Tag: Seth Rollins

WWE Summerslam 2019: Predictions & Analysis

So, after a couple of months of spinning our wheels, this is the show we were spinning them for and well…I’m actually quite optimistic about this show. There are a couple of matches that I’m not particularly excited for, but for the most part, I think this is going to be an entertaining show.

Not only that, but I think the winner of a good number of these matches are up in the air a bit. Be it for good or bad reasons, WWE has managed to do a pretty good job of keeping us guessing when it comes to who’s going to be winning on Sunday. Still, let’s give it a go, here are my predictions for Summerslam 2019.

Drew Gulak(c) vs Oney Lorcan
(Cruiserweight Championship)

Match of the night incoming right here.

Drew has been absolutely fantastic as cruiserweight champion so far. Both of his PPV matches for the title this year so far have been show-stealers and his character work week to week is unparalleled. Then you’ve got a guy like Oney Lorcan, who is absolutely stellar in the ring but isn’t the most convincing of characters. He has an over the top-levels of intensity that I’ve never been able to buy from wrestlers, but like I said, he’s got a really great wrestling style that is also fairly unique compared to the rest of the cruiserweight division.

I’m struggling to pick a winner with this one though. I’ve felt for a long time now that Lorcan was going to end up with the Cruiserweight Championship at some point this year but I didn’t expect him to be in this position quite so soon. More importantly, Drew’s only just sunk his teeth into this title reign and it also feels like his story is something a bit more long term, so it doesn’t make a great deal of sense for him to lose the title just yet.

Ultimately guys like Mustafa Ali have proved that you can be a big star in the Cruiserweight division without ever winning the title and I could potentially see Oney Lorcan becoming one of those guys, so I’m going with Drew Gulak to retain here.

Goldberg vs Dolph Ziggler

Oh…Dolph didn’t go away after losing to Kofi? Alright then. Oh…he’s entering another feud with The Miz? Alright then. Oh…he’s actually facing Goldberg instead? Alright then.

I don’t really think there’s much to say about this match, losing out on Miz vs Ziggler isn’t much of a loss and it’ll hopefully be nice to see Goldberg looking a lot better than he did in June. Of course, like any Goldberg match, it needs to be short and sweet, with Ziggler bumping his ass off like he always does and Goldberg is most definitely going to win.

Finn Balor vs “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt

I could sit here and complain about how shitty Balor’s been treated since Wrerstelmania, but instead, let’s talk about how awesome Bray Wyatt’s return has been so far.

The Firefly Funhouse stuff was a stroke of absolute genius. It let Wyatt really flex those creative muscles we all knew he had and it got the fans invested in a major way. Then since showing up in person, it’s been really well done, the way the lights and music came down before Wyatt attacked Balor made for a great atmosphere and the way the lights flicked around The Fiend’s face as he appeared was over the top and cheesy in just the right way. On top of that, the promo’s Bray’s been cutting from the funhouse talking about The Feind has made it so much more creepy and creates such an interesting dynamics between the two sides of Wyatt’s personality.

Personally, I’d like to see The Demon, although I doubt we will just yet as I think they might be saving it for the eventual rematch, but either way I think the match is going to be something special to watch and it’s such a great feeling to be excited about Bray Wyatt again for the first time in a long time.

Of course, Bray Wyatt is definitely winning this; I’d call it an absolute lock. Not only is this Wyatt’s much-hyped return match, but all of the rumours are pointing to Balor taking a couple of months off following Summerslam, so there’d be nothing to gain and everything to lose by Balor picking up a shock win.

Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon
(If Shane wins, Owens will quit WWE)

You know, Shane McMahon became a fulltime wrestler so gradually I didn’t even notice.

Honestly, this really feels like what Shane’s heel turn has been leading to ever since his original feud with Owens in 2017. We all shouted and bitched back then about how Shane was being a totally unreasonable arsehole despite being a face and we were expected to boo Owens. Now we’re two years down the line and the face/heel roles are finally the right way around. So far, Owens’ face turn has been pretty well this time around, but it’s important that they keep their foot on the accelerator over the next few months, otherwise, it will pretty quickly peter out.

I’m really not sure what this match will be like since Shane McMahon’s matches this over the past couple of years have been quite hit and miss, although this year specifically it’s been mostly hit. There’s a lot of heat behind this one too, given how everyone’s sick and tired of Shane eating up so much TV time and Owens has been a house on fire, but I could just as easily see it being a shocking squash.

Either way, I think it’s a given that Kevin Owens is going to win. If the quitting stipulation wasn’t there then I think it’d be a bit more up in the air, but when you consider that there’s no way Owens is leaving or taking time off for the foreseeable future AND he’s just starting this role as a face, it would be an incredibly stupid decision for Shane to beat him now.

Trish Stratus vs Charlotte Flair

Well, this was a nice surprise.

I know there’s a bit of trepidation towards this match and I can understand the argument that Charlotte doesn’t really have a lot to gain from beating Trish considering everything she’s already done. However, we’ve seen in recent years that Trish can still go so the match will most likely be a fun watch and considering the alternative was likely Charlotte inserting herself into ANOTHER big 4 title match, I’m quite happy with having this match instead.

As I touched on above, I think this will be a great match to watch. Trish’s small appearances in the women’s Royal Rumble have shown she’s still got the athleticism to do everything she used to and her match at Evolution showed that as long as she’s got the right opponent to help her out, then she can carry a longer match and Charlotte is absolutely the right opponent.

Of course, with any legend vs current star match, the result is pretty easy to pick, especially when the current star in question is one of the most heavily pushed women in WWE history. Charlotte Flair will come out on top in this one and we’ll likely get a sweet hug and show of respect after the match to top it all off nicely.

AJ Styles(c) vs Ricochet
(United States Championship)

I don’t think anyone’s going to complain about seeing these two wrestle again. Admittedly they’ve had quite a few matches together in recent months, but there are some combinations of wrestlers that you can just never get tired of, like Ricochet & Will Ospreay, or Ricochet & Adam Cole, or Ricochet & AJ Sty-you know I think there might be a common thread here.

Hopefully, this will pay off the wonky finish we got at Extreme Rules, although even if it doesn’t I’m sure this match will still be great as long as we don’t get the same finish again. I’ve sung the praises of Styles as a heel for a while now, but I’m not entirely convinced this run has brought anything new to the table yet. I suppose it’s a bit too early to judge, but I’m not sure a lengthy US Title reign is something that he’d benefit from, at least not as much as Ricochet.

As it stands, I’m struggling to pick a winner. Ricochet only lost his title thanks to heel shenanigans and it wouldn’t be a good look for him to be shut out of the scene after such a short reign. Then again, Styles is still fairly fresh off of a heel turn and a second clean loss to Ricochet might not be the best move. Ultimately, I think both men stand to suffer fairly equally from a loss so I’m going to look at the other side of the coin and judge who I think would benefit more from the win, which I think is Ricochet.

Bayley(c) vs Ember Moon
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

While I’m glad it’s not Charlotte Flair, what exactly has Ember Moon done (in kayfabe) to earn this title shot? She lost in pretty quick fashion to Sonya Deville not a month ago and yet she gets the title shot because Bayley said she fancied a fight with her? Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy we get to see this match, but it’s a little confusing.

The main problem I’ve had with Bayley’s title reign so far is that, apart from when she won it, she’s been a background character in all of her stories as champion so far. When she was fighting Alexa & Nikki the focus was almost entirely on those two and their friendship and aside from one promo the week of Stomping Grounds, it could’ve been anyone in the champion role and the story would’ve been exactly the same. This story with Ember so far is going a little way to resolving that problem, but I still don’t feel like Bayley as a character is getting a chance to shine through. I’m not sure who’s feet the blame should lay at for this (probably a little of all parties) but the fact still remains that Bayley just doesn’t feel like anyone special on TV right now.

