Superstar Sleeze

I agree with this 10000000%

Match of the night easy and a contender for best WWE match of the year. GREAT FINISH! That is how a heel should win with a vicious ball shot and then humiliating Cena in the Accolade. Best finish in forever. Rusev was awesome suffocating Cena and Rusev modulating his selling so well. Cena was so urgent. Loved, loved this match!

Liked Nikki vs Paige as a bomb throwing sprint wished it was longer and had a better finish. The ladies deserve better

They have switched directions for the better. It is Triple H angry that he lost his job because of Sting which is a legit reason to be pissed. He threatened to efface Sting from history if he didn't play ball since WWE owns history which is a douchey thing to do. I think they have crafted a really smart narrative for this feud. Still don't care about the match

What? It was totally disjointed. I didn't know if they wanted to do a straight wrestling match, a character piece or a fight. Dustin says he is going to beat the Stardust out of him. Then he just sort of wrestles him, but with a ton of awkward pauses and no heat. Cody acted weird then cheated and then went for pinning combinations. Did these two want to win or hurt each other? Then Dustin gets a fluke roll up and we are supposed to believe we get Cody. One of the worst matches I have seen in a while.

I wrote a companion piece to the Tag Teams Back Again podcast with Ricky Jackson (Kelly). I highly recommend listening over reading, but I thought this would also be a good way to highlight a lot of my WWF Tag Team work over the years. I have been postponing The Rockers piece and I really need to get it done because I think they are the best team in WWF history. Hart Foundation Vol. 1 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/08/history-of-hart-foundation-1985-1987.html Killer Bees http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/08/killer-bees-compendium.html The Islanders http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-islanders-hidden-gems-of-wwf.html Greg Valentine with both Brutus Beefcake & Dino Bravo http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-best-of-dream-team-hammer-swings.html British Bulldogs http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/09/history-of-british-bulldogs-1985-1988.html Fabulous Rougeaus http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/09/fabulous-rougeaus-all-american-boys-wwf.html Demolition Vol. 1 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/09/demolition-vol1-here-comes-ax-here.html Strike Force http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/06/strike-force-rick-martel-tito-santana.html Brainbusters http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/10/brainbusters-nwa-in-wwf-1989.html Demolition Vol. 2 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/12/demolition-vol2-walking-disaster-1989.html Hart Foundation Vol. 2 http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2013/10/history-of-hart-foundation-1988-1991.html

This weekend posted twice. One looking at Dolph Ziggler his limitations from a layout, execution and character perspective, but how it looks like he has been improving recently coinciding with his renewed push. I really like the Harper ladder match, which I think was a bit underrated and thought it was a contender for a top ten match of the year. Match Listing: WWE Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett vs Dolph Ziggler - WWE RAW 6/23/14 Disposable RAW mid-card match. Ultimately forgettable. Crowd worked the workers. WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler vs Cesaro vs Tyson Kidd ***3/4 Fun Spotfest. Tyson Kidd got to shine. Cesaro great strength spots. Ziggler looked strong as champ. Team Cena (John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, The Big Show, Ryback, Rowan) vs The Authority (Seth Rollins, Luke Harper, Rusev, Kane and Mark Henry) WWE Survivor Series 2014 ****1/4 Big match feel. Great use of characters. Exciting narrative. Logical, cool swerve. Great Ziggler run. WWE IC Champion Luke Harper vs Dolph Ziggler WWE TLC 2014 Ladder Match ****1/2 Awesome sadistic performance by Harper. Great heroics by Ziggler. Felt like a BIG win! http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/02/kid-ego-dolph-ziggler-wwe-2014.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The other is the written companion piece to the Tag Teams Back Again Podcast with Ricky Jackson: http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/02/1985-tag-team-wrestling.html

