WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episodes 5-9 Review

I take a look at this second batch of episodes from the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, which feature the Second Round and the Quarter-Finals!!

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episode 5 (Original Air Date - 8/10/16)

1.) Gran Metalik vs. Tajiri: ***3/4

2.) Cedric Alexander vs. Kota Ibushi: ****1/2

Overall: 9.0/10

We all knew that the matches in this tournament would get better once we got past the first round, but I don't think any of us expected the second round to get off to such a hot start. Of course, the main event of this particular episode, Cedric Alexander vs. Kota Ibushi, was one of the best bouts of the entire tournament. It featured incredible action from start to finish, and the fans in Full Sail were going wild for it throughout. Both guys worked very well together, and while this match took place in the confines of a tournament for cruiserweights, you could've put it in the G1 Climax and it wouldn't have felt out of place. Kota Ibushi ultimately emerged victorious (not much of a surprise), but Cedric Alexander certainly had a star-making performance here. As he was about to exit, all of the fans in attendance at Full Sail loudly chanted "Please Sign Cedric", and Alexander was greeted by Triple H (who gave a thumbs up to the fans) before he went to the back. Elsewhere on this episode, Gran Metalik defeated Tajiri in a really good match that got overshadowed by the main event. While it was definitely a unique match, I wasn't expecting much from it. In the end, it exceeded my expectations, as it featured some good back and forth action throughout. The amount of time it got was perfect, and it was fun to watch. Gran Metalik got the win (again, another result that wasn't much of a shock) to advance to the Quarter-Finals.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episode 6 (Original Air Date - 8/17/16)

1.) Akira Tozawa vs. Jack Gallagher: ****

2.) Noam Dar vs. Ho Ho Lun: **1/2

3.) Brian Kendrick vs. Tony Nese: ***3/4

Overall: 7.75/10

As a whole, this was probably the weakest episode of the second round, but it was still had some really good stuff on it. The only match that was a disappointment was Noam Dar vs. Ho Ho Lun. To be fair, however, to call something disappointing would suggest that you were expecting that thing to be good. Average was probably the ceiling for that particular bout. Ho Ho Lun is not a good wrestler, and while I'm don't dislike Noam Dar, he's better off when he's in there with a better worker. The best match on the show was easily Akira Tozawa vs. Jack Gallagher. It's encounters like this (featuring a Dragon Gate talent vs. a guy from the prospering British Independents) that made the Cruiserweight Classic such a cool tournament to watch. These two guys had a great back and forth battle, and it was really entertaining to watch from beginning to end. Tozawa would get the win to advance to the next round, but Gallagher looked very solid in defeat. The main event of this episode, Brian Kendrick vs. Tony Nese, wasn't the exactly the most appealing (on paper), but it ended up being pretty good. There was solid action throughout. This was a fine outing for Nese, and he nearly had the match won on a few occasions, but ultimately, Kendrick managed to score the victory. Again, while this wasn't quite as good as Gallagher/Tozawa, it was still a quality main event. It was also another step in Kendrick's story, as the veteran who saw this tournament as his last shot at glory in the WWE. He was going to do everything he could to get closer to the finals.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episode 7 (Original Air Date - 8/24/16)

1.) Rich Swann vs. Lince Dorado: ****1/4

2.) Drew Gulak vs. Zack Sabre Jr.: ****

3.) Johnny Gargano vs. TJ Perkins: ****1/4

Overall: 9.0

After a slight dip in quality with Episode 6, the action picked up again in a big way with Episode 7 with three great matches. None of them reached the awesomeness that was Cedric Alexander vs. Kota Ibushi (easily the best match of the second round), but they were all incredible in their own unique ways. Rich Swann vs. Lince Dorado had an incredibly fun match to kick off the episode. I probably liked it a little bit more than others did, but regardless, it was very entertaining to watch. Both guys are so talented that it would've been next to impossible for them to have anything less than a good match. Swann would pick up the win after hitting a Phoenix Splash. Then, we went from a bout that featured a ton of fast-paced action to a more technical bout in the form of Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Drew Gulak. This was essentially an EVOLVE showcase match, and if you really enjoyed that kind of style which (up until very recently) was very prevalent in EVOLVE, then you'll love this one. What was interesting about it was that it only went eight minutes or so (almost the same length as Dorado vs. Swann), but honestly, I didn't mind that. While that technical style was a big part of EVOLVE's identity, sometimes the matches can drag a bit if they go too long. Well, at just over eight minutes, this didn't have that problem. There was plenty of great exchanges throughout this one, but in the end, Zack Sabre Jr. got the victory after catching Gulak in the European Clutch. Finally, TJ Perkins scored a huge victory over Johnny Gargano in the main event to be the final participant to advance to the Quarter-Finals. I would call this the best bout on Episode 7. Both guys are just so awesome, so it's no surprise that they had an amazing match. As you would've expected, there was a ton of great action in this one, but at the same time, they also told a good story, as Gargano hurt his knee during the match. He fought through the pain the best he could, but eventually, TJ Perkins locked in a knee bar and forced Gargano to tap out. This result was somewhat of a surprise, since I feel like most expected Gargano to go pretty far, but ultimately, it was the end of the road for him in this tournament. Again, the match was great, and it was a perfect way to cap off this episode.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episode 8 (Original Air Date - 8/31/16)