With any luck, this match will have some good character moments in it (as well as having brilliant action) which will help out both women immensely but as much as I’d like to say otherwise, I can’t see Ember walking out of this one with the title. For one thing, creative has not invested nearly enough time or energy into her as a character or a wrestler to warrant a title win. On top of that, another Charlotte Flair title challenge seems just around the corner with a win over Trish Stratus coming like a freight train and at the end of the day, Bayley can recover from a loss to Charlotte a lot better than Ember ever could.

Becky Lynch(c) vs Natalya
(Raw Women’s Championship)
(Submission)

I’ll level with y’all, I really can’t stand Natalya as a wrestler.

All of her movements in the ring seem so clunky & unnatural and the way she talks makes her sound like a robot with the most threadbare understand of emotions and voice patterns. Then you consider the fact that the only reason she’s even got this title match in the first place is the fact that the show’s taking place in Canada AND pile on a stipulation that forces the match to focus heavily on smooth technical movements and you can imagine how unhappy I am about this.

I’m not going to instantly right it off though, Becky was able to get some half-decent matches out of the green as goose shit Lacey Evans after all, so she could do wonders with someone more experienced like Natalya, I’m just not optimistic about it is all.

Oh and Becky Lynch is going to win or I’m going to tear my hair out.

Kofi Kingston(c) vs Randy Orton
(WWE Championship)

Well, it’s 10 years later than we all wanted to see this, but it’s finally here.

I’m normally very much anti-Randy Orton, I think he’s quite a boring wrestlers and an even more boring champion, but in this instance, I’m totally down for this match. The story wrote itself and creatively executed it as well as we wanted them to, it’s been common knowledge for years that Orton killed Kofi’s initial push in 2009 so this match essentially brings Kofi’s entire WWE career up until this point full circle.

I’m not entirely sure about how good the match is actually going to be though, all of Kofi’s title defences have been ok, but not great and most of them were against opponents I enjoy watching, which as I mentioned before, Orton isn’t. That said, this match has the right kind of heat behind it and when Orton’s into a story he tends to put on some pretty good performances (just look at his match with AJ from Wrestlemania this year) so there is some hope.

Last month I said that Samoa Joe was the first opponent where it actually felt like Kofi might lose the title, but in hindsight that was a stupid thing to say and this is where Kofi’s title reign could realistically end. Orton’s always been a guy who could win the WWE Championship at any moment and with Smackdown’s move to FOX just around the corner WWE might want someone more widely recognised like Orton as champion. That said, this whole story has been about Orton holding Kofi down and saying he’s not ready, so I feel like WWE would be shooting themselves in the foot a bit if Orton wins. It’s a risky move, but I’m going to pick Kofi Kingston to retain this time.

Brock Lesnar(c) vs Seth Rollins
(Universal Championship)

Talk about missing an open goal.

This seemed like such an easy story for WWE to write. NO-ONE wants Lesnar to be champion anymore and Seth Rollins is one of the best wrestlers in all of WWE right now, so surely it would be so easy to get the fans behind Seth right? Well apparently not, because damn near everyone is hoping he’ll lose on Sunday, despite the alternative being Brock Lesnar disappearing with the title for another 6 months.

I get what they were trying to do on Monday with having being beaten down again and cutting that downbeat promo, but it was far too late and all you have to do is listen to the crowd’s reaction to see how flat it fell. All that said, hopefully, this match will be really good. Lesnar’s matches with the smaller guys are always brilliant and Seth Rollins is able to work a David & Goliath story with the best of them. The main reservation I have that’s stopping me getting too excited for it is Seth’s kayfabe injury, it makes me wonder if they’re going to lean too heavily on it for the story of the match because 15 minutes of Seth selling his ribs before a sudden comeback will be really boring.

If you’d have asked me who was going to win this match the night after Extreme Rules I would’ve said Seth without even thinking about it. Since his 2 minute win over Lesnar at Wrestlemania, I was confident this was where we were headed and I’d always known Seth was going to win, but now it’s really hard to judge. WWE is “desperately” trying to make Rollins cool and that says to me that they’re going to continue to push him as the face of the company, which would imply he wins here, but it’s hard to bet against Brock Lesnar retaining.

I’m sticking to my guns and picking Seth Rollins to win here and hopefully going into the autumn Rollins can have a whole bunch of great matches like his match against Styles earlier in the year to remind us exactly why we all got behind him in the first place.

So there are my predictions! Thank you very much for reading, let me know what you think is going to happen on Sunday either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Make sure you check back here over the weekend as I’ll be posting my reviews of both Summerslam and NXT Takeover!

 

 

WWE Extreme Rules 2019: Every Match Ranked

Extreme Rules has been and gone and I can honestly say that I had a good time watching it. This show had a whole bunch of matches that were good fun to watch and nothing fell below my expectations, many even surpassed them. Even the worst matches of the show were still ok and I think this has done a really good job of putting things in place for Summerslam.

Let’s waste no further time rambling and get right to it, here’s every match of Extreme Rules 2019 ranked.

12 – Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler

I was very confused and slightly annoyed when WWE randomly added two matches to the show out of the blue about 3-4 hours before the show was set to start, but in hindsight, this was a good way to keep things rolling with Kevin Owens.

Since the match itself was only 15 seconds long I can’t rank it any higher than last, but I think this and the promo Owens cut afterwards was a great way to push this new character angle he’s going for. If Owens is going to be the man to finally shut Shane up, then this Stone Cold esque anti-hero character is definitely the way to go about it, since it fits in with Owens promo style and in-ring abilities perfectly.

Was it just put there to fill some time before the world title matches? Probably, but as filler goes, it was very entertaining.

11 – Bayley(c) def. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)
(2 on 1 Handicap)

This match was fine.

I generally say this about one match every month, but this was a match that didn’t really capture my attention all that much but didn’t have any major flaws or nitpicks for me to talk about, it was fine.

I’m not entirely sure where the Alexa/Nikki storyline is going to go from here, Alexa seemed a bit miffed after Nikki lost the match for her, but she still hugged her and stuff in what looked genuine friendship as opposed to Alexa just leading her on. I feel like this story might struggle a bit without the title involved but at the same time there isn’t any more I think they can do with the Alexa, Nikki, Bayley combo in title matches and I’d much rather see Bayley move onto other things.

Perhaps Nikki gets a solo title shot on Smackdown and Alexa screws it up, either deliberately or accidentally? The only problem there is, I’m not sure how you could justify Nikki getting a one on one title shot after she took the pin in this match. I’ll be happy as long as the Summerslam match isn’t just more of the same if I’m being honest.

10 – Braun Strowman def. Bobby Lashley
(Last Man Standing)

Well, this match was better than I was expecting it to be.

I feel like if the overall show was of a worse quality I would’ve been in a worse mood and slaughtered this match, but we’ll never know since I was in a good mood when this one got underway. It was pretty much what we’ve come to expect from Last Man Standing matches in WWE, there was a lot of aimless fighting, taking occasional breaks to do big spots before ending on a huge spot.

It could’ve been really slow and plodding, but the fact that the match was constantly on the mood helped to artificially accelerate the pace of the match and make it feel a lot more interesting to watch. There were plenty of good looking spots scattered throughout and it wasn’t just one man on top the whole time, which Last Man Standing matches often can be. As for the final spot, the fall itself was a little underwhelming considering the impact made absolutely no sound whatsoever, but goddamn, I popped when Strowman burst through the wall in the final moments; yes it was cheesy and yes it was obvious, but I got a kick out of it.

