@RoxBlackburn
The Superstar shake up saw Finn Balor move to Smackdown Live. This is a good move for Balor and I’m hoping it will open up a whole new landscape for him.
Roman Reigns Superman punching Vince McMahon was a bit…. odd. Are we going to see a bit of a heel turn from Reigns? Are WWE learning the lessons they failed to learn with John Cena? I remain hopeful.
It’s all gone quiet on the Sasha Banks front and with Bayley jumping from Raw to Smackdown, it looks like they are preparing for life without her. I personally don’t think she’ll leave WWE and I hope she returns from her time off feeling reinvigorated.
Next weekend I’m heading over to Liverpool for a wrestling convention. I can’t wait to hear some of the stories in the panels and maybe get a high five off some top notch legends. But more than anything, I can’t wait to see my husband turn into a teenage fangirl when he meets The Undertaker.
Also if you fancy listening to a really insightful podcast, head over to weare113.com.
@BiekoDaniel
A new stable in NXT UK, Imperium. I can see them clashing with Gallus and British Strong Style. I’m also super stoked about the impending debut of Kushida, let’s hope WWE don’t ruin him as he is a next level talent. Matches against Gargano and Velveteen dream have to be a must.
In ROH, it’s all gearing up to the Crockett Cup and the ‘Battle of Britain’ between Marty Scurll and Nick Aldis. Personally, I’d like to see Jeff Cobb vs Willie Mack although they were recent tag partners, still would be a good match.
The match recently announced that ‘The Natural’, Dustin Rhodes will take on his younger brother Cody at the upcoming ‘All or Nothing’ event will no doubt be one to watch. Hopefully, Dustin can go out on a high.
The Superstar Shakeup missed the boat to bring up some talent or return Bray Wyatt. Finally, I’m a little shocked about Luke Harper, he deserved better.
Ciaran James@TheCiaranJames
Since the slog that is WrestleMania weekend, I took a break from watching too much wrestling. I did however make sure to watch NXT and attend Attack on Wednesday in Cardiff.
My wrestling week of sorts started of last Sunday as I attended Kamikaze Pro’s, Rise of an Empress tournament. Which was a one night tournament to crown their first women’s champion. Every match delivered, each women gave it their all and produced some memorable matches. Eventual winner Shanna was terrific all evening, the final with Chantal Jordan was full on and received a standing ovation.
I did actually try and sit through the superstar shakeup but it was just too hard, the amount of confusion and pointless skits was ridiculous. The wrestlers that did move needed a change of a scenery, plus Roman’s move was surely to placate the move to FOX in September. Apart from that the only other noteworthy news was the change of name of the War Raiders, they debut on Raw as ‘The Viking Experience” welcomed it was not.
On Wednesday 17/4, I attended Attack Pro “Wednesday Wristlocks” in Cardiff. This was unarguably one of the best cards I’ve seen in 2019, the calibre of matches and wrestlers was fantastic. The main event match between Chief Dunne and Will Ospreay also recurved much attention, Ospreay’s performance was flawless. I must also give a nod to Dragon Pro graduate Jay Joshua, his shoot/strong style character is great and he stands out on the Indy’s amongst the very much copied junior heavyweight style.
I will also been tuning into MLW this week as their main show is now on Freesports, via Sky.
@codytweetsstuff
My week in wrestling was kicked off with the first superstar shakeup episode, RAW. I don’t remember what happened on RAW (as usual) but I do remember that AJ Styles has been drafted to RAW which is cool, hopefully he can be involved in some decent feuds.
Next up comes SmackDown Live, again, I don’t remember too much but there are a few memorable moments. Particularly, Big O (Kevin Owens teaming up with the New Day) as well as Roman Reigns being drafted to SmackDown.
205 Live followed SmackDown as always with a fatal four-way match and an incredible farewell match for Cedric Alexander where his feud with Oney Lorcan came to an end.
I ended up my week in wrestling with NXT, featuring a brilliant Buddy Murphy vs Velveteen Dream match and the end to Kairi Sane’s NXT ventures. I believe that’s it, some excellent action this week.
As is often the way following Wrestlemania, I kept my oar in with WWE long enough to see what happened on the road out of the big PPV. Lacey Evans finally paying off on her random appearances with an attack on Becky Lynch was definitely interesting, whilst we finally got the big debut of Lars Sullivan. Sullivan still feels to me like someone who was born in the wrong generation – he is a territorial heel through and through, rather than a guy who works on a week to week basis.
I watched some old school matches this week as I was on holiday and barely had time to really sit down and watch a full show. One of the more interesting ones I watched was from Houston in 1985: Jake Roberts versus Lord Humungous in a steel cage. Roberts, ever the psychological master, wore a mask akin to Humungous, but it ended up getting ripped off. The fans popped huge for the DDT, but it only got Roberts a one count. Just as it seemed like Roberts wasn’t going to be able to defeat the monster, The Nightmare (one of the Moondogs in a different gimmick) chucked in a chair for Humongous to use. Naturally, it ended up with Roberts landing his second DDT onto the steel for the win. A fun six minute match.
Lastly, I was contacted by PROGRESS to cover Super Strong Style 16 following last year in which I got to see the first show. This time, I have tickets to all three (and Kaiju Big Battel), so will be availing myself of their media hospitality. Should be a great weekend – expect a preview in the next few days.
