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. **