemania and we all kind've thought it'd mean something now? Exhibit A: this match. 1/2*

DEAN AMBROSE & ROMAN REIGNS vs. LUKE HARPER & BRAY WYATT: Early on it was a melee and kind've fun. Ambrose ran across the top of the three announce tables (there was a French announce table for some reason) and clotheslined someone. Yes, it was that memorable. I thought Sting was supposed to be Reigns' partner here...what happened to that? **1/2

JOHN CENA vs. SETH ROLLINS: Good match. So good I kind of wished Rollins had won clean. But this is the WWE and heels don't win clean because they're, well, heels. Rollins looked as good as he ever looked. He was flipping off the top rope and did three leaps through the ropes to Cena on the floor in a row. The ending had John Stewart, the host, come out and turn heel and hit Cena with a chair. Rollins pedigreed Cena on the chair and won. Now Rollins is the U.S. champ and World champ. And on RAW, Stewart said he did it to prevent Cena from tying Ric Flair's 16 time title victories. Kind of a lame reason...but Stewart in the match got mainstream press (it was on the ESPN.com front page Sunday night), so that helps the WWE. ***

PAIGE, CHARLOTTE & BECKY LYNCH vs. NIKKI BELLA & BRIE BELLA & ALICIA FOX vs. NAOMI, SASHA BANKS & TAMINA: On the NXT Takeover show Saturday night, Sasha Banks and Bayley had a hell of a match. This was not half as good. *1/2

CESARO vs. KEVIN OWENS: Good, solid, basic match but they put them in the pre-main event dead spot so the crowd was silent. That didn't help. It also didn't help that the match was for nothing; no titles, no stips, no nothing. Cesaro is finally being semi-pushed in the company and Owens has become a must-see so that's cool. **1/2

THE UNDERTAKER vs. BROCK LESNAR: Good match. Better than their last one and a lot better than Bray Wyatt v. Undertaker from Wrestlemania. It was back and forth and pretty fast-paced considering The Undertaker is in his fifties and Lesnar is inching towards forty. The crowd was hot. Then the ending came. The Undertaker tapped out but the ref didn't see it but the ring guy did so he rang the bell. The ref continued the match and Lesnar tapped out. This just sets up a third meeting probably at 'Mania. The crowd had no idea what was going on and it was such a lame-duck, what-just-happened ending. Really a dull finish to an okay show. **1/2

WWE BATTLEGROUND

St. Louis

RANDY ORTON vs. SHEAMUS (16:54): Ugh...these two? And why are they even fighting each other? It wasn't bad or anything, just typical, same-old, nothing-to-see-here. I want fresh matches, compelling feuds, excitement, drama. Alas...we got this. * (out of ****)

THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS vs. THE NEW DAY (8:50) I dislike The Prime Time Players. They're just boring in the ring. The New Day is at least mildly amusing. Eh. *

BRAY WYATT vs. ROMAN REIGNS (22:42): Long, dull match. It's pretty rare to see either of these guys in a good match. Luke Harper interfered to cost Reigns the match. *

CHARLOTTE vs. BRIE BELLA vs. SASHA BANKS (11:30): The NXT women's division has infiltrated RAW and now a ppv! Which means we got this absurd, weird, three-way. What was weird was that there were three other wrestlers, Nikki Bella, Paige, and Becky Lynch, at ringside. Why not just have a 3 on 3 match? Either way it was better than the typical drivel the Diva's division puts out there. Even the crowd was a bit more into it. Too bad AJ Lee quit, as she finally has some good competitors around. **

JOHN CENA vs. KEVIN OWENS (22:11): Not as good as their first two but still better than anything on this show. Owens tapped out. It's probably WWE's fault to have these two fight each other on three consecutive ppv's in less than two month's. It's been one of the best feuds of this year but even I'm already a little tired of it. **1/2

