Category: Review

NXT Takeover New York: Every Match Ranked

NXT is the best thing in wrestling right now and no-one can convince me otherwise.

Without a doubt, that was far and away my favourite NXT Takeover show I’ve ever seen, and arguably up there with my favourite wrestling show, I’ve ever watched. Every single match was absolutely fantastic and such a brilliant showcase of why I love NXT so much, it had something for everyone and most certainly got Wrestlemania weekend off to a rip-roaring start.

However, despite the consistently high quality of the entire show, some matches were better than others, so I’m gonna rank ’em.

5 – Shayna Baszler(c) def. Bianca Belair, Kairi Sane, Io Shirai
(NXT Women’s Championship)

The women’s division in NXT has been the best it’s ever been these past 6 months or so.

I know, that’s a big statement to make, we’ve had Asuka, Ember Moon and the Four Horsewomen in the past, but I genuinely believe that the crop of women in NXT right now is the best in the brand history, and here’s why.

Every single character in the NXT women’s division is a distinct and unique character, not just on a gimmick level but on a deeper level of attitude, ability and character motivations. This match illustrates that excellently, all four women in that ring are so completely different in terms of character and style, even Kairi and Io who are so closely linked feel completely different when you watch them competing.

Of course, this means that when you take these four unique characters together and throw them together in a match, it makes for magic. Baszler & Sane are so diametrically opposed that every time they’re even in the vicinity of each other it tells a great story, with even better wrestling. Then you throw in Bianca Belair who is so desperate to prove she belongs that she’s constantly hiding behind her fake ego, and Io Shirai who is Kairi’s friend, but won’t hesitate to go through her if she’s in her way and you’ve got yourself an action packed fifteen minutes.

Why is it at the bottom? Well, mostly because it had the least new stuff to offer. Don’t get me wrong, this match was absolutely brilliant from start to finish, and would top almost any other show, but ultimately there was nothing shocking or new to be seen here, it was all just brilliant versions of stuff we’ve already seen.

4 – War Raiders(c) def. Aleister Black & Ricochet
(NXT Tag Team Championships)

Honestly, when I finished this match, I thought it would land in the top two, that’s such a testament to how good this show really was.

When I talk about how my favourite type of wrestling is tag team wrestling, people are often a little confused about it and wonder why. This match. This match is why. The urgency and quickness of a match with two competitors on each side can’t be matched by that of one on one, since in a one on one matches you need breaks where both competitors have to sell and catch their breath, but in a tag team match, the moment that happens on one guy, the other can come in and keep things rolling.

I was worried this wouldn’t be a great way to send off Black & Ricochet from NXT, but I was very quickly corrected in that thought because once this match got going, it refused to stop. I keep forgetting just how incredibly Hanson and Rowe can move in the ring, to the point where the 300 pound Hanson could actually keep pace with the king of the flippy shit in Ricochet, and holy crap, every time Black and Rowe faced off it was magical, this match could’ve been 90% those two and it would’ve been absolutely amazing.

The match even managed to cast doubt on the result once or twice, and after the Black Mass into Shooting Star, I honestly bought that it was the finish. War Raiders eventually winning was the best choice of course, and the post-match stuff was lovely too since this is likely the last time we’ll ever see Black & Ricochet in NXT, it was an absolutely wonderful send-off.

That’s the thing with positioning this match too because I honestly don’t have a single bad thing to say about it, just the other matches on the show somehow managed to outdo it.

3 – Velveteen Dream(c) def. Matt Riddle
(North American Championship)

Velveteen Dream just…wow, what a wrestler.

I showed concern in my predictions that I wasn’t sure the styles of these two wrestlers would mesh very well in the ring, but I very quickly learnt that I was completely and totally wrong to ever think that because something between these two just clicked. The characters helped a lot with this I think, after all, it’s hard to have a man carried to the ring on a throne while dressed as the Statue of Liberty and not be blown away by the spectacle of it.

It was the kind of match where it didn’t need any form of story overcomplications or big twists, because you already had two perfect characters ready-made for you, with the very simple motivation of “I want to be champion” and then you could just put them in a ring and rely on the characters to act like the characters, which always makes for the best stories.

The match was paced to perfection too, with it starting off low-key and every single moment built on the ones that came before it. It wasn’t that fast, which is normally what I like, but it was exactly what it needed to be and there wasn’t a single moment of wasted motion.

The finish was also pitch perfect because quite frankly, a sudden roll-up is the only way Velveteen Dream should win any big match. It created a shocking moment since I think most of us thought Riddle was going to win this one and it left the door open for a rematch later down the line which will likely play off of everything that happened in this match, which is the mark of a simple story, well told.

2 – Johnny Gargano def. Adam Cole
(NXT Championship)
(2 out of 3 Falls)

I had so much trouble which should be number 1 and which should be number 2, but in the end, I think this was the right way round to do it.

In terms of storytelling and all-out excitement, this match had no equal. When it came down to that final fall I was encapsulated, to the point where I was literally on my feet for the last couple of minutes. I so desperately wanted to see Adam Cole win this one going in, but the story that was told in the match made me root for Gargano just as hard.

I wasn’t a big fan of how quick the first fall went by, it seemed a bit jarring, but I understand why it happened given the time constraints and overall it made sense. That minor gripe was completely irrelevant by the time the final fall got underway, however, because once the action got going, it slowed for nothing. Not only was this match was able to craft a story that allowed you to have the same emotional weight that the Gargano/Ciampa match could’ve had, but it did the rarest of things, it used interference and a referee bump to enhance the story, instead of ruin it. It shows how much impact these tools can have when you use them sparingly and effectively, instead of braking them out at every opportunity like on the main roster.

