@RoxBlackburn
This week has been a light wrestling week for me but what I have watched has been great.
The top news out of camp WWE is that Roman Reigns is in remission and is back! This is great news for him personally and still a very stark reminder that there are real people behind these on screen personas with real lives and real problems. I don’t think even WWE anticipated the incredible reception he received on Raw this week. Give it a few months and I’m sure he’ll settle back in and we’ll be complaining about his character again. I for one look forward to that but with a new found warmth and respect for the man behind it. I’ve never been a massive Reigns fan but I am so glad he’s back and I’m so glad I get to complain about him again.
Speaking of people we like to complain about, please be sure to check out my article about Ronda Rousey. I would like to point out that her walking out of Raw, leaving the women’s title in the ring, is the most interesting thing she’s done and shows a greater depth to the storyline between her, Becky and Charlotte leading up to Mania.
DX for the hall of fame is pretty exciting. Personally I would have loved Chyna to go in on her own. This gives me hope that she will in the future. Other Hall of Fame rumours include Brutus Beefcake and Torrie Wilson.
Ooooh The Hardy Boyz are back together on Smackdown. Oh my little fangirl heart was all aflutter. They are my absolute favourite tag team of all time. The tag team divisions needs this experience and expertise to drive it forward. A brilliant move, especially as I was convinced we’d seen the last of Matt.
I wonder what the future holds for AJ Styles, he’s been pretty quiet this week.
Fastlane is tonight, the final stop before Mania. I couldn’t care less about it if I’m honest. We talk about the throw away TV shows before the Pay Per View, this is the throw away Pay Per View before Mania. I’m sure Wynter will do a grand job of the review and I’m sure I’ll watch it but for me it feels totally unnecessary as there has been no time since the Chamber to build any storylines.
As is often the case, my week in wrestling has mostly revolved around watching some of the older classic stuff that I have in my collection. However, it would be remiss of me not to say how great it was to hear the news about Roman Reigns and it was a great moment of genuine emotional outpouring from the fans to someone who has put their body on the line in the name of entertainment. Brilliant stuff.
Digging into my pockets, I have bought a few DVD collections that I plan to slowly work my way through. I have the Best of Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Best of Jushin Liger 1989-1996 and Best of William Regal. I’ve dipped my toes in the Regal collection the most so far, primarily as I’ve already seen a lot of early Liger in recent years, and it is interesting to see him in England, Wales and Germany when he was young. The footage I have even includes some of his work from his time working in Blackpool, which is pretty amazing. A name change to ‘Steven Jones’ for a run in Reslo was a little bit too on the nose in terms of trying to make him a bigger babyface, but still, a lot of fun.
The SMW collection is one I look forward to checking out as it is a promotion that I’ve watched bits of, but never had the chance to really dive deep into it. From the looks of the match listings, there are a decent chunk of fancam footage that accompanies the various television and big show tapings, so will be interesting to see guys like the Heavenly Bodies tearing it up when the cameras officially weren’t rolling.
Looking at a more modern dilemma, I’m debating whether to buy one of the packages on Fite TV to for my Wrestlemania Weekend viewing. $119.99 is a lot of money for the one I’m eyeing up in particular, but with it comes the wXw, RevPro, DDT, Stardom, ROH/New Japan shows, as well as Joey Ryan’s Penis Party if that floats your boat. The other package includes Bloodsport and the two Joey Janela shows, which are also tempting, but I don’t think I can spend over $200 on wrestling.
@TheCiaranJames
Firstly I have to say how proud I am of all the team @ The ProWrestling Journal, the quality of content this year has been some of the best the site has produced. The recent additions have slotted straight in, and the commitment from all has been terrific.
The big news this week was the return to WWE television of Roman Reigns, who revealed to the audience that he was in remission from Cancer and happy to be back. No timeline was given of his return, nor did he mention anyone in general, everyone rejoiced in the fact that he was over the worst of his illness. Instead of leaving us guessing of what his next move might be, WWE went straight to a backstage promo with Baron Corbin, surely this was signalling a Fastlane or WrestleMania match with Roman. For me personally this was too soon for Corbin to cut a promo on a man battling Cancer, it wasn’t that long ago that the former Raw GM told us we’d never see Reigns again. This was surely another sign that WWE may revert back to the typical Roman Reigns booking philosophy, which in truth scares me. As happy as the majority are that Reigns is back, how long will it be until he is no longer bulletproof, if WWE revert back to Roman being the man the sympathy of the fan base decrease?
Something else that caught my eye this week happened on Smackdown Live, to my surprise WWE Champion Daniel Bryan suffered another pinfall defeat. This week Bryan was taking the pin after suffering Kevin Owens version of a Stone Cold Stunner, this now also means that another once protected move will become diluted and overused. Daniel Bryan has been WWE champion since November, and since then he has suffered numerous defeats on live television to non challengers, as much as Bryan plays the petulant heel surely you need to protect your champion? This is just another issue with WWE’s ongoing TV product, the lack of consistency and build of characters is scary.
I also booked tickets this week for two future shows, the first is Dragon Pro Wrestling in mid-March, the other being Kamikaze Pro Live in May. I can confidently say that both events will be terrific and feature some of the best young talent in the United Kingdom, these two promotions have evolved greatly over the last 18 months and now are two of the most prominent in the UK. Dragon Pro is renowned for producing the best crop of talent currently working on the independent scene and for WWE. Kamikaze Pro Live was originally an academy show, however the calibre of wrestlers now being produced and appearing on their events demands your attention. They are a progressive organisation and dojo that just keeps producing.
