NotJayTabb

Some interesting names in the tournament, some guys who aren't even big names on the UK scene, so this can only help their bookings. Guys like Chris Tyler and HC Dyer I'm familiar with because they mainly work East Midlands indies, but others will be as unaware of them as I am some of the Irish lads who've been announced, and I think that exposure can only help the UK scene. On a personal level, having first seen Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne working in the upstairs room of a Coventry WMC, either of them would be my sentimental pick to win. I think Jack Starz could be the sleeper star of the tournament. He's a Brookside trainee, so he had the connections, and he's just a really solid wrestler, good on the mat and a good storyteller. Hope he gets past the first round.

I think the women's division is on the verge of getting really great. Even aside from the Lovelace/Kimber Lee/rumoured Evie & Nixon Newall signings, you've already got a really solid spine. Asuka/Nikki Cross/Ember Moon are already better than any of the Horsewomen were when NXT started, they just need a hook to get the crowd interested in them. You've got Peyton Royce and Billie Kay as decent midcard hands and the more unknown names like Mandy Rose, Aaliyah and Daria look more promising than early doors Alexa or Nia Jax. There's a basis there to suggest this division will be only getting better in the next 12 months, just need to get these guys connecting with the crowd

Ha, I've started to make a run through the ECW myself. 4 episodes in, and still not a hint of a decent match, but it's still curiously entertaining

Going to C+P what I wrote about this show at DVDVR So, I went to the WCPW #Delete iPPV last night and it was...good. Ish. I've been to plenty of shows with green or below-average talent, where good booking and good match layout have meant it ended up being a good show. In this case, you had a load of really good workers covering up the fact that the booking was lousy. Highlights (both positive and negative) included: - Doug Williams being consigned to a pre-show dark match, against HT Drake doing a comedy Mexican gimmick. Even though Drake is a heel, he's booked as a comedy face. It's not like they're disguising who it is, as he's wearing tights with "Drake" written on the side -Booking a load of matches that are heel vs heel or face vs face. Both the tag title and tag #1 contender had this issue, as did the El Ligero/Cody Rhodes bout. Worst of all, Matt Hardy vs Bully Ray had a clear face/heel divide, before they turned Bully face with a pre-match promo, then turned him heel again in the post-match. Literally, he was only an face when he was facing another face wrestler. -Pete Dunne & Travis Banks had a good match with two local wrestlers, Alex Gracie (who I think is pretty good) and Lucas Archer (who is ok). -Putting one of your titles on an import (Cody) absolutely stinks of 1PW "We're in awe of the ex-WWE" guy booking. They already blew the outcome by having Rhodes put his GFW belt on the line, as you knew they weren't putting it on Ligero, then had Ligs kill off three of his finishers by hitting them back-to-back for Cody to kick out of. The audience admittedly loved Cody, chanting "You deserve it" when he won the title. Not sure how being a career midcarder and the third best member of Legacy translates to deserving an indy secondary belt, but there you go. -Moustache Mountain and Nixon Newell were both really great and really over, so of course they jobbed to the questionable Swords of Essex -Johnny Mundo was due to face Alberto Del Rio, but Alberto was stuck at his airport. As a replacement, they booked Mundo vs Gabriel Kidd, which worked surprisingly well. Kidd is a local wrestler, a trainee from the local Stixx-run House of Pain wrestling school, and despite being only 19 has been wrestling for 6 years. He's mainly wrestled on HOP academy shows, so I had no idea how he would do against a big name like Mundo, but he put on a really good performance. Mundo was really generous in making Kidd look competitive against him, to the point I nearly believed in an upset. This worked. -Rampage vs Primate had great moments, but fell to terrible booking. It was a lumberjack match, but they could only muster 6 lumberjacks, all the lads from the two pre-show matches. Rampage and Primate threw big bombs at each other, before Rampage looked to have the bout won. But no, Primate's stablemates Gracie and Archer, who were lumberjacks, came in to attack Rampage. This was right in front of the ref, but rather than draw a DQ, the match continued and allowed Primate to choke Rampage out for the win. The question is: why didn't Primate's team just attack Rampage at the bell if there was seemingly no DQ? -Hardy vs Bully was a reasonable no DQ match, which still saw a ref bump and one of the What Culture "personalities" run in to low blow Matt, leading to the Bully win. This, on top of a table spot being teased but not delivered, seemed to piss off a lot of the crowd, and there was a mass exodus before the next match started... -...which is a shame because Johnny Moss/Liam Slater vs the Coffey Brother was the match of the night to this point. The highlight was any time Moss and Joe Coffey squared off, two big tanks exchanging big bombs and massive suplexes. Loved this -Martin Kirby vs Will Ospreay in a 2/3 falls match was even better. Heel Ospreay is exactly the route he needs to take, as he was excellent as a smarmy dickhead. It'd also be better for his long-term wellbeing as, aside from a few big bumps, he didn't need to give his body anywhere near as much abuse. After both won falls with roll-ups (Ospreay's with his feet on the ropes), Ospreay won the final fall with a weapon's shot and a springboard cutter. The post match saw the Matt Hardy table spot finally paid off, as he rescued Kirby from a beatdown from Ospreay's goon squad, and set Ospreay up for Kirby to hit a top rope powerbomb through a table -Finally, the main event. This was a triple threat steel cage match for Joseph Conners' WCPW title. The opponents were Joe Hendry (who I quite like, but looked bushleague as fuck with his gold ring jacket and big grey granny-pants trunks) and Drew Galloway, who was fucking massive compared to his opponents. This was all really good, as all three guys can go, and the cage setting meant no "wrestler lies on the floor for ages whilst the other two fight". But then, the ending. No idea what that was all about. Hendry was up-and-over on the cage, when Conners called out to him, with Galloway set in position for his finisher, the Righteous Kill. No-one could hear what he was saying, but it lured Hendry to climb back into the ring. As this was happening, Galloway broke free and hit the Futureshock DDT on Conners. Rather than break the pin, Hendry decided to try to escape the cage again, which of course gave Galloway time to pin Conners and win the title. Not sure if the idea was that Hendry thought Conners could hits his finisher on Galloway and pin him before Hendry could escape, but it seemed unlikely, given that Hendry was 3 rungs from the win. Just an odd ending, and more proof that the booking in WCPW leaves a lot to be desired.