The last fall had me at almost every second as well, and when Adam Cole hit the final Last Shot, I honest to God believed he’d won, and it was genuinely shocking to me when Gargano kicked out in the best way possible. Following that, it didn’t outstay it’s welcome and Adam Cole was tapping to the GargaNo Escape about a minute later, and despite rooting for Cole, I was over the moon at his victory.

Ciampa coming out to hug Gargano and Candice at the end and shocking didn’t turn on him, was a brilliant cherry on the cake of emotions too, and the best possible way to end off the show.

It was effective storytelling combined with great wrestling, it certainly a match of the year contender and it was so close to being number 1.

1 – WALTER def. Pete Dunne(c)
(United Kingdom Championship)

I don’t often get patriotic, but man…this match.

I never really got the thrill behind the old-school style of wrestling, I didn’t really understand how a mat-based, methodically paced match could be as exciting as one with fast and constant action, but this match turned me around on that line of thinking completely.

While it wasn’t as high octane or thrilling as Cole vs Gargano, it was perhaps one of the best pure wrestling matches I’ve seen in a long time, and I realised that this is exactly what makes the British wrestling style so special. This match didn’t try to do anything too flashy very often, it instead took the basics, twisted them a little and executed them to total perfection.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a match build so slowly like that one and have it be so effective in encapsulating me in the action because it really had all the stuff you’d expect. Big guy beatdown leading the small guy coming back, limb targetting and constant lockups with endless back-and-forthing in the later stages. None of this stuff is anything special, but Dunne and WALTER took all of these tropes and did them in the best way possible, it led to moments where the audience legitimately gasped when Dunne started to make his comeback for the first time in the match, and they were hanging on every single move, much like I was at home.

Once again, there wasn’t a single meaningless movement in this match and it felt like every single move had impact. What’s most amazing though, is that the constant slow, mat-based style meant that when they finally did go for high spots, it felt HUGE. The crowd’s reaction when WALTER went up top for the first time was brilliant, and the powerbomb from the top rope was the single best spot of the entire night as far as I’m concerned.

Not only was this match brilliant from start to finish, but it opened my eyes to exactly what the British Style of wrestling could be at it’s best, and as far as I’m concerned it’s just as good as anything North America or even Japan can put out.

I honestly believe that Pete Dunne is the future of WWE, and the fact that this title loss felt like a huge deal (even if we all knew it was coming) is a testament to just how far he can go in his career, especially if he keeps putting on matches like this one.

So there you have it, that’s what I thought of every match that took place on NXT Takeover New York. If you enjoyed then a share would be a huge help, follow me on Twitter @10ryawoo if you want live tweets about the shows as they’re going down, and stay tuned early next week for my review of Wrestlemania itself!

WWE Fastlane 2019: Every Match Ranked

I don’t really know what to make of Fastlane.

There was a lot of good wrestling throughout the night, and even a lot of good story beats too, but it had a really big flaw. That flaw is this: With the exception of Becky vs Charlotte, you could’ve taken this entire show, put it at any point on the year, and it would’ve had the same overall impact. Almost every match on the show was fun, but none of it matters in the long run, which is a pretty bad thing for the last PPV before Wrestlemania.

10 – The Bar def. Kofi Kingston
(2 on 1 Handicap Match)

This is was a hard one to place for me, because the match was total crap, but the story surrounding it was extremely interesting.

WWE have done a really good job here on capitalizing on Kofi’s new-found momentum. Giving everyone that false hope of putting him in the WWE title match only for a bait and switch (even if it did seem rather obvious) was a good beat to hit, and gives him the motivation and fire Kofi needs to burst out and properly start to fight back.

As for the match itself, it’s pretty nothing. As expected The Bar just dumped on Kofi for way too long, to the point where it just felt like they were filling time. It also didn’t make sense that The New Day waited as long as they did to come out, even if they did get jumped on the way.

Ultimately though, the match itself isn’t important, because it created all of the motivations necessary for the story to move forward in the next month.

9 – Asuka(c) def. Mandy Rose
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

Pretty much the epitome of a nothing match.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with this match, it wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but there was also nothing special about it. Mandy and Asuka fought for a good 10 minutes, then some small shenanigans happened so Mandy lost. Perfectly fine, but I can’t say anyone will remember it in a couple of weeks time.

The shenanigans with Sonya were kind of weird, but not enough to get any kind of real hatred out of me for it. It happened, it probably won’t go anywhere in the long run, and that’ll be that.

I really don’t know where the Smackdown Women’s title scene is going for Wrestlemania, but it needs to be more important than this.

8 – The New Day def. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev

Well, this was fun.

This is a step up from the Asuka vs Mandy match because this also held no consequence, and it didn’t really have anything notable about it, but the pace on this match was much quicker and it generally became much more fun to watch.

I generally think that Tag team matches on the pre-show are usually the best because there are plenty of easy and fun things you can do in a tag team match that provides pretty much exactly what a pre-show match needs to do, I’d like to see them more often, instead of the Cruiserweight Championships.

I did also set the seeds for later on in the night with the Kofi stuff, so that helps it out too.

7 – Sasha Banks & Bayley(c) def. Nia Jax & Tamina
(Women’s Tag Team Championships)

Tag team matches everywhere, all of them fun.

This match was pretty much exactly what everyone expected it to be, and it was quite good for it, however, it’s one of the many cases on this show where what happened after the match ended up being more important than what happened during it.

