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WWE Crown Jewel 2019: Every Match Ranked

Well…I’m certainly not angry, so it’s already got one up on all the other Saudi Arabia shows.

I had some trouble putting these matches in any kind of order for the most part because they were all roughly the same sort of level. This whole show was filled to the brim with “Ok, but not great” matches so it was hard to pick out anything that distinguished one match to be better than any other. While the matches were fairly mediocre, most of the results and story progression were actually rather positive so I certainly can’t say I thought this was a bad show, especially given what we have to compare it to.

So let’s see how they fare as I rank every match from Crown Jewel 2019.

9 – Tyson Fury def. Braun Strowman via Countout

Ok…ok.

In my predictions I showed concern about how well Fury would transition into a wrestling ring and as it turns out my concerns were well placed. I don’t blame Fury, there’s only so much you can learn in about a month of training, but it doesn’t stop the match from being a bore to watch. The simple fact of the matter is that the match was slow and the action was basic, also Fury just forgot to sell Braun’s Running Powerslam at one point, which is always a good sign.

That said, the one thing I did enjoy was the finish. I know a countout is generally seen as a cheap way to win, but the way it played out here made it work since Fury actually KO’ed Braun in order to cause it, which is actually quite an impressive way to win the match when you think about it. I certainly wouldn’t mind if Fury stuck around to be a tough-looking mouthpiece for WWE in the coming months, but I definitely don’t want to see him in the ring again.

8 – Humberto Carrillo won the 20-Man Battle Royal for an opportunity at the United States Championship

Imagine the most basic battle royal you can. That was this match.

Probably thanks to being sat on the pre-show, this match wasn’t anything worth talking about at all. The 24/7 Title stuff was fun, as it always is, and it was nice to see Rowan & Harper get a spotlight after falling quite low down following Hell in a Cell. I’m also happy that Humberto Carrillo won, but it doesn’t exactly feel like we needed this battle royal in order to make that happen, I’m pretty certain WWE could’ve just announced Styles vs Carrillo for the show on Wednesday and no-one would’ve batted an eyelid.

It was a perfectly acceptable way to spend 12 minutes.

7 – Natalya def. Lacey Evans

While I have my problems with this match, the match isn’t what’s important about this in the slightest. Regardless of what you think of these two women (and Lord knows I’ve made my stance on that matter clear), the fact remains that this is the first progressive step in one of the least progressive countries on the planet and that is something to be celebrated, even if some shitstain in the crowd couldn’t handle it.

It was clear that the match they wrestled was deliberately very safe and basic to ensure it didn’t offend the Saudi Arabian government, it wouldn’t surprise me if this match was strictly lined out beat-by-beat just to be safe, but baby steps forward are still steps forward and hopefully we’ll see many more in the coming years.

6 – “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt def. Seth Rollins(c)
(Universal Championship)
(Falls Count Anywhere)
(Cannot be stopped for any reason)

I don’t which one of you made a pact with Satan to make this happen, but I want to thank you very much for doing it.

I’m going to dig into this match into a moment so I want to make it very clear that I am thrilled that The Feind has won the Universal title, especially since I honestly didn’t expect it to happen. As I’ve said before, The Fiend as a concept is something very special and after Hell in a Cell I was very worried that it was going to go to waste, thankfully, that is no longer a worry.

I went back and forth on whether or not I actually enjoyed this match quite a bit and in the end, I came to the conclusion: Kind of. It was slow, but a good kind of slow. The slow pace gave everything a lot more impact and the style generally works really well with The Fiend as a character, as for the red lighting, I think it worked for Hell in a Cell and created a great atmosphere but I wasn’t so fond of it here, seemed a bit overkill.

What I loved about this match was the finish. When Rollins threw Bray into the “exploding” equipment, I wasn’t sure if he was going to rise out of the wreckage like a monster, or just lose but I’m very glad to say it was the latter. The angle on the camera, the speed Bray popped up with and the crowd reaction made it a brilliant moment and a great way to start off the reign of The Fiend.

5 – Brock Lesnar(c) vs Cain Velasquez
(WWE Championship)

This is a tad frustrating.

If the dirt sheets are to be believed, Velasquez is already suffering from some form of injury, which is why this match was so short. It’s a real shame because I think there’s great potential here because despite the length I actually quite enjoyed this match. It had a very “MMA” feel to it, which worked for a much shorter match like this one.

It didn’t quite have the shock factor to it that something like Goldberg vs Lesnar did, but the finish was incredibly quick and quite exciting, with Cain knocking Lesnar down and going for the ground-and-pound before Lesnar was able to slip on a Kimura, which now I think about, is probably the most protected move in all of WWE right now, I mean it made The Undertaker tap-out for christ sake.

I wish Cain wasn’t injured so we could’ve really seen what he can do, but as it stands I’m looking forward to the likely Brock vs Mysterio storyline it looks like they’re setting up here, so it wasn’t all bad.

4 – The OC won the Tag Team World Cup

Once again, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this.

The match was perfectly fine, I had hoped for a little bit more than a bunch of 2-5 minute tag team matches, but thinking about it logistically that was never going to happen. There was some fine storytelling throughout, but it became a tad predictable right around when The New Day entered. What wasn’t predictable, however, was the way the finish turned out.

I’m totally fine with The OC winning this thing because let’s face it, that trophy is going to stop mattering in about two weeks anyway, but I’m really not happy about them going through The Viking Raiders in 5 minutes to win it. I don’t think it’s any surprise that no-one ever takes WWE’s Tag division seriously when they have both their champions lose clean in very short matches against a team that’s already fought another match.

I enjoyed the main bulk of the action, but this made it perfectly clear that if you want to see some great tag team action, Raw and Smackdown are not the shows to watch in order to get it.

3 – Mansoor def. Cesaro

I want to like Mansoor, I really do, but all I could think during this whole match was, “Who the hell cares?”.

Mansoor showed in this match that he is more than a capable wrestler, Cesaro did what Cesaro does best and made the guy look great throughout the match, but I couldn’t help come away from the whole thing feeling unimpressed. Sure, Mansoor can do some cool stuff, but it’s nothing half the roster can’t do just as good, if not better; I’d take Ali or Ricochet over him any day.

The action was really entertaining stuff, I just don’t feel like it quite got into that higher gear that I’d expected from a match like this. I’m not going to sit here and discuss all the potential reasons why because it’s been done to death, but it was clear there was something lacking from this match. Also, towards the end, the number of kickouts Mansoor got was a bit ridiculous, I know you want to make the guy look like a hero, but some of those kickouts gave Gargano a run for his money.

Then you have to consider the fact that, what does any of this matter if he’s not going to appear on TV until next June? Brock Lesnar’s wrestled more televised matches than Mansoor this year which is saying something. If WWE wants to go all-in on this guy, then just go ahead and do it, don’t wait around for 6 months to put him in showcase matches.

2 – AJ Styles(c) def. Humberto Carrillo
(United States Championship)

I can’t help but feel like this is a bad omen.

I’m very happy that Humberto is getting this push against AJ Styles, but the fact of the matter is, he’s never going to take that title off of Styles. The exact same thing has happened with just about everyone Styles has faced over the last two years. Seriously, think about it: Nakamura, Joe, Rusev, Ricochet, Cedric. They all got their stock boosted by great matches with Styles and then after the feud was over got dropped like they were nothing and ended up back where they started.

That aside, this match was a fun watch. I guess if this is going to be the pattern of Styles’ US title reign the best we can do is enjoy the high points for each wrestler while they last.

1 – Team Hogan def. Team Flair

While watching this match I realised that this kind of match is perfect for getting around the tiredness and heat issue. The general conditions surrounding these shows often make wrestlers more sluggish and not up to their best, so stick a whole bunch of them in a tag team match like this and then everyone only has to do a little bit, so they can go hard in short bursts without worrying about burning out too early on in the match.

That formula made for a very enjoyable match here. It started out a bit slow with a huge focus being on Rusev & Lashley, but once the match broke down a bit and the pace started to pick up I found myself having a good time. Reigns is in his element when he’s got a whole bunch of guys to run through in quick succession and watching Orton RKO everything that moves will always be a blast.

