Prediction for WrestleMania.

Usually on this blog I write longer articles but this is going to be a short one just to outlay something that I'm predicting will happen.

I've just finished watching the live Smackdown that was this week's RAW substitute and the Main Event was Kane V Daniel Bryan in a Casket match. Due to the reaction that Reigns got in the Rumble and the overwhelming support that the fans still have for Bryan, it would be important for WWE to book Bryan into a feud that is of equal importance as the World Title match. This way, the fans might stop wanting Bryan in the Title picture and look to gain an interest in the Reigns and Lesnar feud.

So, Kane just lost to Daniel Bryan in this Casket match which, although it's the end of their feud, has seemingly came out of nowhere. I was thinking, why not a street fight? Why not a Cage match or Why not put it up for a poll on WWE.com? I think that this stipulation has been chosen for a reason and that reason is to build to an Undertaker and Daniel Bryan feud. Maybe this is fantasy booking and it probably is because all of the dirt sheets look to say that IF Taker does return it'll be to face Bray Wyatt, but, what if Taker returns to avenge Kane's loss?

Over the next few weeks I'm predicting that we might see the druids come out and carry the casket that is the same one that Kane was put in and maybe Undertaker's dong will go off at some point. It'll have to be a slow build if they start it before Fast Lane but it could be a way for WWE to get people interested in the main event picture. Anyway, of course, as usual if this did happen, when Bryan mustered the courage to open the casket the Undertaker would be inside and the feud would then kick off.

I know this is just a random prediction but I think it would make sense. Also, it's worth noting that this is only FANTASY BOOKING. I might do a few more of these predictions as we build up to Fast Lane and now that we are "on the Road to WrestleMania". Let me know what you guys think.

Royal Rumble Review - When it Reigns, it pours.

(Note: if you are just wondering what I think about Reigns winning then feel free to skim down to the end where it’ll be headlined. I was going to do an individual blog on it but decided against it).

Also, I’d like to preface this by saying I was really hyped for the Rumble, it’s my second favourite PPV of the year (WrestleMania being the first of course) and I was fully up for it with my pack of 30 mini chocolate doughnuts. For anyone wondering the doughnuts get a 5/5 from me and it’s not even the best thing that happened this night. We’ll get to that later.

The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) v Cesaro and Tyson Kidd (***1/2)

This was initially meant to be a 6 way elimination match with Adam Rose and Xavier Woods but Woods appears to have been injured so they changed it out for a regular tag. Usually I don’t watch the pre-show but Cesaro and Kidd, to me, are the best tag team going right now so I made it a point to tune in on the Network. Just before I start I’m definitely going to overhype this because I thought it was an excellent way to start off the show. There was some good spots with Cesaro’s uppercuts and seeing Tyson Kidd get the pin and having the team go over only made it that much sweeter. Considering they haven’t been a team for long on TV, Kidd and Cesaro have got a range of tag team moves that blend both of their styles together which really makes watching them more exciting. More than that, Kofi and Big E can really work and they also have some good team moves that compliment both members of the team. I think this is my favourite pairing from the New Day and all in all I gave this a 3 and a half star match. Saying that though I give the T-Shirts that Cesaro and Kidd wore to the ring 5 stars with the slogan "Brass Ring Club" on. 

The Ascension v The New Age Outlaws (***)

This was a hell of a lot better than it could have been. Billy Gunn looked in phenomenal shape for his age and this match was quite good. The way The Ascension kept Billy in the corner and worked on him made them look even stronger. I’ve been seeing some people argue that this match should have been a squash and that The Ascension should have ran through them. I don’t really have much of an opinion on it because at the moment I have very little interest in The Ascension and seeing NAO do there stuff was fun so I think to get fans more invested in the match it needed to be longer. Anyway, this was a good match for what it was and when this was announced I definitely wasn’t looking forward to it so all in all I give it a 3 stars. 

The Uso’s v The Miz & Mizdow (****)

This is a match we’ve seen, what seems to be over one hundred times but this was brilliant. It really is a testament to all four of the competitors that they can have this match so many times and always bring something new to the table. Prior, I was so sure that The Uso’s were going to win but several spots throughout the match made think that Miz and Mizdow had acquired the Tag Titles again. I think there was 2 times that the Skull Crushing Finale was kicked out of which I saw some people get mad at as it was ‘WWE weakening finishers’, but, I’ve always hated that as a finisher so I thought it was fair game. Overall, this was definitely another surprise from the undercard and another great tag match. I thought it was really enjoyable and even had a good story with Miz wrestling 90% of the match and Mizdow getting a super pop when he started to work, even more so when he got a near fall towards the end of the match. 4 out of 5 stars.

Nikki & Brie Bella v Paige and Natalya (N/A)

So, with this being a blog I believe honesty is the best policy and I went to the toilet in this match. What I was surprised at was that by the time I was finished and got back it was still going though. People who pay attention to my twitter, @curbstxmp, will know that I’m not a big Natalya fan, despite this, I do think she’s a good wrestler although overrated. However, particularly on the bits I saw she did a great job at selling the beatdown she suffered during the match. The finish came as as a surprise because Nikki won with a stiff looking forearm. I imagine this was Natalya’s idea but that’s just a guess, I suppose Nikki could have been really inspired by Wrestle Kingdom 9. 

