WWE CLASH IN ITALY

 

Turin, Italy

CODY RHODES vs. GUNTHER (11:35): The critics all hated this show. Honestly, it just felt like a typical WWE show. I'm not sure what anyone watching this show was expecting. The WWE hasn't been good in years. This first match kind of makes the case for why the WWE isn't good. This was for one of the championship belts. You would think a championship match would be the main event or the co-main event and be around 25 minutes long. You would be sorely mistaken! This goes on first and is a mere 11 minutes long. That's not the only problem. Don't you think that the guy they picked to beat and retire John Cena would...I don't know...get a push? Otherwise, what the fuck was the point of having John Cena lose on his retirement show and have everyone watching be sad? Well, Gunther retires Goldberg, Cena, and AJ Styles...and now he's losing his title match to Cody. Gunther did have his foot under the ropes during some of the count, which Michael Cole and Corey Graves mentioned. The match was at least all action. Cody somehow got out of the sleeper hold, which made no sense. This was a good match that could've used more time and perhaps a different finish. **1/2

RHEA RIPLEY vs. JADE CARGILL (16:57): This wasn't very good. I kind of zoned out watching this match because how monotonous it was. The crowd here in Italy was pretty loud for the men's matches but not for either of the women's matches. The ending of this was lame. Charlotte Flair came out and put Rhea's foot on the ropes at one point to save her. This came after Jade's goons ran out to attempt to put Jade's foot on the ropes to save her. *

BROCK LESNAR vs. OBA FEMI (6:21): This was the best match on the show because it was all action and the crowd was super into it. The glaring problem is that Oba beat Brock and Brock retired...then came back. Oba was the big, new, unbeatable star on the main roster now...so why the heck did they beat him already? And why have Brock be the one to beat him? Brock is, apparently, still going to retire sometime this year. Why not have Oba be undefeated for a year and then have a new star born by beating him? I don't know...the writers in the WWE are fucking morons a lot of the time. This match was exciting, though. It could've still been exciting if Oba won. **1/2

SOL RUCA vs. BECKY LYNCH (14:02): Sol Ruca won the Intercontinental title. You might be asking: why does Becky Lynch, one of the company's biggest stars, have the Intercontinental title? And I would not have an answer. It used to be that the Intercontinental title was for the up-and-coming stars on their way to the main title and main event platform. Eh, this match was sloppy. Sol Ruca does a lot of high flying but all her matches are kind of a sloppy mess. This never heated up into anything worthwhile. *1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. JACOB FATU "TRIBAL COMBAT MATCH" (27:02) I think one reason everyone online hated this show was because this main event was a dull slog. I often harp about how short most WWE PPV matches are...and now I'm complaining that this match was too long. I mean...there is a sweet spot, somewhere. This was a weapons and no DQ match, so they brawled in the stands, broke a table, fell through the barricade at ringside. This match made no sense, since their previous match had a stipulation that if Jacob lost he would have to acknowledge Roman. He didn't! So he lost again and now has to acknowledge him...again! After this match, the other Bloodline showed up to stare at Jacob (some of them were fired, but Solo Sikoa and one of the Tongans is left). That means...they're still doing the Bloodline feud! Jesus Christ! *1/2

AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING

Louis Armstrong Stadium, Queens, New York

DIVINE DOMINION (LENA KROSS & MEGAN BAYNE) vs. VIVA VAN & ZAYDA (4:45): Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer said that this was the best AEW PPV ever. Well...of course he thought that because he never watches the pre-show matches on these PPV's. The big deal on the pre-show was that Mick Foley was one of the co-hosts and it was his first time in AEW. This first match was mostly a squash. The Divine Dominion are the women's tag team champions. It seems like since that tournament to crown brand new women's tag team champs finished, there haven't been many women's tag teams around lately. The only intriguing aspect of this match was that Christopher Daniels was the manager of this unknown tag team that lost. That baffled me. 1/2*

DEATH RIDERS (CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI, DANIEL GARCIA & WHEELER YUTA) vs. THE OPPS (ANTHONY BOWENS, HOOK & KATSUYORI SHIBATA) (10:32): I'm over the Death Riders. I feel like that group has passed its' prime. It also doesn't seem to have helped either Claudio, Garcia or Wheeler in terms of getting pushed or adding popularity, at least lately. The Opps is another story: why is Bowens in this evil heel group? That's defying logic. And what happened to his partner? He disappeared. The match was fine but nothing special. **

