Wrestling (WWE, etc.)

[talonmalon333]

Does anyone here watch the current comic book television series Arrow? If so, I just thought I'd mention that Stephen Amell, the guy who plays Green Arrow, is currently in a storyline on WWE, and it's directly related to his role as the Green Arrow.

[talonmalon333]

I want to talk about two paperviews. One, NXT TakeOver Brooklyn, was last night. The next, SummerSlam, is tonight.

NXT TakeOver Brooklyn

So last night was NXT TakeOver Brooklyn. The majority of the paperview was solid, though nothing spectacular. I mostly wanted to use this as another opportunity to praise the Four Horsewomen. There were two main events, and I must say this should have been the one to end the event, instead of the match we ended up getting. The storyline was about the wrestler Bayley, and I must say it was one of WWE's best storylines in a very long time. They frequently will attempt the underdog story. A recent example was Roman Reigns' feud with Lesnar last WrestleMania. But Bayley's story was done far better (then again, a reason for that is admittedly the fact that Reigns towering over most wrestlers hurts his appeal as a underdog). It was delivered so perfectly. This is the official, excellent promo for the NXT TakeOver match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcxL3g5-HKE

Bayley was out of commission for a while due to a broken hand, and coming back, she made it her goal to defeat Sasha Banks and claim her title as the NXT Women's Champion. Though, as this was going on, the WWE Women's Revolution was also taking place. And in that, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch were all bumped up to the main roster. Bayley was not, making her the only member of the Four Horsewomen to not make the jump. But in her journey to reach her goal to become the NXT Women's Champion, she first proved herself and earned a shot at the title by defeating Charlotte and Becky Lynch. And when the time was approaching for their title match, Sasha sure did trash talk Bayley, pointing out that she was the only one of the four to not be brought up to the main roster, and basically called her a loser. There were some awesome promos along the way. It's one of those moments in WWE where, once the match between the two wrestlers happens, it means so much more because it feels like the culmination of a truly great feud.

The match itself did not disappoint. As two great wrestlers, Bayley and Sasha gave it their best. And it was impossible to not cheer for Bayley all the way and want to see Sasha get put in her place and finally be taken down from her pedestal. There is really no question that this was the match of the night, as I predicted, and in the end, Bayley came out on top. When the right wrestler wins, it usually feels good. But this was one of those moments that really was special. Afterward, Charlotte and Becky Lynch, her friends, leaped into the ring and gave her the biggest hug as she held the belt crying. And then the last of the four and equally her friend, Sasha, approached her and they hugged it out as well. Then, the four of them celebrated in the ring and struck their pose as the Four Horsewomen.

Spoiler

[close]

Such an emotionally satisfying ending. This really should have been how the paperview ended.

The second main event, and the match to close the night, was Finn Balor versus Kevin Owens, which was Owens' rematch to reclaim the NXT Championship Belt. All I will say about this is that it was a great wrestling match. I love both of these wrestlers. They are great characters and great technical wrestlers. But from a storytelling point of view, it fell so short compared to the women's match. This feud was frankly already dragged out, and the true ending of it was nearly two months ago. Other than Owens' getting his rematch, there was nothing behind this match. And I honestly don't think it really helped much. Had Owens' won the match, he would have reclaimed the NXT belt and, in the process, would remain stuck to NXT despite being integrated into the main roster. But had he lost (which is what happened), it would have just made him look weaker because, ever since his groundbreaking and beautifully mindblowing victory over John Cena a few months ago, it feels like he's done nothing but lose every match. So overall, this match was entertaining to watch, but I wasn't invested.

Nothing like the Bayley and Sasha match. Seeing all four of them together at the end tells me that Sasha, Charlotte, and Becky know that Bayley should and deserves to be right up there in the main roster with them. And tonight at SummerSlam, even though Becky and Charlotte's team will be going up against Sasha's team, nothing can take away from this moment, and the reminded that deep down, these four love each other.