There was a lot of stuff to like about this match, with Bayley and Sasha being able to find that perfect balance between being small underdogs, but still competent champions who can easily hang with the likes of Nia & Tamina. With the finish being a little bit flukey, but also shows off the intelligence of the champions.

I’ll admit I’m a little confused by what the post-match beatdown on Beth Pheonix and Natalya means, perhaps a triple threat at Mania? Will Beth become a full-time wrestler again? It’s hard to tell right now, but the Women’s Tag title scene is looking very healthy going into Wrestlemania.

6 – Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair (Via DQ)
(If Becky wins, she’s in at Wrestlemania)

Told you so.

I find it really weird that this match is as low as it is because I really enjoyed it. Lynch & Charlotte could have a good match blindfolded at this point, so that was never in question, but it seemed that extra little bit of fire was in both women’s performance on Sunday.

This entire story has had a whole lot of ups and downs since the Royal Rumble, so this needed to be a pretty big point to keep things on track before April 7th. Personally, I think it achieved that, with a match that was really fun to watch, and a story beat that took away from the match a little bit, but added to the overall story.

Ronda causing Becky to win was a pretty obvious ploy, but it was obvious for the right reasons, so it’s fine. All of the character motivations make sense and it gives Charlotte the fire she needs to actually hate Rousey, since that has entirely been clear thus far, so smiles all round.

5 – The Usos(c) def. Shane Mcmahon & The Miz
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

*Shocked Pikachu Face*

Once again, the post-match outshone the match, although not quite as heavily here, mostly thanks to the fact that the match was great.

The Usos are arguably the best tag team on the main roster right now and Shane & Miz have become a surprisingly entertaining team to watch. Being in Cleveland meant the crowd were extremely into this one and that energy fed back into the match fantastically.

As with most tag team matches, once we got past the opening exchanges and stuff got chaotic is when things really got fun, with people flying all about the place and some crazy spots. My favourite of these spots had to be when Shane and one of the Usos decided they were going to leap at each other, before colliding in mid-air, the coordination to not only make that spot look good but to make it safe made it all the more impressive.

Ultimately though, The Miz would fail a dive and that would cost Miz & Shane the match, before the inevitable happened and Shane battered The Miz from pillar to post, in some punches that look uncharacteristically brutal. While this is going to lead to a hopefully pretty good Wrestlemania match, I’m more interested to see what kind of a heel Shane will be, obviously he’ll use his Mcmahonisms to book Miz into unfair matches, but I do wonder what angle he’ll take in his promos.

Either way, this was definitely the right step.

4 – The Revival(c) def. Aleister Black & Ricochet, Bobby Roode & Chad Gable
(Raw Tag Team Championships)

That photo right there is cool as fuck.

When you look at the show as a whole, there’s a lot of this style of wrestling throughout the whole thing and honestly, I thought I would’ve got tired of it, but these guys are able to differentiate themselves from each other enough to make every match feel different enough that I still enjoy it.

Not that this match had to try very hard to differentiate itself from the rest, with Ricochet, Aleister Black and Chad Gable you were bound to create a situation where the action never stopped for a moment. Black and Gable, in particular, had limited interaction but the two of them seemed to have incredible chemistry between the two of them in that time.

There were some incredible spots in the meantime, specifically Ricochet launching himself over the post onto everyone, as Gable tags himself in as he flies past is one of the most low-key impressive spots I think I’ve ever seen. The Revival winning feels like it was the right choice, but with the post-match beatdown it really seems like WWE really don’t want The Revival to actually be champions, and instead, just don’t want them to go to AEW. I don’t have a problem with Black & Ricochet standing tall, I feel like The Revival really should be allowed to look like they’re good at more than just hitting a Shatter Machine out of nowhere.

3 – Samoa Joe(c) def. Andrade, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio
(United States Championship)

Well, this was a nice surprise.

I complained in my predictions about the US title being left off of the show yet again, and Andrade & Rey being pushed to the pre-show, well it seems my wishes came true. Granted it was pretty much only because they realised the show would be running short, but it’s still the US title getting a match on the main show, and a rather good one at that.

Samoa Joe and Rey Mysterio were the absolute MVPs of this match, with Joe destroying everyone in the early stages with one hell of a suicide dive onto everyone and then dismantling all of his opponents one by one. Once Joe was dispatched of however, Rey Mysterio got to work and reminded everyone that in 30 years of wrestling, he hasn’t aged a day, with plenty of moves to please the eye.

Honestly, I wasn’t really expecting Joe to retain here with how much the US title has been thrown around in the past few months, but perhaps this great match is the first step in getting the title back on track.

2 – The Shield def. Baron Corbin, Drew Mcintyre & Bobby Lashley

You can make all the hot-takes you like, I still love The Shield.

People seem to be of two minds of this match since it was all just The Shield’s greatest hits, some people think this was a great thing, and other people think it was pointless. While I understand the point of view of the people who say it’s pointless, I can’t help but love it.

Yes, it has pretty much no impact on any major storylines heading into Wrestlemania, and yes it didn’t do Lashley or Drew any favours to rolled over so heavily, but this match was just so much fun that I really don’t care. With Roman Reigns’ just coming back from his leukaemia, and Ambrose potentially being gone for good in April, there’s just no point in complaining about this one, I just wanted to sit back and enjoy the ride.

As for the specifics of the match, if you’ve seen Shield vs Wyatts and Shield vs Evolution, then you’ve seen everything that happens in this match, but like I said, it’s been such a long time since The Shield have had a big match like this and nothing will stop me from enjoying it.