I thought you'd be taller. Ishii reminds me of Arn Anderson or 1980's Bret Hart more than just about anyone else. In that, he is a midcarder who can have an entire match unto himself. He basically plugs his opponents into his formula and produces dramatic, hard-hitting classics. For Honma, he put over how close NJPW's miracle underdog could come close to winning a match by showing his vulnerability through his trademark neck/shoulder selling. For Naito, the struggling hot new upper midcard babyface badly needed credibility with the fans and by standing tot to toe with the stiff powerhouse Ishii he re-earned the fan's respect and his career while not fully rehabilitated is back on track. For Ibushi, he had a great heavyweight vs. junior heavyweight match where Ibushi showcased not only his high-flying offense, but his nastier side too. When I say formula, I don't mean every match is same, but rather Ishii uses his spots in the match how the context dictates to enhance his opponent and himself. You know there are going to be a lot of strike exchanges and that somehow Ishii will be dumped on his head. What separates Ishii from his contemporaries is his commitment to selling his neck/shoulder injuries to build drama in the late match strike exchanges and have you wondering how he will pull this one out. For all the great positive attributes, Ishii does represent the New Japan style moreso than probably any other wrestler. Having watched a lot of Japan 2008-2009 and reading what New Japan critics had to say, I was terrified that NJPW was just filled with strike exchanges and endless nearfalls. I have found that not to be the case at all. It is a minimum of one strike exchange, but usually no more than two and even more importantly, these are matches that build to a satisfying conclusion without a barrage of nearfalls watering down the finish. What I found interesting is that my nightmare New Japan was found in Ishii matches when Ishii seems to be the unifying force of all New Japan fans. It is easy to see why he is the big tent candidate when he combines great offense with selling. But calling a spade, a spade, he relies on strike exchanges way too much especially in the beginning of match are very boring. He is also the king of the nearfall and the one count. Don't get me wrong, I have been impressed with Ishii and I think he is the best midcard wrestler in the world. I just thought it was interesting that New Japan wrestler everyone loves is the most New Japan-y of all the wrestlers on the roster. NEVER Champion Tomohiro Ishii vs Tomoaki Honma - NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 5/3/14 I am a total sucker for the underdog Tomoaki Honma character. After he hit that crazy diving headbutt onto the floor and he gets into the ring and goes crazy, you just can't help but you root for a guy that wants to win so bad and is putting out such great positive energy. Ishii to his credit, he did a great job making Honma not just look like a credible challenger, but like someone that could really win the match. Early on, Ishii was in full control by using high chops and seemed to underestimate Honma with little kicks to the head. The turning point came early when Honma scored a DDT out of a lariat attempt. Until the end of the match, Ishii was digging himself out of the hole. Ishii did a great job modulating his selling. You knew the DDT hurt him, but it was not a blinding or insurmountable pain yet. He was able to recover with a backdrop driver. Then Honma hulks up after a lariat. I loved the urgency of this part of the match with each one following the other into ropes to cut the other other off with a strike. It really felt the match was going to be decided in that sequence and BANG! Honma nailed Ishii with a suplex that dumped on his head. Now that shoulder/neck pain just became excruciating and he powders. Honma presses his advantage with that crazy headbutt from the top rope to the floor where he bounces off the floor. God Bless Death Match Wrestlers! Honma is pumped, I am hyped and the crowd is whipped into a frenzy. He hits the top rope headbutt in the ring!!! Can he do it? One-Two-No! Ishii hits a desperation lariat, but clutches his shoulder and collapses. He can't take advantage. Two bulls ram into each other with Ishii winning. Ishii hits his powerbomb, but can't put the underdog away. Ishii goes for his Brainbuster finish, but the tenacious Honma will not be denied. One of the best suplex struggles ever (only to be topped by their one at G-1 Climax), Honma avoids the Brainbuster with a knee to the top of the head and hits one of his own! Honma Driver! C'mon ref! That was three, how much money do you have on this! Ishii is deadweight and collapses twice. Honma crashes and burns on the diving headbutt. Ruh Roh! Ishii drills him with a wicked Zidane headbutt to the head and a German suplex levels the playing field. During the strike exchange, it looks like Honma has Ishii on the ropes, but Ishii manages to hit an enziguiri, a sliding lariat and then his Brainbuster to quash the dreams of Honma and children everywhere. This was a superb performance by two great wrestlers that understood their characters. Ishii went a different route than the usual beat the underdog down and let him comeback. Instead, he got his ass handed to him and looked like he was dead to rites, but was able to fight through the pain to hang onto the title. Ishii never looked weak. It just so happened that the DDT and suplex injured him badly, but he kept fighting. The crowd was so excited for the possibility of Honma winning it never felt like Ishii babyfaced himself by fighting from underneath. I think I like the Shibata match a tad bit more, but this was tons of fun also. ****1/2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tomohiro Ishii vs Tomoaki Honma - G-1 Climax 2014 Bring on the rematch BABY! I actually preferred the offensive layout in this match as opposed to the previous because they really built to the Honma offense well and it was a tighter match, but this match does not have the same level of world-class Ishii selling. Ishii sells in this one per usual, but the 5/3 match was something special. There is definitely a ***** match if you combine the two of these matches, but as it stands still a badass set of matches. Honma misses his falling headbutt early and Ishii pounces with headbutts and chops. I prefer that opening as opposed to boring opening strike exchange of the previous match. Then there is incredibly awesome suplex struggle. You really get the feeling that if Honma does win the suplex battle that it is fucking over for him and this is going to be a blowout. Honma gets some offense in, but again misses the falling headbutt. They go all Kobashi/Sasaki, but unlike those two it is not pure masturbation. Honma beats back Ishii, wins the exchange and finally hits the falling headbutt! A strike exchange that goes somewhere! YES! Ishii tries to salvage this with a back drop driver, but Honma comes roaring out of the corner with a lariat and then a piledriver. For somebody with no neck, Ishii's certainly gets hurt a lot. They repeat the urgent sequence from the last match where they are on top of each other, which seems weird after a piledriver. Honma hits his DDT and then Ishii goes into classic Ishii selling mode. I don't like Ishii using the delayed superplex in every match or at least how he sets it up. If it creatively happened by chance in each match that would be one thing, but to actually give your opponent the high ground is just stupid to me. Ishii is looking for his powerbomb, but Honma deadweights he gets it. Now is looking for his brainbuster, roll through by Honma 1->2->NO! We all went crazy for that. In all the discombobulation, Honam dumps Ishii on his head via suplex. Go Honma Go! Honma brainbuster gets two and he is looking for the Honma Driver! They have another great stand up exchange where they look like they are fighting through each other's shit, but again Honma falls prey to Ishii's enziguiri/lariat/brainbuster combination. Honma needs to scout that enziguiri. It has done him in twice. This is a fun little sprint which Honma gets in his hope spots to rile up the crowd, but ultimately falling short. Honma's offense is set up really well early on. Both wrestlers are so great at generating drama late and that standup exchange was awesome. One day Honma, one day! ****1/4