Brock Lesnar v John Cena v Seth Rollins (*****)

If you’re sitting there right now thinking “I didn’t like this match that much” then I truly and whole heartedly suggest that you shouldn’t watch wrestling anymore. This was Match of the Year candidate if I ever saw one and obviously it’s all opinion but I think this might be the best Triple Threat match I’ve ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, WM20 and Vengeance 2002 are both phenomenal but I think this is just as good, if not better. To start with, the storytelling in the match was exceptional. Seth pretty much immediately scatters from the ring playing into his heel role of being scared of Brock and as expected, Brock was booked to be an absolute monster. I saw a few complaints about Brock being surrounded by medics (in kayfabe) and how that goes against his character but I totally disagree. First of all, everybody’s human, even Brock so within the story of the match it’s took 3 AA’s, 1 curbstomp, 1 spear through the barricade AND an elbow through the announce table which would have made Shane O’Mac proud. Baring in mind that most people throughout the last 12 years have succumbed to just 1 AA, I think Brock was made to look pretty strong. Also, up to this point Brock was on fire and was the focus of the match, as he should be because of him being the biggest threat. Brock is one of the best wrestlers in the world currently because everything this guy does fits with his character and is believable, you would literally have to go back to WrestleMania 20 to find the last bad match he’s had and I know he doesn’t wrestle often but my point still stands. Once Brock was took out of the match for a while we saw Seth and Cena go back and forth for near falls and even though we’ve seen them face off fifty times in the last few months it doesn’t matter because the chemistry these two have is phenomenal. 

What I loved about this match was that the focus of it was on Seth and Brock. Cena played his usual golden babyface role but other than spearing Lesnar through the barricade. However, he was involved in arguably the most impressive spot of the night. After the near falls between Seth and Cena, Cena kicked out of the curbstomp and Seth looked stunned before looking at the turnbuckle. At this point, having seen some of his work as Tyler Black, I had a feeling he was going for it but it was still in the back of my head that WWE wouldn’t let him. Anyway, Seth climbed to the top and hit the Phoenix Splash on Cena which got a mad pop and some WWE-only fans were saying on Twitter that they had never seen anything like it. Perhaps, what makes it more phenomenal is that Seth isn’t that small of a guy and he’s ripped too which makes it look even more impressive. To me, this was the most impressive match of the night but the way it was booked was even better. With the PPV being set in Philadelphia, the fans as expected were chanting for Lesnar and Seth and booing Cena. That being said, Lesnar played the heel role perfectly here and jumped into the ring and german suplexed Seth as soon as he connected with the Phoenix Splash giving the crowd no time to rest. 

The exchange continued from there and it was just phenomenal. If you haven’t seen this match then you really need to see it. In my opinion, it was perfectly booked with the perfect competitors. This was better than Tanahashi and Okada and in my opinion on par with Nakamura and Ibushi from WK9 which most are regarding as 2 Match of the Year candidates. WATCH THIS MATCH 5 out of 5 stars.

Just for reference sake I think it’d be good to point out that up to this point I was thinking the PPV was a 7.5/10. However that drastically changed.

When it Reigns it Pours - The Royal Rumble Match (*3/4)

So, from one of the best booked matches I’ve seen recently to probably the worst booked match I’ve seen in a LONG time. I’m not going to go through the Rumble one-by-one of who got eliminated I’m just going to give you my thoughts on what this disaster was. Prior to making my points I want to point out that I actually don’t dislike Reigns, I think he definitely has potential and for the most part I quite like him. I think it’s only fair to mention the things I did like about the match and I’ll try and leave it with a positive note at the end at what could potentially happen in the future. I’ll run through the positives first because they are few and far between in this match.

First great surprise of the night was Bubba Ray Dudley returning which was great to see, especially because they used R-Truth as a makeshift D-Von hitting the “WHAZZZAAAAPPPP” and then hitting the 3D. I hope that WWE will sign him to a permanent deal because this guy could bring something to the company which at the minute is lacking heels severely. Another great positive of the night for me was the run that Bray Wyatt had although this leads to a negative we’ll get into soon. He was the longest staying member of the Rumble with 40 minutes and he even had time to cut a promo in the ring which made this guy look dominant. With that, brought along a spot with The Boogeyman which again was really fun as, like most, I was a big mark for The Boogeyman when I was younger. Another thing that was great to see was DDP coming out and hitting Diamond Cutter after Diamond Cutter and that’s not a bad thing, that’s a good thing.

Okay, so that’s the positives out the way. The real trouble with this hit when Daniel Bryan was eliminated from the match after 10 minutes which killed the crowd dead. To be fair, they gave his elimination to Bray who definitely needed the heat but all in all in resulted to the fans beginning to just ruin the rest of the match and perhaps, because of the ending, justifiably. The idea behind this from WWE was to obviously have Bryan go out earlier in the match in the hope that the crowd would have moved on by the end. I think this idea is ridiculous, it was obvious to everyone that the crowd was going to be dead and rebelling as soon as he was eliminated and that’s what happened. What I really don’t understand is that, if WWE didn’t want to put him over and knowing what happened last year then, why bring him back for the Rumble at all? Why not base the main event of Fast Lane around Daniel Bryan’s first match back? Anyway, there’s definitely an argument that would say if Bryan wasn’t in the Rumble it still would have been terrible. 