---

SummerSlam

And that's a good time to move on to the next topic. SummerSlam is tonight! I am so excited. My big prediction for tonight (or the post-SummerSlam Raw tomorrow night) is that Dean Ambrose will turn heel. He and Reigns have a match against the Wyatt family, Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. WWE has been really building up the family relationships that contrast these two teams, and I think that will play a role and that Reins and Ambrose will lose, and that the heel turn will be related to that.

One of my favorite wrestlers, Dolph Ziggler, recently returned after being out for a month. I wouldn't call myself a huge fan of his current feud with Rusev, but I do hope Ziggler pulls out a win and that they give him something great to do next.

I'm really pumped for the three team elimination match between the three women teams, Team Bella (Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, and Alicia Fox), Team B.A.D. (Naomi, Sasha Banks, Tamina), and PCB (Paige, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch). Of the three, I really don't want to see Team Bella win. The Bellas are good actresses but their wrestling ability isn't much more than passable, Alicia Fox aside. I'm rooting for PCB because of my love for all three of those wrestlers, whereas on Team B.A.D., I don't care much for Tamina and Naomi is very good but not one of my favorites.

Then we have the title match between Seth Rollins and John Cena. Seth's putting the World Heavyweight Championship belt on the line, and Cena's putting the US Championship belt on the line, winner take all. I would seriously hate if Cena gets both the belts. I've already been tired of the guy for ages, and if he were to hold the two most important belts, it would kill me. Thankfully, Seth Rollins is such a big deal. They really might not be done with him as the big champ. However, I wouldn't be surprised if something happens that causes both wrestlers to leave the match with their current belts. But then we have to consider Mr. Money in the Banks, Sheamus. He wants that belt, and he could very well cash-in tonight. They might even introduce a loophole that allows him to cash-in and take both the Heavyweight Championship and United States belts. After all, Seth's cash-in last WrestleMania was quite possibly the most exciting and crazy cash-in in WWE yet, and they might want to top that. I know that the briefcase is technically meant to be used to get a title match for the World Heavyweight Championship Belt. But if Sheamus does what Seth did last WrestleMania and cashes in while the match is happening, thus integrating him into the match and turning it into a Triple Threat, perhaps that makes him equally a contender to win and get both belts.

Even with those stakes, it's funny that the main event is a non-title match. The big rematch between The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. I don't see how it's possible to not be at least a little bit excited for this match. Also, I think The Undertaker might be the only wrestler in the entire WWE that could beat Lesnar, and not make Lesnar look weak in the process. After all, Lesnar has long been built up as the toughest and most dangerous guy in WWE. Everyone is afraid of him. But I think The Undertaker could potentially beat him, and not have that image of him not be weakened in the process.

[talonmalon333]

He got the United States Championship Belt from Cena.

The win wasn't clean, and I can't call myself a big fan of it. I would have preferred if Seth beat Cena by targeting his broken nose (by the way, Seth did accidentally break Cena's nose in the ring a month ago, and it's since been integrated into kayfabe, look it up if you wish), but then they had all these shenanigans with the night's host, Jon Stewart. Still, I am really curious what they'll do about Seth now holding both the World Heavyweight Championship Belt and the United States Championship Belt. Also, Triple H promised that he'd have a Seth Rollins statue built under the circumstances of Seth winning. So that could be fun. Either way, it's clear that Seth is shaping up to be the great of this generation, as I'm sure time will tell. There's just no one else present who has the total package. He can wrestle like no one's business, he's great on the mic, and he draws heat like no other heel in a while.

The Undertaker's win over Lesnar wasn't clean, either. He pulled such a cheap heel move, and it kind of baffles me that WWE is making a heel out of the Undertaker. After all of these years, do they really expect us to cheer against the Undertaker?

Also, Lesnar flipped him off on screen. That was a great last act of defiance right before he lost consciousness and "lost".