I do think that the Philadelphia crowd need a higher bar for chanting “Holy Shit” though, considering they chanted it when Lashley got thrown at a soft felt wall.

9 – Kofi Kingston(c) def. Samoa Joe
(WWE Championship)

To answer my question from the predictions, this was a one-and-done for Joe.

Considering the number of matches on the show, I was surprised that almost every match got the time I felt it needed…except this one, which clearly got cut short for time. At 9 minutes 45 seconds, this was the second shortest match on the main show, the first being the 15 second Owens/Ziggler match, and this was the WWE title match.

For what it was, I didn’t have any complaints about this match, I thought these two worked well together and the match had a nice flow to it, unfortunately, the finish felt really sudden and very jarring because of how short the match ended up being. It’s clear that Joe isn’t getting a rematch after this, which is a shame, but I’ll see what the plan for Summerslam is first before poo-pooing it.

This was definitely the biggest disappointment on the night, but the match was still alright even if it didn’t get the time it needed.

8 – Drew Gulak(c) def. Tony Nese
(Cruiserweight Championship)
(Kickoff Show)

Honestly, I would’ve been fine cutting another 5 minutes from the WWE title match if it meant this got to be on the main card.

Once again I felt (as I often do with the cruiserweight title matches on the pre-show) that this match could’ve been a lot better than it ended up being if it was in a better spot and got some more time because these guys always make the most of the time they get. Both of these guys put on a really solid performance here, with a number of good spots, like when Tony was going for some form of standing stomp and Drew launched himself up off the floor to grab Nese into a roll-up.

This should definitely be the end of the road for Nese in the Cruiserweight title scene, he’s been great to watch, but there are plenty of guys like Oney Lorcan and Humberto Carrillo who need the chance to put on a great match with Gulak.

7 – Shinsuke Nakamura def. Finn Balor(c)
(Intercontinental Championship)
(Kickoff Show)

O…K?

So, not only was a major title match added to the pre-show about 3 hours before it was set to take place, but the title also changed hands in that match? This seems like a really odd decision and one that was most certainly made last-minute. I can’t necessarily say I’m against it though.

Unfortunately, Balor has been getting no TV time with the IC title this past couple of months, so perhaps this was a quick move to shake things up and get the title back in a featured role again. If that’s the case, then I think this was a great move, however, if nothing changes, then this title change seems rather pointless. That said, I’m never going to complain too much about Shinsuke Nakamura winning a championship.

The match itself was pretty good for what it was too. I was left a bit underwhelmed by Balor & Nakamura’s match in NXT, but it seems both men were working a little harder last night because I thought this was a really enjoyable affair. Maybe the constraint of the time worked to their benefit and forced them to work a faster pace, because the flow to this match was really nice and nothing over-stayed it’s welcome, not to mention the finish was genuinely surprising.

Let’s just hope this actually gets a follow-up.

6 – Seth Rollins(c) & Becky Lynch(c) def.           Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans
(Universal Championship)
(Raw Women’s Championship)
(Extreme Rules)

I’m including Brock’s cash in with this too. I would’ve put it in the header, but it was already 5 lines long.

Well, this match did surpass my expectations, but to be fair, my expectations were quite low, to begin with. My main worry was that this was going to be a standard weapons match, with a lot of slow setting up of spots that end up not being worth it and while that was the case for one spot, the majority of the match didn’t sacrifice flow and pacing for the sake of a quick shock.

I found that generally weapons were used very effectively throughout this match, as a way to put an exclamation point on the wrestling sequence that preceded it, rather than being the main focus on the match. Watching Becky & Rollins wail on Corbin & Lacey with kendo sticks was a great sight and even the tables spot was fun to watch since it was the only big spot of the match.

I also liked the storytelling of the finish, with Corbin hitting the End of Days to Becky Lynch, sending Seth Rollins into a frenzy and there’s no clearer way to say Corbin’s done with the title scene than being beaten down with chairs, kendo sticks and three Curb Stomps before being pinned. I also liked the nice touch of Lacey seeing Rollins going mental and just decided to get out of there, it’s believable for her character.

Now, Brock Lesnar.

I’m personally ok with this because I’m pretty confident that this title reign is only going to be a month long. Ever since Lesnar won Money in the Bank, I was pretty certain this is where we were headed and even since Wrestlemania I thought we were going to have to get a full-length match between Rollins & Lesnar at some point. So as long as Lesnar drops the title back to Seth at Summerslam, I don’t see any harm in him holding the title for the next month.

5 – The Revival(c) def. The Usos
(Raw Tag Team Championships)

Oh hey, I remember tag team wrestling.

This match wasn’t on the level of a Takeover tag team match by any means, but damn it’s refreshing to see a good tag team match involving these guys, especially in the Raw tag scene.

As we had all hoped, these two teams worked fantastically together, things didn’t get quite as chaotic as I would’ve liked, but this match was filled with the classic of tag team wrestling. They got a really nice balance between, slow wearing down of opponents with The Revival working their mat-based offence and The Uso’s flying about the place, popping the crowd and dolling out all of the Superkicks in the world.

I was surprised with The Revival winning, but given that this match actually got the time and respect it deserved, I’m cautiously optimistic about where this is going, perhaps some sort of stipulation variant on this match would be good for Summerslam, or even better, turn the Viking Raiders face and have them get involved in the title scene. I don’t wanna go crazy with optimism after one ray of hope, but a turn around could be very close by for the Raw tag division.

4 – Roman Reigns & The Undertaker def.            Shane McMahon & Drew Mcintyre
(No Holds Barred)

Oh hey, I remember The Undertaker.

That horrible match against Goldberg at Super Showdown must’ve really flicked a switch in Undertaker’s mind because he was on fire tonight. I think most of us expected Roman to carry the majority of the match, with Taker only coming in for the big spots and greatest hits, but Taker ended up putting in the most work out of anyone in this match and it was great to watch.

The moments between Drew and Undertaker gave me the tinglies, especially that fantastic shot where Drew appeared behind Taker as he did the throat slit gesture and Shane McMahon somehow didn’t outshine everyone. Having Elias show up was a nice little bit of continuity and the whole thing made good use of the No Holds Barred stipulation, without blowing any of the big spots for later in the night.

The finishing sequence was great fun too, Taker sitting up will always get a pop out of me, and the sheer terror in Shane’s face as Taker grabbed his leg was priceless. I also loved Roman intercepting Drew just as he was about to Claymore Taker, the cameras didn’t catch him getting in the ring, so it was a genuine surprise that looked really good. Also, Shane McMahon didn’t get a win over The Undertaker, which is always a plus.

3 – AJ Styles def. Ricochet(c)
(United States Championship)

It’s amazing what happens when you let good wrestlers do good wrestling.

These two were always going to put on a great match and that’s exactly what we got. Styles as a heel is really good at slowing the pace of a match so he can work a more heelish style without grinding the match to a halt like wrestlers like Corbin & Mcintyre often do. Things slowed down a bit in the middle, but it didn’t last very long, since just as I was starting to get a bit bored by it, Ricochet started to make his comeback and from then on the action didn’t stop.

I probably wouldn’t have picked AJ to win if I were in charge, but I don’t necessarily think it was a bad decision. For one thing, Ricochet only lost because of the interference from Gallows & Anderson and as such it feels like this was the end of act 2 in this 3 act play, with the conclusion hopefully being Ricochet getting the title back at Summerslam. Even if this isn’t the case, I’m not gonna be too sad seeing AJ as US champion, hopefully, he can do some of the great stuff he did as WWE champ last year on a smaller scale.

