WWE Monday Night Raw Review - December 28th, 2015

TONIGHT: Dean Ambrose & The Usos vs. Sheamus, Rusev, & Barrett plus John Cena returns to face Alberto Del Rio!

Mr. McMahon is out first, as advertised. He calls out Roman Reigns about the fact that he turned his back on Stephanie last week. McMahon says he owns Reigns as well as the WWE Championship. Reigns ends up shoving Vince down. He sells a neck injury and tries to get Reigns arrested. They do a weird arrest angle, not with Reigns, but with Vince. I have no clue what this accomplished so I have nothing further to say. Reigns poses as Vince is carried out in handcuffs.

1) Kevin Owens vs. Neville
Last week, Neville won Breakout Star of the Year and as you know, Big Kev took issue with that since he was in the category as well. That leads us here and it's over in like a minute as Owens goes for the pop up powerbomb only for Neville to reverse into a pinning combination for a quick three count. This spawns a brutal assault on the Man That Gravity Forgot and it's absolutely amazing. Owens is getting booked so perfect right now. We got to commercial and come back to Neville being helped out, BUT KEVIN OWENS RUNS BACK DOWN AND TURNS NEVILLE INSIDE OUT WITH A CLOTHESLINE! HOLY SHIT! BIG KEV AIN'T DONE! He throws Neville into the stairs and threatens to powerbomb him on the ring apron. Before he can, Dean Ambrose's music hits. Owens throws Neville down and runs to meet Ambrose in the middle of the ramp! Oh my gOd! EPIC BRAWL! After a some scuffling, Owens runs out through the crowd. I said it before and I'll say it again, these two are boosting the prestige/importance of the IC Title and really proving themselves with this feud.

Becky Lynch is interviewed backstage and it's great. It's not some promo worth going out of your way to see, but it's definitely her best one since being on the main roster.

2) Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch
Sasha & Becky have chemistry and this got time so it was a good watch. The crowd for some reason decided to chant "boring" at one point, but I beg to differ. You chant for Sasha, you get her, and then you do that. THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS. They did some nice spots such as Becky hitting a crossbody off the top rope onto all the members of Team BAD, Sasha hitting her signature knee drop on the back of Becky on the top rope, and Sasha accidentally diving onto her stablemates. There was also some good technical wrestling and submissions as well. After about 10-12 minutes, things are really picking up and Sasha gets a victory in the heat of the moment with a roll up using the tights.

Match rating - **3/4

3) Kofi Kingston (w/ Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. Kalisto (w/ Sin Cara)
Quick match in every sense of the word. The exchanges were fast paced and the match only went about four minutes. It was the most enjoyable four minutes of the night, though. Kalisto whips Kofi over with a hurricanrana after kicking Xavier Woods off the apron and gets the victory.

Match rating - **3/4

4) Big E (w/ Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) vs. Sin Cara (w/ Kalisto)
This match gets set up after Sin Cara dove onto Big E & Xavier during the last match and New Day called him out. It was quite solid while it lasted, but it was sort of disjointed. Sin Cara seemed to get a stinger which made for an awkward pause in the action. They worked through it well, though, I must say. The finish was pretty cool as Sin Cara hit a rolling senton/body slam thing off the second rope on Big E. New Day caused a distraction, however, and Big E is able to pick up the victory.

Match rating - **1/2

Miz, R-Truth, & Zack Ryder in the same ring, is this 2011?!?! Miz is having a Year in Review edition of Miz TV and turns into shambles almost immediately. Tons of random people start coming out. The names mentioned above plus Ryback, Goldust, & Heath Slater. Big Show rounds out the pack and knocks everyone out before making a Royal Rumble announcement while also confronting the "Please retire" chants.

5) Ryback vs. The Big Show
This spawns from Show's attack during the Miz TV segment. They do stuff for a few minutes then Big Show cowards away from the big guy. Whatevs. I still love Ryback, though. After all, he burped into the mic on his way to the ring in the last segment.