BROCK LESNAR vs. SETH ROLLINS (9:00): Suplex City! Rollins did have a short spurt of offense but this was mostly Lesnar tossing Rollins around like a rag doll. When Lesnar finally went for the pin The Undertaker's gong hit and the lights went out. The lights came back up and The Undertaker was in the ring. Strangely, Seth Rollins and the referee were gone. So The Undertaker chokeslammed and pile-drived Lesnar and then left and that was the show. Huh? Where was the ref to call for a DQ? Or Rollins pinning Lesnar? There was no ending which was bizarre. And, really, The Undertaker hasn't been in a good match in years. Who the hell wants to see him fight Lesnar? And why'd The Undertaker take a year and a half to finally seek revenge? Not that a dead-man wrestler with mysterious powers makes plot sense either but c'mon! I'd rather have seen a back-and-forth match. A one-sided match with a non-finish was just awful. This was the worst WWE ppv in some time. *1/2

NJPW DOMINION

Sunday, July 5th, 2015 from Osaka, Japan

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. reDRAGON vs. BARETTA & ROCKY ROMERO (14:30): Great match. More of the same, but more of the same involving The Young Bucks means fast-action and insane high-flying and, of course, comedy. Rocky Romero is amusing as well and Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly of reDragon are decent enough wrestlers so this was a fun, exciting match. The Bucks kept the IWGP Jr. Tag titles.
*** (out of ****)

TETSUYA NAITO & TOMOAKI HONMA vs. BAD LUCK FALE & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI (8:50): So Naito is a heel now. Okay. He non-chalantly walked to the ring, refused to be tagged in at times, and left before having his hand raised after the victory. Honma is a crowd favorite and just a hell of a wrestler. His diving head-butt that never delivers is hilarious. The other team sucks, though, so there wasn't much here. *1/2

KATSUYORI SHIBATA vs. KAZUSHI SAKURABA (11:48): Excellent match. Someone should tell Shibata that wrestling is fake. It was mostly just stiff strikes and kicks and holds but it was fucking brutal. In one sequence, Shibata picked up Sakuraba and pulled both of his arms back in a submission hold so Sakuraba had to pull them both to the ropes so he could bite the ropes to end the hold. Wild stuff. ***1/2

KUSHIDA vs. KENNY OMEGA (20:44): The last few minutes were stellar. Kushida is fucking dramatic, right? He could win an Oscar for those facial expressions alone. Omega is a bit better than average but the early part was slow when Omega beat down Kushida for ten minutes so it wasn't all fantastic. Kushida won the NJPW Jr. title here. Good match. ***

TOGI MAKABE vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII (17:50): I love Ishii. It's probably because I can't figure out why he's not in a wheelchair by now. He always puts his body on the line. Early on he did a top-rope front-flip to the floor and missed Makabe and landed on his back. Later on he seemed to hurt his shoulder so the ref and ringside doctor looked like they were going to call it off. Ishii is usually in exciting, brutal matches but this one was just brutal. Makabe retained the Never Open Weight title here. *1/2

DOC GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON vs. THE KINGDOM (10:09): Ugh. The only good thing about this feud is the fact that Doc Gallows and Maria have a weird, stalker thing going on. Unfortunately that comedy schtick was barely used and we were left with a dull match. The crowd fell asleep. Gallows and Anderson won the IGWP Tag titles here. *

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. TORI YANU (12:32): Yanu is kind of like the R. Truth of NJPW. When he comes out you want to change the channel. He was kind of humorous here as the villain. He constantly grabbed and knocked the ref over then used a steel chair. Tanahashi is one of the greats so he's good with just about anyone but this was mediocre stuff. **

HIROOKI GOTO vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (22:40): Like all NJPW title matches, the final few minutes were awe-inspiring. Nakamura is, really, the best in the business at being weird and quirky but also captivating. Goto is your typical strong brute. Not awesome or anything but a good match. Goto retained the IWGP IC title. **1/2

AJ STYLES vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (26:16): Phenomenal match. One of the year's best. They wrestled a few times before but this was their masterpiece by far. The only complaint I have is that AJ didn't win. Wasn't this his first title defense? Early on The Bullet club interfered so the ref banned them from ringside, even going so far as to giving them the "suck it" hand motion. I'm sure red shoes learned that from Earl Hebner. The reason this particular match was so good was because of the back-and-forth and counters at the end. The final flurry was impeccable. I'm not even the biggest Okada fan but they both put on a hell of a show. AJ might be the best wrestler in the world these days so it's sad to see him lose the IWGP Heavyweight title. Just an awesome finish to a great show. ***1/2

