Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
With my wife out on Friday night, I finally got around to trying out the matches I fancied seeing on the NXT UK shows, which just so happened to be the two with Moustache Mountain involved. Not that I wasn’t interested in watching the whole shows, but I do feel I was put off by reading spoilers for the show. Unlike other people who complained about the WWE spoiling the results on their own social media – I don’t really know why people would expect them to keep quiet about it – I did it to myself, but when it then came time to watch the show, I just didn’t feel like watching the rest of it in the limited window of time I had. Unsurprisingly, the Undisputed Era and British Strong Style in both incarnations on both nights were really good to watch and an enjoyable way to spend my time. I feel the Moustache Mountain title win is one to pop the home fans before a fairly swift return to the Undisputed Era, but it at least gave the crowd that really big moment on a show where a lot of the results weren’t too much in question.
If I do go back to check out any of the other action, the Toni Storm matches from both nights will be my first port of call, especially giving me a chance to watch some Killer Kelly in WWE. She has improved vastly over the last year and is a great fiery babyface. Will be interesting if this showcase leads to any further interest either in the UK or further afield.
wXw have fully broken up for their summer vacation, thus leaving us with three weeks of Shotgun that will include two unreleased matches shows and a bloopers show. With a wide open Shortcut to the Top event to return to (wXw’s Royal Rumble) and the big Ilja Dragunov and Absolute Andy title match in the main event of that show to come, wXw have positioned themselves nicely in terms of forward momentum and leaving a on a note which cannot help have the fans wishing away the next four weeks.
I rarely buy wrestling anymore, but I did buy a special compilation of action from Puerto Rico this week on a whim. With Puerto Rico known for its violent and bloody matches, I’m imagining it will be something akin to Memphis in terms of its action, and that is very much my graps. I’ve only watched an early 80s contest between Abdullah the Butcher and Carlos Colon so far, but it has definitely whetted my appetite as there was blood, brawling and even fights in and amongst the crowd as members of the audience started to get violent! This has the propensity to be wild!
Finally, I will be picking up a ticket to RIPTIDE International Waters which is on this Friday, especially in lieu of my inability to turn up to the Pride weekend shows run by the promotion due to being on holiday. WALTER/Mike Bailey, Chris Brookes/Naoki Tanzaki, Jordan Devlin/Jack Sexsmith and Charlie Morgan/Flash Morgan Webster are just four matches on what looks like a stacked card from top to bottom. The promotion are doing wonderful things on the south coast and are more than worth your time and effort to check out.
Ciaran James @TheCiaranJames
Well it’s been another noteworthy week in wrestling, WWE officially announced their TV deals for both RAW & SDLive. No matter the mediocre product they churn out week after week, the negotiating skills of the McMahons is still impressive. The fact they could seal a deal for $1Billion dollars for a show that’s been treated as the ‘B’ show since its inception is amazing. Even if WWE are now even richer their product still needs attention, with their new blank chequebook finding someone to teach performers how to create a character should be easy. Can they also please give performers a cash incentive to have two social media profiles, one private and one character based, the hypocrisy of talent has never been worse. One last thing, when you’re pushing Mojo Rawley as a heel, please don’t have him appear in a Special Olympics video an hour before portraying what a nice guy he is!!! (Author Shakes head)
What is also baffling is WWE’s attempts to once again get over Roman Reigns, and the attempts to make us dislike Brock Lesnar. Lesnar is contractually obligated to work the schedule WWE give him, if Lesnar doesn’t show up at RAW or on PPV it’s because the company don’t want him there. Last year WWE negotiated extra dates for Lesnar, therefore if they wanted him they’d have him. This whole social media backlash on Lesnar is unwarranted and narrow minded, and therefore WWE are winning.
Earlier in the week I finally tuned into the Network, and watched the highly anticipated WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament. As huge of a fan I am of independent talent I was left feeling a little underwhelmed, only a handful of the talent excelled while the rest looked like small time acts. Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, Travis Banks & Toni Storm really looked like future bankable stars, Gibson with more exposure on US NXT has potential, his natural heel persona is gritty and great.
I rounded off my week with a double header of shows on Saturday 30/6 in Birmingham, as Southside and Kamikaze Pro got together, this was also Kamikaze’s 5th anniversary show. Both shows were stacked with a mixture of young talent, International imports and the some of the best UK guys and girls. It was my first time seeing Ethan Page and Josh Alexander live, known collectively as Monster Mafia they pulled double duty and produced two amazingly stiff matches, these two were excellent. Another two who impressed were Harrison Bourne & Joe Nelson, although only teenagers they worked a great match with some close near falls, huge respect for both. But for me that MVP of the day was Robbie X, from having the match of the day with Speedball Mike Bailey to having the match of the evening at Kamikaze, which received a standing ovation, this guy is flawless. Robbie X is without argument one of the very best and also one of the most underrated, the man is a workhorse and deserves so much credit for his dedication to wresting. This was a great way to end my week and the month, excellent shows from both promotions, which only further installed my faith in the UK independent scene.
Laura Mauro @LauraNMauro
This has admittedly been a very quiet week of wrestling for me. Catching up on night one of the NXT UK Championship Tournament was (mostly) enjoyable, and only mildly spoiled by knowing in advance who would progress – it felt like an exercise in spotting which of the UK talent showcased would be the most likely to make the grade in WWE. Not everyone is quite on that level, at least for now, but who knows what progress the magic of the performance centre might yield.
While I’m personally a big fan of Travis Banks, I concede that Gibson was ultimately the right choice – he’s not quite ‘there’ yet, but he shows enormous potential, and if they can translate his heat-magnet status to a wider audience he’ll be one to watch. I caught bits and pieces of night two, having already seen it live – WWE’s camera work can be incredibly shoddy but I thought the NXT team did a good job overall (though catching constant glimpses of yourself in the crowd can be offputting…) The Royal Albert Hall makes for a superb venue both on-camera and off, though I suspect we won’t see many future shows there due to its notoriously packed schedule.
I’ve been taking a break from WWE main roster programming lately, and finding out that Sami Zayn is likely to be out ‘til 2019 is an incentive to extend that break for a little longer. That’s not to say that there aren’t other wrestlers worth watching right now, but those I’m personally invested in seem mostly to be taking a back seat right now, and quite frankly I couldn’t give a stuff about Brock Lesnar, his work schedule, or his title reign – I’m bored of him, I’m bored of Reigns, and the sooner someone vaguely interesting challenges for (or preferably wins) the Universal Title, the sooner I may be able to give a solitary damn about it. Oh, and apparently Bayley finally snapped, which might have been interesting two months ago, but elicits barely a shrug after months of half-hearted will they/won’t they. Meanwhile, over on NXT, Candice LeRae finally got a chance to show what she can do in the ring after a few uninspiring months playing Johnny Gargano’s perpetually worried wife. More of this, please – Candice is too good to be relegated to Johnny’s manager.
And then, the new from Ring of Honor that (spoilers for the 30th June taping incoming!) Dalton Castle has dropped his title to Jay Lethal. A little baffling that this didn’t happen at Best in the World, but overall the right decision. I’m a huge Dalton Castle fan, but it’s been painful to watch him recently – he’s clearly badly hurt and needs time to properly recuperate. I can’t say I object to Lethal taking the title either – anyone but Cody or Bullet Club. I love those guys, but they’re massively overexposed right now, and I feel like it’d do ROH the world of good to let the spotlight shine on someone else for a while. A pity it can’t be Castle. Let’s hope he has a speedy recovery.