Hey can you let the me and my Sleeze Synod (those would be my fans) know at what time the promo starts so they don't have to waste their time with the rest of the podcast? TORCHED~! Also, can someone keep stats on how much this show's viewership skyrockets in comparison to the "Super" Shows (the only true Super Show is one that talks about me) that when in 20 years when there is a Brainbuster Hall of Fame, there will be hard evidence of me being a bonafide draw. Grimmas, I look forward to meeting you and then kicking your ass, brutha.

Oh no, my bragging rights are immortal because there can only be ONE first ever and you are so lucky to be reading the words of The First Ever Winner of The First Ever Pro Wrestling Trivia Internet Podcast, Brainbuster!

I am in Camp Hammer all the way, BABY!

I just got a free burrito from Chiptole because I can WOOOOOOOOOOOOO really well! Man, I love Ric Flair and I love pro wrestling!

So how much Harley Race as a babyface exists? Is Central States pretty much the only place he worked face? It dawned on me watching this match that Race is way more entertaining to me as a face with a ton of spots and tough punches than he is as a bumping, stooging champion. I think kicking ass would have fit his gravely voice and persona better thus if he was a face he would have gotten to show that side of him. It is a fun exhibition of what could have been if Harley Race was a kick ass babyface. Cool watch. Also love the bounty angle come around to fuck with Harley on this go around. They need to bring back the bounty angle. Imagine if Daniel Bryan had a bounty placed on his head by the Authority this past Rumble...missed opportunities.

As The First Ever Winner of The First Ever Pro Wrestling Trivia Internet Podcast, Brainbuster, I have to say both of those are fucking awesome! Great work, Word Hoard, making the show look good, makes the champ look good.