WWE MONEY IN THE BANK

Columbus, Ohio

RANDY ORTON vs. SHEAMUS vs. KANE vs. ROMAN REIGNS vs. KOFI KINGSTON vs. NEVILLE vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER "MITB LADDER MATCH": Safety first. No one jumped off the top of the ladder. And, really, the only sick move was when Reigns power-bombed Kofi onto a ladder that was resting atop the second rope in the corner. Kofi hit the edge of the ladder and it looked disturbingly painful. Reigns did jump over the top rope and down onto all the men and Reigns power-bombed Kofi over the top rope and down onto all the men...but there weren't any insane ladder jumps or craziness. It was entertaining but not as wild as some previous MITB matches. Reigns was about to win when the lights went out and Bray Wyatt appeared when the lights came back on. Bray tipped the ladder and Reigns fell off. This meant that Reigns lost and Sheamus ended up winning. Neville, the high-flier, did do his big top-rope Red Arrow spin/flip finisher...but I really expected him to do something off the ladder. A bit disappointing but the match was entertaining. **1/2 (out of ****)


NIKKI BELLA vs. PAIGE: Not terrible but the finish was mind-bogglingly stupid. The Bella's switched (Brie was under the ring). Paige pinned Brie. Brie told the ref that she wasn't Nikki (she did this by pulling tissue paper out of her bra and showing the ref her matching hip-bone gun tattoos). So then Nikki pinned Paige (I guess the match was re-started?). Are they even trying anymore with this mess of a division? *1/2

THE BIG SHOW vs. RYBACK: The Miz ran in to cause a No Contest finish. Yeah. 1/2*

KEVIN OWENS vs. JOHN CENA: Great match. Perhaps better than their match two week's ago. They did pretty much the same as they did at The Elimination Chamber show. They kicked out of a ton of big moves. They both delivered everything but the kitchen sink. Cena ended up winning with the AA but post-match Owens beat up Cena and power-bombed him on the side of the ring apron. Definitely the match of the night. ***1/2

THE NEW DAY vs. THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS: Yawn. For some reason I hate The Prime Time Players. They're just a sloppy, uneven bore. It's probably because they're rarely pushed or on TV except for when they're in bad comedy sketches backstage. They won the tag titles. And the division was so good this past year. Oh, well. *

SETH ROLLINS vs. DEAN AMBROSE "LADDER MATCH": The match started at 10:18 and went until just before 11:00 PM. Meaning they killed time...lots of time. They wrestled in the ring for ten minutes before the ladder's were even introduced. They also ran around the building for no reason. There were some brutal spots but no Jeff Hardy-type spots that we've kind of gotten used to from these two (their best match will probably always be last August's "cinderblock" match on RAW). Ambrose flipped Rollins over the top rope and Rollins landed on a ladder bridge and the ladder cracked. Rollins power-bombed Ambrose onto a ladder and chairs laying on the floor ringside. Those were the two "big" spots. The match was over thirty-five minutes and thus way too slow. The crowd was mostly silent. They chanted, "We want tables!" for a good portion of it (they never got them). Surprisingly, their match two week's ago at The Elimination Chamber was a better, more dramatic match and that was gimmick-less. I suppose we all figured these two would be leaping off ladder's left and right and going nuts. That didn't happen. The finish was ultra-lame. Both guys grabbed the belt at the top of the ladder and pulled it off and fell to the mat. As they landed, Rollins pulled the title free and thus sort of won. It was good in spots. **

WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER

Corpus Christi, Texas

THE NEW DAY vs. THE LUCHA DRAGONS vs. TYSON KIDD & CESARO vs. THE ASCENSION vs. LOS MATADORES vs. THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS "ELIMINATION CHAMBER": Sadly, the WWE probably won't be doing these "lesser" chamber matches since both of them didn't turn out all that great. This was the better of the two...but, really, Cesaro and Kalisto of the Dragons are the only two entertaining wrestlers. Kalisto even climbed up to the top of the thing and dropped down. Did it make sense that The New Day had three wrestlers? Or that the Matadores had their midget? Seems unfair. The midget also dropped from the ceiling. I guess it sounds a lot cooler than it was. Good, just not as exciting as it could've would've should've been. **1/2

NIKKI BELLA vs. PAIGE vs. NAOMI: Paige is gorgeous. Maybe she should focus on acting or marrying a billionaire because the Diva division has sucked for years. *1/2