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I can't comment on execution since I haven't seen the PPV, but as a fan of the Undertaker, a heel turn actually sounds really interesting if handled right. He's been a face for so many years straight that it got kind of stale after a while. I'd like to see what they do with him as the new big bad of the WWE. I just hope that they still keep Lesnar as a heel as well. He can still feud with the Undertaker, but he doesn't work as a face. He's best as the vicious bully type of character, whereas Undertaker has proven himself to be a great sadistic, menacing villain in the past.

[Spark Of Spirit]

It reminds me of the awkward phase where Kurt Angle was the face and Austin was the heel. It lead to a very funny moment involving a milk truck, but it was still very surreal to watch it.

[talonmalon333]

I can't comment on execution since I haven't seen the PPV, but as a fan of the Undertaker, a heel turn actually sounds really interesting if handled right. He's been a face for so many years straight that it got kind of stale after a while. I'd like to see what they do with him as the new big bad of the WWE. I just hope that they still keep Lesnar as a heel as well. He can still feud with the Undertaker, but he doesn't work as a face. He's best as the vicious bully type of character, whereas Undertaker has proven himself to be a great sadistic, menacing villain in the past.

Lesnar did become a sort of face-heel combo when he returned to WWE a few months ago. But it worked because he was feuding with Seth and really came off as an unstoppable, vengeful beast who would stop at nothing to get his belt back from Seth. He destroyed nearly everyone in the Authority and put them out of commission, which forced Seth to face him alone last month at Battleground (which was the match the Undertaker made his return, which in turn allowed Seth to scramble away with the belt despite being annihilated by Lesnar).

The thing about the Undertaker is that he's not around enough to get a big heel run as WWE's big bad. He's closing in on retirement, so I just can't imagine this heel turn turning out too well. I agree with you that the Undertaker turning heel again could be done fantastically. I mean, he's scary enough as it is. I just don't think the time and execution is right. It genuinely felt like WWE wanted the audience to favor Lesnar last night, but they didn't.

It reminds me of the awkward phase where Kurt Angle was the face and Austin was the heel. It lead to a very funny moment involving a milk truck, but it was still very surreal to watch it.

Yeah, I remember that. That was really awkward. It almost felt like WWE misunderstood the appeal of the characters. Like, Austin had always been a rule breaker, but that's not the main reason everyone loved him.

[talonmalon333]

In other news, Sting returned tonight! Looks like he's going after Seth and his belt.

[talonmalon333]

Sounds like the Undertaker might be done until it's time for next year's WrestleMania to start getting buildup. That's understandable considering that he's old and doesn't have the energy he used to (his matches with Lesnar, both at WrestleMania 2014 and SummerSlam 2015, clearly took a toll on him). But on the other hand, I'm now just left with this poor SummerSlam ending.

It's such a shame how much anything in SummerSlam fell so short compared to what we got at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. There was so much hype they put into it, but it ended up being a fairly average paperview. Nothing in it even remotely compared to Bayley's match with Sasha Banks at TakeOver. And it's telling about the state of WWE considering that NXT merely aimed to give a perfect and satisfying conclusion to its storylines with its two main events, whereas WWE decided to go for empty shock value with its single main event. I wouldn't mind as much if it wasn't for the fact that this was SummerSlam. If they went the route they did at WrestleMania they would never get away with it. They irony is that SummerSlam was built up to be even bigger and better than WrestleMania, but they decide on an ending that, instead of being satisfying and exciting, left people confused and scratching their heads. Did WWE think that Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker, the two most powerful warriors in WWE, going up against each other for their big grudge rematch, wasn't enough for us? It just feels like they made so much light out of a massive battle.

However, I do look forward to seeing him again someday. There are reports that WrestleMania 32 might be his last match before retirement.

[talonmalon333]

SmackDown is coming to Philly on October 6, and my friends and I got tickets in a box! I am looking forward to this badly.