I think matches like this are what these Saudi Arabia shows should be about, just disconnect everything from the week-to-week drama and throw a bunch of guys in the ring and tell them to go hell-for-leather for about 15-20 minutes and have some fun with it, that’ll be a winning formula.

So there you have it! Those are my thoughts on WWE Crown Jewel 2019! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post, please let me know what you thought of the show either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo! Finally, make sure to come back here next Saturday where I’ll be rolling into the hype of Pokemon Sword and Shield with another Pokemon-themed list!

10 Best WWE Pre-Match Video Packages

It doesn’t take a genius to realise that wrestling is as much about the story as it is about the wrestling and perhaps nothing is better at encapsulating exactly what a story is all about than a classic video package.

Usually airing before a match takes place on a Pay-Per-View to fill viewers in on the story leading up to the match, they normally serve the purpose of providing a match with the context it needs to be able to continue that story in the match itself. While many of these video packages go by without anyone batting an eyelid, sometimes they come together to form something truly special.

When the story, the song choice and the editing are just right, these video packages can weave a story that is far more than the sum of its parts and in many circumstances can even be more memorable than the story or match it was designed to hype. I’ve decided that today I’m going to highlight the best of the best and feature my favourite of these video packages.

I know it seems obvious, but I should highlight the fact that I’m purely judging the video packages themselves in this list. Not the stories they’re building or the matches they’re hyping.

10 – The Undertaker vs Edge – One Night Stand 2008

“Get used to that Undertaker, because, after this Sunday, your career is dead!”

Straight away we have a prime example of a video package being more memorable than the match itself. Nothing was wrong with the TLC match between Edge and The Undertaker, of course, in fact, it’s one of the better one on one TLC Matches out there, however, given just how much Edge and Undertaker wrestled during this period, it’s hard for anyone match to stand out.

As such, this video package doesn’t tell some epic tale, it does its job of outlining why these two men are fighting, throws in some clips of brawls and voice lines to give it some heat and gets out, but it’s an instant of things coming together in just the right way to make something really fun to watch.

The package has just the right mix of chatting to outline the story and shots of action and brawls to keep the pace of the video going the whole way through, but what really brings this one together is the choice of song. Rev Theory’s Hell Yeah is just the right kind of chaotic for both a TLC match and the style Edge & Undertaker often wrestled against each other. The way the chorus of the song ramps up as the brawls begin and the editing becomes more chaotic makes this a package that is really fun to watch, to the point where the match is almost secondary.

9 – Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin – Wrestlemania 13

“You scratch my back and I’ll stab yours”

This package is pretty different from the rest of the ones on this list. There are no frills, no over the top music, and no dramatic speeches from the wrestlers. It’s simply a narrator explaining beat for beat exactly what’s happened between these two men up until this point and exactly how much they hate each other, with the occasional voice line from the wrestlers to frame the whole thing. It sounds boring, but in this instance, it works really well.

The wording of the voice over is pitch-perfect for the attitude this story was trying to convey, getting inside the mind of Bret Hart and explaining in meticulous detail exactly why he despises Stone Cold. Asking the audience to imagine all of the situations Bret Hart found himself in over the months building up to this match was a stroke of genius since it not only underlined the intensity between the two men but also, in hindsight, went a little ways to foreshadowing the historic double turn that would come at the end of this match.

8 – Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan – Wrestlemania 35

“Tell me what I need to do!”

Everyone loves an underdog story and no-one tells them better than WWE.

This package had a very simple task, it had to layout Kofi’s journey over 11 years until finally getting his chance at the WWE Championship and it did that to perfection. Showing the progression of Kofi’s career over the years while he talked about wanting an opportunity was such a great way to capture the emotion of the chase Kofi had gone through since February of 2019.

As always, Daniel Bryan was there to play the perfect foil to Kingston and this package encapsulated that as well as it could, with choice lines of Bryan being used to show the parallels between Bryan’s journey from 2014 and Kofi’s over his career, while also showing the disparity between the characters in the current day. Going into Wrestlemania 35 absolutely everyone was behind Kofi and this video package did a brilliant job of encapsulating that feeling going into the match.

7 – John Cena vs Bray Wyatt – Wrestlemania 30

“YOU ARE A LIAR JOHN CENA!”

This match was arguable, the biggest of Bray Wyatt’s career to date (including defending the WWE title at Wrestlemania) and this video package certainly did it justice. Back in 2014 it still seemed like Wyatt’s character had plenty of legs and there was still a sense of direction what the character’s motivations were and this package did a great job of capturing that essence.

This is definitely an instance of the chosen song for the video package greatly benefited the impact of the package as a whole. Eminem’s Legacy hits the nail on the head as it both captures the essence of the feud and what it was all about in its lyrics and the softened volume and slow pace of the song makes the whole thing feel incredibly creepy when paired with images of Wyatt’s twisted promo style. The way the slow piano creeps through the whole video package as Wyatt proclaims Cena to be a liar and weaves a tapestry with his words in a way that only he can, creates a real sense of chills, to the point where it almost feels like Cena’s career may actually be under threat with Wyatt lurking near.

This is one of simpler video packages on this list, but it does a brilliant job of capturing the core ideas of the feud along with building both men up as credible threats for each other, which is important considering Wyatt was technically still a rookie on main roster at this point.

6 – John Cena vs CM Punk – Money in the Bank 2011

“Do I have everybody’s attention now?”

Video packages have always been great at taking an ok-bad story and making it feel like a carefully crafted and well-executed tale when that usually isn’t the case. However, when you get a story as well written as this one was, the video package can instead serve to turn it into a story that looks worthy of a Hollywood action film, such is the case with this match.

This package does such a good job of framing the whole thing as a tragedy playing out in real-time and in kayfabe that’s exactly what it was. There was the potential to lose both of the WWE’s top stars and the WWE Championship in a single night. This entire package is almost entirely CM Punk on a monologue and that is absolute to its benefit, Punk is easily one of the best talkers of the last decade and the editing nailed the perfecting moments to cut between the main promo that was narrating the whole way through and the snippets of what went down in other weeks.

It also doesn’t something really great, in that it doesn’t necessarily present either Punk or Cena as the bad guy. I know that in terms of the actual story Punk was very much the bad guy, but the thing is, almost all of the fans were behind him. There are none of the classic changes in colour pallet or music between the heel and face’s promos, everything’s this murky shade of grey and it does a great job of letting you infer whichever way you want about who’s the bad guy. Using that package I could make a case for CM Punk being an underdog who has been held down his entire life and is making the most of finally getting an opportunity, but I could make just as strong a case for him being an egomaniac who stole himself the opportunity of a lifetime and is rubbing it in everyone’s face.

This was without a doubt one of the best stories in WWE for the last decade and this video package did a brilliant job of amplifying its impact tenfold.

5 – Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns – Battleground 2016

“I am the best member of The Shield”

Many people have expressed disappointment over the years for how underwhelming the fabled “Shield Triple Threat” ended up being and although I did enjoy the match itself, I didn’t like how it essentially played second fiddle to the revived brand split and the story wasn’t nearly as strong as it could’ve been thanks to Roman Reigns’ absence for the majority of it. If you were to watch the video package though, you certainly wouldn’t get that impression.

This video package was able to capture all the weight and emotion behind this match that the story in the week building up it wasn’t able to. Clearly outlining the backstory of just how big an impact The Shield has made on the WWE up until Battleground 2016, as a group and on their own. Throwing in the clips of Triple H, Paul Heyman and John Cena talking about how huge The Shield was as a group was a brilliant touch to add as much impact as possible to when the package stopped talking about the backstory and got onto what they were all fighting over now.

Once again the choice of song was excellent, it wasn’t loud and bombastic, instead, it was lowkey with some impactful lyrics instead. What that did is instead of focusing on all the violence that has been exchanged between the three of these men over the years, it focused in on the emotion of all of it and the pure drive that all three of these men have to prove that they are the best member of The Shield.

4 – CM Punk vs The Rock – Royal Rumble 2013

“You know, they know, time’s up”

During this feud against The Rock at the start of 2013, CM Punk was absolutely on fire when it came to his promos. He was always a fantastic talker of course, but being in the full swing of his heel turn and having one of the greatest talkers ever in The Rock to bounce off of created some absolute magic when it came to what Punk could come out with, as such, this made some great material for this package.