Yeah, I agree that Becky is one of the best two women workers on the roster, probably just pipping Charlotte to top. I think she's been given less great big match opportunities than the other 3 horsewomen, but she's excelled each time she's been given the chance (vs Charlotte at RR, vs Banks at an early NXT Takeover). I also think her overall all round ability is why she's been put on Smackdown where the heel side of the roster are either still green (Carmella, Alexa) or tired acts (Natalya). She's a much better face than Charlotte and feels more likely to get a good match out of these girls than Sasha or Bayley.

Always been a Goldberg fan, so this was great to watch. What I loved is the timing of the spears. No Lesnar having to wait around for a few seconds, watching Goldberg spear him like a chump - the second he was in place, he was getting speared again. That little bit of execution made the whole deal work so well

Very sad news, such a horrible disease. RIP

Yeah, Enzo's biggest problem is that, once the bell rings, he's nowhere near as over as when he's talking, which wouldn't be as big an issue for Dillinger. Be another big loss for NXT though, I've read in the past that Tye works as a player/coach, working with the younger talent in the Performance Centre.

End up being a really fun show. Obviously, Douglas isn't in his prime, but they gave him the right opponent in Malen, an experienced head who will work in a load of schtick and playing to the crowd so that Douglas doesn't have to work hard to keep up. Douglas seemed genuinely pleased to be there, which always helps. Jester/McLuskey was a really good main event, felt like both guys complemented the other well, and the undercard was decent. Good6-man tag featuring Martin Kirby, El Ligero, two heels and two referees and a fun Barricade squash match.

This Friday, I'll be going to HOPE Wrestling in Mansfield headlined by Shane Douglas vs Paul Malen and Jack Jester vs Jake McLuskey. I've also got tickets for WCPW in Nottingham with Matt Hardy and Alberto Del Rio

The good thing about this match is you assume it won't be the kind of dreadful "Suplex City" match we've been subjected to for the past 2 years. Goldberg isn't taking 16 German suplexes

I think I'm higher on the Hart Foundation than a lot of people. Then again, I voted Bret as #1 on GWE, so I'm generally higher on Bret than most people anyway.

I'd go Funk, Savage and, to throw two new candidates into the mix, Bret and Regal. Regal, to me, is an absolute all rounder. Bumbling heel dressed like a pirate wench for laughs? Yep. Vicious heel cruelly stretching guys? Yep. Fired-up babyface promising a violent revenge on HHH for assaulting Eugene? Yep. Can work convincing vicious brawls with Finlay as convincingly as working guys over on the mat or doing some comedy schtick dressed as Goldust. Bret is a guy I always found believable in every role he played. Whether working as an underdog against Yok or Diesel, slugging it out with Austin or domineering face ace vs 1-2-3 Kid, Bret never felt unconvincing in those roles. He was a great, virtuous face and made the switch to being a heel without it ever seeming forced or like a massive switch in his personality. Whichever role he had to fill, he was always right for the role and always still felt like the same character.

Ha, hate it when that happens. Had the same thing when I'd been booking Mason Ryan/Rob Terry as my all-conquering Welsh power team....then forgot to book them to win their tag title match, meaning they lost in 2 minutes rather than squashing the champions. Furious. Well, given that yourself, Regal and Hayes are all lords, it does seem awfully vulgar that you have to get physically involved. Surely times aren't so hard that Lord Regal can't afford some staff to prevent you having to sully yourself in this manner.