Match rating - *

6) Dean Ambrose & The Usos vs. Sheamus, Rusev, & Wade Barrett
I have to say, this has to be the most weird Brooklyn crowd I've seen. They once again decided to chant "boring" during a match when it was far from it. Even further from it than in the Sasha/Becky match. I'll say this wasn't the blowaway 6 man you'd expect, although it was still good. Nice exchange at the end where Jey Uso ducks a Brogue Kick and nails Sheamus with a superkick in return. He gets in position on the top rope only to eat a pair of knees and ultimately a Brogue Kick. League of Nations wins.

Match rating - **3/4

Kevin Owens makes another appearance after the match and proceeds to nearly kill Dean Ambrose. It's another assault and this time, Dean gets powerbombed through the announce table. Owens looks at the top of his class and Ambrose sells it beautifully. Phenomenal stuff, Owens is the MVP of tonight. That is unless, John Cena pulls out a killer match to end the year which is very possible.

7) Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. John Cena - United States Championship Match
Originally, this was a non title match however in a verbal exchange prior to the match, John convinced Del Rio to put the title on the line with one of his famous speeches. The crowd is fired up because of this so yeah, it has to deliver. And well, it kind of did. There were a few nice counters such as the AA into the cross arm bar and Cena countering out of it with a deadlift powerbomb. The audience was into mostly everything. Despite all that, it was obvious about half-way through that this was going down a stereotypical route. They did some false finishes before the overbooking began. League of Nations gets involved. Cena fights them off and gives me hope for a clean finish. Then it's AA OUT OF NOWHERE and Sheamus & Rusev break up the pin which calls for the DQ. Dammit.

Match rating - **3/4

John Cena gets formally introduced to the League of Nations stable after the match in the form of a beat down. Next thing you know, Roman Reigns is running down to make the save as he spers the hell out of Rusev in the entrance way. This leads to Vince coming back out and telling Reigns that he will defend the WWE Title against Sheamus next week. The catch is that there's a guest ref and it's Mr McMahon himself.

Overall thoughts: Decent Raw tonight although it didn't live up to the potential it has when you look at the matches and segments on paper. Kevin Owens was the best part of the night and really the only thing that is must see from the show. They did a good job of making me look forward to future meetings between Cena/Del Rio and Reigns/Sheamus though so this wasn't a bad way to end the year by any means. And so ends the Monday Night Raw reviews of 2016. See you guys next year!

EthanPWT Watches/Reviews NJPW 2015

It's here. Follow along as I truck through the entire calendar year of New Japan Pro Wrestling. I don't review every single match on every single show. That'd be almost impossible for one person and a ton of work. However, I tried my best to review every match that I could get my hands on as well as all the biggest/best matches of the year. I've started doing these mass review posts so everything can be found in one place for future reference. Instead of having to read through a bunch of different show review posts, you can find all the matches I reviewed for a particular promotion in a particular year all in one place. I think it's a cool concept and something different so here goes.

The year obviously kicked off with WK9 and I reviewed it as it happened so I won't make you read through that again, I'll just post the match ratings below.

ReDragon (c) vs. The Young Bucks vs. Forever Hooligans vs. Timesplitters - IWGP Junior Tag Team Title Match - ***1/2

Jeff Jarrett, Bad Luck Fale, & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima - **

Shelton Benjamin, Takashi Iizuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr, & Lance Archer vs. Naomichi Marufuji, Toru Yano, Shane Haste, & Mikey Nicholls - **1/2

Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba - ***1/4

Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Togi Makabe - NEVER Open Weight Championship Match - ***3/4

Ryusuke Taguchi (c) vs. Kenny Omega - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match - ***

Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto - IWGP Heavyweight Tag Title Match - ***1/2

AJ Styles vs. Testsuya Naito - ***3/4

Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Kota Ibushi - IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match - *****

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada - IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match - ****3/4

- POST WK9 -

NOW, onto everything after Wrestle Kingdom 9, starting with the New Beginning In Osaka! I was unable to catch any of the NJ/CMLL matches which bums me out, but Ibushi & Honma are up first in my reviews so it's okay!

