WWE
Extreme Rules was a generally enjoyable show overall with
nothing either groundbreaking or offensive over the three hours. It was a
typical B show that will become common place with the network now firmly set
and for £9.99 this was more than acceptable. Some adventurous booking saw New
Day lift the tag titles from Kidd & Cesaro in a choice effort though Daniel
Bryan was unfortunately pulled from the show due to injury.
The case of Bryan is indeed a worrying one as it seems he
has been struggling for a year now leading some to say that WWE was right to
bury him. If WWE was aware that he was struggling then they hardly buried him
but obviously went in a different direction for Wrestlemania. While many wanted
to see Brock vs Bryan the reality is that a match against Lesnar would have
only exasperated any injuries Bryan may be carrying. We wish Bryan a speedy
recovery and hope to see him healthy soon.
Ratings for Raw dropped which was no surprise really, but a
shame considering the post Wrestlemania number, as there is a general feel that
WWE are holding things back and as discussed on this week’s podcast WWE does
have big impact players they could implement at any time to shake things up.
The next NXT special will see Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn for
the NXT title and a triple threat for the No1 contenders spot between Hideo
Itami, Tyler Breeze and Finn Balor. Maybe after this show we will get a better
idea of who may be due to come up to the main roster but again it was worth
noting that Fergal Devitt, Balor, only ever agreed to stay in developmental for
a short period of time. By the time the special airs on the network he would
have been in developmental since last September.
OTHER NEWS
War of the Worlds two night shows on the 12th and
13th of May where Night One will see
DELIRIOUS vs. GEDO
JAY LETHAL w/ TRUTH MARTINI vs. WATANABE
RODERICK STRONG vs. KUSHIDA
THE ADDICTION vs. THE KINGDOM (MICHAEL BENNETT & MATT
TAVEN) vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS
"UNBREAKABLE" MICHAEL ELGIN vs.
TETSUYA NAITO
-REDRAGON (BOBBY FISH & KYLE O'REILLY) vs. JUSHIN
"THUNDER" LIGER & HIROSHI TANAHASHI
-???? vs. "THE PHENOMENAL" AJ STYLES
*MAIN EVENT*
THE BRISCOES vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA & SHINSUKE NAKAMURA
Night Two will feature
*MAIN EVENT*
SIX MAN TAG TEAM
THE BULLET CLUB, IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION AJ STYLES &
THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. THE KINGDOM, ADAM COLE & IWGP WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS
MATT TAVEN, MICHAEL BENNETT W/ MARIA KANELLIS
ROH WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP
JAY BRISCOE vs. BOBBY FISH
FOUR CORNER SURVIVAL
ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPION JAY LETHAL w/ TRUTH MARTINI
vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. MARK BRISCOE vs. JUSHIN "THUNDER" LIGER
ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE ADDICTION vs.
"RAINMAKER" KAZUCHIKA OKADA & GEDO
KYLE O'REILLY vs. TETSUYA NAITO
"MR ROH" RODERICK STRONG vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI
ADAM PAGE vs. WATANABE
MICHAEL ELGIN vs. KUSHIDA
New Japan and Ring of Honor again team up next week, 15th
May, for the PPV Global Wars that will see stars from both promotions collide
as Michael Elgin vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, Cedric Alexander vs Okada and ACH vs
Shinsuke Nakamura have all been signed. Meanwhile the main event will see a 10
man tag as the Ring of Honor all stars (The Briscoes, Roderick Strong & War
Machine) face The Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & The
Young Bucks) in what should be a great match.
TNA
The big news coming out of TNA this week is that lead singer
of the Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan has joined the promotion in a creative
roll. As yet the specifics of his role have not been 100% clarified as if he
simply working under John Gaburick then exactly what difference will it make?
At this stage it would be insane to hand complete control over to Corgan who
has limited experience in actual creative story telling though TNA have done
crazier things.
Worse is that in an interview Corgan spoke of his desire to
create storylines such as the one between Ric Flair and Terry Funk from 1989.
Unfortunately what Corgan failed to mention was the calibre of performers Funk
and Flair were, TNA have nothing on that level, and that Flair sold that injury
for months which would require patience in 2015.
If nothing else TNA have nothing to lose at this stage as
their audience ranges from a paltry 450,000 to 350,000 and it suggests that
maybe TNA realise that some change is needed. Of course TNA have made these
changes before to little or no effect and in some cases to a detriment of the
promotion.
In the ring meanwhile Impact was a Knockouts themed episode
which kicked off with the men and ended with the men. Unfortunately TNA were
only promoting it in reaction to the #GiveDivasAChance talk that had been
involving WWE. Yes TNA themed an Impact in reaction to something happening with
WWE and then didn’t stick to the theme like most thought they would.
It’s that kind of mind set which is why TNA will never
change, grow or succeed, making headlines is always better than reacting to
someone else’s.
The Doll House debuted as heel group and have been joined by
Taryn Terrell, did the knockouts need any more female heels bearing in mind
that Kong,Havok, Angelina Love and Madison Rayne were already heels leaving
just Gail Kim and Brooke Tessmacher on the face side.
UK
The Preston City Wrestling shows were deemed a great success
and topped off by the huge announcement that Lionheart will face AJ Styles on
June 5th. Styles last year accidentally broke Lionheart’s neck last
March 2014 performing the Styles clash when Lionheart instinctively tucked his
chin, something wrestlers are taught to do from day one.
The story gained steam when Styles seemed to be unrepentant
for the incident during an appearance on the Chris Jericho podcast and claimed
he didn’t initially know Lionheart was injured. Lionheart refuted that in a
podcast with Alex Shane and since then that has been some back and forth online
through various parties. That Steven Fludder has been able to arrange a rematch
between the pair is a sign of how good his negotiating skills must be.
ICW look set to have Drew Galloway defend his title against
Big Damo O’Connor down the line and Zak Knight has reignited the debate to have
British wrestling back on mainstream TV. ITV axed wrestling in December 1988
and bar the disastrous Celebrity wrestling show circa 2005 have not been
involved with wrestling since.
BBC has in recent years broadcast two ICW documentaries and
Channel 4 showed the Knight family documentary. All three shows were critical
and ratings successes but as to date neither seemed to have been followed up
on. What is clear is that channels like My Channel, available on Sky, are not
way forward or the best platform for British wrestling.
As always we will be back next week with another weekly
roundup.
