Jimmy Redman

Really enjoyed the first and third matches from...I guess it's from last week by now. Gallagher is amazing and super and dooper and everything and just a license to print hipster NXT middle class money. I am all in. He was great in this working the leg, and Tozawa to his credit was great selling the leg and getting more and more pissed off. Finish was a bummer but was a hella impressive visual nonetheless. Kendrick is so great right now. I don't think there was a single veteran shortcut he didn't take here short of going full-blown heel: eye pokes, hair pulling, beard pulling, boot scraping, using the ropes, using the turnbuckle, getting out of the way...he was doing EVERYTHING he possibly could, because he's a 37 year old decrepit pot smoking veteran motherfucker who is up against a guy in his physical prime who has power and speed and hits hard and, oh by the way, who took Kendrick's head clean off in the first move of the match. Desperate Kendrick is outstanding. Nese was good in this too I thought, he showcased his 'Premier Athlete' stuff nicely and really came off like he was desperate to win too. The struggle on the mat with Kendrick going for armbars and shit was gritty and fascinating. I'm with Bryan now, I'm going to be so sad when he doesn't win the whole thing. I hope he's at least got a NXT run out of this.

The ladder match won MOTY. I say this with love but Dylan and co. were in the minority.

I don't know where you were hanging but Jericho was massively praised online in 2008-09. He was generally considered to be the best worker in the company, and won the WO Flair/Thesz Award both years almost entirely on the strength of his work in and out of the ring.

How is this news? Dave has been prioritising MMA over wrestling events for years. He gets press passes for one, not the other, sport needs live coverage more than entertainment, and he gets way more interest in UFC stuff than wrestling. MMA IS his priority and has been for years.

So I just caught up on the first hour since I slept in this morning, and wow, everyone is sleeping on Sasha vs Charlotte pretty fucking badly, I thought it was spectacular. I assume people were more worried about Sasha's near death experience, or the result, and got taken out of the match, so I think watching it after the fact helped me. I mean I'm worried about her too, but Sasha is basically Hokuto at this point and I'd be more surprised if she got through a match without trying to kill herself at least once. Anyway I thought the match itself fucking rocked. I liked the early tension and the slaps. Charlotte is great at using her size to throw her weight around and just toss some bitches. Aside from the botches (and Jesus that first one was ugly and scary as hell) she looked great, laying shit in, and really selling the final stanza with her emoting and trash talking, which she's improved at remarkably for someone who was wooden as a plank in NXT. Sasha was all fired up and ready to die for our sins, and also went in hard and threw those really nice knee strikes and shit. She was super great selling the back all the way through. I liked the cool stuff they went for like the crab through the ropes, or even just Charlotte kicking her leg out from her leg to send her into the corner. The girls seem to have this sense of freedom to look at certain moves and movements in the ring and come up with ways to do them or play off them that you might not expect. And that Super Mega Razor's Edge-Rana counter was fucking INSANE. I'm actually annoyed that people are or were too preoccupied with Sasha dying to really appreciate that spot because they fucking nailed it and it was NUTTY AS BALLS. The Natural Selection-Bank Statement counter was smooth as silk too, I loved that. And the finish! I mean I'm pissed Sasha lost, but what a way to get there. Both girls throwing bombs. Sasha's back is fucked but Chsrlotte can't put her away and starts throwing her standard late-match tantrum. But this time, she has no Flair or Dana to turn to at this point, as she usually would. So the battle rages on. Sasha's back is still fucked but she has an ace left in the hole, the Bank Statement, which she finds yet ANOTHER way to transition into and it looks like she's survived this beating, only for Charlotte to use her biggest strength, the strength she's been using to best effect all night - her size advantage - to roll her up, and then all of that back work pays off as Sasha's back is just too fucked for her to be able to kick the bigger girl off her. Ball game. I mean, the back work lead directly to the finish! There is nothing more PWO than that, y'all should be dancing in the streets right now. Great match. I also appreciated what I assumed was Sasha's newest Eddie cosplay outfit, this time from his days as a jacket-wearing babyface in WCW circa 1995. On another note, I also appreciated Enzo's attempt to set a record for Most New York Cliches Uttered in Under Two Minutes, if only because it lead an entire crowd to burst into the first verse of 'Juicy'.

Also, for all the division has been shit on in the last month, the SD women went out there for a dead random six man, and lowkey had one of the better matches on the show. Certainly one of the least offensive. Eva's troll was note perfect and outstanding, Nikki got a pretty big reaction (one of the things you notice going to house shows is just how over the Bellas actually are, particularly with children, of all people), Carmella actually played a good FIP, Naomi is a dancing, leaping face again, Becky is always great, the match was well worked, and Nikki got to forearm some bitch in the face and debuted a cool new finish. It may have been the only match that left me more excited about the participants than when it began.

