Backlash 2016: Kicking off the 2 PPVs a month era

[Migs]

Now let's hope they build to Styles-Cena III at Wrestlemania.

[jcmmnx]

I caught most of AJ/Ambrose and really liked it. Pretty cool to see AJ with the real belt he's been the best guy in WWE this year.

[El Dragon]

That was about perfect. That was the best Ambrose singles match, arguably ever, but certainly since Regal, it sets up a rematch, and it's a good time for Ambrose to lose it cause they had no other real challengers lined up for Ambrose, and this match was good enough that I'd actually really enjoy a rematch.

[Matt D]

I was going to say that it was a finish that works better when more than half the crowd doesn't want the guy doing it to win, but the exception is if that guy is Eddy Guerrero or Negro Casas. AJ isn't though. They've booked Ambrose pretty well as champ so it was remarkable how thoroughly he was getting booed when he had an advantage at the end. This is Richmond too.

[NintendoLogic]

AJ Styles is now the second man to be IWGP champion and WWE champion. What a time to be alive.

[...TG]

So nutty to think AJ was wasting away in TNA for so long, now he's quite deservedly the champ. Like Migs said, would love to see a long, slow build to Styles/Cena III at WrestleMania.

[Ricky Jackson]

And the first man to be IWGP, WWE and TNA champ!!!

 

Great match

[Jmare007]

Man can't wait for AJ to have an Ace run till at least Wrestlemania. Dude is something else.

[hammerva]

Not sure if that was just because of Richmond but that was definitely a pro AJ Styles crowd. They were so happy to see him with the belt over Ambrose

[Codysseus]

Probably the best wrasslin' match I've seen from this year. So good. Ambrose usually doesn't do much of anything for me, but Styles just elevates *everybody*. This was the first time since the Shield days that I've really seen any evidence of Ambrose's unpredictable persona while he's wrestling. Repeatedly smashing his leg across Styles's face to escape one hold, slamming his head into the mat repeatedly to escape the calf crusher, the dropkick through the ropes, the dive over the barricade - all awesome stuff.

Styles ability to chain together offense, fitting in regular and not-super-predictable comebacks, all while moving the match forward is better than just about anyone around these days. Looking forward to watching that one again real soon.

[goc]

I was going to say that it was a finish that works better when more than half the crowd doesn't want the guy doing it to win, but the exception is if that guy is Eddy Guerrero or Negro Casas. AJ isn't though. They've booked Ambrose pretty well as champ so it was remarkable how thoroughly he was getting booed when he had an advantage at the end. This is Richmond too.

Never been more proud to be a Virginian.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Smackdown's women's division is so much better than RAW's! Becky Lynch is the best woman on the roster and Nikki is number two. Alexa packs one helluva for a small chick and would say she has better than Sasha recently. Besides Nattie, that is a stacked women's division.

 

Usos heel turn was magnificent. Best turn angle in years! Awesome heel performance against the Hype Brothers (JBL made me laugh when he called them that.)

[Superstar Sleeze]

Miz/Zigs was good. Liked Zigs amateur cradles at beginning. Thought Miz's heel work on top was strong and loved him mocking Bryan. Finish run was pretty standard WWE. Better than I expected. Pretty long feeling though...probably due to shallow card.

 

LOL BRAY JOBBED TO KANE!

[Johnny Sorrow]

Bray didn't "job" to Kane. Kane beat a guy ,who had kicked his ass to the point where Kane walked back to the ring looking like a man about to have a heart attack, and only won cause of Orton.

[WashingtonFB]

This is WWE's show of the year. Bizarre stuff.

[Johnny Sorrow]

As I go to bed, I see someone on another part of the Internet say "Sure Miz can have great match with someone to carry him."

I always like to end my day thinking "What a fucking dummy".

[El-P]

Wached the first half thus far.