BOOM & DOOM (BIG BOOM AJ & QT MARSHALL) & THE CONGLOMERATION (MARK BRISCOE, ORANGE CASSIDY & RODERICK STRONG) vs. SHANE TAYLOR PROMOTIONS (ANTHONY OGOGO, CARLIE BRAVO, LEE MORIARTY, SHANE TAYLOR & SHAWN DEAN) (6:31): Are these Costco guys still a thing online? I know those stars on Youtube don't last forever, right? Or do they? Well, they were back in a match on a pre-show again. The only memorable part of this match was that QT slipped off the ropes and fell to the floor and had to be helped to the back. **

ADAM COPELAND & CHRISTIAN CAGE vs. FTR (CASH WHEELER & DAX HARWOOD) "I QUIT MATCH" (19:34): This was the PPV opener and it had a flaming table spot. Good luck following that, rest of the show! The funniest thing about that flaming table spot was that the NYC commission didn't let AEW do blood or brawling in the crowd...but they were allowed to light a table on fire and have Cash tackle Stokely through it from the ring (he was trying to tackle Beth Phoenix, but she moved). There was also barbed wire, Edge's 2x4 with nails, and a pair of plyers used. They got Dax to quit by using the 2x4 with nails on his head while he was in a sharpshooter. Edge & Christian won the tag titles for the first time in AEW. I'm thinking they're going to do a ladder match for the title at Wembley against The Young Bucks. Great match. This match, and this show, was helped by the fantastic live crowd. The building, which is the 2nd biggest stadium at the U.S. Open tournament, also looked great on TV. I was in this stadium once, but it was before they remodeled it and added a roof. The only reason they didn't have this show at the bigger tennis stadium was because they're doing work on it (and they've done a few Grand Slam Dynamite shows at Arthur Ashe Stadium before). This was an excellent match to open the PPV. It had a hot crowd, violence, Beth Phoenix showing up, & a title change. Good stuff. ***

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (19:01): This was the best match on the show. The reason: this was the Okada of old. We haven't really seen a great Okada match in AEW. I figured it's because he's old, the glory days are gone. Well, Okada pulled a rabbit out of a hat because this felt like a classic, Okada NJPW match of old. There was the drama, the near-falls, the crowd on their feet going nuts. This was great. Takeshita won the International Title, or whatever the hell it's called (AEW has too many belts). After the match, Kyle Fletcher returned from injury only to turn on Takeshita and beat him up. Takeshita is out of the Don Callis family. ***1/2

ATHENA vs. MINA SHIRAKAWA (10:46): This was probably the only match that the crowd didn't really get into. That's not a shocker, as Athena is a ROH champ and barely ever on Dynamite or Collision. Mina just loses all the time. This was the first round of the Owen Hart tournament. Match was pretty dull. *

JON MOXLEY vs. KYLE O'REILLY (18:44): These two had a 20 minute draw on Dynamite...so I wasn't exactly clamoring to see it again. Kyle made a big stink about this match not having a time limit and then they ended it under 20 minutes anyway. Match was decent, though I don't think it was anything particularly fantastic or anything. Moxley retained the Continental Classic title or whatever the hell it's called. Kyle tapped out. **1/2

WILL OSPREAY vs. SAMOA JOE (13:52): This was the first round of the Owen Hart tournament. Everyone expects Ospreay to win this tournament and then win the title at Wembley. This match was good and hard hitting. It was short, though. The crowd was into both guys even though Joe is supposed to be the dastardly heel. ***

SWERVE STRICKLAND vs. BANDIDO (15:15): Really good match. This was super creative. They did a bunch of interesting spots in this. Strickland jumped onto Bandido's shoulders to give him a kick to the head. Bandido did a reverse Hurricanrana on Swerve to the floor from the ring apron. The hot Queens crowd was going nuts for some of these unique maneuvers and reversals. This was also the first round of the Owen Hart tournament. ***1/2