Also I don't know if y'all got the Australian tour promo but I sure as hell got the Australian tour promo, and I may be a jaded GWE survivor who can't sit through wrestling anymore, but I sure as HELL gon' pay through the nose to sit at this show and sing the bars of every song CFO$ has ever wrote. Don't sell Vince short, he still knows how to fleece the marks.

I liked Cena/AJ a lot, and I think the finish is really what got it there for me. In the middle when they no-sold the apron suplex and did the annoying 'we both hit our finishers one after the other to reset for the second half' thing that Cena now needs to purge from his matches they were losing me, but they saved it with the final third, creating some dramatic moments with the rana-forearm nearfall and the super FU kickout, and then bringing it home with AJ actually getting the win. AJ having to kick out of everything on earth, leading Cena to sell it like he'd never seen a guy kick out of so much stuff before, in order to pin the man clean, gives it a story and a weight that puts it above the totally mindless spamming of something like Cena/Rock II. If Cena is going to lay down clean it's going to take pretty much all of that. This is the world we live in. It may not be economical, but it's consistent with the style and the levels of stuff Cena has kicked out of before.

This show was the greatest advertisement for NXT that ever was. Seriously, WWE could save some coin by scrapping whatever they're spending on marketing for NXT, and just keep putting out the current product, throwing out a "Reminder, NXT and CWC is on Wednesdays" as the credits roll.

I was going to come in here and start swearing my head off the same as I always do after watching a Takeover, and I may still do, but this caught my eye and really it says so much more than I'm capable of right now: NXT broke you out of your lizard suit. I could just cry.

I'm sorry for hijacking this for a grammatical question, but can I just confirm that you're using bi-weekly to mean once every two weeks? To others, is bi-weekly the word you would use? Curious Australians thank you in advance.

I liked a lot about this show. Bayley and Asuka were really good, with Bayley trying to Bayley Up as much as she possibly could to try to match the threat of Asuka, even going back into the ring to poke the bear one more time, just to completely guarantee her death. Asuka has kind of been lost in the shuffle since she won the belt, but now that the focus is back on her you remember how effortlessly scary she is. She was a fucking psycho last week in that squash. And here, again Bayley is trying her best to match up with her, but there's really nothing she can do in the face of a fucking velociraptor. I really can't wait for their match, both to see how good it is and how they work it, but also to see what the finish is and how they handle giving one of these girls a loss. Mojo vs Joe was a sight to see, just to watch five minutes of Mojo Fucking Rawley looking like a real wrestler, instead of a football player pretending to be one. His opening flurry and ESPECIALLY that headbutt exchange on the floor were the kind of things you wish he'd always shown (I'm sure WWE wishes too). Joe is so great. AND THEN, just when Joe was being great, SHINSUKE comes out for this big pull apart brawl with the champ, he saunters down, shakes, shimmies, taunts...and then casually pinches Summer Joe's nose. The greatest moment in the history of our great sport. The "GOT YOUR NOSE" chant made my night. Shinsuke has a deathwish, but also he's kind of Shinsuke so he's not actually going to die and these guys are going to beat the utter fuck out of each other and damn how soon is Takeover again? Bobby Roode's Music is fucking EVERYTHING.

So that was pretty fucking awesome. I swear to God, Mauro Ranallo during the first match is the most 'Through the Looking Glass' I've felt as a smark watching WWE yet. Forget WWE channeling its inner smark, this was WWE channeling its inner Dylan Waco, going on about Tajiri/Finlay from SMASH and the Tajiri/Crazy feud, while Tajiri himself and Metalik work a match full of tricked out lucha matwork and struggle and shit. WWE is PWO. When Hunter came out at the end I half expected Mauro to start comparing him to various wrestlers. So Tajiri and Metalik have that great, tight, different match and you think well, the standard has been set for the second round. And then HOLY FUCKING SHIT IBUSHI AND CEDRIC. Before the match began I would have probably rolled my eyes at the idea of Cedric Alexander having this epic, match-of-his-life kickout-a-thon here, in the first week of the second round. To be honest I wouldn't have been able to tell Cedric apart from any number of the young, athletic flippydoes from the indies. By the time the match ended I was going fucking insane screaming at this dude to kickout. What a match. They had a nice little story going with Cedric wrestling his hero which had three acts to it - first he's overawed by wrestling his idol so he has to stay focused (he did), then his familiarity with Ibushi gives him an in-built scouting report that he can use to counter his stuff (he did), and finally it makes him determined to wrestle the match of his life and throw absolutely everything at this guy (he sure as hell did). There was a great sequence ending in some rollups early that felt like they went ten minutes without taking the pencil off the page. Some of these strikes were sickness, and Bryan spitting out expletives halfway through a sentence when they connected with one was awesome. The final moments were amazing, from THAT INSANE NEARFALL, to Cedric's reaction, to Ibushi finally catching him with the German and killing him. I liked how mirrored those two spots were - Cedric hit the brainbuster and the kick, and then Ibushi hit the German and kick, and because Ibushi is just that little bit better, he finished him off with the powerbomb as well. That was flippydoes done right, it was star making, and it was EXACTLY what the CWC needs to look like. A million thumbs up. I so loved the post-match too. Cedric crying and the people giving him the big standing O, and "PLEASE SIGN CEDRIC" and then Papa Hunter coming out to basically say "Don't worry, I will." That was everything. I no longer regret voting for Hunter. That was one of the most enjoyable hours of wrestling you're likely to find.