 

Well, Naomi did deliver the funky outfit. Thanks for that, although her work can be quite sloppy. First look on that Bliss girl. Liked the look and the work. Quite clusterfucky with nonsensical periods of ony two women in the ring, but it was still quite the hot opener with enough time to let some story developp. Nice to see Nikki still knows how to deliver an elbow. Good stuff.

 

Well, I like heel Usos. The Hype Bros. Meh… Awful name, goofy attitude. But the heel Usos clearly give them a fresh start and they already are efficient working that style. The Usos vs AA matches could be really really good.

 

Toilet humour… oh man… Rhyno ? On WWE PPV in 2016. Stranger things have happened, but this si still pretty bizarre.

 

Miz vs Dolph. Damn, this is one very good match. Although Dolph's offense still looks like crap most of the time. But when the hell did the Miz got so good ?! It's too bad the use of valet seems to be a lost art, Maryse is hot as fuck but she doesn't serve any purpose. Watch some Missy, Francine, Sherry and Woman, guys & girls. Even the finish was not that well executed. And kudos to the idiotic director who chooses to show a bunch of announcers exactly when Maryse & Miz get their intro in the ring. Worst timing possible. Anyway, the match was really good and pretty much thanks to the Miz. Getting older suits him. The Bryan trolling was great, but it still begs the question, why are they seemingly building to a match which will not happen ?

 

Oh, and the french announcing is soooo good. I have to point it out every time because it makes a whole lot of difference. Agius legit cracked me up at the end of that Miz match.

[El-P]

Let's pretend that Wyatt/Kane + Orton waste of time didn't happen ok ? Irrelevance³, these three.

 

Well, Usos vs Heath Slater & Rhyno was very good. Usos as heels definitely works well (they should turn Roman Reigns tomorrow... just saying...). Not too familiar with Slater, but he was ok here. Rhyno made for a good babyface comeback, although the Gore looks old. Really, the Usos made the match. Surprising and crowd pleasing finish, which is always nice.

 

Thus far, it's been mostly a good and enjoyable card. And for those crying about the crowds, I clearly heard Miz and Usos being booed out of the building. So yeah, legit heels still work.

[El-P]

AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose WTF am I watching ? MOTYC. This is insane.

 

(and people clamoring for Styles vs Cena again, please don't, the SummerSlam match was garbage)

 

Seriously, when going through early TNA, AJ Styles struck me a a great wrestler as early as end of 2002/early 2003. Then he had some classics later in the decade against Joe. Then fell off the radar because, well, no one really paid attention to TNA. Then was great in New Japan. Then has been mostly great in WWE. Then this fucking match against Dean Ambrose, who has not set the world on fire. On paper, Styles pretty much has 15 years of being a great worker, with an incredible diversity of opponents and styles of matches. Probably deserves to be studied in detail (and by that I mean diving into TNA, sigh), but this guy is probably easily a top 10 worker ever at this point.

 

So, a nothing card on paper ended up mopping the floor with Mania & SS (which is faint praise, really). Good booking + good matches (Wyatt vs Kane did not happen) = good card. Easy, uh ?

[JKWebb]

AJ is having one of the best years for a wrestler that I can remember.

[anarchistxx]

Skimmed through it but really enjoyed what I saw. The show had an incredible sense of energy to it - not sure whether it was the sound editing or just a hot crowd but the audience seemed really loud and into everything, which made the matches seem a lot more exciting and intense. Have to say the commentary was superb as well, less sloganeering and lines being fed and more engagement in the matches, gave the in ring action a very important feel.

 

Some brief thoughts on the bits I saw:

 

- That scene with Miz and the kid was terrible, and such a blatant example of product placement..."you can catch my show on Nickolodeon at 7PM on Wednesday nights" or whatever, wonder how much they paid WWE to air that

 

- The 6-Pac ladies match felt like a ROH opener circa 2004. Total go-go-go spot-fest and a lot of convoluted setups and unrealistic sequences that seemed very rehearsed, but a lot of fun all the same. Definitely served a purpose in laying down a marker for the new division and giving everyone a bit of shine.