[talonmalon333]

I feel like talking about what I want to see done with all the belts.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Belt
Current Holder: Seth Rollins
Honestly, I'm cheering for Sting to win this at Night of Champions. And I've made it too clear around here that Seth Rollins is, by far, my favorite current WWE wrestler in WWE... However, much like the Undertaker, Sting doesn't really qualify as a "current" WWE wrestler to me. And also like the Undertaker, Sting is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. And Seth is one of my all time favorite wrestlers, but Sting is Sting. Plus, imagine this. Triple H and the rest of the Authority have been pushing Seth as their golden boy for over a year now, and consider him to be the future of WWE. They put a lot of faith in him, and want him to hold this belt more than anyone else. The Authority and Seth are indisputably the main villains of WWE now. So, how fitting would be it to have Seth Rollins lose the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Belt, the absolute symbol of WWE, to the face of WCW, WWE's all time biggest rival? Sting is the last person that Triple H would ever want to see holding this belt. And if that were to happen, there are so many possible storylines that they could go with, the biggest one being The Authority betraying Seth and getting rid of him.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Belt
Current Holder: Ryback
It's sad how irrelevant this belt has become. Back in the old days, this belt was such a big deal? People called it the working man's belt. And the perfect imagry of this fact was when you'd see a big star like Hulk Hogan holding the WWE Championship Belt, with the Intercontinental Belt being held by an incredible wrestler like Bret Hart. Nowadays, they just don't know what to do with it. Seriously, lately, all they've done is have Ryback feuding with Big Show and The Miz for it. Not exactly quite the treatment this belt used to get, is it? And while I do like Ryback, he's not exactly one of the greats in the current era, and is more of a middle tier star.
Personally, I'd like to see, before long, the Intercontinental Championship Belt held by Dolph Ziggler, and then for him to bring some real dignity back to it. Ziggler is the ultimate example of a current wrestler who's overwhelmingly over with the fans, but is continuously knocked down the card and treated like a lower tier star. I half expect Triple H to call him a B+ player. I mean, Ziggler is fantastic, but all they're giving him now is a bad feud that has the depth of high school drama.

WWE United States Championship Belt
Current Holder: Seth Rollins
At Night of Champions in a few weeks, Seth will be defending this belt against Cena, and the world belt against Sting. There's no doubt he will lose one of the belts, if not both. I personally would be okay with him just being the United States Champ at this point, but we have to watch this guy crumble. As the holding of the two biggest belts, he's on top of the world, bigger than he's ever been. The time may be for him to be brought down to absolutely nothing.
But then again, Cena is boring, so I don't particularly look forward to him winning this belt again.

WWE Tag Team Championship Belt
Current Holder: The New Day
The New Day is just wonderful. I can't complain here.

WWE Divas Women's Championship Belt
Current Holder: Nikki Bella
I think I speak for every fan of WWE when I say how tired I am of the Bella Twins. Nikki has been holding this belt for so long time. In fact, in just a week or so, she's going to top AJ Lee's record as the longest reigning WWE Women's Champion, beating her record of 295 days. Considering the fact that 90% of that time has just been filler, we need to see a new champ.
Thankfully, we may be in the right time, now. I think WWE has been waiting for her to beat AJ Lee's record before passing on the belt. Why else would they keep it on her this long? Plus, we're currently in the Women Revolution. And it's done some good for the women's division, but there's still so much that needs to be done before the women's division becomes halfway decent. Getting a new champ would do wonders. Thankfully, they have been building Charlotte up a whole lot in the last month or so, and she's getting her title match against Nikki at Night of Champions. Truthfully I'd love the champ being her, Sasha Banks, Paige, or Becky Lynch. All four of them are wonderful, but Charlotte might be just a little bit more wonderful. And then bring back Natalya and let the two of them feud.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Before Jeff Jarrett made the belt into a joke, it used to not be a "story" belt. It was given to good wrestlers who worked well and put on great matches. It was much better back then.