2 – The New Day def. Daniel Bryan & Rowan(c) & Heavy Machinery
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Wow, they really nailed the tag team action last night didn’t they?

This match was everything I was expecting it to be, starts out simple but slowly breaks down and becomes a whole lot of fun chaos. All three teams got to look really good here, for Heavy Machinery it was a great continuation of how good they looked at Stomping Grounds, even if there was never a spot where it actually looked like they might win. Bryan & Rowan did a good job of all the stuff they usually do, especially in the case of Daniel Bryan, who spent the most time in the ring in the match.

The flow to the match was there too, with it not obviously being “the time this team gets to have offence” it all sort of moved through each of the teams so seamlessly that you can’t segment the match like you can for a lot of others like this one. I loved the finish too, I really thought Daniel Bryan was going to win when he started tieing Big E in knots, but the moved wonderfully from that into Big E catching Daniel Bryan after his usual flip out of the corner. It made for a nice surprise and I’m always a fan of New Day as tag champs.

1 – Aleister Black def. Cesaro

Oh yeah, Aleister Black and Cesaro are awesome wrestlers, it’s been easy to forget that in recent times.

This match is exactly what I’d hoped it would be, 10 solid minutes of great wrestlers doing great wrestling. The whole structure of the match worked perfectly to serve Aleister Black looking good, with a big flurry of offence towards the start, until Cesaro was able to withstand it and take the fight to Black for an extended period of time before Black forced momentum to swing back in his favour.

As much as this was a showcase for Black, Cesaro also got a chance to look great as his offence looked as hard-hitting and fun to watch as always and he could easily keep pace when Black starting putting his foot on the accelerator. Once again I adored the finish, highlighting Black’s superior striking ability and that Black Mass was something else, I genuinely let out an involuntary “OH!” when it hit because it was so brutal looking, not to mention Cesaro sold it to perfection.

I don’t know what Black’s going to be doing next, but I certainly wouldn’t complain if it was another match with Cesaro, preferably longer than ten minutes so the match can ascend from “really good” to “freaking amazing”. Either way, I’m optimistic about Aleister Black’s future.

And there you have it! Those are my opinions on Extreme Rules 2019! Thank you very much for taking the time to read, if you want to let me know what you thought you are welcome in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Make sure to join me later in the week when I shall celebrating Octopath Traveler’s 1st Birthday!

 

WWE Extreme Rules 2019: Predictions & Analysis

The promised land of Summerslam is just beyond the horizon, I can almost feel it’s warm glow, but first, we’ve got to make a stop off at Extreme Rules, a card that I’m not really sure what to make of. There are plenty of matches that have the promise to be great, but there is also a lot of the treading water that we saw from Stomping Grounds.

Ultimately I’m not going to make a call on how I think this show will be remembered because it really could go either way. It wouldn’t surprise me if we were talking about the worst PPV of the year come Monday, but it also would be surprising if we’re all pleasantly surprised like we were for Stomping Grounds.

What I can call, however, are the results of the matches, so let’s do that instead.

The Revival(c) vs The Usos
(Raw Tag Team Championships)

I can’t believe myself.

I should be so excited about this match, it’s my favourite tag team against the best tag team and I just don’t care. The Raw tag team division has been non-existent for so long now that I can’t bear to have any optimism towards it anymore, it does have the upside of keeping the Cruiserweights off of the pre-show, but it means that I’m not even vaguely invested in some of the best talent in WWE right now.

I hope this match will be good and it has all the potential to, but I don’t think it’s going to be given the time to breathe that it really needs to be a great match. Not to mention The Revival have been treated as such a joke when it comes to the main roster that this could very well end up being a squash match.

Either way, The Usos need to win this one, because that is the only chance the Raw tag division has of being pulled out of this rutt it’s been in for all of 2019, if The Revival retain, as much as I love them, it’ll be another month of the titles barely being on TV and probably not on Summerslam at all, at least they have a chance of doing some good around The Uso’s waists.

Drew Gulak(c) vs Tony Nese
(Cruiserweight Championship)

Please, just let them be on the main show for once.

I feel like I say this every month (because I do), but it really is true that these guys are putting on matches twice as good as almost everyone who makes the main card and they deserve the spotlight. I don’t understand how you can expect 205 Live’s ratings to improve when you refuse to put them in front of audiences when they’re actually watching.

Regardless, Gulak has been great so far as Cruiserweight Champion. The Cruiserweight title is one of those titles that always seems to do way better around the waist of a heel than a face and Drew is probably the best character on the whole show right now. Conversely, Tony Nese is someone who always does much better chasing the title than holding it, so this is a much better position for him to be in going into this match.

As such, a one on one match between these two should be something great to watch, no matter when it goes on because these guys are at the peak of their performances as characters. There must be a winner though and I feel confident in saying that winner will be Drew Gulak, I can’t see how it would be to anyone’s benefit to hotshot the title back onto Nese right now, especially with people like Akira Tozowa and Oney Lorcan nipping at Drew’s heels for the coming months.

Daniel Bryan & Rowan(c) vs The New Day vs Heavy Machinery
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

In this week’s episode of Daniel Bryan vs The World…

As much as Big E & Xavier Woods have been doing great as the backup to WWE Champion Kofi Kingston so far this year, I think that giving them something of their own to do again was a great move, since there was the risk of both men fading too far into the background in the wake of Kofi’s title win. Heavy Machinery also made a big impact with their match at Stomping Grounds, even if the crowd turned on them in favour of their hometown boy, so keeping them in the scene like this is another good move, otherwise, all of their momentum would’ve been squandered.

I have high hopes that this match will be great, New Day are at their best when big tag team matches like this descend into chaos and they can do all of their crazy spots, meanwhile you’ve got big guys like Otis and Rowan there for the high impact stuff to really shock the crowd and then there’s Daniel Bryan, who I’ve sung the praises of enough in these articles for you to know he’ll make this match rock.

I’m actually struggling to pick a winner as well because I’m honestly not sure. Heavy Machinery winning the tag titles seems like the next logical step for their accent in the tag team scene, while I can also see all three members of The New Day holding titles all at the same time. I’m going to stick to my guns for now though and say Daniel Bryan & Rowan will retain, hopefully leading to them vs New Day 2 on 2 at Summerslam in a fantastic match.

Aleister Black vs Cesaro

Finally.

I’ve talked about how great I think Aleister Black is many times before, so as you can imagine I’m very excited to see him in a singles match on a PPV at last, even if it probably won’t be very long.

Cesaro is the absolutely perfect opponent for Black, their in-ring styles matchup so perfectly that I think these two could put on one of the greatest matches we’ve ever seen if the show was called Takeover. As it stands it’s not and I imagine this match will be quite short as a result. Cesaro isn’t very high on the pecking order at the moment, so I think it’s important to give Black a reasonably quick win over him here, then they can go on and have a 15-minute classic at Summerslam instead.

Regardless of the length of the match, Aleister Black most certainly winning this one, then we can finally get on with making this dude a world champion.

Ricochet(c) vs AJ Styles
(United States Championship)

AJ Styles is a heel now because if there’s one thing Raw needed more of, it was heels at the top of the card.

That said, I do prefer heel AJ Styles to any other AJ Styles and the character really needed a shakeup after his far too long title reign last year made us all bored of him, it just might not be the best for the product overall.

That aside, I don’t think anyone would argue with me when I say that this match will be great. Even if it does have a non-finish (which seems likely), I have faith that these two will put on a fantastic match leading up until that point. Styles is great at making the slower, more technical pace of a heel very entertaining to watch and I think it’ll contrast fantastically with Ricochet trying to burst out and flip until he can’t flip no more.