Team Cena (John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, The Big Show, Ryback, Rowan) vs The Authority (Seth Rollins, Luke Harper, Rusev, Kane and Mark Henry) - WWE Survivor Series 2014 When Survivor Series Elimination Matches are done right they are hard to top. A booker can take advantage of more moving pieces in terms of the number of wrestlers in a match and the number of finishes afforded to him. It allows for more pairings and no dull moments with each tag there is a new combination. The arc follows a more traditional sports-oriented approach where there is a scoreboard and teams fall behind and have to work hard to catch back up. I think this match should go down as one of the best Survivor Series Tags of all time. The hardest thing for Survivor Series tags to overcome ususally is the stigma that they are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. While it turned out to be true that this Survivor Series tag was just as inconsequentlal as most, at the time, this match really felt huge and meaningful to everyone in the match, outside the ring, the announcer and the live audience. I would say in terms of big match feel this ranked only behind Cena/Lesnar at Summerslam and the Bryan matches at Wrestlemania. Everyone played their roles to a T. Triple H and Stephanie just absolutely and totally rocked it on the outside. I loved HHH firing up Mark Henry and really laying it on thick only for Henry to walk into the WMD. Damn! It was the perfect start to the match. Triple H goes from all revved up to total dejection. The heels fell flat on their faces. The babyfaces start hot and the crowd is whipped into a frenzy and they never really let go. One of my biggest hang-ups watching this live was the treatment of Ryback. I am a Ryback fan. When Ryback was at nadir of his career teaming with Curtis Axel against the Dust Brothers for the umpteenth time at the Money In The Bank, I got a "Feed Me More" chant started because damnit, I was not going to let him die. They redebut him and he feels like a big deal. He is presented as the piece that will tip the scales in either team's directions. Then he is the first person pinned on Team Cena!?!?!?! Do I think that if you switch Ryback and Big Show's roles that the story, the match and the aftermath would be 1000000x better? Yes. Did I overreact and basically underrate a match because of it? Yes. I just wanted to get that out there. I love that babyfaces got a long shine by modern WWE standards. This is what Rollins brings to the table that really not other heel does right now. He can pinball bump like a muthafucka and really create energy for a babyface. Whether it is being swatted by the Big Show or Ryback tossing him up, it takes the onus off the babyface to solely get the crowd involved. To be fair to their treatment of Ryback, he does get a huge run of offense before he is eliminated. Rollins gets tossed around. Harper takes a stalling suplex. Kane comes in gets his ass kicked. Hell, Rusev looks vulnerable before in all the chaos Rollins takes advantage with a timely Curb Stomp and eliminate him. I love the heels taking advantage of a melee like that. What is interesting is I remembered that Rusev was presented as the game-changer for the heels, but that was incorrect it was always Harper. Rusev was special because any nearfall or any time he looked vulnerable triggered a big reaction, but it was Harper that actually turned the tide for the heels. Show actually looked strong against Rusev, but it was a well-timed dropkick by Harper that gave the heels their first advantage. The Big Show face in peril segment was the lull in the match, but it was to set up Dolph's first entry into the match and he was supposed to be the star of the show. Ziggler gets a quick burst of offense before Harper plants him. The Ziggler face in peril set up the in-match swerve and the finish beautifully even if it was a bit boring. Rusev busting out the knees again was awesome! After a Ziggler hope spot nearfall, a melee ensues, but this time does not benefit the heels as Rusev belly flops onto an announce table while HHH was egging him on. Triple H's frustration at Rusev not being able to make it to his feet and J & J desperately, but futilely trying to carry Rusev to the ring was the great character work that enhanced the atmosphere of this match. The babyfaces are up at this, but they are not soaring quite as high as earlier in the match. Down 4-3, Rollins took the match into his own hands and executed Shield tactics that being create havoc and always press. The curb stomp to Cena to save Kane forced Cena to tag in Rowan. I did not even notice how awesome Harper/Rowan was. Harper is fucking amazing. It was just a gnarly powerhouse fight. Again, Rollins took advantage and flew in with a knee to the side of the head so that Harper could collect the victory. This all sets up the Big Show turn beautifully. Ziggler is out on the floor from his face in peril and Cena is staggered from the Curb Stomp. It is effectively 3-on-1 and BOOM! Awesome in-match heel turn, logically sound. Triple H handshake was great and Steph doing the Yes! Chant to Cena was awesome. Loved the St. Louis crowd chanting for Randy Orton twice. A member of the main roster is actually over now that is awesome! This is the part of the match I expected to hate, but I actually thought Ziggler was really, really good in this. I expected it to be dead-fish sell and then zero to sixty, rinse, lather, repeat. I thought he did a great job actually building to climaxes and not switching shit off and on. The segment with Kane was worked beautifully. Kane looks like it is a slam dunk, Ziggler staggers and hits his KO blow to eliminate. He has life and the crowd and HHH & Steph respond accordingly. The worst part of the match is actually this Harper segment. Harper mauls him and then loses to a roll-up. It is really hard to book this middle segment. Either scratch it or they could have had Ziggler beat Harper like he did Kane and then when Kane comes in he just destroys him no selling. The Harper beating made it look too incredulous when Ziggler got the roll-up. I thought they did a great job in the Rollins segment building to everything. Rollins was on top, but Ziggler kept hitting more and more moves. Ziggler really paced his offense well and he seemed to be getting stronger with every shot. The interference was well-paced. Ziggler gets a close nearfall and here come the stooges which sends Steph into HHH. Ziggler gets the Zig Zag and HHH says fuck it and Pedigrees him. I wish it was Orton that came out and RKO'd HHH, but Sting was pretty cool. Just do not give a single fuck about Sting/HHH. The finish pretty much sucks because they had built Ziggler into a believable babyface winner over Rollins and he just needed a bit of help like an RKO to Trips, but instead it became all about HHH/Sting, which is too bad. The aftermath and the finish take a lot of wind out of the sails of this one, but for the vast majority of this match is incredibly compelling and you really did not know what would happen next. Everything felt urgent and immediate. The babyfaces were on fire early and you thought they could run away with this. Rollins using Shield tactics to create opportunities for his partners was greta heel strategy. Harper being the heel stud badass was great. The Big Show turn even if Ryback would have been better was freaking awesome. Hell, even the majority of the Ziggler run was some of the best Ziggler ever as he actually modulated his selling and bursts of offense well. Very, very entertaining and like most WWE matches wish they followed up on this better! ****1/4