1.) Gran Metalik vs. Akira Tozawa: ****1/4

2.) Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi: ****1/4

Overall: 9.0

This episode featured the first two matches of the Quarter-Finals, and both of them were pretty fantastic. In the first bout, Gran Metalik defeated Akira Tozawa in a rare CMLL vs. Dragon Gate clash (again, another example of why this tournament was awesome). Of course, this was an awesome encounter. There was plenty of exciting action throughout this one, and it got a good amount of time (about sixteen minutes or so). That's the one thing I enjoyed about these bouts in the Quarter-Finals. Now that we're deeper into the tournament, the matches are getting more time, and that was good to see. Anyway, towards the end of the match, Tozawa went to hit his Straight-Jacket German Suplex (which he won his first two tournament bouts with), but Metalik was able to get out of it, and hit his Metalik Driver for the win to advance to the Semi-Finals. That was a pretty cool moment, because they built up that move by Tozawa as his finisher, so it was a big moment when Metalik countered it. Then, Kota Ibushi punched his ticket to the Semi-Finals with a victory over Brian Kendrick, which ended his "road to redemption" of sorts. It was a very good bout, but the story they had been telling with Kendrick added a lot to the tournament (and Daniel Bryan added a lot to that story as well through his commentary). In Kendrick's mind, this was his last chance at stardom, and he was going to do everything in his power to win. He worked over the neck of Ibushi, and tried to pull out every trick he had, but in the end, Ibushi got the win (though apparently, at the actual taping, he got counted out by accident, and of course, the restarted the match and edited that moment out). Personally, I liked Metalik/Tozawa a little bit more, but Ibushi/Kendrick was still great in it's own way.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episode 9 (Original Air Date - 9/7/16)

1.) Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Noam Dar: ***3/4

2.) Rich Swann vs. TJ Perkins: ***3/4

Overall: 8.0

The ninth episode of the Cruiserweight Classic wasn't quite as amazing as some of the episodes that came before it, but it still featured some very solid matches that set the stage for the Semi-Finals. In the first bout of the episode, Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Noam Dar in a pretty good bout. I'm not totally sure, but I feel like these guys must've crossed paths on the UK independent scene at some point (but I could be wrong). It was easily Dar's best match of the tournament, which goes to show just how awesome Zack Sabre Jr. is (though to be fair to Dar, he didn't exactly have the best opponents in the prior rounds). This match was far from perfect, but I enjoyed it as a whole. It was, for the most part, entertaining to watch, even though it's not one of those bouts that you'll remember when the tournament comes to a conclusion. Then, we had our final match of the Quarter-Finals as TJ Perkins got the win after forcing Swann to tap out to a knee bar. This was another encounter that was very good, but didn't quite reach the heights that the matches from Episode 8 did. There was good action throughout, with Perkins focusing on the knee while Swann (like Gargano before him) tried to fight through it. Of course, since Swann is a high-flyer, this strategy from Perkins was going to hurt him more than it did Gargano, even though the outcome was the same in both cases. With those two victories, Perkins established that his knee bar would be his submission of choice as the tournament headed towards the Semi-Finals. Additionally, this was actually another EVOLVE showcase (even though they really weren't in the promotion together at the same time), so that was cool as well. Much like Episode 8, these Quarter-Finals matches got more time than bouts in the previous rounds, which was nice to see. In a way, it makes sense in the context of a single-elimination tournament as well, since you would expect that matches would be harder to win the deeper into the bracket you go. Again, the second half of the Quarter-Finals wasn't as a good as that first-half in Episode 8, but the matches were still pretty solid from start to finish.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episodes 1-4 Review

I take a look at the first four episodes of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, featuring the entire first round!!