As I mentioned though, I don’t think this match is going to have a clean finish because there’s a lot of conflicting factors coming into this one. You’ve got the brand new United States Champion Ricochet, who can’t lose his title in his second defence, then you’ve got a freshly heel-turned Styles who would have all this newfound momentum taken out from under him if he loses; and they’ve already used up the “surprise roll-up” face win on Raw, so we won’t be seeing it again. It’s a tough one to pick and I think I’m going to regret this pick the closer it gets to the show, but I think Ricochet is going to come away with the win, probably by disqualification when The Club gets involved or something.

Braun Strowman vs Bobby Lashley
(Last Man Standing)

This match could very well end with one of these guys dying.

Under any other circumstances, I wouldn’t care about this match in the slightest, Strowman’s great, but Lashley isn’t a very good fit of an opponent for him, we’ve seen many times that guys equal to Strowman’s size aren’t great opponents for him. However, the combination of the stage explosion on Raw and the addition of the Last Man Standing stipulation have drawn me in.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure this match will be just as slow as any other match between these two guys, but if they keep the attitude of the stage explosion spot going, then the sheer spectacle of what these two do in this match could completely overshadow the boring in-between bits. That said, if this just ends up being a standard Last Man Standing match, then it’s gonna be boring as piss.

I don’t know who the winner will be either, because ultimately, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like either of these guys is going to be fighting for the Universal title at Summerslam, so there’s not a lot to gain for the winner. I’m going to go with Braun Strowman because WWE doesn’t seem to care very much about how many losses they feed Bobby Lashley and Strowman desperately needs something important to do.

Bayley(c) vs Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)
(2 on 1 Handicap)

Well, this just got a whole lot more interesting.

All of the stuff with Nikki and Alexa over the past few months has been great to watch, it’s made Alexa seem like a master manipulator, pulling Nikki in like this, but it doesn’t do it at Nikki’s expense because when she’s challenged by other people, she stands up for herself. I don’t get the impression that Nikki’s going along with Alexa just because she’s too thick to see the forest through the trees, but because in her experiences, Alexa is the only person to actually show Nikki any decency.

That said, the turn is coming like a freight train, but I’m not sure who’s turning on who. It makes the most sense for Nikki to cost Alexa the match here and Alexa will lose her shit about it, but I personally think a slow burn would be a bit more interesting.  A scenario where Alexa loses the match but blames Nikki anyway would be a lot more interesting, or even Nikki pinning Bayley to win the title and Alexa takes all the credit.

This match is very much going to be focused on the story between Nikki and Alexa and while it could benefit the match, I feel more like it’ll be to its detriment, I’m not sure though. Speaking of not sure, I’ve got to pick a winner and I’m going to go with Bayley. As much as I think Alexa & Nikki winning the title would be interesting, Bayley needs to hold onto that title at least another month because her title reign is in danger of going down the same route as her previous one, which is not a good thing. Bring Sasha Banks out to beat the piss out of Bayley after the match, that’ll fix things.

The Undertaker & Roman Reigns vs Shane McMahon & Drew Mcintyre
(No Holds Barred)

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

After Super Show Down, I didn’t think we were going to see The Undertaker again for quite a while, so I was very surprised indeed when he showed up on Raw to take out Shane McMahon and Drew Mcintyre, the only problem is, we still haven’t’ really been told why. He’s proclaimed some vague bollocks about wanting Shane’s soul and how Shane’s ego has cost him his soul or something like that, but why wait until now? And why team up with Roman Reigns? There’s no much about this that doesn’t make sense.

Originally I thought this was going to lead to some sort of Roman vs Taker rematch for Summerslam, but if every news site and dirt sheet under the sun is to be believed, we’re actually moving towards Taker vs Drew instead, which I’m very much in favour of.

I’m really not sure how good this match will be, Undertaker will definitely benefit from having to carry most of the match and I imagine a lot of it will be Shane and Drew wearing Roman down before he can make the hot tag to Taker and I don’t think that’s going to be particularly entertaining. With any luck, around the halfway point, this thing will devolve into chaos, since that tends to be when tag team matches are at their most entertaining, especially in a weapons match. That said, none of these guys are good at working fast paced matches, and a slow, plodding weapons match will be just awful.

I’m not sure who to pick as the winner though. On the one hand, how could they justify a Drew vs Taker match with Roman and Taker win here, but also I refuse to allow Shane McMahon to have a win over The fucking Undertaker. I’m gonna go with The Undertaker & Roman Reigns but I’m not all that confident about it and Shane needs to be the one to take the pin.

Kofi Kingston(c) vs Samoa Joe
(WWE Championship)

Well, now I’m conflicted…

I’m really struggling with who I want to win this match. On the one hand, I’ve loved Kofi’s reign as WWE Champion and it’s been really refreshing to have a face champion that doesn’t get the shit kicked out of him every single week, but on the other hand, Samoa Joe. I’ve wanted Joe to be WWE Champion for ages and this seems like the best opportunity we’re ever going to get, but I’m not sure I can see it happening.

Joe’s been great since starting this feud, as he always is when he’s chasing a title. That power hungry, destroyer character is always the best for Samoa Joe and for some reason chasing a major title always brings that out of him. I’m sure this match will be great too, we all know Joe can work with smaller guys fantastically, his match with Ricochet at Stomping Grounds proved that (if you weren’t already convinced). I also think this will benefit from not being a weapons match since I think both of these two guys work better with a technical style.

I’m really torn on a winner though, this feels like the first time in Kofi’s reign where I can actually see him losing the title, but I’m not sure they’d pull a title change on a B-Show so close to Summerslam, but at the same time I’m not sure if this is a multi-month feud, this could quite easily be a one and done thing for Joe and if that’s the case then he’s definitely not winning the title. I’m going to play it safe for now and say Kofi Kingston using the logic that if the title is going to change hands, it’ll happen at Summerslam, but I’m not confident in the slightest.

Seth Rollins(c) & Becky Lynch(c) vs Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans
(Universal Championship)
(Raw Women’s Championship)
(Extreme Rules)

Yes, more Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans title matches, that’ll show those Bucks.

I mean, what can I say about this feud that I haven’t already said a thousand times before over the past few months? Lacey’s getting there, but is still way too green for the spot she’s in, I still don’t like Baron Corbin, and Seth & Becky are definitely going to retain. I’ve honestly not been a fan of this pair being so forced together on TV lately because I really get the impression from them that they’d rather not be doing it. We also get stuff like that interview segment from two weeks ago, where these two people who clearly have some sort of off-screen chemistry (since, you know, they’re in a relationship) were given some of the most forced, fake chemistry type of dialogue I’ve seen on WWE TV in a long time.

The match itself could go either way, like I said about the other No DQ  tag match, if it descends into chaos early on and keeps up that pace it’ll be great and these guys have a better chance of pulling that off than the guys in the other tag match. I just don’t have much faith in that actually happening, my hatred for weapons matches is well known and I really think this is going be another slow paced match where about 5 minutes are spent setting a spot up, only for them to immediately move onto the next one. I’m holding onto the small amount of hope that it could be good though…I think.

As for a winner, there’s no question Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch retaining is easily the lock of the night. In a time like this where it’s crucial that WWE remains competitive, putting the titles on Corbin & Lacey would be the equivalent of WCW putting the title on Arquette and Russo in the year 2000, it’d be such a stupid move, and WWE isn’t that stupid.

…right?

Anyway, those are my predictions for Extreme Rules 2019! Thank you very much for reading, let me know what you think is going to happen either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Make sure to come back here early next week for my review of the show!