Although this was definitely the start of the downfall, to me, the true negative in the whole thing was the overuse of Kane and Big Show and having them eliminate Ziggler, Bray and Ryback as if they were nothing. If Kane and Big Show hadn’t been in the company for over 15 years then maybe this would be okay to build heel heat but Kane seems to have X-Pac heat as nobody likes to see him and putting Big Show over all of these guys does nothing. Especially, having these in the final 5 as if they are the 2 biggest heels in the company other than Brock and Seth is horrible. What was even worse of the booking was that Bray stopped in for all of that time only to get KO’d by Big Show and tossed over the ropes like he didn’t matter. How can you build stars when you continuously place Big Show and Kane in top positions on the card? What irks me even more is how little Kane has done since Team Hell No split up. You can argue that he was involved in the main event last year but it’s well documented that the feud between him and Bryan for the World Title is one of the worst in recent memory. There was no need for Kane to be anywhere near the final 5, not even in storyline, and if they wanted him to break HBK’s record then they should have had him come out earlier and eliminate Fandango or Truth or Kofi. Big Show I can understand being in the final 5 because he’s had this ongoing presence in the build up to the Rumble but it just shows how poor the booking is when you’re still pushing this guy as a main heel on your roster. 

I’ve just touched on it but the problem I had with booking was mostly because it was so convoluted. For instance, they have Dolph Ziggler, who is known for being able to work at fast paces for a long time, get eliminated 2 minutes into entering the match despite having a storyline build up to the show. For a second as he was walking to the ring I thought this is what the swerve was going to be and that Dolph was going to overcome odds and win but sadly not. Ziggler is the antithesis of WWE missing the concept of the story that they’d built. Ziggler and Ryback both had a story going into the match that they were returning from being fired and they did nothing with it. Another of WWE’s shortcomings in this match.This is one of the reasons that I think Roman Reigns winning felt even more forced because to contrast Ziggler, Bryan and Ryback, he didn’t have a story. Reigns’ story going into the Rumble was that he’d feuded with Big Show and the only noteworthy thing he’d said about the Rumble was when he returned and said he was going to enter. I just think that WWE should be going what the better story is and I think we can all agree that a guy who has been out injured for 9 months in Daniel Bryan or someone who was Kayfabe fired in Dolph Ziggler is a better story than what Roman Reigns’ run up to the Rumble had to offer.

Another thing that annoyed me was their usage of The Rock. It was almost patronising the way they used The Rock to try and suddenly get Reigns over and get them cheering. I’m thankful that it didn’t work because I feel like that isn’t the way that someone should get over. I’m a big fan of The Rock as well so it was good to see him but for WWE to think that it would make the crowd suddenly change their reaction to Reigns really appeared naive. However, them bringing in The Rock symbolises that they must have known that the reaction to Reigns wasn’t going to be stellar to say the least.

Other than that I think the most annoying thing about the result of the match is that Roman Reigns isn’t even the most over babyface. This isn’t the ‘IWC’ acting out against WWE and it can be argued that there is 3 babyfaces ahead of him in terms of who is more over. First, you’ve got Daniel Bryan which is probably the most over guy on the show. You’ve then got Cena which is irrelevant because he shouldn’t be winning a Royal Rumble and he competed in the title match. Then you have Dolph Ziggler who, when Bryan was away, was easily the number 2 face in the company. On top of this, there is the fact that Reigns’ promo ability still lacks and his ability in the ring leaves room for improvement although I do think he has the ability to have a good match. I just think going into WrestleMania which is meant to be your biggest show of the year it should be the biggest heel against the biggest babyface which would mean Daniel Bryan facing Brock Lesnar. The main criticism of Reigns winning is of course it supports the idea that WWE doesn’t listen to their fan base and that is the problem. The key difference between last year and this year is that last year the fans ONLY wanted Daniel Bryan to win the Rumble and anyone else would have suffered the same fate as Batista but this year the fan mentality seemed to be anyone BUT Reigns. Therefore, this isn’t a case of people wanting their favourite wrestler to win the Rumble. 

The guy is obviously talented, that is clear, for his size he is very athletic but there was just people ahead of him who were more deserving. Just to be clear I think his booking has made this more annoying for the fans too, I think that WWE trying to make him into the next Cena is ridiculous, the guy looks and feels like he should be portrayed as a badass and they’re attempting the opposite with the fairy tale and looney tunes promos. Moreover, throughout wrestling history it’s always someone who goes against the grain and the people who try to continue seem to fail. They attempted a similar thing with Sheamus’ face run not too long ago which didn’t go anywhere. Similarly, Lex Luger was the continuation of Hulk Hogan and he never got to the heights that was predicted. If you look at the stars of years past, you’ve got Stone Cold and Rock who had the opposite characteristics to Bret Hart who had the opposite traits to Hogan. Even John Cena went against the grain of The Rock and Stone Cold through the personality. My point here is that if you keep trying to create a replacement for Cena it isn’t going to work. Cena sells a lot of t-shirts yes, but that doesn’t mean that Cena 2.0 will and the fans seem to be calling for a newer personality to take reign of the company (no pun intended). Regardless of what you think about Reigns, whether you like him or not, the fact of the matter is, is this guy is a babyface and at the end of one of the biggest PPVs of the year, he was booed out of the building. The blame shouldn’t be on Reigns here, he is the one who has been put into this position and the blame should be on WWE.