1 – Daniel Bryan(c) def. Kevin Owens, Mustafa Ali
(WWE Championship)

Ok hands up, who saw this one coming? If you put your hand up you’re a liar.

When the bait and switch with Kofi happened I didn’t think the WWE title match would actually still be a triple threat, but I guess it makes sense since Ali was unable to get his opportunity in the Elimination Chamber last month. Ali certainly made the most of this opportunity too, we’ve always known that guy can do amazing things, but holy crap he damn near destroyed himself for our entertainment last night.

With one of the best sells for an Apron Powerbomb I’ve seen in a long time, being kicked in the face from the top rope and flying all the way to the barricade, and a goddamned Moonsault into a Knee Plus to end the match, Ali deserves all of the gold, all of the time.

The crowd were a bit fixed on Kofi not being in the match, and while there were “We want Kofi” chants the whole time, Ali certainly shut a lot of them up as the match progressed. I still can’t really tell if they’re actually going to go with Kofi at Wrestlemania, but if they’re not, I’d be very happy with Mustafa Ali instead.

So that’s it! Thank you very much for reading my review of Fastlane 2019, let me know what you thought of the show either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo, and make sure you stick around this month for all the juicy content going into Wrestlemania season!

WWE Elimination Chamber 2019: Every Match Ranked

Another good one! Which means WWE is already doing better than they do at the start of most years in terms of good shows.

I don’t know if I just wasn’t expecting very much, or it really was that good but coming away from this show I found myself really surprised at how good it was. Both of the gimmick matches delivered and most of the mid-card was really entertaining too. It’s the kind of thing you don’t really expect from a February PPV, but here we are.

It wasn’t all brilliant though, so let’s take a look as I rank every match from Elimination Chamber 2019.

7 – Baron Corbin def. Braun Strowman
(No Disqualification)

As much as I liked this show, it is kind of weird how it turned into Raw for 45 minutes before the main event.

I moaned in my predictions about how we’re already back to the same old crap despite being told by WWE that times are changing, and that was very clearly on display here.

I get that there’s some poetic justice to Braun having done to him what was done to Corbin at TLC, but this feud has been the most boring part of Raw since Crown Jewel and needlessly extending it like seems like a horrible choice; especially considering Braun will likely get his win back on Raw. I also don’t quite understand why Lashley cares about any of this. He’s just lost IC title and outside of a meaningless 6 man tag match on Raw, he hasn’t been aligned with Corbin since last November.

If this is going to lead to Drew vs Braun at Mania then I guess this will be worth it, but we’ve still got a whole other PPV to go before then, and I really can’t be bothered to watch this every single week for another month.

6 – Ronda Rousey(c) def. Ruby Riott
(Raw Women’s Championship)

Admittedly the real story here is everything that happened after the match, but the actual match is what gets ranked here, and it wasn’t long enough to go any higher.

I get that Ruby Riott was only intended as cannon fodder for Rousey and was never going to win, but couldn’t you have at least tried to make her look good? Rousey’s really good at getting the best out of her opponent and I really think these two could’ve put on a solid match if they’d been given the chance.

Instead, the armbar was on pretty much instantly and Ruby tapped just as quick, and before the camera even had the chance to cut away Ruby was walking to the back. Everything that happened after that point was pretty good, not quite as good as what had been going on between these ladies on Raw the past few weeks, but still pretty good. I just feel that if this was always your goal, then instead advertise a “face to face” between Rousey and Charlotte, then have Becky show up during that instead of having Ruby Riott look like a chump.

5 – Buddy Murphey(c) def. Akira Tozowa
(Cruiserweight Championship)

This match was good, but I don’t really have a lot to say about it.

That’s the problem with these matches being the pre-show really, you can only watch so many before you run out of things to say about them. Like I said this match was good with a lot of fun stuff in it, but there aren’t any headlines outside of “Buddy Murphey retains”.

Especially on this show, which ended about 15 minutes early, you could’ve quite easily put this on the main show, and some throwaway tag team match like Rusev & Nakamura vs The Club on the pre-show instead. I know that’s not the best solution, but at least it makes more sense than constantly putting these amazing wrestlers (and an entire division) on the pre-show despite often putting on some of the best matches of the night.

4 – Finn Balor def. Bobby Lashley(c) & Lio Rush
(2 on 1 Handicap)
(Intercontinental Championship)

Well, colour me surprised.

I know the way this went down seems fairly obvious in hindsight, but I was really certain Balor wouldn’t be picking up the title here, not that I’m complaining. The match itself was nothing special, but watching it actually felt quite exciting, which was probably helped by the crowd being red hot throughout the entire show last night.

As much as Lio Rush being called the weak link isn’t great considering his talent, it makes story sense that he’s the reason Lashley lost the IC title. I imagine we’ll get a one on one match where Balor retains clean at some point before Mania anyway, but this is certainly a good first step in the story.

I’m also kind of looking forward to seeing a Lashley vs Rush match since I imagine Rush’s unique style of offence will bounce well off of Bobby’s fairly generic hoss style. So actually, this move seemed to be quite a good one that will likely lead to lots of interesting stuff.

3 – The Usos def. Shane Mcmahon & The Miz(c)
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Yet another surprising title change! I’m starting to understand why I feel so good about this show.

I’ve bitched and moaned about the Shane and Miz tag team since day one, but I have to admit both of their Tag Title matches have been really quite entertaining to watch. Shane’s shock value stuff doesn’t really flow all that well in a singles match, in a tag team match where it can be broken up by everything the other three guys in the match can do.