In early 2016, it was announced by Triple H that WWE would be hosting a special cruiserweight tournament, featured some of the best talents from around the world. The Cruiserweight Classic (originally called the Global Cruiserweight Series) eventually took place over a series of tapings in the summer of 2016, with the semi-finals and finals taking place on a live special in September (all of this, of course, aired on the WWE Network). With the weight limit being set a 205 pounds, talents from different promotions from all over the world flocked to Full Sail University to take part in this tournament (with Mauro Ranallo & Daniel Bryan on commentary), and when the dust settled, it proved to be one of the highlights of WWE's 2016.

My reviews of the Cruiserweight Classic are going to be similar to the reviews I've done for DVD compilations, or other special reviews I've done on this blog. I'll give my star ratings for the matches on a particular episode, before discussing my thoughts on the episode as a whole. I'll start with the first four episodes (featuring all of the first round matches), while Part 2 will feature reviews of the episodes that had the second round and the quarter finals. Of course, all of these episodes features the bracketology, along with the video packages that went with all of the wrestlers, but I won't be talking about those here. These reviews will just be covering the action in the ring. Without further ado, let's get started!!

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episode 1 (Original Air Date - 7/13/16)

1.) Gran Metalik vs. Alejandro Saez: ***1/4

2.) Ariya Daivari vs. Ho Ho Lun: **

3.) Cedric Alexander vs. Clement Petiot: ***1/4

4.) Kota Ibushi vs. Sean Maluta: ***1/2

Overall: 7.5/10

This first episode was a very solid start to the Cruiserweight Classic. Obviously, the majority of these opening round matches were meant to establish some of the favorites early on with strong wins, and on this particular episode, we got some of those big names right out of the gate. Gran Metalik, Cedric Alexander, and Kota Ibushi all punched their ticket to the second round with wins here. The best match on the episodes was easily Kota Ibushi vs. Sean Maluta. It shouldn't come as a shock that a bout involving Ibushi was the best on a given wrestling show. Even though he ultimately came up short, Sean Maluta looked impressive, especially to someone like me, who hadn't seen him before this tournament. In a way, that was kind of the theme for this first episode. While people like Cedric Alexander and Gran Metalik earned solid victories, relative unknowns like Alejandro Saez & Clement Petiot had good showings which, again, is important for those of us who hadn't seen them prior to this tournament. The only match on this show that stood out (in a bad way) was Ariya Daivari vs. Ho Ho Lun. It was pretty obvious that Ho Ho Lun was near the bottom of the barrel when it came to the in-ring ability of the participants, and fortunately, Ariya Daivari (the brother of Shawn Daivari) managed to carry to a somewhat decent match. Aside from that hiccup, this was a very good start to the CWC.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episode 2 (Original Air Date - 7/20/16)

1.) Tajiri vs. Damien Slater: ***

2.) TJ Perkins vs. Da Mack: ***1/2

3.) Lince Dorado vs. Mustafa Ali: ***3/4

4.) Akira Tozawa vs. Kenneth Johnson: **

Overall: 8.0/10

The second episode of the Cruiserweight Classic was a step up compared to the first episode, but at the same time, it followed a similar pattern. There were three matches that ranged from good to very good, with the best being Lince Dorado vs. Mustafa Ali. Honestly, that was one of the best bouts of the first round, in my view. I thought it was really good. There was a ton of great action throughout, and both guys looked very impressive. It's one of the hidden gems of the Cruiserweight Classic that needs to be seen. Another really good bout on this episode saw TJ Perkins (who won a qualifying match in EVOLVE) pick up a win over Da Mack (from wXw in Germany). I know this particular contest didn't get a ton of attention at the time, but I really enjoyed it. Da Mack worked pretty well with TJ Perkins, and in general, it was a fun showcase for both guys. The first match on this episode featured the return of Tajiri, who got a victory over Damien Slater from Australia. This didn't set the world on fire (It's pretty clear that Tajiri had lost a step in the later stages of his career), but he still got over with a fans, and had a fun little match with Slater. The worst match on this episode was actually the main event. Akira Tozawa (in a result that shocked nobody) easily defeated Kenneth Johnson (who made a few sporadic appearances in ROH as Weazy Woo). It was an incredibly average affair, but that didn't matter too much, as the whole point was to get Tozawa over. As a whole, this was a very good second episode, aside from the main event.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episode 3 (Original Air Date - 7/27/16)