Unless I've missed a repackaging, who on earth is Calypso Jim and why is he beating Chris Jericho in a jobber match? Also, whilst I am really enjoying all this, I honestly can't believe you booked yourself to attack Sid Vicious

Been revisiting these pods in the last few weeks (GWE nostalgia?), and had forgotten how entertaining they were. Is the DVDVR history podcast still in the pipeline, as I get the feeling that could be great.

The only way Global Force exists these days is that Jarrett and a few others (Dutt, Masters, Magnus) turn up as a package at indie shows and they get branded as co-events. I've got a DVD of a PCW/GFW show, where only 3 Global Force guys turn up, and hilariously they win every match (including one PCW's biggest stars, Noam Dar, putting over Jarrett)

Tom Zenk would be a MASSIVE upgrade over Ziggler (says the GWE Zenk high voter)

Is that Nathan Cruz as in the BritWres guy? Seems like an odd choice to turn up for (I assume) a one-off title shot.

I think there is a New Day link there. On one of the pre-Network UpUpDownDown episodes, Woods was giving out a code to give you a free months trial for Crunchy Roll.

I watched a really great Sheamus vs Titus match from a 2014 Main Event last night, and they were both laying in some great looking punches. Sheamus in particular had really great body shots.

Nope. This is the only time goc and I will agree completely. Rollins is no bueno, especially in this current incarnation. The main event scene with Owens is embarrassing. Owens could be THE babyface on the red brand. He has that talent and charisma. There's no reason that he shouldn't be the "it guy", but instead he's just a supporting cast member in the Steph/Triple H/Mick Foley vanity fair. After last weeks show, where Owens eviscerated Rollins so badly in that backstage segment that Foley had to tell him "That's enough", I thought they'd maybe seen sense and decided to have Owens as the face and Rollins as the heel, especially as he still did that annoying laugh. This week's show seemed to suggest he was turning face, despite the reasoning being "he's annoyed because he wasn't the one who got to cheat his way to the title".

I'm pleased to say you haven't gone mad. I've seen enough Bellomo in enough different settings to know he's terrible, and this is the first time I've enjoyed one of his matches. I think a large part of that is Funk making him look really good, but I think Sal had to raise his game facing someone as good as Funk. I mean, this is a guy who looked wimpy in a match against Bobby Heenan, and here he's all fired up on offence, really focuses work on Terry's shoulder at first. Funk is obviously very generous in the match (maybe too generous? Should Sal Bellomo be powering out of your sleeper?), and for sure his selling and bumping make Sal look better than he is. There's a few bit of business Funk puts in there to add flavour to what could've been a drier match - the bump on the announce table and the argument with the ref. As you said, the fact I watched a near 15min Bellomo match and enjoyed it makes Funk a miracle worker

I love Funk destroying the ring attendant, what a great first impression for people who hadn't seen him before. I'm looking forward to watching the Bellomo match to see Funk work a miracle - I watched the first ECW Hardcore TV last week with 2 Bellomo matches and he was terrible.

I'm sure I'm going to end up thinking of loads of answers, but off the top of my head: Tom Zenk vs Brian Pillman (Wrestlewar 92) Prefer this to Pillman's match with Liger at Superbrawl due to the storyline aspect. The fact that both knew each other so well due to tagging, and the idea that Zenk was stronger but Pillman was quicker, gave it a bit more depth. Kidman vs Mikey Whipwreck (Uncensored 99) Fun PPV opener, and I loved the dynamic of Whipwreck being this big bully cruiser who was wrecking Kidman with top rope back suplexes and wheelbarrowing him face first into the safety rails. I wish that dick bully Whipwreck beasting the cruiser division had been a thing, but he was back jobbing to Scotty Riggs by the next PPV I've also been watching old episodes of Main Event for my blog, and there's been a few gems crop up. The best of which are: Mark Henry vs Dean Ambrose (11/3/14) Henry looks like an utter badass as he stares down all 3 Shield members at the start. Heel Ambrose was so much better than what we get now, more vicious. He hits this great diving punch to the back of Henry's knee and does these great little touches he doesn't bother with nowadays. The Wyatt Family vs Sin Cara & Los Matadores (11/2/2014) This was shortly before the Wyatts/Shield match at Elimination Chamber, and really is a reminder of why everyone was so excited about the Wyatts. They're awesome beasts here, a total contrast to their high-flying opponents, and Bray in particular is so explosive with his offence. The face team are great at timing their comebacks, and look really great in their shine spots. Los Matadores were terrific on Main Event in this time period (there's a Rybaxel match from the same month that's also good), glad they're getting a small push at the moment.