Leaving with a Positive note

I thought here I’d just leave with a positive note of what could happen. If Reigns goes onto WrestleMania to face Lesnar in a singles match we can only assume he will win. This could be a rocky road to WrestleMania in the build up but enough people are into Lesnar that it’ll get hyped properly and especially with Heyman’s influence. Anyway, you could turn Lesnar face and just go for a face v face match and then have Rollins cash-in on the night after and win the belt. This way you still elevate Rollins into that number 1 heel position that’ll be left if Lesnar doesn’t re-sign with WWE while also circling back to The Shield feud. If booked properly they could use the cash-in to build the feud until Summerslam and if done right WWE could incorporate Ambrose into the feud and finally have that triple threat match between all the members of The Shield. If this is the way they’re going then that’s some good long term booking, however, knowing what WWE are like, I’d bet against it but there is always the optimistic view.

Perceptions of Wrestling - What is Wrestling?

I’ve had my twitter account based around wrestling for probably about a year and a quarter at this point and I started to notice something immediately just talking to people that what wrestling is, is such a subjective thing. Without thinking about it that sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? But, my idea of wrestling is completely different to someone who lives in Japan, and there idea of wrestling is polar opposites to the casual WWE fan who just loves looking at 2 big guys rough each other up. Anyway, what I’d like to point out in this article or blog is that everyone’s concept of this thing we love is different and I think that’s where the range of debates ultimately begin and end. I think I’ll probably go through a few different ideas of wrestling that I’ve come across over my time as a wrestling fan and share what my own concept of it is. Again, what is my concept isn’t necessarily yours and nobody is right in this argument and nobody is wrong.

First, I might as well point out the obvious, there is the fans who are probably 14 or under who just love John Cena and own all the merch and even a pair of his new sneaks. With this love of Cena and at such a young age brings around the argument that these types of fans are pretty ignorant to world wrestling as we know it. I mean ignorant in the literal sense, not in the passive aggressive insult way, I’ll probably reiterate throughout this blog that anyone’s perception of wrestling is there own and isn’t *below* anybody else’s. These fans are mostly the one’s who only follow WWE for the storyline value and their favourites are mostly based on who WWE is feeding them and pushing. This isn’t to devalue their importance because they are the key audiences who watch WWE. Whether or not you agree with where the company is currently, the business side wouldn’t be as good as it is without these kind of fans. 

This segment of the fanbase is in direct relation to the ‘casual fans’. For the most part, the casual fans will just want to see big guy v big guy and no, I’m not talking about 2 Ryback’s wrestling despite how good that would be. And similarly to the kids, the casual fans will love the bigger guys who are at the top and are getting pushed like Cena. Unless, of course you’ve got someone who can directly relate to the working class like Steve Austin did in the Attitude Era. What you might find odd is that these casual fans share many similarities with the superfan kids and I think this is how the concept of wrestling becomes most interesting because too ideas of wrestling that appear to be polarising are quite distinctly similar in who that particular fan may relate too and why. 

Both of these concepts of wrestling come from a world that revolves around WWE. As soon as you open that bubble up you’ve got the wrestling fan that watches TNA and WWE. Their idea of wrestling is probably more deep than the previous two I’ve discussed. This idea is seemed to be still based around the story arcs but their favourites tend to be developed by more characteristics, for example how good the wrestler is in general rather than what he’s doing in a storyline or if he is winning. This kind of attitude towards wrestling seems to identify what they think are the qualities of a good wrestler rather than where they are situated in the actual product. I think at this point people jump from being a casual fan or just a WWE watcher into being a ‘smarter’ fan. A fan who ONLY watches TNA and WWE would still appreciate the story but, especially if your a TNA fan would be able to identify and really appreciate a good wrestling match. A lot of this kind of fan can merge into what I’m next going to talk about but I thought it’d be good to identify that there is specific wrestling fans who don’t enjoy the match after match theme that PWG presents or what you would have watching NJPW without being able to understand the commentary.

To widen the concept again you’ve got the hardcore smart fans that will watch the indy’s and WWE and TNA. From what I’ve noticed online, just by talking to people, these people seem to appreciate the in-ring ability of wrestlers a lot more than other fans would, therefore, making it more enjoyable for them to sit through a NJPW show in Japanese commentary or a PWG show where the matches have very little story line development other than who is challenging for the belt that show. Of course, this also includes the guys who watch ROH. And, of course, these for the most part are the ones that rave about NXT in comparison to the main WWE product that is put out. My point here is that the ‘smarter’ you are as a fan the more questions you tend to ask and you begin to notice the smaller things that go into wrestling while also caring about the backstage side more. An example of this is the constant tweets of how WWE buries Dolph Ziggler. I’m not going to go into that but it’s just an example. 

Of course throughout this blog I’ve been generalising to different segments of the wrestling ‘fandom’ (wow I hate that word) and this doesn’t mean just because you like TNA that you can’t like Cena or whatever. I’m not saying that, my point is, is that what my idea of wrestling is, is not necessarily your idea or your friends. Being on the internet for so long talking about wrestling would probably lead you to believe that the in-ring work was most important in wrestling. However, although I agree as far as, I pay much more attention to a good wrestler in WWE. Further, I have just recently signed up for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s online service, World. Which, of course, I will only be watching to enjoy, for the most part the in ring action. By saying this would mean that I can enjoy wrestling on a level where if it’s a good in ring product I will remain interested. However, when it comes to weekly episodic shows such as WWE and TNA I don’t think this constitutes as enough to keep my focus. I think mostly this goes back to the feud over a year ago between Sheamus and Del Rio. I feel like Sheamus is overrated but these two guys had good matches but because the feud was so unexciting and the characters that both played were really lacklustre to say the least, my interest used to slip in those segments. Whereas, to contrast this, there is Bray Wyatt who is good in the ring for his size but he’s not having 45 minute technical wrestling bouts each week. But, I’m always interested in his matches because of his character and how interesting it is. Regardless of your opinion on Bray Wyatt, most people who watch WWE have a person who they watch because of their character and that’s the essence of what WWE is, character based story telling and development. 