The right voice lines and the perfect choice in song came together perfectly to create a video package that felt like it was out of a big fight film, fuelled entirely on the balls to the walls action of the words that came between these two men. The timing of the voice lines as Punk would lord himself over as the 434-day reigning champion, with The Rock getting in fewer lines, but just the right ones to build the tension of the package the whole way through.

It builds everything up in such a great way so that when all of the chaos comes out in the brawl at the end it feels like a proper climax to the story that the package is trying to tell. It took a fight that was already huge from the names alone and made it feel like the biggest clash in history.

3 – The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels – Wrestlemania 26

“You don’t get it, if I can’t beat you at Wrestlemania I have no career”

The story leading up to Shawn Michaels’ retirement match in 2010 was easily one of the best-told stories of this decade and this video package did such a good job of distilling its essence into a mere 5-minute recap.

Placebo’s version of “Running Up That Hill” was such a brilliant song choice, it created this melancholic feeling to the whole thing and perfectly captured the emotions of Shawn Michaels’ descent into madness as his desire for a rematch with The Undertaker became an obsession. I always feel the sense of heartbreak as the package shows Shawns many attempts to get his rematch, almost all of which ended in failure.

As Shawn’s mental state deteriorated, the editing would reflect that, the images became less coloured and more out of focus, on top of the editing becoming more erratic. All of this gave us a look inside the mind of Shawn Michaels in this feud, to the point where we can’t blame him when he cost The Undertaker the World Heavyweight Championship, because we understand what he’s going through.

Things ended on a simple conversation between the two men, which added in a big compilation of Shawn Michaels’ career highlights giving us that one last dose of high emotion before sending us to the match. This package was able to instil such raw emotion and sympathy of Michaels the whole way through, even when he was doing heelish things and that made it very memorable indeed.

2 – Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock – Wrestlemania X-7

“The fact is, you have that WWF Championship and I want it”

So how do you make a video package for the biggest match, between the two biggest stars, on the biggest show in the WWF’s biggest boom period? Well as it turns out, someone in the WWF in 2001 must’ve known because this video package is the answer.

The package starts off so calm and simple, showing us how each man got into this match as the package is intercut with the sit-down between The Rock and Stone Cold to give everything context and ramp the tension up to an all-time high. There’s a bunch of violence shown as the story surrounding Debra but it all feels relatively tame thanks to the slower music for this portion.

This all changes however as the infamous “My Way” by Limp Bizkit kicks in and the video package once again spikes the tension to an all-time high with the sequence of Rock and Stone Cold smashing the beers back and forth in time with the music before it all absolutely explodes with the chorus. It’s a masterclass in controlling the tension in the scene and making sure the audience will be feeling exactly what you want them to feel and it makes for a blood-pumping climax to this video package.

It’s easily the most exciting video package of all time and did justice to one of the biggest matches in Wrestlemania history.

1 – Daniel Bryan vs Triple H – Wrestlemania 30

“Here I stand, unbroken, with these people behind me!”

Aka Daniel Bryan’s “Monster” video package.

Whether WWE planned for this story to turn out like this or not (they didn’t), the fact can’t be denied that it’s easily one of the most emotional stories of all time, there have been very few times in WWE history where the entire fanbase was so fully behind a single superstar that they were able to quite literally change the main event of Wrestlemania to fit in the guy they wanted to see at the top.

This video package takes all of those emotions that built steadily over the course of Daniel Bryan’s whole career and tells us everything we need to know about why it happened and what’s become of it. I’ve seen a bunch of reaction videos out there from people who aren’t even wrestling fans that come out the other side of watching this video entirely behind Daniel Bryan in his plight because it’s just that powerful.

Imagine Dragon’s “Monster” was a surprisingly great choice of song as it had a nice combination of tragic lyrics but an uplifting melody that made the whole thing feel inspirational, which is exactly the kind of spirit that got everyone behind Daniel Bryan in the WWE. Nothing quite like this had ever happened in WWE and certainly not on this big a scale, but this video package was able to capture every ounce of emotion that fans felt throughout Bryan’s whole career. The Tragedy of being told he’s not good enough, combined with the real-life tragedy of the company refusing to get behind him only for the wonderous comeback and sheer elation as it became clear we were finally going to get to see Bryan complete his journey at Wrestlemania 30.

It’s impossible not to come out of this video package ready to see Bryan kick Triple H’s ass up and down the arena. It ensured that when the match started emotions would be running at an all-time high and in my opinion it took an already brilliant match and made it legendary, which is what makes a video package the best of all time.

And that’s it! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, feel free to let me know what some of your favourite video packages are in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure you come back next Friday, as my coverage of WWE Hell in a Cell begins!

Ranking Every Former NXT Champion Since Their Main Roster Debut (Part 3)

Read part 1 here.
Read part 2 here.

Now we enter the final five. These are the NXT alumni who have done pretty darn well for themselves since coming to the main roster and is a nice reminder that sometimes, WWE doesn’t mess everything up.

5 – Sasha Banks

Days as NXT Women’s Champion: 191
Called Up On: Raw 7/13/15
Best Match Since Callup: vs CharlotteFlair vs Becky Lynch at     Wrestlemania 32
Championships Since Callup: 4x Raw Women’s Championship, 1x Women’s Tag Team Championship

Given what’s currently going on with Sasha Banks, it made her a little harder to place on the list, but that doesn’t take away from what she’s already achieved.

Sasha Banks debuted alongside Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch during Stephanie McMahon’s announcement that they were going to stop treating women’s wrestling like shit on your shoe (my words, not theirs). She was paired with Naomi and Tamina to form “Team B.A.D” or “Beautiful and Dangerous”, with Naomi being “Beautiful”, Sasha being “Dangerous” and Tamina being “And”.

Unfortunately for the team, the main crux of the feud ended up being between The Bellas and Charlotte, so Team B.A.D were very quickly swept to one side and didn’t really get a chance to do a whole lot of anything. Banks would soon strike out on her own, interfering in a Divas Championship match between Charlotte and Becky at the 2016 Royal Rumble, declaring herself to no longer be part of the group.

This lead to 2016 where Sasha Banks was always somewhere in the women’s title scene. After being unsuccessful at Wrestlemania 32, she would disappear from TV for a couple of months, until she eventually returned to launch into her memorable feud with Charlotte, during which she would win, and subsequently lose the Raw Women’s Championship 3 times over roughly 6 months. Many worried whether the constant “hot-potatoing” of the Women’s Championship was devaluing it, but as we can see today, it didn’t hurt the title at all and did wonders for raising the stock of both women involved.

Banks remained around the Raw Women’s Title scene through Wrestlemania 33, where she was unsuccessful in the Fatal 4 Way match against Bayley, Charlotte and Nia Jax. Once Alexa Bliss was done destroying Bayley’s credibility after Wrestlemania, Sasha challenged her for the Raw Women’s Championship, failing at Great Balls of Fire, but succeeding at Summerslam, claiming her 4th singles championship on the main roster.

It wasn’t to last, however, as Sasha lost the title back to Alexa 8 days later and would quickly fade away from the title scene. Banks then wouldn’t do much of any consequence until the announcement of the Women’s Tag Team Championships, where Bayley and Sasha would be crowned the first ever champions.

This brings us to the awkward topic of Sasha’s current status in WWE which is…unknown. Reportedly she was extremely unhappy at having to lose the titles to the IIocnics at Wrestlemania as the pair were promised a lengthy reign, she was given time off to think about her future. This time off was supposed to end on the night of Money in the Bank, but she’s still not shown her face.

Whether she stays with WWE or goes elsewhere, Sasha Banks has been instrumental in the rise of women’s wrestling in WWE, she’s put on countless great matches over the years, and wherever she decides to go, I’m sure she’ll be putting on many more.

4 – Finn Balor

Days as NXT Champion: 292
Called Up On: Smackdown 7/19/16
Best Match Since Callup: vs Seth Rollins vs The Miz at Wrestlemania 34
Championships Since Callup: 1x Universal Championship,                       2x Intercontinental Championship

In terms of debuts, you couldn’t ask for a much better sequence of events.