This match also was able to tell a pretty good story of chemistry in a tag team, with the Usos often being able to outmanoeuvre Shane and Miz just by knowing each other way better. This also came into the finish where The Miz lost the match for his team and seemingly took it upon himself that he lost. Surprisingly it seems like there’s a lot more mileage to get out of this story and – I can’t believe I’m saying this – but I’m really looking forward to seeing what these two do on Tuesday.

Also, the titles being back on The Usos is just generally a great thing for whoever they end up facing next.

2 – Sasha Banks & Bayley def. Absolution, Nia Jax & Tamania, The Riott Squad, The IIconics, Naomi & Carmella
(Elimination Chamber)
(Women’s Tag Team Championships)

As much as I liked both Chamber matches, they were very much in two halves.

This first match had a little bit of everything throughout it. Sasha & Bayley starting off against Absolution turned out to be a pretty good combination, as the teams bounced well off each other, despite having very little experience wrestling each other in the past. As the match moved on everyone got their licks in, the best of which was – as you’d expect – The IIconics doing everything they do best.

The action picked up properly once Naomi and Carmella made their entrance and it didn’t really slow down from that point, with lots of quick action and eliminations and actual intelligence from the wrestlers in the match and all teaming up on the massive threats in Nia and Tamina.

The last 5 minutes or so genuinely had me on the edge of my seat, Nia and Tamina getting eliminated before the final two was a huge shock, and the remaining women put on such an exciting contest for the rest of the match. The drama and tension build up perfectly as both teams went back and forth, to point where they were actually able to create a moment where I genuinely thought Absolution were about to win after Sonya laid Bayley out and Mandy planted Sasha.

Eventually though, Sasha and Bayley would come out victorious and the emotion in that moment was quite heavy. The post-match interview felt genuine and heartwarming and hearing Beth Phoenix start to tear up on commentary hit me in just the right way. What a brilliant moment to kick the show off with and hopefully this will lead to something fantastic in the coming months.

1 – Daniel Bryan(c) def. Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe
(Elimination Chamber)
(WWE Championship)

Who would’ve thought that in 2019 Kofi Kingston would’ve been the most popular star on Smackdown?

This match is more obviously split into two halves than the women’s one. There was everything before the final two, and the final two of Bryan and Kofi facing off.

The first half was good, but nothing special. There were some fun highlights like AJ hitting a Phenomenal Forearm out of nowhere to eliminate Joe, followed up by a rather heavily telegraphed RKO to eliminate AJ. Not entirely sure what the point of Jeff Hardy being in there was, considering he was around for roughly 6 seconds before being eliminated by Daniel Bryan.

However, none of that really mattered by the end as Bryan and Kofi absolutely stole the show in this match. The constant back and forth that lasted for a whopping twelve minutes at the end of this match was absolutely fantastic with some brilliantly edge-of-your-seat moments. I’ve never heard a reaction quite like the one we got when Kofi kicked out of the first Running Knee, every single person in the arena was expecting the ref’s hand to hit three there and it got almost a collective gasp when Kofi kicked out.

Going into the match there was no doubt in my mind Bryan was walking out as champion, but during those final 12 minutes, I  genuinely had no idea who was going to win, and every finisher and kickout was perfectly timed. It’s these nail-biting moments that make you feel like a fan again, sure I could’ve thrown a hissy fit over there being a ropebreak in an Elimination Chamber match, but I didn’t want to, because what we were seeing was so good that why would I want to be miserable about it?

This is what Daniel Bryan being WWE Champion is amazing for, that man can elevate anyone he wrestles to a top tier competitor, of course, Kofi has to be given plenty of credit, but you’ve got to give some to Bryan too for making us all fall back in love with Kofi like we have. If we’re not going to get Bryan vs Kofi at Mania then I at least hope we get it at Fastlane, because giving these two a full 20-30 minutes could create one of the best matches of the year.

So there you have it! That’s my review of every match that took place at Elimination Chamber 2019. I really hope WWE can keep this good momentum going into the next couple months to create some really awesome moment on their shows in the first half of the year.

As always, thank you very much for taking the time out to read this, I’d appreciate it if you were to share this around on all your favourite social media sites, and of course, follow me on Twitter @10ryawoo for updates and the chance to be notified as soon as an article is posted!

NXT Takeover Phoenix: Every Match Ranked

Finally.

I’ve been wanting to do this for ages, but I’d never really found the time. However, NO MORE, as today is the day I get to talk all about my favourite thing in modern pro-wrestling.

Admittedly, I didn’t think this Takeover was quite as good as any of the ones that took place in 2018, but, there is no such thing as a bad Takeover and it was still an extremely high-quality show. So let’s break this down match by match and look at all the lovely wrestling details that lie inside.

5 – Matt Riddle def. Kassius Ohno

This should show how good this show was because even though I’ve ranked this match as the worst, I still thought it was great.

I was pretty interested to see what kind of stuff Riddle would pull out in his first big Takeover match like this. He didn’t necessarily blow me away in this match, but it’s clear he’s a brilliant talent and hasn’t shown all he has in his arsenal just yet.

There were some pretty gnarly spots as well, with Ohno and Riddle hitting each other surprisingly hard at some points in the match. Ohno also tried to eat Riddle’s toe, which is…..fine I guess? It’s what you get for wrestling barefoot I suppose. The finish was pretty fun too, with it referencing their NXT TV match in a couple points before Riddle would pick up a decisive victory.

Ultimately this wasn’t going to be anything amazing given that these guys have already been fighting a whole bunch since Riddle debuted, but it was a good introductory feud for him, I look forward to seeing where he’s going to go next.