Parv, those are mighty fine comments and I really appreciate them that's exactly what I seek to achieve. DaWho, I have only watched the 88 Real World Tag League Final and a couple of the Choshu tags so I can't comment in good conscience yet, but if I have some time I will look into them.

Bayley rocked that fatal 4-way and I think she stole the show from Sasha Banks. She was a great fired-up babyface and was really exciting to watch. Yes, I agree with Pete and Johnny. Bayley is more than a silly character. She is the eternal optimist and even though everyone thinks she is naive or innocent or what have you, when it comes to between the bells, she has her head down and is going to be ferocious. What the fuck was up with Corey Graves and Becky Lynch? I mentioned it in the main thread. Pete, it is Metal or Devil Horns. I really like chicks that head bang, but then I found out she was more into punk and grunge and as a metalhead totally lost interest in her. She was brutal whenever she needed to run in the ring. Some decent throws. Rock-a-bye-Baley was an awesome call, Will. Hey, Johnny, leave us Bostonians like Albert alone.

I hate listening to my own voice, but I may just need to listen to the middle now. We just scratched the surface of Rotundo is the shits, just wait until we get to the New US Express with Spivey, most boring tag team ever and rightfully forgotten. Thanks Chad for the praise. Johnny or you can look at it like Lord Al being a holier than thou heel because victim-blaming is always heelish.

Was it widely known the Attitude Adjustment was the name for Luger's pile driver in 91? I just found out watching his tag match at Starrcade 91.

Where the hell has this John Cena been for the majority of his career? Compared to some heels, Rusev has been downright nice to Cena. Cena just absolutely went ape shit! I loved it! Definitely the best feud going today and I feel like they have only scratched the surface. I don't think they will blow their wad in a week and I really hope this gets extended to Wrestlemania! Good stuff!