1.) Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tyson Dux: ***1/2

2.) Drew Gulak vs. Harv Sihra: **1/2

3.) Tony Nese vs. Anthony Bennett: **1/4

4.) Brian Kendrick vs. Raul Mendoza: ***1/2

Overall: 7.0/10

While it did feature some good matches, this was easily the weakest episode from the first round. The  two bouts that are worth checking out were Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tyson Dux and Brian Kendrick vs. Raul Mendoza, and out of those two, I would say the former was slightly better. Even though it wasn't overly amazing, Zack Sabre Jr. & Tyson Dux had a very good technical contest. With those two, it was pretty much guaranteed that it was going to be really solid, and they certainly delivered. Brian Kendrick vs. Raul Mendoza was actually very similar to Gran Metalik vs. Alejandro Saez from the first episode. The established name got the win (as expected), while the relative unknown had a very impressive outing. Those two matches, which bookended this episode, were the ones that really lifted this show up, while the bouts in the middle were the ones that dragged it down. Based on who they were put against, it was pretty obvious that Drew Gulak & Tony Nese (both EVOLVE regulars before this tournament) were going to win. It wasn't the predictability that hurt this one, but the match quality. Drew Gulak vs. Harv Sihra (one half of The Bollywood Boyz) was decent enough, but not even close to memorable. Tony Nese vs. Anthony Bennett was just....there. That match featured some rough patches (I would guess this miscues were mainly caused by the inexperienced Bennett), but it accomplished it's goal of making Nese look good. Again, this was the weakest of the first round episodes, but it still had some good stuff on it.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic: Episode 4 (Original Air Date - 8/3/16)

1.) Rich Swann vs. Jason Lee: **3/4

2.) Noam Dar vs. Gurv Sihra: **

3.) Jack Gallagher vs. Fabian Aichner: ***1/2

4.) Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa: ****1/4

Overall: 8.0/10

This final episode was a real mixed bag, as the match quality was all over the place. We kicked things off with Rich Swann vs. Jason Lee, in what ended up being a relatively solid bout. Swann got the win (as expected) in this very short contest (clocking in at just under four minutes), but Lee proved that he does have potential to grow. After that, we got Noam Dar vs. Gurv Sihra (the other half of The Bollywood Boyz) in a match that wasn't very good at all. Parts of it felt disjointed, and it didn't come off well as a whole. This was one of the weakest matches of the tournament, up to this point. Then, things finally started to pick up. Jack Gallagher vs. Fabian Aichner had a really good bout that featured some cool stuff from start to finish. This was my first time seeing Gallagher, and he impressed me a lot on his way to victory. Meanwhile, Aichner is another guy who I didn't know coming into the tournament, but he certainly made a lasting impression on me after his first round matchup. In fact, I'd say that Aichner might've been one of the best out of the "unknowns". It was a very fun bout to watch. Finally, Johnny Gargano defeated his DIY tag team partner Tommaso Ciampa in the final match of the first round. This was the most anticipated encounter out of this first bunch of episodes, and it certainly delivered in spades. There was incredible action throughout (while also telling a solid story, both during the match and in the post-match), and the crowd in Full Sail was invested in it from beginning to end. It was easily one of the best matches of the entire tournament, no doubt about it. With that, the first round of the CWC came to close. The final episode of the first round had a bunch of ups and downs, but it ended on an awesome high note.

Random Match Reviews #13 (10/31/17) - TNA Goes To India

I take a look at some of the best matches from TNA's excursion to India earlier this year!

So we've been hearing about TNA (or IMPACT Wrestling, or GFW, or whatever it's called these days) going to India for actual wrestling events. Of course, their TV deal in India with Sony Six is a big reason why they're still in business to this day. After being delayed for a number of years, TNA finally traveled to Mumbai, India to tape some episodes of IMPACT Wrestling before their annual Slammiversary PPV. I've collected a number of matches that I thought were among the best from those set of tapings, and as you've seen below, I've ranked them. Obviously there were other matches, but these six bouts that I picked out are the ones that, I feel, are worth watching, if you're a big TNA fanatic. Let's not waste any more time!

1.) IMPACT Wrestling on Pop TV (6/22/17) - Sony Six X-Divison Elimination Match - Braxton Sutter vs. Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Matt Sydal vs. Suicide vs. Trevor Lee: ***1/2

