Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
The World Cup has taken over a lot of my time when it comes to leisure watching. What I did see was the wXw Shotgun episode for this week which had two cracking tag team contests. I’ve theorised in the past that the Shotgun episodes are stacked to offset the break in events caused by the holiday period in Germany being upon us (thanks David Starr for explaining that one to me). Either way, having Ilja Dragunov and WALTER on the weekly show, following a show that really looked to promote some of the lesser lights of the promotion, just showed that the promotion can mix it up and create engaging weekly content with some real variety.
What has also been interesting to see is the names that wXw are booking for tours when they do return. Whether it is full tours or one off dates, Fred Yehi, Kris Wolf and Meiko Satomura are amongst a collection of wrestlers that we’ll be seeing in Germany. Exciting times ahead and a chance for me to see some wrestlers I’ve not had a lot of experience of either.
Back in 1984, I only really grabbed the opportunity to watch an episode of WWF Championship Wrestling. What it did include was the title change that saw Greg Valentine halt Tito Santana’s first WWF Intercontinental Title run. A brief match at only around five minutes, it felt somewhat indicative of how the WWF would run their title changes as the two men could and had gone many, many minutes more in other contests. This, on the other hand, was intense in its brevity, but wasn’t really the epic climax you might expect from the secondary title – especially at this time – changing hands. Having returned to the WWF at the start of the year, Valentine has been a monster on the weekly television and deserved a run with the belt.
In terms of live events, my next potential show will be Riptide International Waters. However, with my friends not able to come, I’m somewhat in two minds as to whether I will or not. I will be missing their Pride weekend shows, which does make me feel that I should make the most of the opportunity to see some local live wrestling considering my next opportunity won’t be for a few months. WALTER takes on Mike Bailey, Chris Brookes meets Naoki Tanizaki, and Chuck Mambo meets Eddie Dennis alongside several other contests. The atmosphere is always fun and the action hasn’t let me down yet, so I’ll probably cave and buy a ticket.
It would be remiss to comment without talking about Big Van Vader. When I was younger, I used to watch World Superstars of Wrestling on Eurosport, which was effectively New Japan Pro Wrestling with dubbed audio. Whilst Jushin Liger is the wrestler who really got me into Puro, seeing Vader, mask spewing steam and his ridiculous size, really stood out to a pre-teen wrestling fan. He was end of level boss dangerous and ludicrously agile for a big man. Being a WWF/E fan, it is just a shame that his time in the promotion somewhat petered out. Still, RIP Vader.
Ciaran James @TheCiaranJames
It’s been a slow wrestling week as far as watching for me, I found MITB lacklustre and lacking in surprises. The drawn out Styles/Nakamura feud finally ended, with Shinsuke falling short once more. It seem’s Asuka’s star has fallen also, her loss in form and lack of push from the company has me worried. Both Asuka and Nakamura were held in high regard in their native countries, plus in the promotions they respectively worked they were push and used to their potential. Since WrestleMania both Shinsuke and Asuka have been booked to lose, even a heel turn for Nakamura couldn’t change his fortunes against Styles. I only tuned into RAW to watch the exceptional segment with Rousey, Bliss & Angle, which are far as I’m concerned rivaled the segments with Austin during the attitude era. For me Rousey is the closest act WWE have in relation to Stone Cold, Rousey played the nonconformist face so well. When she returns she should run through Alexa Bliss in minutes.
This week we also saw the second WWE United Kingdom Tournament, held at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall we saw a mixture of arguably the best UK talent and NXT US competitors. The highlights being Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven/Tyler Bate) def. Undisputed Era for the NXT Tag Team Titles, plus the emergence of Liverpool’s own Zack Gibson who won the tournament but lost to Pete Dunne on the second night. On the same show there was the announcement by Triple H about the impending NXT UK brand, I have reservations about how this will affect the UK Indy scene but only time will tell on this new venture. I still see WWE’s venture into the UK as a business move to crush the WOS comeback on ITV.
I will also comment on WWE’s feature of Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks on the Network and YouTube. It seems WWE are once more making it known that they are fans of the Elite and are trying all they can to sweeten the top stars of NJPW. This for me falls on deaf ears are far as the Bucks & Omega are concerned, why swap a promotion where they have excelled and become huge stars for a company where every move and business decision is scripted, it’s goes against their mantra. I did learn this week, courtesy of The Fix with Todd Martin & Wade Keller (PW Torch) that Kenny and the Bucks turned down the most lucrative contracts in wrestling last year, so therefore I can’t see them reconsidering just yet.
I was also sad this week with the passing of one of the premier big men in wrestling, Big Van Vader. One of the toughest and feared competitors, he brought legitimacy to the ring as one to the most decorated Super Heavyweights in history.
Mark Worrall @hoohoowozza
My Wrestling week began with NXT Takeover Chicago: Yes I know it’s old news now, however as usual my wrestling viewing is on a catch-up basis so with that in my mind I watched the only brand of WWE that appeals to me these days and as usual the show did not disappoint. With the obvious Gargano/Ciampa match aside, the match that really done it for me was the opening Tag Team title match between Undisputed Era and Lorcan/Birch. This was a true old fashioned style tag team match that excited my watching eyes from start to finish with Oney Lorcan really excelling from the off and putting out a superb performance that really should see him gaining some more television time with NXT in the coming future. Personally I think the end result was the correct one, but surely the debuting Lorcan/ Birch team on a Takeover show will get another shot down the line.
I say that NXT is the only brand of WWE that I watch, that is not entirely correct as 205 Live also put out a decent show this week and what I like about this show is seeing a tired Smackdown Live audience with CM Punk chants being turned around by the in ring performers themselves to a point where ‘This is Awesome’ chants are filling the arena. I also have to give credit to Drew Gulak, a man that does not exactly personify the word cruiserweight in what the wrestling fan see’s in a cruiserweight type match. However, he completely carried Lince Dorado throughout their singles match opener, always being in position when Dorado what to execute a high flying move and giving a great performance in the process. The triple threat main event is what turned the crowd around, although it was Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy who work their backsides off whilst Hideo Itami stole the victory. Talking of Itami, my actual feeling of the Noah legend is whilst in Noah, he was terrific, however is Japanese style of wrestling with the hard kicks, whilst fulfils my enjoyment of wrestling, does not seem to go over well with a WWE crowd who just don’t get him! Maybe this deal with Noah and WWE will give him a chance to excel when back in front of a Japanese crowd!
Also this week, I watched a superb Joshi match that was aired on the ‘Fortune Dream 5’ show in Japan a week previous. With Io Shirai making the news with her upcoming move to WWE. The, (in my opinion) best female wrestler in the world at the moment was involved in a triple threat match against Meiko Satomura and Hiroyo Matsumoto that I can only describe as terrific. This three way match went to a time limit draw with hard hitting action and some tremendous flying, all three of these ladies put out an excellent match that is easily my favourite of the month and is a must see match for anybody!
Before I sign off, just a mention on the passing of ‘Vader’ who the wrestling world lost this week at the age of 62. Watching ‘The man they call Vader’ during his early 90’s WCW run was the one thing that kept me watching an otherwise awful show. Vader was a true giant and as WCW champion portrayed how a Giant on top should be portrayed. Although his WWE run may have not been as fruitful, he remains a legend of the business both in the US and Japan, and her is hoping he is put into the WWE Hall of Fame.