THEKLA vs. HIKARU SHIDA vs. JAMIE HAYTER vs. KRIS STATLANDER (13:59): There haven't been too many great women's title matches in AEW history. This one was helped by it being a 4 way, meaning it was mostly all action. Thekla retained her title. The two biggest names in the division, Mercedes Mone and Toni Storm, haven't been around lately for some reason (injury?). That kind of leaves the Owen Hart winner and the champ going into Wembley wide open. **1/2

JACK PERRY, JERICHO, THE ELITE (KENNY OMEGA & THE YOUNG BUCKS) & THE HURT SYNDICATE (BOBBY LASHLEY & SHELTON BENJAMIN) vs. THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (ANDRADE EL IDOLO & MARK DAVIS), THE DEMAND (BISHOP KAUN, RICOCHET & TOA LIONA) & THE DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DAVID FINLAY) "STADIUM STAMPEDE" (31:10): This was a typical Stampede match even though they weren't allowed to have blood or brawl in the crowd. They did brawl backstage and outside the stadium. At one point, Jack Perry drove his bus into a golf cart that Mark Davis had been in before running out of the way. They brawled backstage in the cafeteria where Satnam Singh got involved. Lio Rush helped Bobby Lashley backstage (Lio Rush was Bobby's manager in WWE for a bit). They broke a bunch of tables at ringside. The most amusing part was when Andrade went ringside to take a picture with some pretty girls (this is his new gimmick), Luchasaurus was there in a blonde wig. The only thing lacking here was they didn't leave a song playing during the match which they did last year. This was very entertaining as these always are. ***

MJF vs. DARBY ALLIN (24:01): Darby beat MJF to win the title on the Dynamite right after Dynasty. Darby then defended the title every single week on Dynamite and Collision, beating PAC, Sammy Guevara, Kevin Knight, Speedball, Takeshita, Ciampa, and Brody King. Every one of those matches was great. The PAC match was great because it took place at the indoor golf course arena, so they were throwing each other into the sand traps. That match also had Darby being thrown off the balcony through four stacked tables. The Sammy Guevara match was great because Sammy did a Swanton Bomb off the top of a ladder onto Darby through a table, plus Sammy did a flip off the top rope through a table. This match's highlight had Darby climbing the scaffolding by the entrance to do a Coffin Drop down onto MJF on a table. Darby hit the back of his head on the table and was bleeding (so much for no blood on the show). The stip in this match was that MJF would be shaved bald if he lost. MJF ended up winning the title. Darby's 39 day reign was not the shortest men's title reign. Moxley had an 11 day reign and CM Punk had a 3 day reign. This match was good. It was pretty much just the same as all of the other Darby matches. I do think his title run was unique and made the TV shows this last month very exciting. I think his reign will be one that's talked about forever, actually. Was it a fitting end? Eh. MJF just had the title. This show was excellent, though. It was a typical, long AEW show (5 hours and 9 minutes if you include the pre-show) but didn't drag like most of the others do. It just felt like banger after banger and this hot crowd was one of the best ever. The building had a great look to it as well. Just an all-around great show. ***

WWE BACKLASH

Tampa, Florida

BRON BREAKKER vs. SETH ROLLINS (21:26): The big story in the WWE is that all of the executives are making record amounts of money, so they decided to fire a bunch of wrestlers because...fuck them, right? The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston), The Motor City Machine Guns, the entire Wyatt Family, Jeff Cobb, and Aleister Black and his wife were the big names fired, though they fired a bunch of developmental people, too. It's just weird to fire a ton of people at once when the company is selling out everywhere and making a ton of money thanks to Netflix, Saudi Arabia, and ESPN. And, really, it's the WWE's fault that guys like Jeff Cobb never "got over" because they never even did anything with him. Turning The New Day heel was a dumb idea, too, so was it any surprise that nobody cared about them lately? The one thing I really hate about the WWE since TKO took over is these monotonously bland PPV's with only a few matches, a ton of commercials and breaks between matches, and half the roster mysteriously not on the show. CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, the entire Judgment Day, Becky Lynch, The Uso's, Oba Femi, LA Knight, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, Randy Orton, Stephanie Vaquer, Penta, Dragon Lee, Rey Mysterio and Jade Cargill were not on this show. I did the math, and there was around 80 minutes of actual wrestling and 70 minutes of everything else (entrances, commercials, video packages and John Cena's talking segment) on this show. None of the matches on this show were bad or anything, but none of them were great. This opener was probably the best match. Breakker won, mostly because Rollins was a bit distracted dealing with Logan Paul and Austin Theory at ringside. It seemed like they were pushing Breakker to be a big star and main event draw and champ...but then he didn't beat CM Punk on the first RAW of the year in that title match, and then he got hurt. He does some exciting things in the ring. He did a Jeff Cobb standing moonsault. The match was fast paced. The crowd in Tampa was really hot for this show which helped. **1/2