From memory it was that Cena in the moment thought that his arm was legitimately fucked up (you can see him saying as much on camera) so he ad libbed the promo to thank the crowd because he figured he'd be out for months and months - which would have sold the beating if it happened. Instead it turned out he was fine and he cut a going away promo for no reason and looked silly.

Also different methods of communication are different as well. I know a little French and I'm pretty good with reading and writing it, but listening and talking is a LOT harder for me. So I'd probably still want a translator to get through a press conference even if I could read it perfectly well and get by conversationally.

I've finally seen all of the first round now, so I have a couple thoughts. Besides a few exceptions most of the matches were varying degrees of fine, ranging from neat showcases to the unremarkable. That's a first round for you, and I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss a guy out of hand based on one 4-6 minute match, whether it's an unknown international or a guy with a big indy reputation. In fact I think a lot of them showed potential and I'd be happy for WWE to sign any of them up. The matches that stood out were the ones that had two equally strong elements, rather than being a showcase for one, or a perfunctory match for two. Kendrick vs Mendoza was a great little match. Kendrick is one of the most interesting guys in it, with his sunken cheekbones and wild eyes he's nailing the 'desperate veteran' vibe. Bryan also adds a lot to it by barracking for him so openly. And then just when you think this is Kendrick's match vs some scrub, Mendoza comes out luchaing all over the place and being awesome. He got his shine in and looked so good that it gave weight to Kendrick's decision to take a shortcut - Mendoza was pushing him so much that he HAD to go there lest he win in the first round of a tournament that he HAS TO win. That's desperation for you. The second half of Ep 4 was head and shoulders above the rest of the shows so far combined. Jack Gallagher is the best. He is the perfect World of Sport cosplayer of all of my dreams and is already my new favourite wrestler. He's got it all - the look, the gimmick, the manner, and all of the yummy British wrestling goodness to go along with it. I am in love. AND THEN, just when you think this is Gallagher's match vs some scrub, Aichner comes out looking like Cesaro's gorgeous younger brother and is totally awesome too. This was great because Aichner was good enough with the holds to compete, and thus make Gallagher's stuff look that much better when he escaped. And then not only can he hang on the mat and rough it up, he busts out a double springboard moonsault and blows minds. Aichner needs to be signed immediately, he's my new second favourite wrestler. And then Gallagher finishes things with THAT dropkick to the face. That's such a great finish that not is the one link between this 70s throwback and 2016, but is also a death blow that adds physical credibility to such a fun, gentlemanly grappler. I loved everything about this. And yet, Gargano vs Ciampa was something else entirely. It actually brought the whole tournament up a level. Again, I'm not against perfunctory first round matches or exhibition-style showcases, but this is the one match that put this tournament over as not just a fun, exciting novelty, but a legit competition. All the other guys (besides Kendrick) are just so happy to be there - Gargano and Ciampa are willing to literally kill their own best friend in the head until he dies just to get to the next round. Ciampa was a fucking psychopath. He was the star here, taking offense to this Johnny Wrestling bullshit (you got the sense that he has to put up with this shit being his tag team partner, and relished the opportunity to hit the little punk in the face a couple times without repercussions) and mercilessly destroying the guy with shot after shot. Gargano to his credit ate everything like a champ and did the glassy-eyed concussion sell very well. The finish was amazingly done and believable as a way for Ciampa to slip up after that beating, and both guys looked super at the end of this. The post match was perfect and so touching. It's funny that these guys beating the utter shit out of each other is the one thing that has sold me on Ciampa and Gargano as a tag team. (Well, that and #GLORIOUSBOMB) So I've enjoyed this and am really looking forward to the next round now that a lot of the blander guys are gone. Last of all, I'm beating a dead horse by now but fuck, the presentation of this show as an entire package is incredible. I love the sport-like feel with the weigh ins, bracketology, stats, all of it. Plus the different visual set up with the corner entrance, the video game graphics, and then earnest announcing from Mauro and Bryan trying to treat it like a real contest...this is the good stuff. Us smarks haven't stopped pinching ourselves for a few years now, and the pinches seem to come exponentially now, but we can totally add this to the list of "Holy shit, can you imagine someone telling you five years ago that Triple H would organise a WWE cruiserweight tournament with the best indy workers in the world??" This actually makes me think of the vision I had for NXT when they first introduced it as the reality show-style show with Bryan in 2010. When they turned it into a joke show I started fantasy booking an alternative in my head, a much more serious competition that stayed entirely within kayfabe, but treated the wrestlers like athletes who were trying to win matches. In 2010 things like Ultimate Fighter and TNA Reaction and shaky cam and general reality-style shows were all the rage, and I felt WWE really missed the boat with the embarrassing, cartoony piece of shit they produced. I wanted NXT to be WWE's Ultimate Fighter. I started writing NXT S1 in the Armchair Booking folder years ago, and I forgot to finish it. This more than anything has made me want to go back and finish writing it out, but the funny thing is that WWE has changed so drastically in the last few years, between presentation and wrestling style and hiring practices and the entirety of 'what is possible in WWE in 2016 that wasn't remotely possible in 2010'...that my vision of NXT now seems so passe. So stuck in 2010 and the cookie cutter WWE that the company has pushed past in so many ways. For the first time, WWE themselves have actually surpassed my dream for what they could accomplish with more of a "pure sports build". In amongst all of this self-importance is the message that we shouldn't take things like the CWC for granted. Just stop and think about how impossible a pipe dream something like this show would have been five years ago, and enjoy the brave new world that we're all living in now.