KEVIN OWENS vs. JOHN CENA: Excellent match. Perhaps Cena's best ever? It had a NJPW feel. Big moves one after the other, constant near-falls, high drama. Went on a bit too long, but Owens was incredible  here (perhaps he read my Kevin 'Boring' Owens tweet after that dull Zayn/Owens match months ago). ***1/2

NEVILLE vs. BO DALLAS: Ugh. Neville is already kind of boring. Bo is Bray Wyatt's brother. Huh. 1/2*

RYBACK vs. R-TRUTH vs. SHEAMUS vs. KING BARRETT vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. MARK HENRY "ELIMINATION CHAMBER": Not that good. But look at the cast! The previous chamber matches were helped by featuring the stars of the WWE. This was for the IC title that Daniel Bryan gave up. Henry, R-Truth, and Barrett all suck. Ryback is mostly a bore. Sheamus is only good in Daniel Bryan matches. Ziggler is the only semi-entertaining one. Eh. It was okay. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. DEAN AMBROSE: Good match. The first half was a little dull, but Ambrose is wild and kinetic enough to put on a good show. He cut his teeth for three years in CZW, so without tables, glass, or chairs he's not as entertaining. Still, they put on a good show. Rollins pushed the ref into Ambrose and the ref got KO'd. A new ref came down and Ambrose won the title but it was reversed...Ambrose won but by DQ so no title change. Yeah, super lame. These guys can wrestle each
other forever as far as I'm concerned. **1/2

WWE PAYBACK

Baltimore

SHEAMUS vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (12:20): Crimson mask! Dolph bled legit at the end. About the only cool thing in this match. *1/2

THE NEW DAY vs. TYSON KIDD & CESARO "2 OUT OF 3 FALLS" (12:40): Figured it'd be better...and longer. Xavier Woods got the pin even though he wasn't in the match (Kofi and Big E. were). Cesaro tried to pick up Big E. at one point and couldn't lift him. Awkward. Entertaining but they've had better matches. **1/2

BRAY WYATT vs. RYBACK (15:36): Better than I (or anyone) expected. Still not that good. Ryback did a Tanahashi-esque top-rope splash which was new. **

JOHN CENA vs. RUSEV "I QUIT MATCH" (27:58): I liked this. They basically walked around the arena finding things to hit the other with. Rusev was tossed onto the fireworks display by the entrance and some pyrotechnics went off. Rusev put Cena through a table and onto a metal guardrail. The finale had Rusev taking down the top rope in the ring but Cena used it to help him cinch on a lame STF submission hold. Rusev yelled something in Russian and Lana ran in saying, "He quits!" **1/2

NAOMI & TAMINA vs. THE BELLA TWINS (6:13): Don't get me started on the women's division.

WADE BARRETT vs. NEVILLE (7:22): Barrett got counted out because he just decided to leave. Okay. Neville then pulled him back in for the Red Arrow. Not good. 1/2*

SETH ROLLINS vs. ROMAN REIGNS vs. DEAN AMBROSE vs. RANDY ORTON (23:52): Great main event. The first half was so-so but it heated up when The Shield reunited to put Orton through the announce table. Then they turned on Rollins and and laid him on the Spanish announce table then slammed Kane down onto Rollins and the table. It didn't break so they did it again and it broke. J & J Security and Kane were practically in the match so it was quite the clusterfuck. Rollins won with a pedigree.
***

WWE EXTREME RULES

Rosemont, Illinois

NEVILLE vs. BAD NEWS BARRETT: This was on the pre-show. Daniel Bryan is hurt so his IC title match against Barrett was scrapped. So we got the RVD-esque Neville, fresh from NXT. Neville is awesome...but why his name changed from Adrian Neville to Neville is beyond me. Neville had good matches in NXT but in the WWE he's all spots and nothing else. Meaning you'll get sick of him. **

DEAN AMBROSE vs. LUKE HARPER "CHICAGO STREET FIGHT": They brawled backstage, got into a car, and drove away. After the tag team match they came back and used a bunch of steel chairs in the ring. I thought it'd be better. And why not show what they did on the streets of Chicago? *1/2

