@LauraNMauro
This week was all about Evolution. I’ve had a love-hate relationship with main roster WWE for some time now, so I’m behind on many of the major storylines save for what I’ve read in recaps. But for the most part, Evolution didn’t require context – the stories that mattered told themselves well enough that it wasn’t really necessary to have an in-depth knowledge of the finer details. For all the doubt surrounding it, Evolution was one of the best PPV’s WWE have put out this year. There was a sense that the vast majority of the women wrestling came in with something to prove, and the result was an event that, for all I malign WWE’s frankly horrible track record with women’s wrestling, legitimately impressed me. The Riott Squad versus Sasha, Bayley and Natalya was a clear step above most of WWE’s lazy multi-women tag matches, due entirely to the wrestlers themselves – Ruby Riott continues to be a cut above, while Liv Morgan visibly improves week on week. And relative veterans Sasha, Bayley and Natalya each had the opportunity to show why they’re some of the most well-established women on the roster. Lita and Trish Stratus were a welcome slice of nostalgia, and Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler delivered a second time – their clashing styles blend brilliantly, with Kairi’s babyface fire and Shayna’s sheer negative energy. For my money, Shayna Baszler is one of the best heels in wrestling right now. Then to Toni Storm and Io Shirai, and for the first time Io looked comfortable in a WWE ring – that moonsault to the outside was a fantastic spot. I think the win was a foregone conclusion, but it was still a great match, and Toni is going to be an absolute star.
But the match of the night – and a contender for match of the year – was Becky and Charlotte. They proved what can be achieved when WWE actually trust their women’s roster to go all out, and when they invest a proper amount of time in their matches. And I think their match was indicative of just how much WWE do force – directly or indirectly – their women’s roster to hold back, both through short and inconsequential matches, and through not developing enough truly high-stakes storylines. Becky and Charlotte gave a stellar example of what can be achieved if you just invest and trust in your performers. That WWE forged ahead with the frankly embarrassing Crown Jewel event immediately after this high point shows that they value money over quality. It’ll be interesting to see where they go from here.
@TheCiaranJames
I started this week recovering from an amazing night of wrestling with Kamikaze last Sunday. Taking place in Birmingham this was Kamikaze Pro’s first Halloween themed show, and it was a huge success. Every match delivered something different and had the audience applauding, standout matches of the evening were ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey vs El Phantasmo and Team Whitewolf vs Hunter Brothers in a phenomenal tag match.
A special mention must go to Gabriel Kidd, the Nottingham born wrestler is turning into one of the best in ring workers in the United Kingdom. He is very reminiscent of Stan Hansen, he has has a great wrestling skills and an amazing brawling ability. He is definitely one to keep an eye on, the lad is going to be a big player in the near future.
WWE is embarked on their journey to Saudi Arabia, the Crown Jewell event was as mediocre as you can expect. With nonsensical booking and decisions made on the back of a match box, one can only shake their head. Also add in an unapologetic, racist Hulk Hogan and you have a recipe for disaster.
Thankful there was better wrestling on offer later on Friday evening and Saturday morning. On Friday night RevPro continued their run of shows on FreeSports, the standout match was Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher/Mark Davis) vs Team Whitewolf (A-Kid/Carlos Romo) I’ve seen these teams battle at Attack Wrestling this year, this was another addition to their fantastic series of matches.
On Saturday morning NJPW presented Power Struggle, this was another example of how to present a decent professional wrestling show. Similar to most NJPW shows, this delivered, every match mattered and built to a fitting conclusion. Must also comment on the ever impressive Chris Jericho, this man continues to set the bar high and prove he’s one of the best ever.
It was interesting to watch the new wXw ‘Road to Broken Rules’ show on wXw Now. With no Shotgun anymore, the company have turned these ‘Road to…’ shows into quasi-Shotgun Marquee Events, which is a pretty good way of still developing storylines and characters whilst building to a bigger show. It’ll be interesting to see if it continues that way, but for a first attempt I was pretty happy with what they offered.
Speaking of Broken Rules, it is building up to be another amazing event in the wXw calendar. Ilja Dragunov versus PCO, Bobby Gunns versus Absolute Andy, and WALTER versus Timothy Thatcher are all matches that I am looking forward to, let alone the other contests that fill out the rest of the card. My picks – Dragunov, Andy, and Thatcher, giving Thatcher a rare win over his team mate and perhaps furthering the dissension that has been seen between the RINGKAMPF members in recent weeks.
I’m so far removed from WWE at the moment, I didn’t watch any of the PPVs that were on offer. Just thought it was worth throwing that out there; I can’t give an opinion because I’ve pretty much ceased to care. I’ll always read the results out of interest to be honest, but between wXw, Riptide and old school wrestling, I wouldn’t want to waste my time on a product I don’t enjoy anymore.
Finally, I read Freddie Blassie’s biography this week as it was going cheap on Kindle. A great read that does a good job of capturing Blassie’s voice considering it was written with the help of another writer. It was just pleasing to read a book by a wrestler who seemed to just enjoy every last moment of it, whether it was during the 60s or the 00s.