[talonmalon333]

That's why it should go to a great wrestler like one of the names I mentioned. Honestly, I can't even call it a story belt nowadays, as that would imply they have a story direction for it. Instead, they just toss it around to people they deem less than the "big stars", like John Cena and Roman Reigns. Because, according to WWE, Cena and Reigns are what the fans really want. What? Daniel Bryan? Please, that guy's nothing. John Cena is WWE, and Roman Reigns is the next WWE.

I mean, you'd think that, in a three hour episode of Raw, WWE would have more than enough time to tell good stories for every belt. Instead, they only have a clear purpose for the world title and the US title, and somehow an average episode of Raw still feels padded. How is that even humanly possible?

It even looks cheap. Somehow, those white straps lack the class that black straps have.

I really can't wait until Vince McMahon completely retires, and Triple H and Stephanie take his place. They know how to run things and have new ideas. Just look at NXT.

[talonmalon333]

So I'm very happy with WWE right now. Because they seem to have gotten the message from the fans. At least, with their NXT division (I don't expect Vince to listen to the fans much with the main roster). A month ago, after the most recent NXT paperview, TakeOver: Brooklyn, I went on a long rant about the NXT Women's Championship match between Sasha Banks and Bayley. I stand by all my words I spoke then, and it sounds like the rest of the fanbase agrees with me. It was the best WWE match of the whole year, and the best WWE women's match of all time. And I'm being serious. When Bayley returned to NXT recently, holding her new belt, the audience even started "You deserve it" and "Match of the year" cheers. There's a reason for that. These NXT women have done far more for change in women's wrestling than the recent Women's Revolution in the main WWE flagship programs has lately.

But everyone had one complaint after the women's match at the paperview: it wasn't the main event. And while the match that was the real main event was awesome, it simply could not hold a candle to the women's match. But they seem to have realized that, and are learning from their mistake. Because at the next NXT paperview, Sasha Banks is getting her rematch against Bayley, and it's going to be the main event. Not only that, but it's going to be the first ever Iron Woman match, set for thirty minutes. This is the kind of stuff we want to see. And, someday, I bet we're going to get ladder matches and other great stuff, too.

If only the main WWE shows could learn more from NXT with its women roster. But again, I guess I'll have to wait until we're free from Vince McMahon for that.

---

Also, this Sunday is Night of Champions. I must say, with the exception of one, I'm looking forward to every match. The one match I'm not looking forward to won't be bad, because both wrestlers in it are very good. The problem is that it's bogged down by the worst feud WWE has written in ages. I want this match to be the end so both wrestlers can go back to much bigger and much better things. But anyway, the rest looks good if not great. SummerSlam was a cesspool of mediocrity because of matches that were either stale, overstuffed, or just ruined by anticlimactic cheap endings. So, as weird as it seems, I hope Night of Champions was what they were waiting for.

[talonmalon333]

Night of Champions was great. The best main roster paperview since WrestleMania, which is a surprise considering Night of Champions is kind of an obscure paperview in general.



First of all, we got a new Intercontinental champion. His name is Kevin Owens. Now, if you look at that picture of him, you'd think that he doesn't look like a wrestler. He's a pretty big guy. But make no mistake. Kevin Owens is one of the best technical wrestlers currently in the WWE. He does some moves that you'd think someone his size shouldn't be doing. He's a fitting champ, and I hope he gets a good reign with a belt that has lost much of its prestige.

Dolph Ziggler beat Rusev. Cool. Both wrestlers are great, but this feud is terrible. I hope this is the end, but I'm not counting on it. Overall, at least the match itself was well done.

The Dudley Boyz beat The New Day, but it was by disqualification, so The New Day is still the Tag Team champ. I was surprised because I thought, being that they brought back the Dudley Boyz, they'd want to give them one more title run before retiring. That might still happen eventually. But for now, I can't complain much because New Day is one of the best and most entertaining things on WWE.