So over the course of these tapings, a couple of bouts that took place were (I guess) "sponsored" by Sony Six. Essentially, they were multi-person matches where the winner would receive a special trophy from a few officials from IMPACT Wrestling (such as Scott D'Amore & Bruce Prichard) as well as the CFO of Sony Pictures India. The first of those matches was a gauntlet match that featured ten participants, and while that wasn't very good, the second trophy bout, a Six-Way Elimination Match featuring competitors from the X-Divison, was much better. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this was the best match of these TV Tapings in India. There was plenty of entertaining action from start to finish, which really shouldn't be a surprise, considering who was involved. Everyone involved got a chance to shine before being eliminated. Trevor Lee got on an early role when he eliminated Braxton Sutter and then Suicide. Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards (who've been feuding with each other for most of 2017) were pretty much focused on each other for the entire match, with their Full Metal Mayhem at Slammiversary quickly approached. Both men eventually eliminated each other after they used chairs. That bit of the match was the only real downside. It wasn't made clear that you could be disqualified, and Edwards himself got DQ'ed after attacking Richards....who had already been eliminated via DQ. How you do get DQ'ed if you attack someone who's already been eliminated from the match? That part could've been handled better, for sure, but I don't think it hurt the match too much. Anyway, it came down to Trevor Lee vs. Matt Sydal, and in the end, Sydal got the win after hitting his Shooting Star Press. If you watch any match from TNA's India events, make sure you see this one.

2.) IMPACT Wrestling on Pop TV (6/15/17) - IMPACT X-Division Title - Low Ki vs. Sonjay Dutt: ***1/4

Arguably the most noteworthy match to take place at these tapings saw Sonjay Dutt challenge Low Ki (who's been wrestling in his Hitman suit lately) for the IMPACT X-Division Title. This was a very big match for Dutt. Not only was he returning to his ancestral homeland, but he was trying to capture the title that he had never won, despite being in the company on-and-off for so long. There was also the backstory of Low Ki being the one who gave Dutt an accidental (but legitimate) injury around one of his eyes in a multi-person bout several weeks prior. While this title match wasn't stellar by any means, it was still pretty good as a whole. These two seemed to work well together, and there was some solid back & forth action throughout. Low Ki did rip of Dutt's eye patch early on, but he never really made it a focal point following that moment. Ultimately, a big splash off the top rope secured Dutt the victory, and his first X-Division Title!! There was a big celebration following the match featuring a number of the babyface roster members. Again, this was good, but it seems like they were saving things for a rematch, which would end up taking place a few weeks later at Slammiversary.

3.) IMPACT Wrestling on Pop TV (6/8/17) - IMPACT X-Division Title - Low Ki vs. Caleb Konley: ***

To keep the X-Division theme going in this particular post, we have another X-Division Title bout to talk about! Before Low Ki defended his X-Division Title against Sonjay Dutt, he had a defense against Caleb Konley. Of course, Konley is best known for his time in EVOLVE & Dragon Gate USA, but it seemed like he dropped off the face of the earth after signing with TNA well over a year ago. Fortunately, he's popped back up over the course of 2017, and he got a singles opportunity here against Low Ki. You could question why Konley deserved a title match (as despite reappearing on TV, he wasn't exactly a pushed commodity), but I thought he was fine in his role as good opponent to give Low Ki a solid win. It only went about six minutes or so, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

4.) IMPACT Wrestling on Pop TV (6/29/17) - Low Ki & Trevor Lee vs. IMPACT X-Division Champion Sonjay Dutt & Matt Sydal: ***

Another X-Divison match! No surprise there. This tag team encounter aired two weeks after Dutt's title win, and a few days before his defense against Low Ki in a 2/3 Falls Match at Slammiversary. It was pretty standard, but it worked very well. I'll mention this again in the final match covered in this post, but this was a perfect example of how you book a go-home show before a PPV. Put the people who are in big matches on the opposite sides of multi-man tags. While it's a formula that's become a bit monotonous at times in a place like New Japan, it's proven to work if you want to protect your singles matches. Of course, Low Ki vs. Sonjay Dutt took place two weeks earlier, and the rematch is happening relatively quickly after the fact, so this particular bout makes even more sense. They had some good interactions during this one, and as a whole, the match was pretty entertaining. Another reason why this worked is that the two PPV opponents weren't involved in the finish, as Matt Sydal got the win for his team after pinning Trevor Lee with the Shooting Star Press.

5.) IMPACT Wrestling on Pop TV (6/8/17) - IMPACT World Heavyweight Title - Lashley vs. IMPACT Grand Champion Moose: ***

On the same episode that featured Low Ki vs. Caleb Konley, Moose challenged for the IMPACT World Heavyweight Title against Lashley. As a whole, this was a pretty solid TV match, but it wasn't without its flaws. There were some very good moments scattered throughout, but for the most part, the match itself was relatively....standard. Again, in my eyes, they did enough here so that this match reached into "good" territory, but just barely. What really sucks is that I heard they had a much better contest at a One Night Only PPV (do people even watch those?!) earlier in the year. This barely got the match rating I ended up giving it.