The original point I was trying to make here was that everyone’s concept of wrestling was different and to recognise why you enjoy wrestling to be better than someone else’s is ridiculous because for the most part we all enjoy or not enjoy the same product. As far as what I identify as wrestling, I think there needs to be some character in there definitely, even my favourites on the indie scene and in NJPW have characters that are displayed throughout their match. But that doesn’t mean that I should disregard the opinions of others whose concept of wrestling is the opposite or different. I’d just like to leave it that the point is, is that no matter what your personal idea of wrestling is you are right and that there is no right and wrong when discussing what you enjoy about pro wrestling. It’s all just different opinions. Anyway, that’s my opinion on what is wrestling. Just enjoy it. Carl out.

@curbstxmp - Twitter.

Talking the Downfall of TNA.

(Disclaimer: This isn’t a review of their first show on Destination America. I did watch it and my opinions that are expressed throughout this article aren’t just based on that episode) 

(Disclaimer 2.0: This will have swearing and ‘curse’ words if you’re american)

(Disclaimer 3.0: The actual wrestling matches in TNA are NOT the problem, the next article will be highlighting all the problems.)

So, if you follow me, which I guess you will do on Twitter because I don’t fully know how else you’d find this article. Maybe someone can tell me if there’s a way to get your blog more out there? Tweet me or something. ANYWAY, I’m writing this on Saturday the 17th January and last night I had a rant about TNA and just thought I’d summarise in this article what I think the main problems are. Mostly, I’ll be talking about why I think that they won’t ever reach any height that’s even has the majority of people saying “well the production isn’t as good but the talent and product is overall better than WWE” like how I felt from 2005-2008ish when I stopped watching wrestling. First off, I’m not a ‘TNA hater’ either, I’m just not going to sit and waste 2 hours of my Sunday (I live in the UK) every week to watch a wrestling show that is mediocre on it’s good weeks. I’m just gonna go ahead now and say that this isn’t going to be the typical, constructive criticism of TNA because what’s the point and I truly don’t think that they’ll ever grow enough for anyone to take them seriously and bring back the legitimacy that was established in the 00’s. 

First I’ll address the talent. In TNA, you do have some really high quality talent, Kurt Angle who is arguably one of the most well rounded guys ever in terms of in-ring work and how good he is on the mic. However, and I’ll talk more about this later, they’ve diminished his star quality and they similarly do that to all of the stars that go into the company. They have Bobby Roode who sure as hell deserves a lot more than being in that company but he didn’t jump ship when he should have so unfortunately for him he’s going to have to sleep in the bed that he made. EC3 who I think is brilliant on the mic, his response to the ‘you can’t wrestle’ chants is pure gold and simple and he’s pretty good on the mic. I don’t see any reason why WWE let this guy go because he’s the bright spark in a very VERY dull and monotonous show. I noted on Twitter last night that my top 5 of TNA guys is only a top 3, sure, you’ve got other talent like Samoa Joe and Low Ki and Austin Aries who I think are really good but, particularly Joe and AA, I think are one of the more overrated wrestlers around nowadays. 

Aesthetically, TNA sitting behind WWE is perfectly acceptable due to the polarising budget of both companies. HOWEVER, for TNA to play fourth on production when listing all of the American wrestling companies is kind of embarrassing when in my mind they were the best company 10 years ago. Lucha Underground and Ring of Honor’s production of their shows both top TNA and that isn’t the only thing that appear to overshine TNA on. To be fair, I don’t think this is a major problem but still shows the level that they’re working at.

To me, the first major problem of TNA was the ridiculous end to the Aces and Eights storyline in which we find out that Bully Ray - the guy who has been beaten on for MONTHS, literally each week for months - turns out to be the leader of the group. What a load of shit. As a wrestling fan, I think that’s genuinely offensive to the fans that have sat and watched this faction build and grow. It was obviously done for the shock value but guess what? IT MADE NO FUCKING SENSE, there was never any teases before it happened so it was just idiotic and this is the basis of a lot of their face and heel turns which we’ll get too next. What an absolute joke of a storyline. It would have totally made sense if Bully wasn’t the target of attack after attack in the months leading up the turn. This nonsensical booking is probably the main reason that TNA have struggled.