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. SHEAMUS "KISS MY ARSE": Sheamus lost but beat up Ziggler and forced him to kiss his ass. You know Vince "Kiss My Ass Club" McMahon came up with this stipulation. Surprisingly the post-match shenanigans were a hell of a lot more fun than the match itself. *1/2

THE NEW DAY vs. TYSON KIDD & CESARO: Good match. A lot of back-and-forth, non-stop action. The tag team division has produced some good matches in the last year. **1/2

JOHN CENA vs. RUSEV "RUSSIAN CHAIN MATCH": Ugh. What a dumb gimmick. Chained together at the wrist, they have to tag all four corners to win. Meaning...no rope running, no action, no excitement. And next month's "I Quit" match with these two means four straight ppv matches for them. Mercy! 1/2*

NIKKI BELLA vs. NAOMI: Okay. The women's division is a bore and needs all the help it can get...yet this was a stipulation-less match. Sigh. I didn't watch it.

 ROMAN REIGNS vs. THE BIG SHOW "LAST MAN STANDING": This was the match of the night. Really. No, I'm not joking. The reason was simple: they broke like seven tables. The finish had Big Show standing on top of the announce table. Roman lept up and speared him and they both crashed through the Spanish announce table. Then Roman flipped the announce table on top of The Big Show and won. Entertaining stuff. Albeit, this is what you have to do when you're not good wrestlers. **1/2

SETH ROLLINS vs. RANDY ORTON "CAGE MATCH": These two had a mediocre match at Wrestlemania so of course they get the coveted main event this month. Makes sense! Totally. With the title on the line it at least made things more suspenseful. And of course, J & J Security and Kane interfered and there was controversy (Rollins used the RKO to win but it was banned). The melee at the end was cool (and a WWE tradition these days in main events) but no one jumped off the cage. It was mediocre. **

WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXXI

From Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California

TYSON KIDD & CESARO vs. THE NEW DAY vs. LOS MATADORES vs. THE USOS: This year's Wrestlemania got good reviews across the board...but I'm not sure is says a lot when the best match of the entire show was the first one on the pre-show (and, really, since there were two matches on the pre-show and it started at 6 PM and the whole show ended at exactly 11 PM...that means it was five hours long and way too long). I can't even describe everything that happened in this match...only that everyone was all over the place and it was a fucking spectacle. It didn't have any drama in terms of meaningful titles or big stars or anything but in terms of wrestling this was the most exciting and entertaining match on the show. Really. ***1/2 (out of ****)

THE ANDRE THE GIANT MEMORIAL BATTLE ROYAL (THE BIG SHOW): This got good at the end when Mizdow turned on The Miz and tossed him out of the ring...leading to The Big Show eliminating him. Huh? The crowd loves Mizdow...so why not give him a fucking victory? Jesus. And, sadly, it only got worse because Triple H also won for no good reason. **1/2

DANIEL BRYAN vs. WADE BARRETT vs. R-TRUTH vs. DEAN AMBROSE vs. LUKE HARPER vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. STARDUST "LADDER MATCH": This was entertaining and had the right ending. There weren't a lot of crazy ladder moves but it was still thrilling. The big spot had Harper power-bombing Ambrose over the top-rope and onto a ladder bridge at ringside. The ladder cracked in half and Ambrose folded up like a pretzel and hit his head hard, so much so that he left the match (he did wrestle on RAW...so I guess he's okay). Bryan wins the IC title here. Last year he was in the main event winning the main title. Eh. Don't get me started. ***

RANDY ORTON vs. SETH ROLLINS: This was a basic match but the finish was amazing. Rollins went for the Curb Stomp and Orton lifted up his head which threw Rollins into the air and Orton got up and RKO'd him in mid-air then pinned him. A finish for the ages. Too bad the rest of the match wasn't as good. And Rollins, who lost, ended up the WWE Champion. Okay... **

TRIPLE H vs. STING: It wasn't all that great...until DX (Road Dogg, X-Pac, and Billy Gunn) came out. Then the NWO (Hogan, Hall, and Nash) came out. The two factions traded fake punches. HHH brought out a sledgehammer. Sting broke the hammer in two with his bat. HHH pinned Sting. Then they shook hands. This just reminded me of why CM Punk quit the company. If you remember, he quit after The Royal Rumble last year and apparently he was scheduled to face HHH at last year's Wrestlemania. HHH is obvious an ego-maniac. It seems like he always schedules himself to win or face opponents that are popular just, apparently, to make himself look better. So I guess it wasn't a surprise that he won here. It's just baffling. Sting might never wrestle again. So why not give him one last big moment? Jesus. **1/2