WWE Stomping Grounds 2019: Every Match Ranked

Well, that was yet another lesson in never getting my hopes up when WWE is involved.

So Stomping Grounds is in the bag and honestly, as a whole, it wasn’t too bad of a show, the first two hours were filled with ok-good matches and there weren’t any crappy finishes to drag things down. That said, once the third hour started the show just drove off of a cliff and never recovered because if it wasn’t for Super Showdown, it’d be the worst hour and a half of wrestling I’ve seen all year. It wasn’t all bad of course, but given that the major three matches failed to deliver, it’s not left the best of tastes in everyone’s mouths.

So, here’s every match from Stomping Grounds 2019 ranked.

9 – Seth Rollins(c) def. Baron Corbin
(Universal Championship)
(Special Guest Referee: Lacey Evans)

I’m of two minds when it comes to Lacey as the referee. On one hand, it’s a clever way for Corbin to get around the problem of Seth trying to murder all of his referees and is someone I genuinely wasn’t expecting to see. On the other hand, the moment it was revealed that it was Lacey, everyone knew how Seth was going to get out of the problem, the crowd were chanting for Becky before the match even started and commentary had been playing up the relationship between Becky & Seth for weeks.

That predictability also made for an extremely boring match leading up until that point and it didn’t help that WWE really overplayed their hand here. This whole thing did not need to be 18 minutes long, it could’ve been done in half of that and not lost anything. In a match like this where everyone knows how it’s going to end, you just need to hit the key points of Lacey screwing Seth over in a few ways and then hit the big finish, instead of doing what they did which was draw it out until we’d all had enough of it, and then draw it out some more.

Please, just no more Seth vs Corbin matches, and please be more creative about it than a mixed tag match too, this really doesn’t have the legs to go any further.

8 – Kofi Kingston(c) def. Dolph Ziggler
(WWE Championship)
(Steel Cage)

Well, that just proved my theory that the Steel Cage match between The Miz and Shane McMahon last month was the exception, not the rule.

When Kofi & Ziggler had an underwhelming match at Super Showdown, I gave them the benefit of the doubt because of the situation surrounding the Saudi Arabia shows, but somehow they managed to make this match worse. It started off ok, with a bunch of back and forth as each man would try to get a quick escape from a cage, but that didn’t seem to last very long, because about halfway through, the whole thing just because 10 minutes of rest holds.

Ziggler was “working Kofi’s leg” for so damn long that I totally switched off and started paying attention to other things, and when that spot finally ended, they had a very short sequence of fun moves and went right back to it. Following that, we got several minutes of the guys laying by the door knowing they clearly weren’t going to escape, before and admittedly brilliant finish, where Kofi just launched himself out of the cage.

I just don’t understand why anyone involved in this match thought this would be entertaining to watch. I can see how a more old-school fan might get something out of it, but even then it doesn’t really seem like anything great. You can’t just have the match stop for 10 minutes right before the finish and expect everyone to love it.

7 – Roman Reigns def. Drew Mcintyre

I mean, this wasn’t great, but at least there was something to it.

WWE really need to just let Drew be a monster because this slow, rest-hold style of matches really aren’t doing him any favours at all. Drew is brilliant when he destroys people with high impact offence and refuses to let up, the same with Roman, but for some reason he’s forced to work this boring as fuck style that simply serves as a set up to pop the crowd when his opponent makes a comeback, which isn’t any fun to watch.

Unfortunately, that’s what most of this match was. It had a few entertaining moments scattered throughout it though, like whenever Shane got involved, and towards the finish when Drew and Roman were trading big hits. There wasn’t enough to this match for me to really sink my teeth into it though, there were hints of the awesome Roman vs Drew match we all want in there, but it’s marred by a sea of rest holds and boring wrestling.

Hopefully, the handicap match on Raw is the end of it, because I really don’t want to sit through another month of this crap, just let Roman wrestle someone else for a change like…I dunno, The Shining Stars, it’ll probably be more entertaining than this.

6 – Becky Lynch(c) def. Lacey Evans
(Raw Women’s Championship)

Let’s play a fun game, it’s called: How many times does Lacey Evans have to show the world she’s absolutely not ready before WWE stop giving her big PPV matches?

This was very much a match of two halves, with the first being pretty bad and the second being pretty good. The first half of this match really couldn’t find it’s footing all that well, they were going back and forth kind fo awkwardly with wrestling that was fine, but didn’t really grab my attention in any major way, then a few minutes in Lacey made that very obvious botch where she failed to get into position for Becky’s backward kick off of the turnbuckle, forcing Becky to have to do it a second time. Once that happened, the crowd jumped on her with “Lacey sucks” and “You can’t wrestle” chants filling the arena, which seemed to throw her off her game for a little while.

She did eventually recover though and I quite enjoyed the second half of the match, even if it was a little bit hard to ignore Becky calling spots directly down the microphone. The action in the second half of the match picked up in a major way and I thought the two developed some pretty good chemistry as the finish rolled around, it’s time for Becky to move onto something else though because Lacey just isn’t ready to consistently be in this spot.

5 – Daniel Bryan & Rowan(c) def. Heavy Machinery
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

It certainly didn’t take a genius to guess whose home town we were in.

Honestly, though, I felt the crowd really added a lot to this match, I just wish they’d let the wrestlers play to it a bit more. The crowd here were treating Heavy Machinery how I personally treat all of Daniel Bryan’s opponents by desperately not wanting them to win at all and Bryan tried to play to it a bit, but still stuck to the heel tendencies.

The match itself was a fun watch, but it did show off everything I hate about Heavy Machinery, like when Bryan was doing the Yes! Kicks and Otis was thrusting his hips and having a spasm on his feet, it’s not the 80’s anymore, that stuff just looks stupid now. That said, this match did a lot to make Heavy Machinery look good in defeat since realistically you could argue that they only lost thanks to Bryan’s experience and veteran instincts, having the wear with all to make the small package.

If anything is going to revive the tag division in WWE, it’s Bryan & Rowan going on an absolute tear with these titles, having great matches with every tag team on Smackdown and this was certainly a good start.

4 – Bayley(c) def. Alexa Bliss
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

This match was one that very much had the potential to go either way and thankfully it landed on the side of good. There aren’t many complaints I have about this match, I think for the most part the wrestling was very solid, and these two clearly work well together in the ring. I didn’t really reach that upper level of being a great match, but it was certainly more than I was expecting going in.

Alexa seemed to wrestle a lot less heelish in this match, there was still an element of her “full of herself” persona, but there was a lot less taunting, outside of screaming at the ref whenever he tried to remind her of the rules, but for the most part, she wrestled clean. Bayley’s always been great as the beaten down babyface, and it’s always so much fun to watch her rally and make the comeback and this match was no exception.

I’m a little confused about the finish though, commentary tried to claim that Alexa pulled Nikki in the way of Bayley’s dive but to me, it looked more like Nikki didn’t move and pushed Alexa out of the way. I’m even more confused by what happened next because Nikki got in the ring like she was about to attack Bayley because she’s so crazy and just couldn’t control herself, but then 30 seconds later when Bayley’s about to win the match, Nikki suddenly can control herself?

I guess I’m just being a bit overly nitpicky about it, but it struck me as odd when it went down, I also thought Bayley shoving Nikki after the match was a nice touch and I love where Bayley’s character is going. That said, I don’t really want to see this match again, not because it was bad, but because there’s just so much talent in the Smackdown Women’s division right now, that I want to see what Bayley can do with all of them as champion.

3 – Ricochet def. Samoa Joe(c)
(United States Championship)

And here we have a match that’s thankfully what we all hoped it would be.