And finally, Charlotte beat Nikki Bella. After 301 days (90% of which was filler) we are finally done with Nikki and her boring title reign. The match itself was quite good. Nikki, despite being a barely passable wrestler, showed some good wrestling and in-ring instincts during this match. Charlotte was wonderful, but she always is. It was also cool seeing Ric Flair there to cheer for her, being that she's his daughter, and to have them embrace after she took the belt. Being that Charlotte is my favorite female wrestler, I'm excited and am hoping the Women's Revolution can now truly begin.

And here's someone else who wrestled last night.



Yep! Chris Jericho was there! See, the Wyatt family cult of three men was going up against Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, so Reigns and Ambrose needed a third man to complete their team. And their surprise third man was revealed last night to be Jericho. It was a surprise to see him wrestle. It was also a surprise to see that, not only did the Wyatts win the match, but that Jericho was the one who was taken out. But I guess it makes sense because they wanted to put the new Wyatt family member, the giant Braun Strowman, really over. And Jericho is just a really good sport about putting over the young talent no matter what. After the match, he angerly pushed past Ambrose leaving the ring, and I'm curious where they are taking that direction. Overall, solid match. It was great seeing Jericho again, if nothing else. I hope this Wyatt feud doesn't end as WWE has done a good job building it over the months.

Now we get to the two main events. Seth Rollins had to defend both the United States Belt against Cena, and the Heavyweight Championship Belt against Sting, both matches back to back. First up was Cena. The two went at each other. Seth was a fantastic wrestler, as usual. Cena also did a very good job, surprisingly. He seems to work off of Seth pretty well. In the end, as I expected, Cena won and reclaimed the belt.

After that, however, the next match immediately began. In fact, Seth was still laying down in the ring, barely even at half strength, as Sting made his entrance. It was pretty intense and felt like a real endurance battle, which was aided by the fact that, even if Seth did win, we knew that Mr. Money in the Bank Sheamus was waiting in the wings for this perfect opportunity. The match itself was intense and very satisfying. Sting quickly took the upper hand and pounded on the weakened Seth, but eventually Seth managed to get a second wind and brought the fight back to Sting. And, in a shocking upset, Seth won! I did not expect that at all.

But then, as expected, Sheamus' music kicked in, he ran down the ramp, knocked out Seth, and gave his briefcase to the ref. After being built up so much, it looked like the cash in, and Seth's third match of the night, was about to begin.

And after that, the crowning moment of the night. Kane's music kicked in. And after months, he was back, with the mask.



With a chokeslam to Seth, then a chokeslam to Sheamus, and finally a tombstone to Seth, Kane immediately made his return an impact.

I was so excited from this. The last time we saw Kane, he was laying outside the ring in pain, while getting mocked and attacked by Seth. I knew he would come back for revenge someday, and I knew that when it happened, he would bring back his mask. But I did not expect it to happen last night. But here it was. The Devil's Favorite Demon is back. And I'm so glad. Back when he was the unmasked, "Corporate Kane" for the last year or so, he was just uninteresting, and even WWE mocked him for how dull he was without the mask. Finally, they've fixed it. And if this is WWE laying the groundwork for his final run before retirement, it looks like Kane will go out with a bang. A bang of pure fire.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It's cool whenever Jericho is back. He's one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, and objectively one of the greatest technical wrestlers of the WWE when he was in his prime (and he's certainly no slacker, now). He is also my favorite IC Champion of all time. He's also one of the few wrestlers around with his ego in check. He has really helped to put so many wrestlers over in his career, and mostly in great matches, as that. He may not be as famous as Hulk Hogan or other big-timers, but I feel that his legacy will be remembered more fondly in the years to come than some over-egotistical, racist, douche-bag who ended up hurting more of his peers, in one way ir another, than he helped.

Having Sting lose twice in a row as far as his WWE matches go is kind of odd. But, he must have agreed to it if he's going through with it. I just hope that they didn't make him look like a total pushover in losing a match against an already weakened opponent.