Now, I am all caught up on advertising my blog pieces: The first looks at the Best of Pro Wrestling NOAH from 2000-2002 with links to all major matches during the years even if they are not in the main blog. I love Kobashi's run on top, but these may be my favorite years from NOAH. It felt fresh from All Japan with a different look, some new characters and some wrinkles in match length here and there. The Akiyama push out of the gate beating Misawa and Taue on the same night and then drilling Kobashi after match and then the following match choking Kobashi out just set the tone. Ultimately, it grew lethargic, but those first couple years were just plain awesome. Kenta Kobashi, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Takeshi Rikio vs. Jun Akiyama, Yoshihiro Takayama, Kentaro Shiga - NOAH 9/25/00 ***1/4 Standard fun NOAH six-man. Kikuchi stands out from the pack. Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Hashimoto & Alexander Otsuka - NOAH 1/13/01 ***1/2 It is Hashimoto vs Misawa. If that is not must-see, I don't know what is. Rat Boy is badass per usual. Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama & Vader - NOAH 1/13/01 **** #88 of 100 Huge Vader Lariats and even bigger NODOWAS~! Scariest Vadersault ever. Great tag team match. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - GHC Hvywt Championship SemiFinals 04/11/01 ***3/4 Sprint! Super fun, NOAH just kept getting longer and longer. Love these early shorties. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue - NOAH 05/18/01 ****1/2 #34 of 100 It is Taue so efficient and compact at no expense to a great story. Taue delivers a great full court press. Tamon Honda vs Daisuke Ikeda - NOAH 09/01/01 ***1/2 Wrestler vs striker. Fun NOAH mid-card bouts back when those used to happen. GHC Heavyweight Champion Yoshinari Ogawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NOAH 9/7/02 ****1/2 #21 of 100, 2002 NOAH Match of the Year Best heel vs heel match ever? Bully vs Rat Boy. So different but both epitomize why I love wrestling. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/02/defenders-of-faith-akira-taue-mitsuharu.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWE NXT is something I have heard so much about, but I never had time to really invest in the project. I finally took the time to watch all 4 specials of 2014 and really loved how fun, different and breezy the product was. I really thought the first couple episodes epitomized pro wrestling with the focus on wins & losses, pride & respect and fun & outrageous characters. I have become a huge Sami Zayn and women's wrestling fan because of NXT. Nothing better than Sasha Banks winning the Women's title last week! Well-deserved! Match Listing: Cesaro vs Sami Zayn - NXT Arrival 2/14 ****1/2 Cesaro best heel performance. Zayn rocks as the never say die face. A Matter of Respect. MOTYC. NXT Women's Champion Paige vs Emma - NXT Arrival 2/27/14 FIGHT! Paige was vicious, just gnarly kicks. Emma is underrated. Best women's match of the year. Charlotte vs Natayla - NXT Takeover 5/29/14 Vacant NXT Women's Championship ***1/2 A statement on what the division could be. Felt too much like an exhibition. NXT Champion Neville vs Zayn vs Kidd vs Tyler Breeze - NXT Takeover 9/14 Decent action, but loved the finish. Finish sets up Zayn vs Neville perfectly. NXT Women's Champion Charlotte vs Sasha Banks -NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14 ***1/2 Sasha Banks is Da Boss! Great heel performance early. Finish stretch went too long. NXT Champion Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn - NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14 Sami finally wins the big one in grand fashion with an incredibly dramatic finish. NXT on fire with finishes! http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-flair-for-inzayn-sami-zayn-charlotte.html