I said in my predictions that I thought this match would focus on both men trying to force the other to wrestle their style and that’s more or less what we got. The opening sequence was full of Ricochet wrestling circles around Joe before Joe finally caught him and was able to slow him down. Once Joe was on top the pace of the match changed drastically to be a lot more methodical, with Joe trying to wear down Ricochet for a portion of the match.

It threatened to go on for too long and become a bit boring, but these two men were able to pace it very nicely so that the comebacks and high spots were in the right places to frame the slower moments nicely. I particularly liked when Joe denied Ricochet’s kick, Ricochet did a standing backflip in order to sell it and the crowd just didn’t give a shit. The final few minutes of the match focused around Ricochet trying to pull off the 630 Splash, rolling through on it once before getting Joe down long enough to land the second and become the new United States champion.

I wasn’t expecting this, but I’m most certainly in on it, and if his first feud is going to be AJ Styles, then I’m in all the way. Hopefully, Joe can move up the card a bit off of the back of this, maybe going after Strowman after that was teased during the Superstar shakeup and never followed up on.

2 – Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn def. The New Day

Clearly, no-one told these guys this was an inconsequential tag match.

This match was very entertaining from start to finish. It opened up with something we don’t see very often, where Owens immediately took Big E out of the equation while he and Zayn frequently tagged in and out hitting their big moves in order to try and put Xavier away quickly but he was able to stay alive throughout.

The match then transitioned into Zayn and Owens putting a beating on Xavier Woods and Woods desperately trying to make the tag. Once again, this was paced really well, the beatdown on Xavier didn’t last so long as to be boring, but lasted long enough to really get the crowd invested in the hot tag when it eventually came. Big E was like a house on fire in this match, and clearly didn’t miss a step during the couple of months he was away.

Once the hot tag was made and the match devolved a bit, the chaos was so much fun to watch. The near falls and false finishes were done to great effect and I really felt like it could’ve gone either way when it came down to the final moments. Eventually, Owens would hit a stunner on Woods (which Woods would sell the shit out of) for the win in a very satisfying and fun match.

1 – Drew Gulak def. Tony Nese(c) & Akira Tozowa
(Cruiserweight Championship)
(Kickoff Show)

Well, this was bound to happen one day. If you keep putting the cruiserweights on the pre-show, expect them to show up and blow everything else out of the water because this match was fantastic.

I’ve loved watching Tozowa & Gulak on 205 Live in recent months, and Tony Nese is no slouch either, so putting the three of them together in this match was always going to make for something great. Interestingly, unlike a lot of other triple threat matches, there weren’t any extended periods of time where one person was selling outside the ring while the other two fought. The action and interruptions of the action were constant the whole way through and it made for such an unpredictable bout, where you never knew what was coming next.

Some of my personal favourite spots were Tozowa dropping out of the sky onto Nese, who was trapped in Gulak’s submission hold, and Nese swooping in as Tozowa was trying to take Drew out and throwing Tozowa at Gulak. There were some great near falls too (admittedly only because Drew missed his cue) and as we got into the final two minutes, there were points where I honestly believed each man had it in the bag.

Eventually, Drew Gulak came out on top in what I think is the right move for 205 Live. Nese was a great champion, but I feel he was much better in the chase than once he actually won the title, and Drew has been putting on great matches with the whole 205 Live and NXT rosters for well over a year now, so I’m very much looking forward to what’s to come.

That’s all folks! There’s what I thought of every match that took place at Stomping Grounds 2019! Thank you very much for reading, a share on social media would be very much appreciated, and make sure to let me know what you thought of the show, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Make sure you come back this weekend, where we go back to the land of video games, for something a little different.

WWE Stomping Grounds 2019 Predictions & Analysis

There’s always one PPV between Wrestlemania and Summerslam that feels a bit…pointless, last year it was Extreme Rules and this year it’s Stomping Grounds. Almost every match on this show is either retreading old ground or clearly just a placeholder feud until we can get the big matches we all want at the biggest party of the summer.

Admittedly, compared to Super Showdown, this show will probably be amazing and just because we’ve seen a match before doesn’t mean it’ll be bad, but there isn’t a lot of intrigue to any of the matches and that often to leads to  a whole bunch of ok, but not great, wrestling matches; or bullshit finishes.

It also seems to make the results pretty predictable, so let’s predict so that we can all point and laugh at me when I turn out to be hilariously wrong.

Tony Nese(c) vs Akira Tozowa vs Drew Gulak
(Cruiserweight Championship)

Well here’s an interesting one.

For the first time in a long time, I’m actually quite excited by the build for this match. Nese has been saying he wants to fight Tozowa for ages, and Tozowa has really been killing it week to week on 205 Live, meanwhile Drew has completely revamped his character, becoming a much more broken and vicious man, finally getting rid of all the goofy campaigning stuff.

I find Triple Threat Matches are more consistently entertaining than Fatal 4 Ways. I think the fact that there are fewer people means you can focus in more on each of the individuals and tell a more coherent story, while still keeping in the lightning pace and out of nowhere excitement aspects of multi-man matches.

When Tony Nese won the title, I thought we’d be in for quite a long reign, as that’s generally what the Cruiserweight Championship is good at, but I honestly think his reigns already coming to an end. It’s a shame because I think there was a lot more for him to do with the title, but going into this match it really feels like this might finally be Drew Gulak‘s time. This new character he’s brought has some real intrigue to it, and there are enough faces on 205 Live now to sustain another heel reign without it feeling repetitious.

Daniel Bryan & Rowan(c) vs Heavy Machinery
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Hopefully, Daniel Bryan can make something good of this.

I’ve never been the biggest Heavy Machinery fan, even in NXT I really didn’t think there was much entertaining behind them, the characters are quirky but in just the wrong way that I find them annoying and a lot of their powerful and good looking offence is hidden behind hokey crap; which come to think of it, is exactly what Daniel Bryan was saying about them on Smackdown this week.

With all that said, if any wrestler can work a match so good with them that it turns my opinion around, it’s Daniel Bryan, so I’m going to be quietly optimistic that this A) Doesn’t get bumped to the pre-show and B) Is actually fairly entertaining. I don’t think this is too hard of a match to pick a winner in though, Daniel Bryan & Rowan shouldn’t lose those titles anytime soon and it still feels too early for Heavy Machinery, thought this will hopefully help elevate them significantly.

The New Day vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn

A lot of these matches seem pointless, but this is here as pure filler.

It seems to me like, Owens’ refusal to go to Saudi Arabia and subsequent Dolph Ziggler replacement has messed up the pacing of the Owens vs Kofi stuff a bit. For the past month, it’s felt a lot like WWE are trying to build to another Owens vs Kofi match, but they’ve still got the Dolph Ziggler feud to get out of the way first, so this match was brought in as a bit of a proxy for this month.

That said, just because it’s filler doesn’t mean it won’t be good. New Day are still one of the best tag teams out there right now and Owens & Zayn are great competitors, I think the only problem this match will have is garnering crowd interest because there really isn’t a lot interesting behind this match.

Picking a winner in a match like this always feels a bit arbitrary, because ultimately no-one’s going to remember come next month, but if my theory is true that they’re building to another Kofi vs Owens match, then Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn have got to pick up some sort of cheap win here.

Samoa Joe(c) vs Ricochet
(United States Championship)

As far as replacements for Rey Mysterio go, I’d say they hit the nail on the head.

There’s not really a great deal of story to this match considering Ricochet only won the number 1 contendership on Monday, but this is the kind of match that doesn’t necessarily need a great deal of story to work. That said, I did find the fallout from what happened at Money in the Bank a bit weird. I get that Mysterio had to vacate the title due to injury, but I can’t remember a time when someone vacated a belt and just straight up handed it to somebody else, especially one of their rivals.