 

- Ziggler v Miz was shockingly good. Can't stand either of them and they still got me really engrossed in it, there was a lovely flow to the match. It definitely felt that it could have gone either way - anyone who says wins/losses/finishes don't matter is wrong, the uncertainty here and the feeling that both men really needed to win it desperately added to the drama immensely. "This is awesome" chants still make me sigh in resignation though, especially since this was very much a match where the result seemed important rather than just putting on some athletic show for the crowd to 'appreciate'.

 

- Bray Wyatt is hideously bad at this point, embarrassing to watch. His mannerisms make me cringe. He has zero believability, nothing about the character seems real, it just looks like a third rate actor playing a role and trying to seem quirky. Skipped the whole match with Kane.

 

- Usos should have stayed on the same brand as Roman, their ring gear almost matches now and they would have made a superb little heel stable. The match with Rhyno/Slater was nicely worked and was a good change of pace on the card. That suplex into the ring post was really cool, despite the padding taking the edge off it a bit. The right ending as well.

- Wasn't as high on the main event as some, felt like a sloppy mess occasionally. AJ still did a fantastic job though, and carried it through down the stretch when it got really fun, making it seem important and a desperate war. The way he took the lariat was superb.

 

Best WWE show in a long, long time.

[Migs]

AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose WTF am I watching ? MOTYC. This is insane.

 

(and people clamoring for Styles vs Cena again, please don't, the SummerSlam match was garbage)

 

Seriously, when going through early TNA, AJ Styles struck me a a great wrestler as early as end of 2002/early 2003. Then he had some classics later in the decade against Joe. Then fell off the radar because, well, no one really paid attention to TNA. Then was great in New Japan. Then has been mostly great in WWE. Then this fucking match against Dean Ambrose, who has not set the world on fire. On paper, Styles pretty much has 15 years of being a great worker, with an incredible diversity of opponents and styles of matches. Probably deserves to be studied in detail (and by that I mean diving into TNA, sigh), but this guy is probably easily a top 10 worker ever at this point.

 

So, a nothing card on paper ended up mopping the floor with Mania & SS (which is faint praise, really). Good booking + good matches (Wyatt vs Kane did not happen) = good card. Easy, uh ?

 

I assume TNA has comps with the highlights for Styles for those of us who've mostly avoided TNA over the years? Might be worth checking out.

[Jimmy Redman]

I can probably put together a decent Stomper List for AJ Styles in TNA if anyone needs it.

[The Chief]

I didn't really have any concerns about AJ's in-ring work in WWE and of course he's been great. I am surprised how great his character work has been. I had reservations about him working as a heel and he's crushed any doubts. I wasn't a fan of his heel work in TNA but he's a total natural now.

[TravJ1979]

-Loved Lawler's burial of Ziggler.

-Alexa looked so fantastic on the pre-show that I was able to maintain a smile even during Corbin/Crews

 

-Women's match was great. I don't think I'm going out on a limb here by saying it was better than any women's match pre-2005 in wrestling history. God bless Naomi's ass (and I'm an atheist). Agree with whoever said the outfits were great. Don't get it twisted, I enjoyed the actual work as well.

 

-Mojo Rawley needs to perish. Love heel Usos.

 

-Miz was great in that backstage segment with Bryan.

 

-Either that is the best Miz match ever or I haven't been paying attention. Trolling Dragon was brilliant.

 

-I left my parents house at this point and when I got home I was glad I did as I saw Kane wrestling Bray Wyatt. Kane wins??? Why not RKO AFTER the match.

 

-Am I mistaken or did the announcers say that Worst PPV Ever was trending on Twitter?

 

-I am not a fan of Slater/Rhyno. However, I am glad that they didn't have Slater shit his pants DURING the match. Stupid skit. I hope Rhyno steals Beulah from Heath

 

- Styles is fucking amazing. Great matches with Reigns and Ambrose. Glad to see him win.

 

-The women (Work and Wardrobe), Miz and The main made this a great ppv.