Kota Ibushi vs. Tomoaki Honma - The New Beginning In Osaka - 2/11/15

Honma is beloved and Ibushi is coming off the Nakamura classic so this is most likely going to be a joy. The story early on becomes Honma hitting the stalling head butt. He misses it in the first sequence, just as Ibushi misses the penalty kick he tried to follow up the counter with. Nice stalemate early. Honma finally hits it a few minutes in and the crowd pops. Ibushi bumped extremely well this entire match including taking one of the best brainbusters I've ever seen. The crowd was really into this as both men are fan favorites so this was entertaining the whole way through. They did several near falls off big moves including Honma's piledriver and back drop suplex off the rope. Ibushi hit a sit out powerbomb for two. When all was said and done, the trusty Phoenix Splash brings Ibushi the victory after a very fun match.

Match rating - ***1/2

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. AJ Styles - IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match - The New Beginning In Osaka - 2/11/15

Every rivalry typically has that one match that isn't quite on the level on the others and between Styles & Tanahashi, I'd definitely see this was that match. It wasn't bad by ANY means however it wasn't that blow away NJPW main event that these two men would typically deliver. It started off slow. Tana misses a running flip off the apron. BC interferes on the outside. Styles controls for a bit. Tana starts firing back and high fly flows onto Bullet Club. This ends up costing him as he butts heads with Matt Jackson and develops a nasty cut on his head. Typically this would put a match over the top, but with it being so impromptu they weren't really able to capitalize on it. It didn't really get me into the match for the first time, though. None the less, AJ ends up winning with a flurry of big offense. Piledriver, bloody sunday, Styles Clash - talk about a lethal combination. Styles wins his second IWGP Heavyweight Title.

Match rating - ***1/4

Kota Ibushi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano - The New Beginning in Sendai - 2/14/15 

ROH: Final Battle 2015 Review

I made the last minute decision to order ROH's Final Battle PPV event tonight. I guess you could call it an early Christmas gift to myself. Or at least that's what I hoped. The card is loaded and I have a free Friday night like usual so I couldn't resist. So, without further a due, it's time to dive into ROH's grand finale of the year 2015.

1) The Young Bucks vs. The Briscoes vs. All Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus) - #1 Contender's Match for the ROH World Tag Team Titles
What a choice for the opener! The Bucks coming out first is a quality decision. Not to mention the Briscoes. There's no better way to get a crowd hot, but then again, this crowd was hyped to begin with so when these three teams started doing their thing, the fireworks started to explode. Absolutely crazy opener. It's been so long since I've been able to relax in my living room and watch a match like this so I loved it. The Young Bucks never fail to put me in a good mood. SUPAHKICKS galore. It was nuts. The finish came off weirdly because your two most popular teams got beat to start the show. Sigh. Still a barnburner of an opener though. ANX wins and gets booed out of the building.

Match ratin - ***1/4

2) Silas Young vs. Dalton Castle

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - December 14th, 2015

Stephanie McMahon starts the show to address what happened last night with Roman Reigns and Triple H. She foreshadows firing Reigns which brings out the man himself. Reigns showed the same fire he did last night and the crowd responds in kind. I like this attitude that he's dawned, it doesn't sound AS scripted. It still sounds sort of phony because you know he's not that Stone Cold/CM Punk esque rebel, but it DOES sound more genuine which is much needed. He talks about "kicking her husband's ass" and insults her family. Stephanie slaps Reigns. Once, twice, three times, fuck sake, she lays it into Roman multiple times without holding back. All this before she announces that Vince McMahon will be coming to the arena to handle him tonight!

1) Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler
The newly crowned IC Champion battles the Show Off in the first match of the evening. The crowd is hype off that hot opening segment so this ruled. Both of these guys almost always deliver and this was no different. By the time we got back from commercial, they were in the midst of a run of false finishes. Ambrose even busted out a new face buster variation thing. It was going awesome then all of a sudden the crowd roars out of nowhere. The camera pans to the entrance and IT'S KEVIN OWENS! I DIDN'T WANT A NON FINISH BUT THIS FEELS SO HUGE AND IS THE PERFECT VISUAL!

Match rating - ***1/4

ROH TV Review - December 13th, 2015

It's the final show before Ring of Honor returns to Pay-Per-View with arguably their biggest show of the year, Final Battle. Jerry Lynn will appear, War Machine is in action, plus ACH & Matt Sydal face off with Roppongi Vice! That's a lot to cover so let's get right to it!