AJ LEE & PAIGE vs. THE BELLA TWINS: Fairly dull. The Diva's division is just a fucking quagmire of despair. It can't be hard. NXT and Impact figured it out. *

JOHN CENA vs. RUSEV: The entrance was cool...Rusev came out in a tank. The match? Not so cool. They had a better match last month. Cena wins the U.S. title. Groan. *1/2

THE ROCK & RONDA ROUSEY vs. TRIPLE H & STEPHANIE MCMAHON: This segment was cool but went on way too long. Like, forever. HHH and Steph came out for no good reason and then The Rock came out and started talking but mostly just paused to listen to the crowd. Then Stephanie said that The Rock would never hit a woman so The Rock went to ringside where UFC Women's Champion Ronda Rousey was standing. The Rock and Rousey entered the ring and eventually The Rock fake punched HHH and Rousey flipped HHH to the ground (takedown!) and Rousey put Steph in a lame arm bar and that was it. The Rock did do SNL on Saturday Night so perhaps he was jet-lagged. He didn't say a lot and the segment dragged but, yeah, it was cool to see Rousey there.

THE UNDERTAKER vs. BRAY WYATT: There were a lot of reasons why this match didn't work. The biggest was that The Streak is over. The other reason is that The Undertaker is too old to be doing this. Add Bray Wyatt, a mediocre wrestler, to the mix and you get a bad, boring, lame match. It wasn't awful. They did the usual kick-out-of-each other's-finishers ending which was the only time it was semi-watchable. And The Undertaker's entrance is always cool...but, yeah, it's time to retire, dude. *1/2

BROCK LESNAR vs. ROMAN REIGNS (vs. SETH ROLLINS): Reigns isn't a very good wrestler. This is fairly obvious to everyone since they didn't have him do a lot here. What we got was a 75% beat down by Brock followed by a miraculous comeback followed by a Seth Rollins MITB cash in and victory. This makes sense. If Brock won then there probably wouldn't be a PPV main event for the title until Summerslam. If Reigns won then who would he face next month for the title? Orton is a good guy and Rollins had the MITB contract so nothing would make sense. So the smart choice was to give Rollins the title and he'll probably feud with Reigns while Lesnar sits at home collecting money. For what it's worth, this was a very good main event at the end. The middle of it, a one-sided beat-down, was fairly dull but the wild finish was stellar and the opening minute brawl was fun. It's a little too bad Rollins cashed in because the back-and-forth drama at the end was pretty exciting stuff (there isn't anything quite like the final 5 minute flurry of a big title main event) and it would have been nice to see a clean finish. Good ending nonetheless, though. ***

WWE FASTLANE

Memphis

Wow. WWE's first ever Fastlane ppv. Hopefully it'll be the last. A bad, meaningless title. I miss the Elimination Chamber. And this show was on at the exact same time as the Oscar's. I guess they figure dumb wrestling fans don't watch the Oscar's. Either way, what I did was watch the first match live at 8 (the Oscar's, which turned out dreadfully dull, didn't start until 8:30). Then I watched the rest of the show Monday night (and of course I watched the main event first on Monday...it was the only match anyone cared about). It's 16 degrees right now. That has no correlation on anything...except perhaps an Inferno match would've spiced up this show...a bit?

SETH ROLLINS & KANE & THE BIG SHOW vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER & ERICK ROWAN & RYBACK (13:01): Kind of just a same-old TV caliber match...except Orton returned post-match to chase Rollins out of the building. *1/2 (out of ****)

GOLDUST vs. STARDUST (8:55): The ref didn't even touch his hand to the mat for the "3" but it ended anyway. A botch? I'm not complaining...this match wasn't going anywhere. The crowd was lifeless for this, too, which didn't help. *1/2

THE USO'S vs. CESARO & TYSON KIDD (9:33): Cesaro has really been fucked over, eh? Remember when he was slowly becoming a big singles star? Jeez. I thought this would be better, as The Uso's at least usually entertain. It was just okay. And Cesaro just looks like he doesn't want to be there. *1/2

HHH & STING: A confrontation! And some fake punching and a Scorpion Death Drop. Sting is too old to still be wrestling. Someone tell him.