Either way, this match should be great. Joe’s great at working smaller guys and Ricochet seems to shine when wrestling the bigger guys too. As long as this match gets the time it deserves, I can see some great back and forth to this match, with both men trying to force the other to wrestle their pace to get the upper hand; I have high hopes for this one.

Interestingly, I could see this one going either way too. On the one hand it makes sense for Joe to retain, since this is a match with no build and he’s only just got the title back in the first place, but given that they had planned to take the title off of Joe at Money in the Bank and he only got it back into injury, maybe they’ll put it on Ricochet; like I said at the beginning, there really isn’t any better replacement for Mysterio. The main sticking point with me is that Joe is still the only heel singles champion in WWE right now, pair that with the fact that I think this card is going to have a lot of face wins in the big matches, I’m going to pick Samoa Joe here to even it out.

Roman Reigns vs Drew Mcintyre

I mentioned this in my review of Super Showdown, but the progression of this story makes no sense whatsoever.

Roman Reigns returned after his leukaemia scare, beat Drew Mcintyre & friends with The Shield, then beat Drew in a singles match at Wrestlemania. Roman then goes over to Smackdown – away from Drew – and ends up getting involved with Shane McMahon, and beats his toadie Elias, then thanks to the stupid Wild Card rule, Drew becomes another one of Shane’s toadies (which is also stupid, but if I picked apart every detail of this thing we’d be here all day), cost Roman his match against Shane, giving Shane McfuckingMahon a win over Roman Reigns and now in order to get revenge, Roman’s going to fight a guy he’s already beat.

It just doesn’t make any sense. For one thing, Drew shouldn’t be anyone’s toadie at this point, the dude’s got future world champion written all over him (it wouldn’t surprise me if this came before the end of the year) and this is honestly a waste of his time. Not to mention it’s a waste of time for Roman too and makes him look kinda weak since he’s not looking to get his win back from Shane.

If any match on this card is going to have some sort of non-finish it’ll be this one. Shane has been front and centre on both Raw and Smackdown for the past month and it wouldn’t surprise me if this match ended in a no contest so the segment can end with Shane standing tall, perhaps to set up a Roman vs Shane rematch. Failing that, Roman Reigns will hopefully win and both men can go away and do more interesting things.

Becky Lynch(c) vs Lacey Evans
(Raw Women’s Championship)

Kind of ironic that the background for these matches is a desolate wasteland.

I just don’t understand why, coming out of all the excitement that happened at Money in the Bank, THIS is the match they want to go with for Becky. I get there’s some justification for it since Lacey cost Becky the Smackdown title, but A) Shouldn’t Becky want the Smackdown title more than petty revenge, and B) Becky already beat Lacey clean as a whistle at Money in the Bank, Lacey shouldn’t have any ground when it comes to demanding a rematch.

Nevertheless here we are and I’m really not sure how good this one can be. Their match at Money in the Bank was fine, but Lacey’s lack of experience was on full display and I’m not sure if there’s any new direction this match could go in. As long as there are no shenanigans I’m sure it’ll be perfectly fine, and hopefully, these two have a bit better chemistry in the ring now, but I can’t see it being anything special.

I don’t think the result of this one is up for debate, Becky Lynch needs to retain so she can go and fulfil all of the other – more interesting – possibilities that were laid forth after Money in the Bank.

Bayley(c) vs Alexa Bliss
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

All it has to be is better than their first feud, which is a low bar if I ever saw one.

I’m not entirely sure what possessed WWE creative to relive one of the worst feuds in recent memory, but the character dynamics have shifted a bit since then, so hopefully, this will be better this time around. That said, the week to week stuff hasn’t been all that amazing, Bayley’s got a new mean streak which is great for her character, but Alexa’s mostly still the same spoiled brat she always was, and as much as I like Alexa, it’s starting to get stale.

In terms of in-ring quality, this could be one of the better matches of the night. Alexa is good enough to put on great matches with the right opponent, and hopefully, Bayley is more reinvigorated than ever when it comes to competing thanks to this new lease of life she’s been given. It could very well end up being boring, but I’m choosing to remain optimistic about this one because I don’t have much else on this show to be hopeful about.

Alexa’s one of those competitors that WWE might decide they want to put the title on at random a lot of the time, which makes me a little bit nervous about this one, but I think there are a couple of factors going against her. Firstly, there’s the fact that her medical condition is currently in a lot of question, it seems like she’s fine for the most part, but given she was pulled out of Money in the Bank last month, I’m not sure management would be comfortable with the title on someone who might have to drop out at any moment. The other is the fact that it’s Bayley’s first major title defence and a loss here would undo all of the goodwill that’s been built up around her, so I’m going with Bayley on this one.

Kofi Kingston(c) vs Dolph Ziggler
(WWE Championship)
(Steel Cage)

Why have Dolph Ziggler fight for the title if you’re going to make him seem like the world’s biggest afterthought?

Seriously, WWE are even treating Ziggler like he hasn’t even got a whelps chance in a supernova of winning this match on Sunday, they’re already looking past him to a rematch with Owens and outside of a couple of pointless wins over Xavier Woods and in tag team matches, it doesn’t seem like he’s got any sort of momentum whatsoever. As I imagined, all of the potentially interesting storyline scenarios I proposed coming out of Super Showdown didn’t come to pass, instead, they’ve just gone with the idea that Ziggler’s a sore loser, even though he totally is justified in feeling screwed.

I don’t know how good this match could be, their contest at Super Showdown wasn’t anything all that great, but the Saudi Arabia matches always tend to be worse, maybe because of jetlag, or maybe because of low morale so I think there’s still a chance this one could be good. I’m also not usually big on Steel Cage matches, but the one between Shane and Miz at Money in the Bank was surprisingly entertaining so I’m going to keep my hopes up for this one.

Like I said in my opening paragraph, there’s no way Ziggler’s winning this. I’m sure there will be some shenanigans on the outside of the cage between New Day and Zayn & Owens, but at the end of the day, Kofi Kingston is going to come away with the win on this one.

Seth Rollins(c) vs Baron Corbin
(Universal Championship)
(Special Guest Referee TBA)

We go from a heel who is completely justified in wanting a rematch, to one who really doesn’t deserve one in the slightest.

There’s no real way to slice it when you look at what happened, Corbin has no justification in getting this rematch, Rollins would’ve got that rollup if the ref had a go at him or not, he was still looking away from Seth, and we all know Corbin’s #1 weakness is rollups. Moreso than that, he’s been given the opportunity to pick his own referee, for some very vaguely defined reason, so we’ve got to deal with all this bullshit as well.

The match between these two at Super Showdown was certainly the best of the night, but that was mostly by default and while it was fun, it wasn’t on the level of what we’ve come to expect from Seth Rollins’ title matches in recent years. Not to mention, any hope I really had for this being a good match has been dashed with the promise of a special guest referee, which will no doubt lead to endless shenanigans and some sort of dirty finish. I’m really not sure who it’s going to be, but the current rumour is Brock Lesnar, which I guess would make sense and was subtly teased in the final moments of Tuesday’s Smackdown.

If that’s the case, and Lesnar is the referee, then I entirely expect this match to end in a No Contest, Brock will let them go until he gets bored, at which point he will lay both guys out and either leave or cash in his Money in the Bank contract to grab the title from Seth. That said, if it’s not Lesnar then Seth Rollins will win, probably because Corbin will end up arguing with whoever he picks and that will yet again cost him the match.

So that’s it! Those are my predictions for Stomping Grounds 2019, let me know what you think in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo, and check back here early next week for my review of the show!