4 – Shayna Baszler(c) def. Bianca Belair
(NXT Women’s Championship)

Belair’s stock just got shot into the stratosphere.

This match was nowhere near the level of Baszler vs Sane, but it didn’t matter, because it did exactly what it needed to do, make Belair look like a star.

I don’t think I was alone in that I wasn’t too crazy about Belair going into this match. Granted, I liked her more than Sam Roberts seemed to, but that’s beside the point. This match completely turned my opinion around on Belair though, as it seemed like the perfect showcase for her talents. Baszler naturally came in underestimating her, and it was exactly that which allowed Belair to get in some of her better shots and almost get the win on a couple of occasions.

The finish was also great, with Belair breaking Baszler’s clutch the first time, and then almost breaking it on the second attempt before finally succumbing. She now feels like a much bigger deal than she did going into the match, and it means we don’t have to worry about what might happen to her now her UN-DEA-FEA-TED streak is over.

3 – War Raiders def. The Undisputed Era(c)
(NXT Tag Team Championships)

The team to finally take down the Undisputed Era was going to be a tricky one to work out. We thought it would be Moustache Mountain, but thanks to NXT UK starting up, UE got their titles back pretty quickly and moved on.

However, since last summer things have changed in NXT, ever since War Games, it’s felt to me like Undisputed Era are starting to wind down in NXT before bowing out later this year. Luckily, the perfect candidates to carry the titles next had just arrived in the form of War Raiders.

The thing with UE, is that, even though their small guys, you can’t just have some big dudes run them through. They proved that with Heavy Machinery, sure UE were outmuscled at every opportunity, but the whole point of UE is that their smart, they can duck and move and know exactly when to strike to ensure victory.

War Raiders aren’t just big dudes though. They’ve got the muscle sure, but these guys have the agility and speed to go with it, and they show a level of ring intelligence that UE hasn’t faced very often during their reign as champions. That’s the story I think they’re going to try and tell in the rematch, that UE were caught off guard by something new, and they lost before they could adapt.

UE has always shown such a high level of subtle, yet deep psychology that I’m seriously looking forward to this pair’s second match.

2 – Tommaso Ciampa(c) def. Aleister Black
(NXT Championship)

Kinda funny how Aleister Black’s entrance music claims “No man is ever truly evil” and yet here he’s facing the personification of evil in wrestling.

In terms of hype, this was certainly the match I was most looking forward to. Black is hands down my favourite wrestler in the world right now and Ciampa is arguably the best heel in the whole of WWE. Their styles also tend to be very hard hitting and often featuring lots of quick strikes.

I’m happy to say that’s pretty much what we got. The action here wasn’t exactly at a lightning pace, but it was deliberate and hard-hitting which helped the match feel like an absolute war. I’ll get into some of the similarities between Gargano & Ciampa’s matches later, but the callbacks to Gargano vs Black in this match were brilliant and seeing just how Ciampa was having NONE of the crap Gargano fell for.

I thought the finish was brilliant and made both men look really good, with Black kicking out of a second Fairy-Tale Ending, then being able to counter a third and only failing to hit with Black Mass because Ciampa had spent the whole match wearing down Black’s leg, before finally succumbing to a fourth Fairy-Tale Ending.

I don’t think Black is quite done with NXT just yet, and if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say a triple threat between Black, Gargano and Ciampa is on the horizon, and the way this match ended gives Black just enough to believably claim another title shot.

1 – Johnny Gargano def. Ricochet(c)
(NXT North American Championship)

Gargano strikes again, with another match of the year contender.

I don’t think anyone was ever doubting that this match was going to be brilliant, and yet I still managed to come out of this one blown away at how good it was. The extended sequences of the two going back and forth with all of the flippy stuff is just a joy to watch, and even if it’s not for you, you’ve got to admit there is an inherent sense of fun to it.

This match also gave us the continuation of the Gargano/Ciampa storyline, despite neither of them having any interactions with each other until the very end of the night. The idea that Gargano is trying to be Ciampa in order to echo his level of success is something that has never been more clear than right here, when Gargano would rip up the padding on the floor, as Ciampa would later in the night, and screaming “I win” in Ricochet’s face at the end of the match, just like Ciampa would at the end of his match.

The two of them standing side by side to end the show is just a great shot, and once again I find myself so interested for where this story’s going to go because I think it’s going to be great.

So that was my first ever NXT Takeover review! If you enjoyed it then please share it around on social media, so we can get more eyes on this, and come tell me what you thought of the show on Twitter @10ryawoo. I’ll see you soon!

WWE Royal Rumble 2019: Every Match Ranked

It’s now been 12 hours since the Royal Rumble finished, I’ve slept for about 10 of them, and I’m still not entirely sure I’ve recovered from everything that happened on Sunday night. I know that sounds like a bad thing, but it’s actually the opposite because I’m buzzing so much over everything that could happen going forward now.

This year’s Rumble was a really enjoyable show, with most of the non-Rumble matches delivering on a much higher level than they normally do. Still, the arbitrary rankings are calling so we must take every match on the show and order them from the very worst, to the very best.

Quick Note: Bobby Roode & Chad Gable vs Rezar & Scott Dawson is dead last, I just have absolutely nothing to say about it, so I’m not even going to bother officially ranking it.

9 – Daniel Bryan(c) def. AJ Styles
(WWE Championship)

Erick Rowan?!

Imagine going back two years and telling yourself that Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles would be the worst match on a big 4 Pay-Per-View featuring a Brock Lesnar match, no-one would believe you, and yet here we are.