Further, the random turning of the talent from babyface to heel to babyface and back again makes everyone on the roster comparable to the Big Show. The most notable might be the attempt to turn Jeff Hardy and make him into “Willow”. Why let a guy who is your top babyface, who all of the girls find attractive, put a mask on? It makes zero sense. The constant turns produce 2 major problems very quickly. Problem A) why would anyone, as a fan, get invested in a character when they know that they are probably going to turn heel the week after, similarly, why would you spend your time wanting to see a heel get there ass kicked when you know that they’re going to turn face soon. And, problem B) It majorly complexes and convolutes the roster. I watched the first episode of TNA last week and I didn’t have a reason to give a shit about when Joe, Low Ki and Eric Young turned on Roode at the end. Moreover, turning Young as well was the most overbooked thing I’ve seen in a while in wrestling. You’ve just had Low Ki and Joe come out to surprise the audience by their turn (it didn’t make sense either but that’s the norm for TNA now) and we have no time to care before Young comes in and turns as well. There was no buildup to it, it was just establishing a more dominant heel faction which TNA has always had. If Dixie Carter seriously wants to be an alternative to WWE, WHY ARE YOU USING THE WWE TACTICS OF HEEL AUTHORITY FIGURES STILL? It’s a simple question and one which you’d think would have reason. It’s boring for WWE now also so why base your company around that. They’ve rehashed it for years, Dixie Land, Aces and Eights, Main Event Mafia, Main Event Mafia 2.0, the list goes on and on. The constant Face/Heel turns that are supposed to shock us are the least shocking thing about the show because it’s expected.

Another problem I have with TNA is that they don’t create their own stars. EC3 is a bright spark of TNA and an exception. They spent months building Magnus to take the reigns and run the company and be the main guy but now he wasn’t even on TV last week from what I remember, and if he was THAT PROVES MY POINT EVEN MORE. The downfall for my personal viewing really started to decline quickly when they didn’t resign AJ Styles. AJ since it’s inception WAS TNA and they tried to reduce his contract, and I’m glad they did because now he’s rejuvenated and killing it in NJPW and has hit his peak in terms of wrestling quality. Now, don’t tell me that that’s a coincidence because it blatantly isn’t. Another ridiculous decision was to release Kaz and Daniels, yes they were getting old but they were the heart of TNA and they were one of the most interesting things on TV. And again, the release of Bully Ray who was there top heel. I’m not saying that these guys didn’t want to leave, but for AJ and Bully to be at the top of the company when they left and still want to leave shows how badly that place is run. AJ Styles is legit in the top 10 wrestlers in the world and they let him walk, I saw that they tried to hire him back a few months ago and it’s just like why would he? He’ll be making more money in NJPW, wrestling in front of more people and having a blast. And instead of trying to go to the indies and find some of the really good younger guys to spearhead the company like Adam Cole, or Roderick Strong, or Kenny Omega, or even go for a guy who isn’t as popular on the indies who could really bring something to the company like Trevor Lee. There is enough talent out there to find a guy to get behind but they don’t get behind characters.

That’s not to say they haven’t brought in some good talent because MVP was a steal, and although I’m not keen on the guy, Bobby Lashley looks like a legit big guy to push as a monster. But, Bobby Lashley can’t cut a promo and there’s a reason that he never got to the top at WWE. He’s good in the role he’s playing on TV currently (although he’s turning soon, if that spoilt anything you don’t know wrestling or TNA). But, for every MVP, there’s signing Brodus Clay in a deal that I can only imagine is paying him way more than he’s worth. No disrespect to Brodus, but the guy doesn’t draw, no WWE fans or casual fans are going to start watching TNA because they’ve got Brodus Clay on TV and he’s not good to impact the main roster properly for the money he’ll be getting paid. Get Del Rio, he might not draw THAT much but he’s recognisable and he can sure as hell main event in the company without looking like a total joke. It speaks volumes when Del Rio jumps at ROH and Lucha but is still negotiating with TNA. Brodus Clay signing really does show that their mindset is to just sign any WWE talent. A lot of the TNA lovers out there always go for the argument of “well WWE gets ROH stars” and it’s like YES BECAUSE THEY BRING IN THE TALENTED GUYS WHO ARE OVER WITH THE FANS. Jesus, it’s not hard to see that the base of TNA’s roster revolves around guys who’ve been in WWE, whether they were in developmental or not, they’ve been there. That’s not necessarily a bad thing with people like EC3 who you can build up yourself and create your original character, but nobody who tunes in to TNA and sees Brodus Clay is straight away going to think of him dancing around with Tensei on Superstars. It’s just a ridiculous mindset. Moreover, it definitely shows that TNA are the anything BUT an alternative to WWE.

All of this stuff combines to create what is now the ‘stigma’ or TNA. Otherwise known as that the product, for the most part is total shit. The wrestling is solid and very good for the most part but because of all the poor booking decisions and the reliance on former WWE talent, it’s ridiculous. A lot of TNA fans again blame the internet stigma that surrounds TNA to be the reason why it  isn’t bigger but it’s not, because the stigma only comes from how poor the wrestling company is. Do you want a WWE alternative? Watch Lucha Underground. I spend 3 hours a week at least watching WWE TV and that is as hit and miss as it can be but I don’t want to donate another 2 hours of my week on a wrestling show where at the end of it I just think “that was a waste of time”. There’s many times on Twitter that someone will tweet about missing TNA or possibly not watching it and I’ll make a joke like “why does it matter” and they don’t defend it and tell me they really like it, the response is more of a “good point actually”. I do want TNA to do well and I’d love for it to be able to compete with WWE in terms of quality but when WWE isn’t in a great place and TNA is still not coming close to them, its hard to devote time to the product and I honestly am not surprised that the ratings continue to drop because after watching an episode I have no interest in watching the next one at all. Carl out.

@curbstxmp - Twitter.