6.) IMPACT Wrestling on Pop TV (6/29/17) - Eight-Man Tag - Alberto El Patron, Eddie Edwards, James Storm, & Mahabali Shera vs. Lashley, Davey Richards, Ethan Carter III, & Kongo Kong: ***

Aside from Kongo Kong & Mahabali Shera, everyone in this match is paired off, in some form or fashion, at the PPV (El Patron/Lashley, Edwards/Richards, & EC3/Storm). This wasn't anything special as a whole, but as I mentioned when I talked about the X-Division tag team bout from the same episode, it's exactly the kind of match you want to book on the go-home show before a PPV. All of the aforementioned PPV opponents got to interact, and there was decent action throughout. Again, it was by no means amazing, but it was perfect as the main event of the final show before the PPV. Alberto El Patron would end up getting the win for his team after hitting a double stomp on Kongo Kong.

That's it for this edition of my random match reviews!! Hopefully I'll continue to make this a more regular series in the future.

Wrestling HUB Reviews Blog Update - 9/30/17

So I'm sure many of you have been wondering why this reviews blog has been so inactive in recent months. To be completely honest, the last few months have been pretty busy for me. I think it mainly started with (oddly enough) New Japan's G1 Climax. That tournament takes up so much time over the summer, that it's almost impossible to watch anything else. It's happened every year since I started watching New Japan, and sadly, I don't see that changing anytime soon. Then, back in April, I got my first post-college job, after graduating from Penn State in December. Most of my time during the week is now spent at this new job (I had been working as a contract employee, but I recently became a full-time employee). Plus, I have plenty of other interests that I like to indulge in, and in general, it's pretty difficult now to set time aside to watch shows and review them. Seems like a lot of rambling, but the bottom line is, life can be BUSY, especially when there's a lot of things you want to do.

However, I need to stress that this blog IS NOT going away!!! I still have A TON of stuff I want to watch, and a number of reviews already in the pipeline. Also, I've recently had a change with my work schedule, where I now have Monday's off (which is awesome)!! So that should give me more time to watch shows and write reviews.

I've also been thinking about switching over from eBlogger to an actual website where I can post all my reviews. The one thing I don't like about eBlogger is that it's not very good when it comes to organization (and that annoys someone like me, who likes things to be incredibly organized). I would like to have a website where you can filter my reviews by promotion, by year, and so on. My hope is that I can work something out and have it set up by the end of the year, but even after that, I'll still probably keep this eBlogger version going just so I have a backup site for my reviews.

Again, to reiterate, THIS BLOG IS NOT DEAD!!!! Time has been hard to come by over the last few months, but I'm really planning to get back into it during the final three months of the year.

WWE Money In The Bank 2016 Review

WWE comes to the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for their annual Money In The Bank event!!

WWE Money In The Bank 2016

Las Vegas, Nevada 6/19/16

Kickoff Show

1.) Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) vs. The Golden Truth (Goldust & R-Truth): *

So there was this backstage segment on either the week leading up to this show or on the pre-show itself (not entirely sure) where Goldust & R-Truth trapped Tyler Breeze & Fandango in a tanning bed. Thus, both were suffering from serious “sunburns” here (which were clearly fake). This was just….silly. It was nothing more than a comedy match that featured Goldust & R-Truth chopping the “sunburned” chests of Breezango repeatedly, before picking up the victory. Move along….nothing else to see here.

2.) The Dudley Boyz vs. The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto & Sin Cara): **¼

Here we have a second meaningless tag team bout on this Kickoff Show. While it wasn’t notable in any way, it was at least better than the match that came before it. This went about eight or nine minutes, and as a whole, it was ok. Eventually, The Lucha Dragons scored the victory, which was the right call. At this point, The Dudley Boyz were just being used to put over newer tag teams, which was a good role for them.

PPV

1.) WWE Tag Team Titles - Four-Way Tag Team Match - The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods) vs. The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) vs. Big Cass & Enzo Amore vs. The Vaudevillains: ***

The first match on the PPV itself was actually the third straight tag team match on the card as a whole. Of course, we got the usual pre-match promos from Big Cass & Enzo Amore as well as The New Day, which featured Xavier Woods proclaiming that The New Day was the one true “elite” team in wrestling (obviously a fun little shot at Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks). As an opener, I thought this was pretty solid, though to be completely honest, I was expecting this to be a little bit better. It went about the perfect length (around eleven minutes or twelve minutes), and there was entertaining action throughout, but it just felt like something was missing. There were a few rough patches here, the most notable being a botch where Luke Gallows was just left standing in the ring, waiting for what felt like ages for Big Cass to come in for a spot. That looked really bad. Plus, there was also some confusion as to who the legal man actually was by the end. In the end, The New Day got the victory to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles. Aside from those minor complaints, this was still a relatively solid opener, though as I already mentioned, it could’ve been better.