Finn Balor was called up on the night of the 2016 brand split, and was among the first 5 picks, up there with Seth Rollins, WWE Champion Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles, so it was clear he was going to be treated as a big deal. The next week, on Raw Balor, would win a Fatal 4 Way match, and then Roman Reigns 1 on 1 in the same night to win the chance to face Seth Rollins at Summerslam to crown the first ever Universal Champion.

Granted, it could be argued that Roman Reigns was still in the doghouse a little following his suspension, but whether that’s the case or not a clean, singles win over Roman Reigns is something not many people can say they’ve done in this era. More so than that, Finn ended up winning the match at Summerslam and became the first Universal Champion in WWE history which, no matter how much you hate that belt, is a big deal.

Unfortunately, this achievement wouldn’t last long as Balor suffered an injury in that match and the next night on Raw, was forced to vacate the Universal Championship and take 8 months off healing up. When Balor returned, there wasn’t really a lot going for him, Brock was now Universal Champion so he couldn’t get anywhere near that scene, he started a feud with Bray Wyatt going into the summer of 2017, and while Balor did win, the feud itself wasn’t overly interesting and was in danger of going into downright awful territory if the universe didn’t intervene and give Bray Wyatt the mumps, stopping their final match from happening.

Over the next year or so, Balor would have some standout moments, like a hard-fought victory over AJ Styles, lasting in the 2018 Royal Rumble for over an hour and one of the best matches on the Wrestlemania 34 card against Seth Rollins and The Miz, but it never felt like the company was ever going to get behind him as a big star like they did when he first debuted. Balor would spend most of the rest of 2018 in a boring feud with Baron Corbin until 2019 arrived and Balor’s fortunes changed once again.

Balor got the opportunity to fight Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble 2019 PPV, and he beat John Cena in order to get that opportunity in the first place. Balor wouldn’t come out victorious int hat encounter, but he took the beast to town for a large portion of the match, and he came out of the match looking better than when he went in. Then, in the build to Wrestlemania 35 this year, Balor feuded with Bobby Lashley, capturing the Intercontinental Championship from Lashley twice, at both Elimination Chamber and Wrestlemania, and he still holds the title to this day.

It’s undeniable that Balor’s time on main roster has had a lot of crap moments, but honestly, I’d struggle to find someone who hasn’t suffered that at some point in their careers. Balor has had more highlights than most in the WWE have had int he past few years, and he’s almost always taken full advantage of those opportunities and has made a big star of himself, that I’m sure will only get bigger over the coming decade.

3 – Kevin Owens

Days as NXT Champion: 142
Called Up On: 5/15/15
Best Match Since Callup: Kevin Owens at Elimination Chamber 2015
Championships Since Callup: 1x Universal Championship,                                      2x Intercontinental Championship, 3x United States Championship

I know I complimented Balor’s debut, but Owen’s debut is by far the best of anyone on this list.

Kevin Owens was the first former NXT Champion to really be treated like a big deal when he made his way to the main roster. At the time of his debut, Owens was actually still NXT Champion, and he came out to answer John Cena’s weekly open challenge for the US title, much like his former best friend Sami Zayn had done not too long ago. Owens didn’t come out to have a match though, instead, Owens cut a scathing promo on Cena, including a brilliant touch of Owens pointing out his 15 years of experience when Cena tried to give him some “veteran advice”.

This animosity boiled over to a full-blown feud, the first match of which took place at the Elimination Chamber 2015 PPV, wherein one of the most shocking results in recent memory, Kevin Owens pinned John Cena clean as a whistle. In later years this wouldn’t be as big of a deal, but in 2015 it was still an absolute shock to see Cena lose clean like that, and to a rookie in the debut match no less, it was clear big things were on the horizon for Owens. Following two straight losses to Cena of course.

Once Owens had moved on from Cena, he challenged and defeated Ryback for the Intercontinental Championship in what wouldn’t be a super long reign, but in this time he did get a high profile spot at Survivor Series, making it to the semi-finals of a tournament for the then vacant, WWE Championship. Owens would lose the IC title to Ambrose at the end of 2015 but would gain it back just before Fastlane 2016 and hold onto it until Wrestlemania 32.

After a few months of placeholder feuds, the 2016 brand split came about and did wonders for Kevin Owens, firstly it partnered him with Chris Jericho in what would become one of the most entertaining pairs on Raw for the rest of the year, and following Balor’s unfortunate injury, Owens was crowned Universal Champion. This title reign would be somewhat underwhelming, with most of his retentions coming through interference or disqualification, and he would constantly be made to look a fool in non-title matches, however it was a fairly long reign and he was always the main focus of Raw during that time, which is more than can be said for many champions.

After losing the title to Goldberg in humiliation, Owens went into a feud with Chris Jericho, whom he had turned on a couple of weeks prior at the excellent “Festival of Friendship” segment. Owens came out victorious at Wrestlemania and gain the United States Championship in the process and dub himself “The New Face of America”. Owens lost and quickly regained the title twice during this period, before eventually losing it for good to AJ Styles thanks to a surprise return from Chris Jericho. Owens’ feud with Styles was pretty heavily marred by wonky finishes and Shane McMahon getting involved at almost every opportunity, so this was quite the low point for Owens.

Owens then focused solely on Shane McMahon and the two would have a brutal feud, including a Hell in a Cell match where Owens would reunite with his former best friend Sami Zayn. At this point, the feud got quite confusing and boring, as Shane and General Manager Daniel Bryan were bickering over how blatantly biased Shane was against Owens and Zayn even though the story was still trying to present Shane as the good guy.

After several months and an awful feud with Styles where Owens and Zayn would lose to Styles despite having a 2 on 1 advantage, the feud would culminate when Daniel Bryan was medically cleared to compete after 3 years on the shelf and Bryan & Shane put Owens & Zayn away at Wrestlemania 34. Following Wrestlemania, Owens & Zayn were both moved to Raw and Owens wouldn’t do a whole lot of anything except for constantly being destroyed by Braun Strowman until he would sadly be taken out of action with an injury.

Owens would quickly recover upon returning though, as, in early 2019, he returned to Smackdown live as a babyface, replacing Kofi Kingston in the WWE title match at Fastlane in the process. That match would later become a triple threat including Mustafa Ali and it would be very good, although Daniel Bryan would end up retaining. Owens was left out of the Wrestlemania 35 card, but instantly was thrown back into the WWE title mix following the show of shows, turning heel on the New Day and challenging Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship in a feud that doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.

As much as the negatives can make things seem a lot worse than they are, Owens has had a really good time of it on main roster. He’s almost always been in one of the major stories on whichever show he’s on and spent a good couple of years in contention for one title or another, and given what’s been going on since his 2019 return, it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.

2 – Charlotte Flair

Days as NXT Women’s Champion: 258
Called Up On: Raw 7/13/15
Best Match Since Callup: vs Becky Lynch at Evolution 2018
Championships Since Callup: 4x Raw Women’s Championship,                       4x Smackdown Women’s Championship, 1x Divas Championship

It’s hard to argue that Charlotte isn’t one of, if not THE greatest female competitors in WWE history in terms of her overall career.

Charlotte Flair is perhaps the personification of how far women’s wrestling has come in the past 5-6 years. When she debuted alongside Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch that night on Raw, it was clear that Charlotte was going to be the one who had the biggest spotlight on them and that’s exactly what happened. In just a few months she had defeated Nikki Bella and won the Divas Championship for herself, defending it against all comers and turning heel in the process, Wrestlemania 32 rolled around and it was time to get rid of the last relic of the old era of women’s wrestling in WWE, that horrible looking Divas Championship.

So on that night Charlotte would defeat both Sasha and Becky in a Triple Threat match (with a little help from her father) and become the first holder of the new WWE Women’s Championship in a historic moment for the women’s evolution in WWE. Charlotte continued her run of dominance for almost a whole year, during which time the WWE Women’s Championship would become the Raw Women’s Championship in the 2016 brand split, where Charlotte lost and quickly regained the title from Sasha Banks on several occasions in lots of very good matches. Charlotte’s time with the Raw Women’s Championship eventually came to an end (for the time being) when Bayley defeated her in a surprise upset on a February episode of Raw and failed to regain the title at both Fastlane and Wrestlemania that year.