For one thing, this match really did get the worst spot of the night in terms of the order of matches. Having two Rumbles on one show can be a bit of a curse since you either have to put them back to back and risk exhausting your audience, or separate them and have one of your big matches get completely ignored by a tired crowd.

Bryan and Styles tried so hard to get the crowd back into this one, but after Becky Lynch winning the women’s Rumble in the fashion she did, it was never going to happen. That said, what happened in the match didn’t really help matters.

Right out of the gate the match was quite a standard WWE style main event. I don’t know if they were told to reign it in, or just didn’t bother but I really felt like this match needed to kick off at a fever pitch to really get the crowd to pay attention following the women’s Rumble. Secondly…Erick Rowan.

I don’t even know what to say to this. Rowan going from, an emotionless big dude that hits people with a hammer, to, Chequered shirt wearing vegan who cares about the environment might be one of the biggest and most sudden character changes I’ve seen in quite a long time.

8 – Shinsuke Nakamura def. Rusev(c)
(United States Championship)

Weirdly, this was the most surprising result of the night.

I wasn’t expecting a great deal from this match, and while it didn’t blow me away, it was certainly a fun match that was a lot better than what we usually get on the pre-show.

I’m not entirely sure why Shinsuke Nakamura won since, from a creative standpoint, I don’t really see what more Nakamura can do with the title (which is weird considering he did literally nothing with it). Realistically, I don’t see Nakamura holding on to this title for much longer, probably dropping it to someone like Rey or Andrade very soon, and I’m really worried that another short reign like this will destroy what little prestige that US title has left.

7 – Shane Mcmahon & The Miz def. The Bar(c)
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Wrong.

In the past 10 months, Cesaro & Sheamus have lost their tag team titles to both a 10-year-old kid and have been pinned by Shane Mcmahon and his ugly ass shooting star press, a move I love but somehow Shane made it look crap.

That said, this match was fairly enjoyable, Shane did all his usual crap and it had minimal bearing on the match, Miz was working his ass off here to make this thing look competitive. The Bar was great as usual, although they weren’t really allowed to kick into that higher gear which is so fun to watch.

All I can hope for right now is that this title reign is short because if it’s still going by Wrestlemania I might lose my mind.

6 – Brock Lesnar(c) def. Finn Balor
(Universal Championship)

Well, I can’t say I was expecting any different.

It’s hard to get a lot of real excitement behind a match were the ending feel inevitable the whole time, but these “Brock Lesnar vs small guy” matches seem to keep delivering.

I didn’t enjoy this as much as I did Lesnar vs Bryan, but I think this told a different story, even if it did hit the same beats in places. Having Finn blast Brock right out of the gate was a good move to make sure the crowd were into this one, especially following the fairly vapid WWE Championship match that preceded it.

Ultimately having Finn tap to the Kimura is never going to make him look weak, this is the same move that made The Undertaker tap out after all. The attack after the bell should be good for giving Seth more motivation to take down Brock following his Rumble win, I just hope Balor keeps the momentum he’s built up over the past couple of weeks.

5 – Buddy Murphy(c) def. Hideo Itami & Kalisto & Akira Tozowa
(Cruiserweight Championship)

Just put these guys on the main show, come on.

I really feel that the cruiserweight division needs more matches like this. One on one contests on 205 Live are often excellent, but if you want to get a crowd going on a pre-show (or even early on in the main show), you want a good fast paced multi-man match.

There was great action from start to finish here, and it allowed some of the more forgotten talents on 205 Live, such as Tozowa show that they can still go just as good as anyone else on that roster and deserve these featured spots.

I hope we get a really good one on one feud coming out of this match, as I think Murphey and any of these guys would be a brilliant match to watch.

4 – Ronda Rousey(c) def. Sasha Banks
(Raw Women’s Championship)

The structure of the show last night was quite weird. Having both women’s title matches go on early and then immediately followed by the women’s Rumble seemed like an odd choice, but it seemed to serve the overall narrative of the night quite nicely.

This match wasn’t as flashy or as fast as you’d expect the match to be, but that didn’t detract from the quality of the match whatsoever because the storytelling here was fantastic. It really feels like, with every new opponent she faces, Ronda has to learn something new about how to wrestle. Sasha was in control for a large portion of the match and Ronda seems to really excel· in matches like this at looking like an efficient and smart wrestler, waiting for her spot and taking control at crucial moments.

It was a wrestling match that just focused on wrestling, and sometimes that’s all you really need.

3 – Asuka(c) def. Becky Lynch
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

WWE proving here that sometimes they can have their cake and eat it too.

I’d like to point out how hard I found it to choose which women’s title match was better, they were both brilliant in different ways, and believably the order could be reversed and I’d still be happy with it. In the end, I settled on putting this one higher because it felt just a tad faster paced and had a tiny bit sweeter of a finish.

As for the details of the match, I find myself saying pretty much the same things I said for Ronda vs Sasha, it was just 15 minutes of solid and fun to watch wrestling. As I mentioned, I liked the finishing sequence a little more, with Asuka and Becky constantly reversing their submission holds until Asuka catches Becky out with something she wasn’t expecting.

While I was a little apprehensive of Becky tapping out at the time, but given what happened later in the night I don’t think it matters. It ended up as being a pretty great way to give Asuka a strong win heading into Wrestlemania seasons without it costing Becky anything.

2 – Seth Rollins wins the Men’s Royal Rumble Match

It was SO close between these Rumble matches, I had to watch both of them a second time before I could make a decision I was happy with. I’ll talk about why I picked one over the other in the number 1 spot, so for now, let’s go through all the highlights in this match.