Breeze is my kinda character and have been a fan as soon as I heard Mmm Gorgeous was his catchphrase. Up until that match, I did not think he had much to offer in matches other than be an "opportunist" heel. Tag match reminded me why I never liked Sin Cara. Even my main man, Kalisto seemed off. I am behind Kalisto as the big breakout star of this NXT class. He will be so versatile from a booking perspective as a utility babyface and he will be super over. Love his potential. Baron/Bull lacked heat. Baron strikes me as totally useless. Bull seems like he has potential, but he needs to get meaner. Put me in the Balor/Neville was an entertaining Indy Spotfest camp. Neville reminds me a lot of the Dynamite Kid. It is all about offense to him and selling is just getting in the way of him hitting his next explosive spot. He would be best served in a tag team either as a heel or a hot tag. He is useless at selling. I did not see upping the ante at all. He hit a fucking double stomp to the head!!! That's the finish, if not it is just MOVEZ~! for the sake of MOVEZ~! There were no transitions, it was just hitting shit for the sake of it. I have seen only two Balor matches and seems perfectly fine. Like to see what he would do in a brawl or a championship match where he is the underdog and needs to sell. Sample size is too small for me to render judgment. LOVED the Women's Fatal 4-Way. Match of the night for me! My girl, Sasha Banks doing it like a Boss and taking the title was awesome. I have to admit Bayley stole the show. She showed more intensity in that match than just about any body on the roster. She was a great fired up babyface. I loved the singles match against Charlotte as a sort of Flair vs Sam Houston TV match. After this performance, Bayley is not Sam Houston, she is the real deal. So what is Corey Graves' beef with Becky Lynch. He seems nominally heel for the most part, but man did he loathe her. I like chicks that headbang so I am cool with the character. She had some nice throws, but she was just there for me. I really like how Charlotte was presented as a world-beater in this. It was only by being outnumbered (Lynch/Banks into LED) or Super Belly-To-Belly Suplex/Sasha Crossface that was able to put Charlotte in danger. Sasha winning relatively cleanly surprised me (yes Bayley's move was crucial for her to apply the crossface). I am a huge fan of The Boss especially the character work, but that celebration needed way more taunting. I mean Charlotte was crying. Mock her! It was too much of a babyface reaction, but just picking nits. Great match! So if the Women's Fatal 4-Way was the match of the night where does that leave Zayn/Owens. Honestly, until the finish salvaged it, I was not feeling it. I really did not feel the hate coming from either of them. If I am really pissed at my friend, am I going to hit a Blue Thunder Bomb? Credit where credit is due, Zayn was rocking with the rights to the head for the most part, but I felt like he was going up against any heel when he was making his comebacks. I thought the beginning was best part until the finish with Zayn getting fed up and hitting the swandive over the ref that acted like a screen. The Owens heat segment was very good, but the transition out of it was pretty weak. Zayn's bumping and selling ensured this match would be great. The run between the heat segment and the finish just did not much for me. They were hitting their signature moves. Once the concussion angle kicked in off the split legged moonsault, I was 100% behind this match. Zayn's glassy-eyed selling was perfect and loved Owens just suffocating with stiff strikes. The powerbombs were sick and a perfect way to end it. It is a great match, but I do not see as a Match of the Year Contender come December. EDIT: I was disappointed by this NXT crowd after how amazing they were for Zayn/Neville. I wrote a piece about how much it restored my faith that crowd not cared about Zayn winning, but they cared how he won. They did not want him to compromise himself to win the title by using the championship belt. I was disappointed how many people cheered Owens. At first I really liked how the Fight Owens Fight was drowned out by Ole Ole Chants. The problem was without Zayn offense you were only going to embolden the Owens fans. Would think that a longer, angrier babyface shine would have made for a better match and crowd dynamics.

I would love that! Definitely beats 20 minute HHH promos every week

NXT Champion Paige vs Emma - NXT Arrival 2/27/14 Sorry Nattie/Charlotte, this is the women's match of the year for me. Paige is so good at intensity compared to the rest of the women's division. I was watching the match with Brie from this past week's RAW and Paige looks like the only one on the roster male or female who cares if she wins or loses. Poor Emma, I maybe biased because I think she is super cute, but I really like her as a wrestler. I think she was really good as the underdog in this match. Paige gets right up in Emma's face and piefaces her. This is definitely the hottest start to a women's match in quite some time. I loved Paige's dropkicks to midsection. I really wish she would bring back her midsection work. Emma is looking for that slingshot, but Paige blocks into the chinlock, which kills the match a bit. I love the Paige spot where people catch her foot and she takes a header. Emma gets the first part of the Emmalock with the slingshot, but Paige counters. Again, Emma takes out Paige's base, which makes sense since Paige is a giant. She is a long drink of water. Emma runs through some good babyface offense that riles the crowd like the Dilemma and Emmamite Sammich. I really loved the surfboard especially Paige's selling. Paige rocks Emma with an elbow on the apron out of desperation, but Emma still in control and hits a powerbomb. Emma is slapping Paige around, fuck I love this. This feels like a fight! Paige hits a wild slap. HOLY SHIT KICK TO THE MIDSECTION! Page Turner, but it only gets two! Paige debuts the Scorpion Crosslock to get the submission victory. This was just a gnarly fight between two badass women. I loved this match. There was nothing cute. It was a bomb throwing sprint. Paige was going to destroy Emma's midsection and Emma looked to take out Paige's base. Emma got off a nice string of offense, but did not have enough in the tank. Paige was able to hit a wild slap and wicked kick to the midsection. Women's match of the year. Damn what a fight! I am so pumped for Paige vs Nikki. ****