Following Wrestlemania 33, Charlotte was moved over to Smackdown in the Superstar shakeup where she’d be able to thrive as a face and against the whole host of new opponents. She took part in but was unsuccessful in the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank ladder match before losing to Natalya at Battleground causing her to miss Summerslam. She would also take some time off during this period to care for her Father who had a major health scare.

Upon her September return, it didn’t take very long at all for Charlotte to catapult herself back up into the Smackdown Women’s title scene and won the blue brand’s title in November from Natalya. Charlotte then went on to face and defeat Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss at Survivor Series that year before carrying her title into Wrestlemania 34 following defences against both Natalya and Ruby Riott. At Wrestlemania 34, Charlotte would once again make history, becoming the first person in WWE history to inflict a pinfall loss on Asuka, retaining her title in the process. Charlotte wouldn’t have long to dwell on this victory however, as the next night Carmella cashed in her Money in the Bank contract to take the title from her.

After an unsuccessful title defense Charlotte once again failed to capture the Money in the Bank contract and then went on hiatus for another few months to have surgery on a ruptured breast implant but would once again return and make her mark for Summerslam 2018, inserting herself into the Smackdown Women’s Title match between Carmella and Becky Lynch, only to win the title and cause Becky to lose her shit in what was supposed to be a heel turn, but the roles were reversed by the time their feud reached its climax. Charlotte had several matches with Becky, the best of which is the pair’s Last Woman Standing match at Evolution, although Charlotte was unsuccessful each time.

Charlotte would be unsuccessful one more time against both Becky and Asuka in a TLC Match at the TLC PPV where Ronda Rousey would cost both Charlotte and Becky the title. Charlotte was then the runner up in the 2019 women’s Royal Rumble match, losing to a surprise Becky Lynch, but found a way to weasel her way into the main event match between Becky and Ronda by having the surname Flair. In the build-up to this match, Charlotte would dispatch of Asuka just two weeks before Wrestlemania 35 and win her 3rd Smackdown Women’s Championship.

Charlotte lost at Wrestlemania, but that wouldn’t stop her pursuits, as most recently at Money in the Bank 2019 Charlotte took advantage of an exhausted Becky Lynch and a manipulated Lacey Evans to take back the Smackdown Women’s Championship – breaking the record for most titles won by a female competitor in WWE in the process at 9 – only to lose it moments later to Bayley who cashed in her Money in the Bank contract she won earlier that night to win the title.

Charlotte as a wrestler isn’t for everyone, many say she’s a boring character which I can see both sides of, but when she has the right opponent in the right story, Charlotte puts on some of the best women’s matches in company history. You can sit there all day moaning about how Charlotte is being shoved down our throats and is the “Roman Reigns of the women’s division” but the women’s evolution in WWE would not have gone anywhere near as smoothly if it wasn’t for someone as solid as Charlotte for WWE to get behind, and honestly I’d go as far as to say that she IS the greatest female competitor in WWE history.

1 – Seth Rollins

Days as NXT Women’s Champion: 133
Called Up On: Survivor Series 2012
Best Match Since Callup:vs John Cena vs Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2015
Championships Since Callup: 2x WWE Championship, 2x Universal Championship, 2x Intercontinental Championship, 1x United States Championship, 4x Tag Team Championship

I mean come on, could it really be anyone else?

No matter what metric you want to use to measure it, number of championships, number of amazing matches, number of PPV main events, Seth Rollins runs away with this as the best former NXT Champion to grace the WWE main roster.

Rollins made his historic debut alongside Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose the night of Survivor Series 2012, attacking Ryback and John Cena allowing CM Punk to retain his WWE Championship and forming The Shield in the process. The Shield would go on to become one of the greatest factions in WWE’s history, taking out everyone in their path. John Cena, Daniel Bryan, The Rock, The Undertaker, Evolution and so many more would taste The Shield’s brand of justice in many incredible matches, reminding everyone just how awesome 6 Man Tag Team matches can be in the process. During this time Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins also took out Team Hell No, for Rollins to win his first of many Tag Team Championships in WWE.

Good things can never last forever though and one fateful night in May of 2014, Seth Rollins would destroy The Shield, slamming a steel chair into Roman Reigns’ back and laying out Dean Ambrose. Rollins was then heralded as The Authority’s golden boy, labelled the future of WWE Rollins walked into Money in the Bank 2014 and handedly walked out as Mr Money in the Bank. Rollins spent most of 2014 feuding with his former Shield-brother Dean Ambrose, putting on multiple great matches month in and month out and always finding a way to come out the victor. Rollins would next get in the way of one, John Cena, as a match was set up for Survivor Series 2014 that saw Rollins’ benefactors in The Authority ousted from power.

Rollins went after Cena for this injustice, losing to him in a tables match at TLC, until Rollins took the opportunity one night on Raw to threaten Edge’s problematic neck, forcing Cena to reinstate The Authority. Rollins was rewarded with a spot in the WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble, where he put on an absolutely incredible match, that I still love to go back and watch to this day. Then came Rollins’ crowning achievement at Wrestlemania 31. After he ate one of the most amazing looking RKO’s ever earlier on in the night, Rollins came sprinting down the ramp as the WWE Championship between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns was going on, cashing in his Money in the Bank contract and coming away with the title.

Rollins held the title all the way through till November due to an unfortunate injury he suffered, however during his title reign he once again went on a streak of constantly putting on brilliant matches against the likes of Dean Ambrose and John Cena, briefly picking up the United States Championship and becoming a double champion in the process. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, Rollins tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus at a live event in November that forced him to vacate the title and sit out 7 months of action.

The moment Rollins returned, he went right back into the thick of the action as he made a surprise appearance at the end of Extreme Rules 2016, to pedigree the WWE Champion Roman Reigns. The pair would have a great match at Money in the Bank the following month that resulted in Rollins reclaiming the title he never lost, unfortunately, it was very short lived as Rollins’ constant foil Dean Ambrose showed up with his newly won Money in the Bank briefcase to snatch the title away from Rollins. Over the next couple of months, Rollins would chase Ambrose for the title, including multiple singles matches and a triple threat between all 3 former members of The Shield, however, Rollins would come up short every time.

After being drafted to Monday Night Raw in the brand split, Rollins was one of the men who was picked to fight for the brand new Universal Championship against the newly debuted Finn Balor. The pair would put on a great match (even if the crowd didn’t seem to care), but Rollins would once again fail to capture title gold, this would happen again two weeks later in a fatal 4 way for the Universal title, because Triple H would shockingly turn on Rollins, turning the architect face in the process. Rollins spent the next couple of months taking on Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship but was thwarted at every turn by Chris Jericho.

Rollins would involve himself in fairly minor feuds until January rolled around, when Rollins refocused and set his sights on the man who turned on him a few months ago, Triple H. Rollins went on a warpath to get his hands on The Game, even going as far as to show up at NXT Takeover: San Antonio in order to call him out. After a minor knee injury threatened to jeopardise the whole story, Rollins thankfully recovered in time and the match was set for Wrestlemania 33. Rollins ended up defeating Triple H in what, for my money, was the best match that night, finally ridding himself of the stormcloud that had hovered over him for months.

Following Wrestlemania, Rollins wouldn’t do much of note for a few months, beating Samoa Joe and losing to Bray Wyatt in feuds that were fun to watch but not very consequential. That changed come summer time when Rollins set his sights on redeeming himself for his past sins and trying to reform The Shield, first winning over Dean Ambrose and winning the Raw Tag Team Championships, before later getting Roman Reigns on-side as well to take out The New Day at that year’s Survivor Series.

Once 2018 rolled around, business really picked up for Rollins. Following a brief run as tag team champions with Jason Jordan, Rollins walked into Wrestlemania 34 and came out of it as Intercontinental Champion. The rest of the year was filled with Rollins putting on fantastic singles matches every single week for the title against wrestlers like The Miz, Elias and Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler is especially noteworthy, as Rollins and Ziggler traded the title a couple of times thanks to Ziggler seeking aid from the debuting Drew Mcintyre until Rollins would get an ally of his own in a returning Dean Ambrose.