1) Adam Cole vs. Corey Hollis
HOLLIS! Glad to see him still getting a shot in ROH. For those that don't know, he's been in NXT recently too so although he may be unknown to some, his stock is fairly high at the moment. It's nothing compared to someone like Adam Cole right now, though. This was pretty much a prolonged squash, but a good one. Hollis had his moments including countering out of Cole's neck breaker on the knee with an ace crusher. The crowd gave him a nice pop for that one. Cole puts him away with a superkick and the aforementioned neck breaker after a good fight. Post match, Adam Cole gets on the mic and vows not only to win on Friday night, but also to end Kyle O'Reilly in Ring of Honor.

2) War Machine vs. Two Guys

Beyond Wrestling: Powder Keg Review

The day after their Greatest Rivals Round Robin Tournament, Beyond Wrestling makes their debut in a new venue in Somerville, MA. The headlining match sees a battle of high flyers as Ricochet battles Shynron in a first time ever dream match.

1) Donovan Dijak vs. Andrew Everett
Donovan Dijak is officially my pick for Beyond Wrestler of the Year and definitely one of my favorites overall this year. He kills it every single time out and this was another example. It doesn't matter the scenario, Dijak delivers. This was the best possible opener you could ask for from these two and it was honestly better than even I expected. The vast size difference combined with the obvious stylistic difference made me wonder if this would mesh well, but man, it was perfect. The crowd was on fire for their hometown guy in Dijak despite all the vile things he's done in Beyond this year so all the spots got the proper pop. Speaking of spots and moments to remember, there were plenty of them including Dijak hitting a moonsault off the apron only to land on his feet, Everett countering out of Feast Your Eyes after kicking out of the first variation of the move, and the finish..oh..the finish. Dijak is a beast, that's all I will say. You have to see how he hoisted Everett into position for the second Feast Your Eyes. This ruled.

Match rating - ***3/4

2) Trevor Lee vs. Brian Fury
Everett & Dijak got into a scuffle after the match which led to Trevor Lee making the save. This leads to the Lee/Fury match that was scheduled for later on. Fury is Dijak's trainer and Lee is Everett's partner so this was a good sequel for the opening match. Lee & Fury put together a solid match although it couldn't match the fiery opener. In the end, Fury would put away the Carolina Caveman and walk away with the victory. Fun little match here.

Match rating - **3/4

3) Tessa Blanchard vs. Alexxis Nevaeh

Beyond Wrestling: Greatest Rivals Round Robin (GRRR) Review

Over the years, Beyond Wresting has became a platform for the next big stars on the Independent scene. Guys like Biff Busick & Drew Gulak really got their name out there with the matches they had for the promotion. It was a win-win situation. The men themselves got noticed and in return, the company got spotlighted as well. After Busick & Gulak became the first true staples of Beyond in 2012-2013 thanks to their matches with each other and Busick's series with Eddie Edwards, Timothy Thatcher threw himself into the mix. In 2014, Thatcher had an INCREDIBLE match with Biff Busick on one of Beyond Wrestling's secret shows that people still talk about today. It holds a special place in my heart as it was my first exposure to Beyond, Busick, & Thatcher.

That leads us to this event. On September 26th, the four men mentioned above competed in a Round Robin Tournament with a "Greatest Rivals" theme. The excitement this event generated was tremendous due to the past history they all have with each other. It's all culminating under one roof on a night where Biff Busick says goodbye to the promotion he helped build. Are you ready? I hope so because we're jumping right into this graps fest.