TRICK WILLIAMS vs. SAMI ZAYN (12:56): One of the more amusing things on WWE TV lately was Sami Zayn dressing up as a gingerbread man and beating up Trick Williams. Then Sami beat up the gingerbread man costume a week later and they had a funeral for him. Before, Backlash usually had rematches from Wrestlemania. This was the only one...and that's too bad, because this was the one Wrestlemania match that no one was dying for a rematch of. The big problem with Trick is that his entrance is everything. Once his entrance is done, his matches are fairly dull. Trick came to the ring with his friend, the rapper Li'l Yachty. Sami eventually used the gingerbread man's candy cane to beat Li'l Yachty with it. No, I don't understand what a gingerbread man has to do with anything. *1/2

DANHAUSEN & MINIHAUSEN vs. KIT WILSON & THE MIZ (11:38): Danhausen seems to be pretty popular with the WWE fans. He was pretty popular in AEW, too. I don't know why Tony stopped using him. Tony seems very vindictive because there's always AEW wrestlers that just disappear still under contract and I'm sure they did something to upset Tony. Danhausen probably did something. Or maybe Tony was just bored of him. I think his comedy skits are fairly entertaining, but I don't exactly want to see him wrestling in a match unless it's a multi-man tag team or something and he's barely in it. Danhausen's mystery partner for this match was a little person that came out of a cloning machine. Eventually, for no good reason, Kit put the little Danhausen back in the cloning machine and out came more little people. Yeah. That happened. What I'm really surprised about is that Kit Wilson wasn't one of the wrestlers fired. The Miz also ended up spraying himself and Kit with a fire extinguisher. *

IYO SKY vs. ASUKA (18:07): This match was supposed to be at Wrestlemania. A lot of fans were glad it wasn't, as at least on this show they would get more time (most of the 'Mania matches were super short). They got more time, but this wasn't anything special. Asuka sprayed mist at Iyo but Iyo grabbed Wade Barrett's notebook to block the mist (this happened on the announce table). That spot was unique. The match never really heated up into anything dramatic or super exciting, though. It was fine. **

JOHN CENA SEGMENT: Remember last year during Cena's retirement tour, they kept saying, 'This is the last time Cena will be in' whatever city RAW or Smackdown was in that day. What a crock of shit. He was in Vegas for 'Mania and he was here, in Tampa, for Backlash. And he came out tonight to announce a new PPV, which will be NXT wrestlers vs. main roster WWE wrestlers. I'm assuming Cena will be at that show, too. While in theory that seems like a good idea to give NXT wrestlers more exposure...I couldn't give two shits about that show. They did that same thing on Cena's lame retirement show and I didn't watch any of those other matches then, either.

ROMAN REIGNS vs. JACOB FATU (17:50): This match made zero sense because after the match they set up THE EXACT MATCH THAT JUST HAPPENED! No, it makes no sense. The match was fine, though nothing great. Is it me, or does Fatu look like he got a lot fatter and out of shape since his debut? And did Michael Cole say that Fatu has 7 kids? Roman won basically by cheating. He tore the pad off the turnbuckle and slammed Fatu into it and the ref saw this. Roman then won with a spear. But after the match, Fatu beat up Roman and all the WWE execs had to run out to stop Fatu. So they're setting up a rematch to a match we just watched. Lame. I guess they have to do that because their next PPV, Clash in Italy, is in three weeks, and God forbid they set up some new feuds/matches in three weeks for that show. I don't know...the WWE just feels really stale and safe these days. It feels like they're not even trying or attempting to have great matches. You can tell because when they do, like with Roman and Punk at 'Mania, it makes people talk about it like it's Ospreay/Takagi or something. & it's not even close. **