This led to one of the best matches of 2018, as Rollins & Ambrose would take on Drew & Dolph in a losing effort. Things took a turn for the worse during the autumn of 2018, as Roman Reigns would tragically announce the return of his leukaemia forcing him to take time off, this led to Ambrose & Rollins winning the tag titles later that night, only for Ambrose to shockingly turn on Rollins. This would come to a head at TLC 2018, where Ambrose defeated Rollins for his Intercontinental Championship.

Rollins bounced back pretty well though, as he won the 2019 men’s Royal Rumble match the next month, putting him on a collision course with Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 35. In shocking fashion, Rollins slew the beast at the start of Wrestlemania 35, nailing a low blow and 3 Curb Stomps to take Lesnar down and claim the Universal Championship for the first time, and his third world title overall. As of the time of writing, Rollins’ title reign is still going strong, defeating AJ Styles in a fantastic match at Money in the Bank and is currently embroiled in a feud with Baron Corbin that he seems destined to win.

No other former NXT Champion has seen anywhere near as much success as Seth Rollins had on the main roster. No-one in the past few years has been able to put on such consistently great matches in WWE every week he’s about, winning championships left right and centre, and almost always being in one of the major stories of whatever show he’s on. Rollins has very much become the face of the company in this generation of wrestlers and honestly, I don’t think there’s a better man for the job.

And that’s the list! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, I know it was a long one and a share on social media would be greatly appreciated. You can also let me know what you thought of the list in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. I’ll see you on Friday for my predictions for Extreme Rules!

A Gaming Q&A

So let’s do one of those tag things!

I’ve decided I want to take a break from ranking certain franchises for the moment, so I’m looking into doing some more gaming stuff that’s full of variety, and I just so happened to come across The Gamer Tag. I came across it while looking through The Hannie Corner‘s site and if you don’t know what it is, it’s just a whole bunch of questions about games, I thought it’d be a nice way to cover a whole bunch of topics in one post, so let’s do it!

1. What is your all-time favourite video game?

Really simple one this, Octopath Traveler. I could go into why right now, but that would make my answer to this question about a thousand words long, so instead I suggest you go and look at my Game of the Year 2018 post to see why I love that game so much.

2. What is your current favourite video game?

I assume this means, the game I’m actively playing at the moment, which coincidentally, thanks to the PC release, is also Octopath Traveler. However, for the sake of variety, I’m going to say Towerfall Ascension, because I and my housemates will play that almost on the daily and it’s so much fun.

3. What is the greatest weakness of your favourite game?

This is a really interesting question, for Octopath Traveler I think it would have to be the path actions, which are your out of combat abilities, they just seem a bit tacked on and pointless. All of the uses for them seem to have been crowbarred in order to justify their need in the game and ultimately I don’t think the game would’ve been any different without them.

4. What is the greatest strength of your least favourite game?

I’ve never really thought much about what my least favourite game is, but I suppose it would have to be Medal of Honor: Warfighter, which is just a boring and straight up offensive game. I suppose it’s greatest strength would have to be the shooting. It’s nothing special, but it is at least competently done, which is more than can be said for most other things in that game.

5. What is your favourite video game genre?

This one is extremely difficult for me to answer, I took a look at my top 10 games list to try and work this out and a whopping 9 of the games were all different genres. I guess at a push, I’d say RPGs and Turn Based Strategies are what I get the most out of, but there’s really not much in it. I do however know that my least favourite genres are First Person Shooters and MMO’s because I just find them boring.

6. How long have you been playing video games?

Since my mum gave me her Game Boy when I was about 4 or 5ish. Although I think before that I may have played a bunch of flash games on websites like Cbeebies before then, but as you’d expect, my memories of that time aren’t the clearest.

7. What was the first game you ever played?

Again, not counting any flash games I may have played, I think it was Bugs Bunny and the Crazy Castle on the Game Boy; a game that’s not nearly as difficult as I remember it being…

8. What game have you clocked the most hours into?

Minecraft, and it’s not even close. I was 11-12 when Minecraft first came to prominence so I was right in the demographic for kids who went all in on it. It took me a little longer than most to get into it, but once I did, I never stopped and I still play it regularly to this day, so my hours are easily well over 2000, maybe even creeping up on 3000 now.

9. What was your longest gaming session?

I don’t have any specific memories in regards to this one, but there are a few times I can think of. The first of which would be one of my many days playing Minecraft in the summers of 2012 through 2015ish, I couldn’t pinpoint a specific day for you, but I know there were several days that I pretty much only broke to eat. There are also several days where I played Civilization 5 with friends long into the night, doing entire games in one day more than once. Finally, would be whenever a new Pokemon game launches, from the moment it’s in my hands, it’s pretty much all I do other than eat and sleep until I’ve finished it; for two years straight now I’ve received the game Friday afternoon and have finished it before Sunday is done. So somewhere among those times is my longest gaming session.

10. What is your personal definition of a “perfect” video game?

That’s a tough one because as I said, there isn’t really any one genre I gravitate towards, so I’m gonna have to go in general strokes here. I think it would honestly just be something that’s a fun start to finish. Even my favourite games have low points, be they for story reasons or otherwise, but a game that it just straight up a blast from start to finish would be great, and also something with a really fun and easy to pick up multiplayer mode so I can play that with a whole bunch of people.

11. What is the most “perfect” you game you have ever played?

I guess the closest game to my description about would be Towerfall Ascension. The singleplayer mode in that is pretty much fun the whole time, and the multiplayer – which is where the meat of the game is – is responsible for some of the best times I’ve had playing games with other people. All it really needs is an online mode and it’d be pretty much there.

12. Who is your favourite game developer?

This is a hard one to answer because it switches around a lot depending on what I’m into at the moment (and what I’m not…Bethesda…). But generally, the two development studios that consistently put out games I think are great are Platinum Games of Nier: Automata and Bayonetta fame, and Nintendo who have been on fire since the launch of the Switch.

13. If you had unlimited funds, talent and technology to create any game you could ever imagine, what would you make?

Either a Pokemon game with all of the regions & Pokemon in it, with some new stuff thrown in there and a big story tieing it all together or a wrestling game in the style of the WWE 2K series with every promotion and all their wrestlers licenced to be used in the game.

14. Who is your favourite hero character from a game?

See this one is actually quite difficult, because when I connect with the story of a game, it usually not to do with the protagonist, there are great ones out there for sure, I can’t think of a game that’s got me to connect specifically with the protagonist in a way that films or TV can. I suppose it’d have to be Thomas from Thomas was Alone, although it’s hard to say he’s specifically a hero, so failing that it’s gotta be H’aanit from Octopath Traveler, even if she does speak like a twat.

15. Who is your favourite villain from a game?

Honestly, I pay even less attention to the villains than I do the heroes. That said, I do actually have a good answer here in Gary from Bully. The guy is such a manipulative arsehole to everyone around him, and because Bully is set in a school, you actually have to be clever and find an opportune time to give him his payback because you’re in school and if you just go and beat him up you’ll be expelled. The unique setting of Bully really helped to boost a pretty good villain into a great one.

16. Who is your most hated character of any game?

Jacob Frye from Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, what an annoying, self-centred wanker.

17. Rank the following media formats in order from least to most favourite: Video Games, Books, Movies, TV Shows, Music.

Least favourite is gonna be movies. I’ve never been a big movie guy, once or twice a year something will come along that I enjoy, but I don’t like going to the cinema and will very rarely want to actively go and see a film.
Next is books, this probably would’ve been last a year ago, but earlier this year, I got into a couple of really good books and it’s made me realise I like reading a lot more than I used to.
Following that is TV, which would be higher if there was more stuff I actually watched, but outside of Doctor Who and Taskmaster, I don’t watch a great deal.
Then it’s music because it’s what I do pretty much whenever I’m not doing any of the other ones I’ve mentioned so far; I just get this real sense of joy from listening to music I like, and none of the other mediums can really do that.
Then video games are of course number one, it’s what I spend most of any given day doing and it’s become a huge part of who I am.