First impressions aren't going to be as important as long-term follow through, so I'm not going all crazy about the future of either Raw or Smackdown off the back of one show, but just in terms of one's viewing pleasure this week, as a burnout who chose this week to watch the TV in full for the first time in months, man...this was a tale of two shows. Smackdown somehow managed to combine every single used, worn out trope that both shows need to run like hell from into one package: - Kane beating the shit out of so much fresher talent in the battle royal. - Randy Orton pinning a midcard champion clean and easily for no reason. - Cena FUing everyone on earth in the main event. - The women's promo train that gets everyone in the shot but you come away with no actual direction. - Holding off on your hot new tag team but instead debuting an old guy, who beats the hell out of a younger guy who finally has an interesting role. - Putting a "young" guy "over" by having him shockingly win a big match out of nowhere where it looks like a random fluke, instead of a concerted push. (Compare and contrast Dolph vs Balor - not only in how they won their title shots, but also in the relative freshness of who they chose as well.) - No tag team presence. - Shane and Bryan stealing the spotlight from the wrestlers to close the show. - JBL still yelling. - Nobody given a chance to have a great match. Individually some of those things were fun or fine, but taken all together it came off as all of the worst tendencies of the last 8 years rolled into one. Not a good look in comparison to such a fresh and reinvigorated Raw. Having said all that, history shows us that Smackdown always comes through in the end, no matter how bad the hand it is dealt in drafts, timeslots, roster depth, interest, etc. Every year it would get raped in the Draft, and by the next month or so would seamlessly morph back into the wrestling show. The roster dearth means people will have to step up. Nobody should give up on the show just yet.

Well.

If JBL doesn't go full Londrick on American Alpha there is no saving him.

JBL trying to cover for Zack's botch by saying the ropes get too sweaty in a battle royal was the best thing he's said since like 2012. Also Eva Marie's new troll entrance is everything.

I can't wait to see this now, but why in the name of unholy fuck did they do this now with no warning instead of Summerslam??

If you put Bryan ringside isn't the crowd just going to cheer for him the whole time?

If it had just begun with the Brock stuff instead of ten minutes of forced host-guest "I don't like you" insults first, it would have been fine. Human Orton is always good fun when he pokes his head through the lizard suit.

I'm so pumped that you rate this so highly. This G-1 was when I first gave in to the hype and started watching the big NJPW matches, and this stood out to me as the best one of that period, over all the more pimped matches like Nak/Ibushi, Ishii/Shibata or any of the Tana/Okadas. Like you say, this is total, unbridled excess done completely right, and the upset puts it over the edge.

Anyone surprised that Smackdown is taking it in the ass right now must have never seen a WWE Draft show before.