NIKKI BELLA vs. PAIGE (5:34): Paige is so gorgeous I'd rather just see her stand in the ring. This was another atrocious "Diva's" match. Why the WWE can't figure out how to make women's wrestling exciting outside of NXT is beyond me. 1/2*

BAD NEWS BARRETT vs. DEAN AMBROSE (7:58): Ambrose reminds of of vintage The Sandman. He's wild, loose, crazy. Sadly, he's stuck fighting boring Barrett. The end was a DQ because Ambrose kept punching Barrett in the corner. Huh? *1/2

BRAY WYATT: The Undertaker's robed figures with torches came out with a casket but Bray Wyatt was in it. Okay...

RUSEV vs. JOHN CENA (18:42): Good match. Rusev kicked Cena in the balls when the ref wasn't looking and it helped him win (Rusev is undefeated). What was good on this whole show was the matches were back and forth instead of the usual WWE protocol of having a beat down followed by a miraculous recovery. **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. DANIEL BRYAN (20:10): Good match. Definitely Reigns' best singles match thus far. He still isn't there yet. Will he ever be? Bryan is on another level. He looked as good as he's ever looked. The crowd didn't boo Reigns as much but they still cheered more for Bryan. A Lesnar/Bryan match would be a masterpiece. I just hope we see it someday. The finish had Bryan ready to deliver his flying knee when Reigns speared him for the clean finish. **1/2

So Wrestlemania has:

Sting vs. HHH
Wyatt vs. Undertaker
Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler
Reigns vs. Lesnar
Orton vs. Rollins

Not a bad card, but not as good as it could be. Ziggler and Bryan should steal the show...albeit the match is meaningless. The Undertaker and Sting are too old to be wrestling so those matches won't work. Reigns/Lesnar will be obviously mediocre. And Orton/Rollins has dull written all over it.
I guess we'll see. Please surprise me.

WWE ROYAL RUMBLE

 Philadelphia

THE ASCENSION vs. THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS: This is how out of touch Vince McMahon is. Just watch this show from top to bottom. NXT is the WWE's farm system show. It's great. They have a ton of good wrestlers like Sami Zayn and Finn Balor and Hideo Itami and Adrian Neville. So who do they bring up to put on the main roster? A lame, early 90's style tag team that looks like a rip-off of The Road Warriors. Jesus. The crowd boos them, they're pretty pathetic on the mic, and in-ring they're fairly basic. They beat DX here. *1/2 (out of ****)

THE USO'S vs. THE MIZ & MIZDOW: The crowd loves Mizdow. But this match was comedy and not much else. *

THE BELLA'S vs. PAIGE & NATALYA: Unwatchable (because I didn't watch it).

BROCK LESNAR vs. SETH ROLLINS vs. JOHN CENA: Wow. This was the best WWE match in a long time. The best match on ppv since last June's first MITB ladder match, Lesnar's best match since August of 2013 against CM Punk. It was high-energy, wild, a classic. Lesnar was dominant early...but Rollins and Cena teamed up on him. Cena crashed Lesnar through the ring-side wall. Rollins lept off the rope and through Lesnar on the Spanish announce table. Eventually the doctors were putting Lesnar on a stretcher while Rollins and Cena traded near falls. Rollins did a wicked 360 type moonsault flip from the top rope onto Cena and then Lesnar got off the stretcher, F-5'ed Rollins and won. Sick of the getting-off-a-stretcher-to-continue plot but awesome stuff nonetheless. ***1/2

THE ROYAL RUMBLE (ROMAN REIGNS): So...yeah. Vince McMahon is a classic bully. For the second straight year the crowd booed the winner of the Royal Rumble. After Daniel Bryan got tossed out early by Bray Wyatt the boos reigned down for the rest of the show. There was even a loud "Bullshit!" chant and The Rock even got boos when he came out to save Reigns from getting beat down by Kane and The Big Show (The Rock was not a participant...he was there apparently to counter the anomosity). Bubba Dudley showed up which was fun. DDP and The Boogeyman were also lame surprises. But this show will be remembered for the crowd's hatred for Reigns, who won. I'm not entirely sure why they even put Bryan in this match if they knew it would cause this. They could have saved him for next month's show. And Reigns, let's face it, doesn't have it. He's awful on the mic, his in-ring work is average. Why push him when you have so many other guys that a) the crowd likes and b) are better wrestlers? Cesaro, Ziggler, Bryan. C'mon, Vince. This was just depressing. *