18. What gaming systems do you own?

PC, DS, 3DS and Switch. There is also an Xbox One in my house but I never use it for games. I primarily game on the PC, but there are certain games I prefer to play on the Switch, plus I use the Switch for Nintendo exclusive titles, as for my DS’s, they’re essentially just Pokemon machines.

19. What was your first gaming system?

As mentioned above, the original Game Boy that my mum gave me. The full list of games I had on it were: Bugs Bunny and the Crazy Castle; Wario Blast; Wario Land; Super Mario Land; Tetris, and probably a couple others, but I didn’t play them.

20. What is your favourite gaming system and why?

The Nintendo Switch, the portability of it is fantastic, and they’re getting better and better games to run on it now. Not to mention a Switch is a very easy console to break out socially too, with you always having at least two controllers to hand, and plenty of games on it designed for “couch gaming”, I think I’ve had more fun playing the Switch, than any other console. Not to mention, any machine that lets me play Skyrim while lying in bed gets bonus points.

21. Do you prefer to play male or female characters?

Female characters for a couple of reasons, 1) They just look cooler, 2) The customization options with outfits and such like are usually way more versatile, 3) So few games let you play with long hair as a male (I have long hair IRL) and 4) In many old games where you could pick your gender, the game would still act like you were a male even if you weren’t, and I just think it’s stupid that I can be playing as female and be referred to as “he” the whole time.

22. Do you follow walkthroughs, or do you play through on your own?

Most games I’ll stick to playing it myself for the most part, but will happily resort to a walkthrough if I get stuck enough. I’ll also tend to look at walkthroughs once I’m finished with a game’s main story to find where and how to access any post-game content there may be because otherwise, I’ll just miss it. There are also many games, like Bully, that I only ever played because I watched a walkthrough and thought it looked really cool, and while knowing most of what was going to happen did take away from the experience a bit, I never would’ve found the game at all if it wasn’t for walkthroughs.

23. Have you ever been to a gaming convention?

No, and I don’t really want to, it’d be cool to play some demos and maybe get some exclusives, but at the end of the day I’d get that news anyway and it just seems like more trouble than it’s worth.

24. Do you prefer physical or digital copies of games?

Digital, with the exception of Pokemon, which I will always buy physical copies of. The main reason I prefer digital is just a space issue. I’ve got over 600 games on my Steam account, if I had physical copies of all of them, I’d need a whole room to store them in, it’s just impractical. However, I do like physical copies for collector’s value, hence why I get them for Pokemon.

25. What game are you most excited to come out this year?

Pokemon Sword and Shield, what I’ve seen so far look wonderful and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

26. What game are you most excited to come out in the future?

Elder Scrolls 6, I need that in my life.

27. What video game travelling party would you most like to join?

The Royal Procession from Final Fantasy 15, I’d be useless in combat, but we would have some next level banter.

28. What’s your favourite video game soundtrack?

Either Octopath Traveler, Pokemon Platinum or Sonic Mania, all of these tracks have songs all over the spectrum of emotions and I love listening to them.

29. What’s your best memory of a video game?

I always hate questions like this, because it’s essentially just “pick the best thing”, and there’s so damn much to choose from that nothing sticks out. What’s sticking out most in my mind right now though, is the past year of living in my uni house, which I’ve just moved out of, playing games with my housemates in that was always an absolute blast, and we’d play games almost daily. I think I can extend that to pretty much anytime I’ve played games socially, but that’s what is currently at the front of my mind.

30. What’s your worst memory of a video game?

Again, nothing all that specific stands out, but there are plenty of games that I’ve enjoyed for quite a while, that I start to hate by the end and I feel obliged to finish them because I put so much time into them. Farcry 4 is the best example I can think of, I was so fed up by the time I was finished with that I haven’t even looked at Farcry 5; Darksiders 2 and Just Cause 4 were also games that got on my nerves during the final chapter, to the point where I genuinely Alt+F4’ed out of Just Cause 4’s final cutscene because all it did was tease the next game.

31. What film, TV series or Book would you like to see as a video game?

I really want a proper Doctor Who game. I know there have been a whole bunch of attempts, but they’ve all been absolute crap. I’d really love a AAA style Doctor Who adventure where you get to run away from monsters and solve clever puzzles and just generally ponce about through time and space.

32. If you could cosplay as any character from any game, who would you choose?

I would really like to do H’aanit from Octopath Traveler but, to put it delicately, I don’t quite have the physique required to pull it off.

33. What video game character represents you the best?

Tom Nook, gimme your money.

Summerslam 2018 Predictions

(Originally Posted Aug 2018)

Well it’s August, which means it’s time for Discount Wrestlemania! Ah, I err…I mean Summerslam!

I know this isn’t the first time a year’s Wrestlemania and Summerslam have had the same match in the main event, but you can’t help feel a bit dragged down by the fact this is the third time we’re seeing the same main event this year.

That aside, I’m hopeful that this will be fairly enjoyable. There’s a lot of potential for some really good matches and fun moments on this card; but then again I’ve said that about most shows this year and I’ve been wrong, so who knows?

So let’s get right to it, here are my predictions for Summerslam 2018!

Rusev & Lana vs Andrade Almas & Zelina Vega
(Kickoff Show)

Remember last month when Rusev was fighting for the WWE Championship? Good times…

Although I think most of us saw it coming, it’s shame Rusev’s shot straight down from the main event to the pre-show; but then again he seems to be staying positive about it on Twitter so what do I know?

As for this match I’m finding it surprisingly hard to call, my gut says it’s obviously Almas & Vega, but the two of them have been beating Rusev & Lana in singles matches on Smackdown for weeks, so I don’t see how anything would be gained from them winning again. Then again, you also have to consider that Aiden English might get involved again and cost Rusev & Lana the match again.

Ultimately, I’m going to go with my gut and say Andrade Almas & Zelina Vega pick up the win here, mostly because I don’t think it’d be a good idea for Almas to take a loss this soon. I just really hope WWE do something major with him soon before he follows in Bobby Roode’s footsteps of being virtually non-existent.

The B-Team(c) vs The Revival
(Raw Tag Team Championships, Kickoff Show)

While I have enjoyed The B-Team as tag champions, the joke seems to be less and less funnier as the week goes by.

The triple threat on Raw was good fun and I liked how they were able to sneak away with the win, but I can feel myself starting to get a bit bored with them. Not to mention I absolutely love The Revival, in fact I really think the match should just be The Revival wrestling circles around The B-Team for 5 minutes before an easy pin.

Regardless of what the match is like, I’m pretty confident The Revival are coming away with the titles here, and will hopefully move onto some killer matches with AOP or whoever debuts after Summerslam.

Cedric Alexander(c) vs Drew Gulak
(Cruiserweight Championship, Kickoff Show)

What is this title? Who are these people?

Jokes aside, it’s quite upsetting that this is the first time the Cruiserweight Championship has been on a PPV since Wrestlemania, and of course it’s on the pre show, since they haven’t had a match on the main show since… ..Royal Rumble 2017? Seriously?! Wow…

Sadly, I also haven’t had much time to watch 205 Live recently, so I don’t know a lot about this feud, but I do know Drew Gulak has had some really great moments over the past year, and seeing him with the title is something I would very much like.

So, this is a pretty uninformed prediction, but I’m going to go with Drew Gulak, since I just feel like it’s his time.

The Bludgeon Brothers(c) vs The New Day
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

This is weird, because this is a match we haven’t actually seen much at all, but I feel like I’ve already seen it about twenty times already.

I was quite surprised when The New Day won this opportunity, especially considering The Bar had just returned from the phantom zone, or wherever it was they disappeared to for a few months. I’m sure this will be a good match, The New Day are one of the best tag teams in the company right now and The Bludgeon Brothers have shown they can put on killer performances with the right opponents.

However, none of that changes the fact that I don’t see how The New Day win here (unless of course The Undisputed Era are gonna show up on Tuesday). I doubt that’s going to happen though, so I’m picking The Bludgeon Brothers to retain here.

Finn Balor vs “Constable” Baron Corbin

Oh who cares?

Finn Balor is the single most stagnant character in the whole of WWE right now, none of his feuds ever feel like they have any importance or weight to them; because most of the time they don’t. I really just want him to get involved in something meaningful for once, but no, we’ve gotta sit here and watch him fight Baron Corbin again for the hundredth time this year.