Cesaro vs Sami Zayn - NXT Arrival 2/14 NXT is where pro wrestling lives, baby! Where has this Cesaro been on the main roster? No, it is not completely booking's fault. I am taking that bully mentality and those violent heel tendencies. Cesaro is damn great wrestler, make no mistake about it, but he has the same problem that many midcard heels on the main roster have. They do NOT do anything heelish in the context of the match. This is why "This is awesome" is so prevalent because there can't be good without evil and no one is evil in the ring. On this night, Cesaro was a total, unmitigated, unadulterated prick. Zayn is the consummate babyface. He is the lovable underdog character that you believe can win, but know it is not going to be easy. You know he is going to leave it all in that ring and you will never be disappointed by Zayn win, lose or draw. Watch the two out of three falls match first, before you watch this match. Ok, you watched it now, good. Unlike most modern WWE series of matches, this series actually builds layers on top of other matches. The only WWE series that comes close recently is Cena/Lesnar. The beginning of this match was probably my favorite beginning to any match of 2014. It was just so perfect. Zayn has proven from the previous matches that his best chance to elude Cesaro with his quickness, but now being familiar with Cesaro he is combining his natural elusiveness with actual scouting experience. Cesaro shows him up early with his power and gives him a playful slap to the back of the head that gets a rise out of everyone. Cesaro goes for the Giant Swing, but Zayn eludes it with a armdrag to the outside. Zayn goes flying out onto Cesaro and it is fastbreak offense that gets the crowd rocking. Cesaro nips in the bud by catching Zayn off the top and into a backbreaker. Cesaro is just in total bully prick mode throwing Zayn around on the outside and he looks to use the post, but Zayn yanks Cesaro into the post with his feet. Zayn looks to repeat his awesome dive through the turnbuckles, EUROPEAN UPPERCUT! HOLY SHIT! Cesaro had it scouted. Now, we get Cesaro going back to the post and wrapping around the post. Cesaro working the knee was incredible and some of his best work in the WWE. Zayn is killing it selling, but also mixing in hope spots. I loved the whiff on the enziguiri triggering the single leg crab. I love sequences like that. His next spot was for Zayn was his split legged moonsault caught by Cesaro and slams him into the ramp. Damn! That was actually credible countout finish tease and you really feel Zayn's grit and determination to return to the ring. Zayn's first big score is the Exploder into the turnbuckles. I agreed that Zayn needed to get hit some offense at this point in the match, but I thought it was a bit too easy for Zayn and felt more like it was his turn than him earning it. Cesaro goes back to the knee to cut off Zayn’s string of offense and applying a leg wrench using his neck as a fulcrum. Then you move to another interesting aspect of the characters. Cesaro starts to get a little cocky and Zayn takes advantage with roll up out of the Giant Swing. I love how Zayn fights during the Swing; it really makes for an awesome visual and puts over Zayn’s character. During a sloppy Cesaro cover Zayn slides Cesaro over for a two count. Cesaro almost more pissed at himself for letting that happened, crushes Zayn’s head with a double spot that had me popping like crazy. Zayn has another burst of offense using a hurricanarana off the top to set up his Yakuza Kick (I could not understand what Zayn’s name for it is.). Zayn won the first fall of the last match with that move. 1-2-NO! OH shit, you just gave Cesaro your best shot and that has to take a lot of wind out of your sails. Cesaro starts to obliterate with European Uppercuts and Zayn is just rocked, but won’t stay down. Zayn has one last burst of burst and the fists start flying. He throws a wicked German. Can he pull it off? I love Zayn’s selling with him holding his mouth, fighting through the pain and showing great fire looking for that Yakuza Kick, but Cesaro demolishes him with a big boot. Cesaro throw him up and European Uppercut only get one, but Cesaro will not be deterred and hits a roaring European Uppercut and Neutralizer for the win! Zayn and Cesaro just crushed it out there. If there is any NXT match as good as this, then hot damn I am going to be in for one helluva run. Cesaro showed some of his best character work here as an arrogant bully. Zayn’s story of craving that respect and proving himself by defeating the main event bully made for a great hook. He fought to the very end, but eventually succumbed to Cesaro. Then Cesaro comes back to the ring and gives him that respect in the form of a hug. This is a perfect representation of how to get someone over by losing. Everyone came out looking better from this masterpiece. ****1/2