Best Wrestler of 2014: TOMOHIRO ISHII

There were so many great wrestlers in NJPW this past year that it's hard to pick the best. Shibata, Nakamura, AJ Styles, Goto, Tanahashi, Honma, and Okada were all in some spectacular matches. Daniel Bryan in the WWE was in the best match at The Royal Rumble and the two best matches at Wrestlemania. He was the highlight of the early part of the year for sure and the only reason to watch or care about that promotion for a long time. But the WWE hates him and did a lot of damage. First, turning him heel for no reason then quickly reversing it. Having him feud with Kane. And of course, pissing off the fans by not putting him in the Royal Rumble. Bryan was out of action after May, though, and while I love his in-ring work and the crowd's reaction to him, the one wrestler that was continuously in the best matches this year and was always the one you wanted to see was Tomohiro Ishii of New Japan. At 39, his best years are probably behind him. He even separated his shoulder in August and kept wrestling through the year. But the number of amazing matches he was in this past year was astounding. His match in February against Naito was excellent. In May against Honma he delivered another awesome performance. And in the G1 tournament he was the star. He took part in seven of the best matches during that tournament. He's fucking nuts because he takes so punishment but he also dishes it out. He has the best top rope suplex in the game, always gives a wicked clothesline either on a standing opponent or a kneeling one, always ends up with a final five minute dramatic flurry to end a match, and always puts his body on the line. He is the epitome of giving you your money's worth. He's, sadly, probably going to end up a broken shell of a man physically but he certainly entertained the hell out of his fans. Ishii was the best wrestler of 2014.

Best Match of 2014: AJ STYLES vs. MINORU SUZUKI "NJPW G1 CLIMAX 24" DAY 7

August 1st from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan

There were so many good matches this past year in New Japan that it's really hard to pick a best of the year match (Ishii vs. Naito in February was perhaps the second best). WWE had a few good matches, the best being the first ladder match on their "Money in the Bank" ppv. But the best match I saw all year was Styles vs. Suzuki. It wasn't the main event. It wasn't even for a belt. There weren't even any near-falls. It was just brutal, exciting, intense, wild, dramatic, and suspenseful. The crowd, at the small Korakuen Hall, helped. And Suzuki, who looked and acted pissed off that a brash American was in his house, was awesome. AJ held his own and stood toe-to-toe. They even battled into the crowd at one point. It was painful at times to watch because of the stiff-shots but also breathtaking and amazing. Two great wrestlers with a great crowd putting on one hell of a show. It was the best match of the year.

Best Show of 2014: NEW JAPAN G1 CLIMAX 24 DAY 8

August 3rd from Osaka, Japan

Maybe it was because WWE buried Daniel Bryan and pissed off its fans this past year or maybe it was because New Japan finally started offering their shows live in the U.S. online on UStream. Whatever the reason, NJPW became the wrestling promotion to watch, talk about, and love this year. The style is different (no comedy gimmicks, for one) but the wrestling is top notch. Two guys, one fight, no run-ins, no screw-job finishes, no fluff. Just entertaining, dramatic, intense wrestling. And there was nothing better in wrestling than the G1 tournament this past summer. Twelve shows between July 21st and August 10th (21 days). Every show had at least one classic match, but Day 8 had the most. The show opened with another great Ishii match (against Davey Boy Smith, Jr.). Goto and Naito had a terrific match. AJ Styles and Lance Archer was a great match. Makabe and Suzuki was awesome. Honma (my, and the crowd's, personal favorite) and Shibata was stellar. And Tanahashi and Nakamura had an excellent match to end the show. This show was loaded. It was insane how many great matches were on this one show. The thing about NJPW matches is that they just build and build until the final flurry of intense, back and forth action. After seeing and feeling this roller-coaster ride of emotion and suspense and action match after match you just have to sit back and take a breather. One of the best shows ever in the greatest wrestling tournament ever. Legendary indeed.