As for a winner? Honestly flip a coin, it won’t matter come Monday anyway, but Finn Balor I guess.

Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs Jeff Hardy
(United States Championship)

Why isn’t Orton involved in this? Jeff already had his guaranteed rematch on Smackdown, so you can’t say that’s why and while I know Orton hasn’t so much as looked at Nakamura the entire time, he’s tried to kill Jeff on several occasions and usually enough to slot him into the title scene.

Instead we’ve got another one on one between Nakamura & Hardy, and I do hope we get a proper match out of them this time as I don’t feel like they’ve been able to do what they’re able to as yet. As for the finish, I imagine the Viper is going to rear his head again, and maybe take a shot at Nakamura as well as Hardy this time to really get things going in this feud.

Regardless of the specifics Shinsuke Nakamura is going to be leaving Summerslam with that US title still over his shoulder.

Daniel Bryan vs The Miz

I think this may be the match I’m most excited for.

I’ve no idea what the current rumor is as to whether or not Daniel Bryan has resigned, and I don’t really want to know, since I feel it might spoil this match for me. It’s been said so much, but it really is true that these two characters are the perfect opposites of each other, and on Smackdown this Tuesday WWE did a fantastic job with the video packages that looked all the brilliant interactions that Miz & Bryan have had over the years.

If it turns out Bryan isn’t resigning and this is the last hurrah of his WWE career, then you couldn’t have a more perfect ending; if it turns out he’s sticking around, then what a perfect way to move onto the next phase of his career than wrapping up the feud that’s been running since his WWE debut.

However, when looking back on all this, all the build up over the past month, and all the recaps, the feud only has one possible outcome. The Miz HAS to win.

The problem with The Miz is that over the past few years, is that people (myself included) have come to respect The Miz and enjoy his work, this means he just doesn’t get heat like he used to, people like him too much. Beating Daniel Bryan in the match that could very easily be the climax of his entire career would remind people exactly why they hated The Miz, it would bring back that pure heat that The Miz used to get pre brand split; not to mention it would give him all the momentum in the world to go for a world title later in the year.

After looking everything over, I honestly don’t see any other outcome to this match other than The Miz standing victorious.

Carmella(c) vs Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

It’s matches like this that really make me wish Paige could still wrestle.

This entire feud really just feels like a build up for Becky to win the title, she’s been so close for months now but things just keep stopping her. I loved the way they started this all out though, quite simply, Becky got an opportunity because she’d been winning matches week after week since Wrestlemania, including a pretty high-profile win over Charlotte.

That’s where things fall down a bit for me, Charlotte loses her title to Carmella, loses the rematch in fairly clean fashion, tries and fails at Money in the Bank, disappears for a month, then shows up and gets a shot at Carmella because….why exactly?

While it might not be great from a storyline perspective, it should make for a great match. Carmella seems to be getting better by the day and Charlotte and Becky’s skills speak for themselves, throwing all three of them in a ring will hopefully make for a chaotic match that’s really fun to watch.

Like I said at the start, there’s no doubt in my mind Becky Lynch takes the title here, hopefully to hold it for quite a while.

Braun Strowman vs Kevin Owens
(The Money in the Bank Briefcase is on the line)

WWE, please don’t fuck everything up.

The moment Strowman won the Money in the Bank briefcase I could feel that this was an empire built on sand. Not because of Strowman, he’s as amazing as always, because I just don’t trust WWE not to fuck up these potentially brilliant plans they’ve laid out for the next 6 months of programming.

I haven’t been the biggest fan of this whole Strowman vs Owens thing, but it does at least stop both men from fading into the background while everything is going on around them. WWE have seemingly been all in on Strowman for a good couple of years now, but they’ve been known to suddenly give up on people before, and if Strowman loses the briefcase on Sunday, I really feel like it’ll be the start of a slow and painful decline into irrelevance.

However, with all my fear mongering and negativity, I’m going to do something perhaps a little stupid, and put my faith in WWE to do the right thing and say Braun Strowman is holding onto that briefcase.

Dolph Ziggler(c) vs Seth Rollins
(Intercotinental Championship)

So, last month at Extreme Rules, I got just a teensy bit furious at the Iron Man match between these two men, and while it wasn’t their fault for the most part, there is still that bad taste in my mouth.

That said, the main question on everyone’s minds is of course, when is Dean going to turn on Seth? I think during the match might be a bit too soon, and also doesn’t make sense from Ambrose’s perspective. If these guys are going to have a feud, it feels like it should be over the Intercontinental championship, so personally I think if Dean is going to turn on Seth on Sunday, it’ll be after the match instead of during.

Hopefully the crowd will be in on this match this time around, the antics between Drew & Dean on the outside should help things along, and of course we all know that Dolph & Seth can put on some brilliant in ring action when they want to, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will be great, and I think Seth Rollins will walk away with the title.

Alexa Bliss(c) vs Ronda Rousey
(Raw Women’s Championship)

Alexa may actually be killed on Sunday.

I don’t think there’s any doubt anymore as to how good Ronda is in the ring, she’s proved more than enough now that she’s amazing, and Alexa Bliss is the perfect opponent for her. The build to this match has been great, and apart from Ronda being scared of a bat she’s looked incredibly strong.

This match could very well be match of the night, but I don’t think the winner is in any doubt, WWE have been dying to put the title on Rousey ever since they signed her, and Alexa only really won the title so they didn’t have to turn Nia heel; Ronda Rousey wins this one.

AJ Styles(c) vs Samoa Joe
(WWE Championship)

I find it a little weird that a feud between the best wrestler in the world and the most destructive force on the planet has boiled down to whether AJ is a good father or not, but that’s wrestling for you.

Honestly I don’t think the story matters here, because these two could tear the house down in any and every arena on the planet. I just hope they learnt their lesson from the Styles/Nakamura feud and don’t drag it down with WWE’s trademark bullshit.

I’m finding the winner a little hard to call though, my gut says it should be Joe, but that’s the same thing I said about Nakamura, and look where that got me. Not to mention there was that graphic for Hell In A Cell next month that showed AJ as still WWE Champion, and you’ve got the video game release in October, where AJ is the cover star.

Ultimately, I think Joe is picking up that title eventually, but not on Sunday, so I’m picking AJ Styles to retain for now.

Brock Lesnar(c) vs Roman Reigns
(Universal Championship)

Please let this be the end.

There was a part of me that was still looking forward to seeing this match again at the start of the month. However after reviewing the entire saga, and having a dream about watching it a couple of nights ago, which means I’ve got to watch it AGAIN on Sunday, I really hope this is the end of this.

Over the past year, the WWE have managed to take any part of me that still liked or cared about Lesnar and smashed it to bits, I just now want him gone; which I suppose is what they wanted me to feel through this story, so well done I guess. However the thing is, I’m not cheering for Roman Reigns because I believe in the character or what he says, but just because he’s the lesser of two evils. Is that what WWE want? For people to cheer Reigns by default? Because I promise you that they can’t get away with that for long.

Of course there is the chaos factor hanging above this whole thing, which is of course the Money in the Bank briefcase; when Strowman won the briefcase a couple of months back, I was convinced Summerslam was going to end with Strowman as Universal Champion, but now I’m not so sure. Not just because he might lose the briefcase to Kevin Owens, but also because I think they might wait until Wrestlemania to pull the trigger on Reigns vs Strowman again.

Whether Strowman/Owens cashes in or not, we still need that visual of Roman Reigns pinning Brock Lesnar to finally put all this to rest and move on, so that’s what I’m going with.

So there you go! My predictions for Summerslam 2018. There’s a lot of interesting things that could happen on this show, so we just have to sit back and hope that at least some of them come to pass. Unfortunately I’m going to be on holiday as of tomorrow, so it’s unlikely I’ll have the time to write my usual review, so I instead recommend you check out podcast co-host Jacob’s blog The Turnbuckle Corner, as he will likely be writing a review of his own next week.

Until then make sure to share this article on social media, follow me on Twitter @10ryawoo, and let me know what you think of my predictions in the comments! I’ll see you next time.