2.) Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler: ***

These two have been engaged in a feud since the RAW after WrestleMania. What’s amazing is that on the previous two PPV’s (Payback & Extreme Rules), the Corbin/Ziggler matches were related to the Kickoff Show. Well, they finally made it to the actual PPV, and they ended up having their best match to date. It was by no means spectacular, but it was certainly a step up from their aforementioned Kickoff Show clashes. They seemed to work pretty hard here, but the crowd just didn’t care about this one at all (and honestly, up to this point, they’d been given no reason to care). Corbin would ultimately get the win after hitting Ziggler with The End Of Days.

3.) WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte & Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch & Natalya: **1/4

It’s a little odd that we weren’t getting a defense of the WWE Women’s Title on this card. I believe this was shortly after Charlotte had ditched her father, Ric Flair, as her manager. With three out of the four women involved being really good wrestlers, you’d figure this would be pretty solid. Well….it wasn’t. This match was just barely ok. It was by no means horrible (it certainly wasn’t the worst bout on this card), but it wasn’t even close to being good. The fact that the crowd started chanting for Sasha Banks as soon as the match began didn’t help them that much either. This was (for the most part) a dull and dry women’s tag team affair. Towards the end of the match, Dana Brooke shoved Becky Lynch into Natalya, and this allowed Charlotte to take advantage, pinning Natalya after hitting the Natural Selection.

After the match, Natalya turned heel when she attacked Becky Lynch. With the brand split on the horizon, it was probably a good idea for Natalya to turn heel, but poor Becky Lynch. She has absolutely no friends.

4.) Apollo Crews vs. Sheamus: ***

The former Uhaa Nation was brought up to the main roster after WrestleMania following a several month stint in NXT, and hadn’t done anything of real significance since. Fortunately, he was finally given something to do in the form of a program with Sheamus, leading to this match. Similar to some of the earlier matches on the card, it really didn’t stand out, but as a whole, I thought it was a relatively solid bout. There was some decent back & forth action throughout, it didn’t go very long (it was only about eight or nine minutes), and the closing stretch was mostly entertaining. Crews managed to pick up the victory after catching Sheamus with a rollup. This was certainly a big win for Apollo Crews, but of course, WWE didn’t capitalize on this, and Crews went back to doing nothing in the undercard.

5.) “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles vs. John Cena: ****1/4

After the first half of the show featured a number of pedestrian matches, we FINALLY got something exciting!! This was Cena’s first real program since his return from injury (minus his one-off appearance with The Rock at WrestleMania), while AJ Styles was just coming off two losses to Roman Reigns in PPV title bouts. This initially started as a “dream match”/“friendly rivalry” scenario, but Styles soon showed his true colors when he turned heel and reunited with his former Bullet Club stablemates of Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows (who were banned from ringside here). This match was awesome, and featured some great action throughout, which shouldn’t surprise anyone, since these guys are two of the best in the entire world. Not only was the match itself great, but they told a pretty good story as well. In the buildup, Styles proclaimed that he was so much better than Cena, saying he could wrestle circles around him and that Cena wouldn’t have obtain all of his various achievements/accomplishments in WWE if AJ Styles was around fifteen years earlier. That story really played into this match, as Styles appeared to be very prepared for Cena, and really showed him up a few times. Even with some of the great stuff we saw in this one, the finish did hurt it. The referee got knocked down towards the end of the match, and this (of course) led to Anderson & Gallows getting involved. They hit Cena with The Magic Killer, put Styles on top of Cena, and referee recovered to make the three count. Again, this was a fantastic match with a crowd that was into every second of it, but the finish definitely took away from it. Fortunately, we would get rematches down the line.