My Review of Wrestle Kingdom 9

Before I start I think it’d be better to write a quick paragraph about my experiences watching New Japan Pro Wrestling prior so that you can see where I was up to in my interest prior to watching. First, it’s probably best to note that my favourite New Japan wrestlers include Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Minoru Suzuki, Kazuchika Okada, The Young Bucks and Tomohoro Ishii. Also, I’ve been watching New Japan since Wrestle Kingdom 8 but not religiously so I’ve missed a few shows here and there. The version I watched of WK9 was the english commentary version with Jim Ross and Matt Striker so I'll give a little review of what I thought about their commentary at the end. This isn’t going to be me just hyping New Japan for the full blog although the show was really good. I’ll also give a rating of each match based on how much I enjoyed it so I’m not going to try and be Dave Meltzer or whatever and count how many variations of moves there was. Also, SPOILER ALERT.

Because of the version I watched I missed out on the starting Battle Royal/ Rumble thing that they did although Yuji Nagata won which is cool because the guy is still really over in Japan and entertaining. So, my point here is that my viewing of the show started with the tag match.

The Young Bucks v TimeSplitters v Forever Hooligans v ReDragon (c) for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight tag titles. (****)

This match was everything you’d expect from a 4-way tag match with a fast and fun match with ReDragon picking up the win to retain the titles. It started off the show well and it contained a few good spots with dives just as you’d expect. I’ve seen a few of TimeSplitters matches but it always surprises me how good Kushida and Alex Shelley work together considering Shelley is American and Kushida is Japanese, although saying that Shelley has been over in New Japan for so long now that he might as well BE Japanese himself and they’ve teamed for a long time so it makes sense really. ANYWAY, I’m a big fan of the Young Bucks and as per they put on a hell of a show for the crowd. It is a shame though that we didn’t get to see More Bang for Your Buck, I assumed we would just with opening the product up to wider audience, like most people, the first time I saw that move I popped big time even if it was for a near fall. Back to the main topic, the only criticism I can have of the match is that it felt too short at 13:31, this could have easily been a 20 minute match in my opinion. Anyway, overall I’ll give the match a 4 out of 5. Near to perfect opener.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma v Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Jeff Jarrett & Yujiro Takahashi). (**1/2)

This match was just a 5 minute throwaway match which was entertaining enough. The audience got to see the Kojima lightning chops which is always cool and always gets a pop from the crowd. We didn’t really get to see much in this 5 minute match so it was basically just filler, unfortunately, the teams came out together so I didn’t even get to hear the Bad Luck Fale theme music where the really deep voice goes “The Underboss” because for some reason that makes me pop. ANYWAY, back to the original point, this was a throwaway match which didn’t really need to be on the card. I’ll tell you what did annoy me though is the fact that Jeff Jarrett was involved in this and Tama Tonga wasn’t. I know he was involved in setting it up through GFW but Jeff Jarrett has been doing the same shit since 1996 and I’m sorry Jeff but you were never THAT over to begin with to still be doing it and to be put in matches on New Japan’s biggest show of the year. To me, Tama should have been in here instead because he’s been in Bullet Club for longer and to me he’s just more entertaining. It had the usual double J guitar spot but apart from that nothing much happened. 2 and a half out of 5.

Mikey Nicholls, Naomichi Marufuji, Shane Haste and Toru Yano v SuzukiGun (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton X Benjamin and Takashi Iizuka). (***)

This match again was a 5 minute throwaway but it was better than the last match so I’ve gave it a 3 out of 5 for what it was. In this match you got to see Marifuji do some of his cooler moves although unfortunately he didn’t pull out the diving dropkick over the top rope because that makes me pop. Also, there was a vicious looking chokeslam by Lance Archer. It was cool to see the NOAH guys perform and it was good that they didn’t have Yano and Iizuka control the match because I’m not a fan of either guys. This should have probably been given more time to get more of the NOAH guys spots in I think but for what it was it was okay.

Minoru Suzuki v Kazushi Sakuraba - UWFI rules match. (***)

First of all this match was pretty good but I tend not to be much of a fan of seeing Sakuraba wrestle because it always feels like a worked MMA match which this match was meant to be so I suppose it did the job. Suzuki dressed in all white was cool to see and the match was pretty brutal in its slaps. It ended with Suzuki’s sleeper hold transitioned from a Saka Otoshi which is always cool to see because it looks like it would genuinely fuck someone up. Sakuraba working the left arm of Suzuki was good too and gave a bit of a story into the match. With these sort of matches I personally prefer that it ends in a KO because I think it looks better but a submission in New Japan, psychology wise, is probably equally as impressive. Anyway, it was decent and it didn’t last too long so 3 out of 5.

This is where the show really starts to pick up.

Togi Makabe v Tomohoro Ishii (c) for the NEVER Openweight championship. (****1/2)

This match was probably the most physical of the night. From the outset all the match was, was lariat after lariat after elbow after slap after forearm after lariat and that was NOT a criticism. These two guys are the most physical guys in the company and from what I gather this belt is based around that ‘strong style’ kind of wrestling. Ishii and Makabe go back and forth for 12 minutes with no rest-bite. Great match and what Japanese wrestling is really about. There’s not really much else to say about this match a part from that it is definitely worth seeing just to see these guys smash each other in the face for 12 minutes. Brilliant. 4 1/2 out of 5.