1) Biff Busick vs. Drew Gulak
At this point in time, this match could main event just about anywhere across the country, but it's only the opening contest for this tournament. Man, I'm in for a treat. Busick gets a huge reception as the crowd sings his theme song. I'm already getting the pro wres goosebumps. The two friends & rivals shake hands as Busick mouths the words "one more time." Despite the two being friends, they were as serious as ever from the get go, here. The feeling out process is filled with pure wrestling that leads to a number of counters and stalemates. Both men try to go for the half & half suplex early, but can't get it (foreshadowing). They end up on the apron about mid-way through, Busick locks Gulak in for the half & half only to resort to a neck breaker instead. As you can tell, the sportsmanship wore off slightly as time went on with both men getting frustated by not being able to budge their opponent. Before you know it, Busick is fired up and in Gulak's face. As you can guess, the strikes begin! Awesome exchange with both men trading slaps and strikes. The crowd is hyped up. Hell, they were chanting "This is awesome" before this big exchange even happened. Busick is finally able to nail the half & half suplex and a few moments later locks in the rear naked choke for the victory. Fine contest here.

Match rating - ***1/2

2) Timothy Thatcher vs. Eddie Edwards

ROH TV Review - Episode 218

I haven't reviewed anything in weeks because I've been busy with life outside of pro wres, but I'm back and kicking into high gear to try to catch up on all I've missed plus all the stuff I was already behind on. I got home just in time for this week's episode of ROH TV so I decided to try to squeeze out one more review to end November.

As you can probably guess after reading that first paragraph, I sadly missed last week's episode of ROH TV where Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong went at it once again. I always seem to have the worst luck when it comes to matches involving the two considering I damn near missed their ROH World Title rematch a few months ago. This go round, I completely missed their TV Title match which saw Roddy dethrone Jay and become the champion. A well deserved achievement, I must say. I feel like Strong will do what John Cena did to the US Title and elevate it to the level of the World Title. Lethal was an amazing champion, but as far as match quality goes, I think Roddy's buzz as being one of the best wrestlers this year will take the TV Title to the next level.

This week, Adam Cole faces Dalton Castle in the main event. Kevin Kelly is joined on commentary by Nigel McGuinness & Mark Briscoe. I guess Corino really is done..

1) Adam Page (w/ BJ Whitmer & Colby Corino) vs. Will Ferrara

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - November 9th, 2015

Live from Manchester, England. The UK crowd is sure to be on fire. Raw being in England has it's major perks, but major disadvantages as well. The perks are the crowd & the atmosphere. The negatives being the fact that it's taped and spoilers being literally everywhere online. This year, I set out to avoid spoilers completely and I came closer than ever before. I've only seen one match spoiler and one partial segment spoiler. SO, mostly everything will be fresh and I must say I'm excited. Where does WWE go with 2 weeks left before Survivor Series and no WWE Champion in the books?

Triple H opens the show with the answer to my aforementioned question. The tournament starts tonight. He brings out Roman Reigns and tries to persuade him to join his side. Well, in his words, Hunter wanted Reigns to "be his man" in order to be THE man so there's that. Reigns refuses despite Triple H selling me and probably 75% of the audience on joining his team. That man was on fire here. Reigns tells HAITCH to shove it and gets Big Show in a first round match for his troubles.

1) Roman Reigns vs. The Big Show - First Round Tournament Match
WWE's corniness was at it's finest here with Michael Cole reaching a new low. First he says that Reigns' last man standing match with Big Show put him on the map, then, Big Show roared about being a giant and Cole sounded like a child reiterating with "yes you are!" It was atrocious. The show goes on, though and nothing was notable aside from the closing sequence. The crowd surprisingly bites for the nearfall off a chokeslam from Show and I even got into it from that point on as well. Show goes for his punch and gets caught with a superman punch followed by a spear. Reigns goes to the second round.

Match rating - **1/4

2) Kevin Owens vs. Titus O'Neil - First Round Tournament Match

Who will walk out of Survivor Series 2015 as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion?

Just this afternoon, news broke that WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins suffered an injury at a live event in Ireland last night. The injury took place during a No Holds Barred match with Kane and saw Rollins tear his ACL, MCL, and medial meniscus. This is something that will keep him out of action for 6-9 months and force him to surrender/be stripped of the WWE Title.

WWE has already announced all of this as well as the fact that in just one week at the Survivor Series PPV, a tournament will be held to crown a new WWE Champion. This has sparked a flurry of discussion on social media as to who will step up to the plate and take the crown as the champion of the largest sports entertainment company in the world. Being the mega-fan that I am, I formulated a few scenarios, each of which I will detail in this article. Many of the scenarios have the same basis as Roman Reigns has been viewed as the favorite to win the belt sometime during the next year, but there are truly a number of ways this could go and I don't think WWE is going to choose the most predictable route. None the less, here are just a few of the different things that I think could happen.