6.) Money In The Bank Ladder Match - Alberto Del Rio vs. Cesaro vs. Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn: ****1/4

Aside from Alberto Del Rio (whose stock in general had fallen so much at this point, compared to his run on the independents in 2014-2015), this was a great lineup for a Money In The Bank Ladder Match. There was no way that this was going to be less than great, and to the surprise of nobody, they delivered. I thought this was fantastic!! I would put it slightly ahead of the AJ Styles/John Cena bout that came before this, just because that match was hurt by the interference towards the end. Of course, there was a ton of crazy action throughout this one, which is exactly what we’ve come to expect with a Money In The Bank Ladder Match. Plus, you have so many competitors in here that either have a plethora of experience when it comes to Ladder Matches (Jericho, Owens, Zayn, along with Alberto Del Rio and Cesaro to lesser extents), or a background in hardcore matches (Ambrose). Everyone had a chance to shine, and the crowd was hot for this one from beginning to end. Ultimately, Dean Ambrose eventually emerged victories and secured the Money In The Bank Briefcase! There were too many cool spots to describe. It wasn’t the greatest version of this match that we’ve seen, but all six competitors certainly did an awesome job here. The Money Bank Ladder Match, nine times out of ten, always proves to be (at the very least) entertaining, and this was no exception.

7.) WWE United States Title - Rusev (with Lana) vs. Titus O’Neil: **

In case you missed it, Rusev won the United States Title from Kalisto back at Extreme Rules 2016. This was essentially a reset of sorts, as Rusev & Lana were basically back in the same roles they were in prior to their feud with John Cena (though not nearly as prominent). As this show took place a few weeks before the 4th of July, we had an American stepping up to the plate to challenge Rusev, and that man was….Titus O’Neil (please contain your excitement). I believe O’Neil was also wearing some wacky USA attire. Additionally, this PPV was also being held on Father’s Day, and O’Neil (who is lauded as being the “Father Of The Year”) had his sons sitting at ringside. While the match was by no means awful, it was the definition of painfully average. Rusev eventually got the win when he locked in The Accolade and made O’Neil (the American babyface) pass out in front of his sons….on Father’s Day. What a loser.

In a great moment after the match, Rusev went to the outside after the match and berated Titus O’Neil’s children, mockingly wishing them a Happy Father’s Day. What an amazing heel!

8.) WWE World Heavyweight Title - Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins: ***¾

Seth Rollins made his long awaited return from injury the month prior at Extreme Rules 2016 when he attacked Roman Reigns following the main event. Rollins was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion for much of 2015 until a severe knee injury sidelined him. Now he’s back, looking to reclaim the title he never lost. As a whole, this wasn’t a great match, but it was really good. It did go longer than it really needed to, clocking in at around twenty six minutes or so. I get that it’s the main event, but must it be that long. Additionally, the crowd seemed to be flat for the first half of the match. However, as the action slowly picked up, they managed to bring the audience back. The second half of this one really helped immensely. There were some particularly awesome sequences and counters in the final few minutes. In the end, it was a shocking result in the moment, Seth Rollins hit a second Pedigree on Roman Reigns and pinned him clean in the middle of the ring to win the WWE World Heavyweight. Most of us figured that Rollins had a chance of winning, but nobody expected him to do it in the manner that he did. Of course, we would come to find out later that the reason for the finish was a result of Roman Reigns being suspended 30 Days for violating WWE’s wellness policy (LOL). Regardless, it was truly a shocking moment, and some sweet redemption for Rollins.

Unfortunately, Rollins’ celebration was soon cut short in dramatic faction, as Dean Ambrose’s music hit. This sent Rollins into a state of panic, and he frantically waited for his former Shield teammate to appear. Ambrose then emerged from the crowd and clocked Rollins with the Money In The Bank Briefcase!! He announced that he was cashing in, and the match was official!!

9.) WWE World Heavyweight Title - Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose: N/R

This only lasted nine seconds, as Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds, and scored the pin to capture the WWE World Heavyweight Title! This meant that, in just one night, all three members of The Shield held the top championship in WWE in some form or another. That was honestly a really cool moment. Ambrose celebrated with the title as the show came to a close.

Overall: 8.0/10

It’s funny to look back at this show in hindsight. In the weeks leading up to it, WWE had been referring to this show as the “most stacked Money In The Bank lineup ever”, or something along those lines (obviously acknowledging the fact that, over the last several years, this PPV had turned the traditional “Big Four” PPV’s into the “Big Five”). While the first half wasn’t really memorable in any way, the second half, minus Rusev vs. Titus O’Neil, really lifted this show up in a big way. AJ Styles vs. John Cena and the Money In The Bank Ladder Match were both fantastic, and despite it’s issues, the advertised main event of Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins ended up being really good as well. You also had a very memorable ending with Rollins winning the WWE World Heavyweight Title from Reigns, only for Dean Ambrose to take it from him moments later. There was relatively solid stuff on the undercard, but none of it was that memorable. As a whole, Money In The Bank 2016 was a pretty good show that only reached that point after a (mostly) strong second half.