We kicked things off, as we always should, with Elias. He did his stuff before eventually being interrupted by none other than Double J, Jeff Jarrett. This was something I’d always wanted to see, but I never thought it would actually happen. They tease a duet before Elias takes a cheap shot on Jarrett, followed by a smash with the guitar and a swift elimination.

The NXT entrants were also great this year. After giving us Almas and Adam Cole last year, WWE decided to check the other three boxes on my, favourite wrestlers in the world right now list, by giving us Johnny-freaking-Wrestling, Pete-goddamn-Dunne and ALEISTER FUCKING BLACK. While there is a part of me that is still absolutely furious that Baron Corbin eliminated Black, all three guys got a great showcase in the match and I love every single one of them. Now in 2020, we need Velveteen Dream to come out to have a stare down with Nakamura and I’ll have got everything I’ve ever wanted from Rumble cameos.

The comedy spots in this match were also pretty spot on, Curt Hawkins hiding under the ring, followed by Titus O’Neil’s reaction to the whole thing was very funny, and resulted in Hawkins actually getting an elimination, which was cool.

Nia Jax trying to do what Becky Lynch did was also very fun to watch as well. It’s a little unclear what the rules are on women entering the men’s Rumble now there is actually a women’s Rumble, but I’ll go with it for now. I never really thought about Nia Jax getting RKO’ed until Sunday night, but once the scenario was placed in front of me, I realised I’d never wanted to see anything more in my life. I know some people are up in arms over this, but I think Nia’s got the build to pull it off, and there’s been so much heat behind Nia since the incident with Becky that the crowd were over the moon to see her get beat up for a second time that night.

The final four onwards was also excellent, not quite as good as last year’s final four but I still thought it was great. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Seth getting laid out for a little while, but it wasn’t actually for very long so I didn’t mind it too much in the end. Watching Ziggler, Almas & Rollins teaming up to try and take down Strowman was fun, and I especially liked when Rollins did the smart thing and got the fuck out of the way when Strowman started to rally.

The final sequence was nail-biting stuff too. Once again I found my logical wrestling brain arguing with my emotional brain over what was going to happen moment to moment. Of course, WWE aren’t going to do Strowman vs Lesnar at Mania, but during that whole final segment, I was so scared that’s exactly what would happen.

Overall this Rumble match had lots of great action from start to finish and now we get to sit back and enjoy the ride to Mania where Seth will (hopefully) take down Lesnar (please, God).

 1 – Becky Lynch wins the Women’s Royal Rumble Match

So this is what happens when the man comes around…

Unlike the men’s Rumble, this match wasn’t great the whole way through, in fact, I’d argue the first half of the match didn’t have a great deal to enjoy at all. However about halfway through the action really picked up and all the raw emotion surrounding the finish were unrivalled.

Going into more detail, the match started off a bit sloppily, with Lacey Evans not being quite as crisp as she could’ve been on some spots early on, and until Charlotte hit the ring, there just felt like there was a general lack of action.

Billie Kay refusing to enter the ring until Peyton Royce showed up was pretty entertaining in the way only the IIconics can pull off, and Nikki Cross getting one of the loudest reactions of the night was pretty cool too. We also got to see the world’s most adorable badass in Kairi Sane, running down to the ring while looking through her telescope, how is that helping in any way? I just love her so much.

We got a whole bunch of innovative spots from Naomi and NXT’s Kacy Catanzaro (a name with far too many syllables for me to remember), which kept the pace going at a point in the match where things could’ve quite easily sunk back down into a slump. In addition to this, we got some comedy in this match as well, and I know most people hated this, but I couldn’t help but giggle when Hornswoggle popped out from under the ring where Zelina Vega was hiding, although I would’ve loved to see Almas kicking the piss out of the little guy once they got backstage.

Eventually, we get to the closing stages of the match, specifically where Lana comes out at number 28. She makes it to the top of the stairs and then begins to limp very slowly down the ramp. Now, at this point is when the eyes of everyone watching lit up with hope, we didn’t want to get our hopes up just yet, but we could believe what might happen. Following an attack from Nia for good measure and Carmella entering the ring and being instantly forgotten about, IT happened.

The thing we were all praying for, but refused to believe in actually happened, as Becky Lynch wandered up to Fit Finlay who was tending to Lana and made her case right there on the spot and – after a quick debate – Finally gave the green light, the crowd (and I) when crazy as Becky officially entered the Women’s Royal Rumble match.

Everything from this point on in the match was fantastic, a whole bunch of quick and impressive looking eliminations with Bliss, Carmella, Bayley all falling one by one. Lynch would pull Nia off of the ring apron to eliminate her before Nia responded by beating Becky up. At this point Charlotte really came into her own for this performance, as Becky was being tended to by officials on the outside, Charlotte watched on in glee, goading Becky and revelling in the fact that she was about to be declared the winner without having to do anything.

It wasn’t to be though and as the referee was about to raise Charlotte’s arm, Becky burst back into the match, screaming at Charlotte with a tear in her eye “You’ve taken enough from me, you’re not taking this” – just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye. After a quick scuffle, Charlotte was dumped to the floor and Becky finally won the Royal Rumble.

The emotions here were so powerful and is a testament to how amazingly well all of the women involved have been booked since the summer. It was these emotions that made me realised that I had to pick this match over the men’s since it gave us what may be my favourite Royal Rumble moment ever.

Thank you very much for reading this review, if you enjoyed it then please share it around on social media, and if you disagreed with me on any of these points, then come shout at me about it on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure you stick around because later in the week I will be posting my review of NXT Takeover: Phoenix. I’ll see you there!