Kenny Omega v Ryusuke Taguchi (****)

I’d like to preface this bit of the review to say that before this match I wasn’t very much a fan of Kenny Omega because I’d only seen some of his indie matches from a couple of years ago before he went to DDT but this match totally changed my opinion of him. Again, from the outset this match kicked off and both guys went all out. I’m not a huge fan of Ryusuke because I can’t stand any wrestler who uses the butt bump as a serious move (shots fired at Mojo Rawley, Naomi…it’s okay) but Ryusuke is decent, he’s not as bad as Mojo. Omega went from comedy gimmick wrestler to legit badass all in one match for me but trying to hear Striker sell the chainsaw arm gimmick he does was pretty funny. All in all 4 out of 5, entertaining but wasn’t as good as Ishii and Makebe, better than the rest of the show up to this point though.

Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata v Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Machine Gun Karl Anderson) (c)(***)

Again, I think this match suffered because it was too short. 9 minutes for these 4 guys wasn’t enough especially because of how good all of them are. It sort of felt like the match was rushed and wasn’t timed out properly and we unfortunately didn’t get to see any of Shibata’s more vicious strikes that I pop for e.g the spinning backhand and we didn’t get to see Goto’s Shouten Kai. I’ve only gave this a 3 out of 5 because it was too short, if it was a 15 minute match I feel like this could have easily been a 4 out of 5 but that’s got to do with PPV restrictions. Decent match all in all and seeing Shibata and Goto pick up the win for me was good to see. i’ve been a fan of both individually ever since I got into New Japan (in fact, the first match I saw of them they were facing each other and that was a good match so check that one out on Wrestle Kingdom 8).

AJ Styles v Tetsuya Naito (****1/2 out of 5)

This match was exactly what you’d expect from these two guys, good fast paced action from the get-go. The match was given the right amount of time for these guys to not have to rush anything and AJ has been on fire since joining NJPW so you knew this was going to be good. Naito again is a light heavyweight that’s wrestling as a heavyweight so every time I see him wrestle I think it’s interesting. I didn’t think this was as good as the Ishii and Makebe match but it was still great fun. The match finished with a Styles Clash from the top rope and I specifically liked how JR and Striker pointed out how controversial and dangerous the move has become prior to the match (If you want to see my thoughts on it, go here: http://talkwrestlingtalk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/aj-styles-styles-clash.html). This match was good and it fit where it was on the card really well.

Shinsuke Nakamura (c) v Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. (*****) Match of the Night award winner.

This match was terrific. Everything from the commentary to the spots to the physicality was on point for me. Although I might be slightly biased because Shinsuke is my personal favourite, the way these two worked out the match to go back and forth and even the near-falls had me tense. They managed to redo the spot that they did at the last Korakuen Hall show where Shinsuke goes for the Boma Ye on a kneeled Ibushi and Ibushi springs up and foot stomps him. It has to be said that this match MADE Ibushi if he even had to be. It’s always been clear that this guy possesses some unbelievable talent but seeing this guy wrestle a match of physicality and with more of a story with a legit main eventer took him to the next level. We got to see Ibushi go for the Phoenix splash and taunt Shinsuke throughout, the story of the match pretty much was the young guy trying to outdo the older experienced guy and although he didn’t win the match, Ibushi’s performance was second to none. Brilliant. Match of the night for me and 5 out of 5. Phenomenal (no, there wasn’t an AJ run in).

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) v Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. (*****)

This match was brilliant and a great main event. The match went 30 minutes and it didn’t drag out and the guys didn’t really stop moving. We saw Tanahashi hit some badass spots, hitting the High Fly Flow onto a standing Okada which was stood past the barricade on the concrete floor. The chemistry that these two have together is brilliant and this match really needs to be watched by any wrestling fan. The near-falls with Okada kicking out of 2 High Fly Flow’s and Tanahashi kicking out of the Rainmaker, Striker said that it was the first time someone has kicked out of it but I’m pretty sure Shinsuke Nakamura has before and I think Tanahashi has before. The effect was all the same though. These guys wrestled from the ring to the outside to the stage back into the ring and there was some great spots. Also, a good point to note was JR putting over Okada calling his dropkick the “greatest dropkick in the world” which I thought was 100% correct. The match was exceptional and I feel like Nakamura/Ibushi just edged it for match of the night but to give this any less than 5 out of 5 would be an injustice. Brilliant.

The Jim Ross and Matt Striker Commentary

The commentary for the most part was great. Hearing Jim Ross call a NJPW show was so unique and really made you miss solid, good commentary on WWE TV. We all knew going into it though that JR was never going to be a problem and he wasn’t. The best commentator ever covering some of the best wrestling ever was a good sight to see and hear. Striker on the other hand was annoying in bits. Sometimes he’d correct JR and try to have some sort of what I can only describe as Michael Cole banter (not a compliment) which was lost on me. However, he was good for the most part and again made you think of how much better the WWE product would be if someone commentated in a similar way. They put all the guys over and gave insight into even the filler matches at the start. Great stuff.

Overall, this is the best wrestling show I’ve seen in a very long time. Everything apart from the two 5 minute filler matches near the beginning was as close to a perfect wrestling show as you can get. If you’re a wrestling fan and you haven’t seen this then definitely watch it, it was truly amazing. The version I watched lasted 3 hours 40 minutes and I didn’t think about turning it off once and that is a long time to sit and watch a wrestling show for. Exceptional. 10 out of 10 show with some of the best wrestling in the world on it.