The first scenario that came to mind sees the return of the Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar, to compete in this tournament. You know that Brock is vying for a rematch for the title that he lost despite never being pinned. Plus, he undoubtedly deserves that chance once again especially after putting The Undertaker down for the second time. With star power being at a low with both John Cena, Randy Orton, and now Seth Rollins on the sidelines, the prospect of bringing Brock back to step into the spotlight is all the more possible. A WrestleMania rematch in the finals of the Survivor Series tournament between Brock Lesnar & Roman Reigns would almost be the perfect match to have. It's the two men that Rollins screwed over at Mania fighting for his prize with him out of the picture. Unfortunately for Reigns, if this happens, I could see Dean Ambrose coming into play and costing his former brother the World Championship. This sets up a comeback story for Reigns heading into WrestleMania as he deals with another betrayal and setback in the form of rivaling his former partner Dean Ambrose. Meanwhile, Brock Lesnar carries the star power for the WWE Title until Mania rolls around and we get the final match in the Brock/Reigns trilogy. This time, Roman Reigns slays the beast on his own in one hell of a fight and becomes WWE Champion after a year in the making. It's the perfect story and giving Reigns the title at Mania will set up nicely for Rollins return during the summer, building towards reigniting of their program from this fall.

As good as that first fantasy scenario may sound, I have several more, but the next one is less eventful. I personally had been leaning towards WWE giving Reigns the title and going over Rollins at Survivor Series so I would say that there's a good chance that we could see the plans staying the same in that regard if that was the original idea. Reigns fights through the field of contenders and wins the belt. It's a simple yet satisfying story however, I don't think it would feel as sweet therefore, I'd personally put a hold on him winning the title. The fans will see a Reigns victory coming next Sunday from a mile away and many of them will be ready to shit on his parade. Don't give them that luxury. Give them a story that will make them get behind Reigns. The one thing that MIGHT make this work is if Reigns goes against John Cena in the final and defeats him. Despite the epic sound of that match, I feel like a more intriguing idea would be better. One like what I detailed above or also, my personal dream scenario that I will go into below.

It's no secret that I've been a fan of Kevin Owens for a long time. Seeing him deliver in such a big way in the WWE is almost unbelievable and exciting to watch unfold. 2015 has been a huge year for him and since he's under Triple H's wing, why not cap the year off with Big Kev taking the crown as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The crowd has lit up when Owens & Reigns have went face to face in tag matches & such during the past few weeks so putting them one on one in the finals for the title at Survivor Series sounds like a phenomenal choice. Much like with the Lesnar/Reigns scenario, I see Ambrose costing Reigns the title here. Ambrose/Reigns feud through the Road to WrestleMania. Owens defends against people like Cena and gets his wins back to build him up as the champ. Owens/Reigns at Mania for the title and Reigns finally wins the big one. Two young stars main eventing Mania sounds very unlikely though, especially when compared to the idea of the year in the making Lesnar/Reigns story so I'm not going to bet on this. It's nice to think about, though, right?

To keep things spiced up, I've been trying to give one hype-worthy idea followed by one more predictable idea. The last one would be a shocker so that means it's time for one that is quite predictable and will make fans roll their eyes. John Cena is in the midst of a break from WWE for unknown reasons, but apparently not because of injury. Now, we know when WWE is in need they will call for John, even when he's been out with injury in the past. So, that means having John return and make a run for this 16th World Championship is a VERY possible option. And now that I think about it, it sounds like a pretty wonderful story to be honest. A portion of the crowd may not like it however Cena gunning for his record breaking 16th World Title reign in a tournament for the vacant title and one of the historically known biggest shows of the year sounds like money, especially in Vince's eyes. Therefore, don't be surprised if this goes down! I don't think Cena will win the title, though, but I'll cover that later on.

The next idea while also sort of unpredictable is also one that will make many roll their eyes. While it may be a eye-roll worthy, it may be the best chance for WWE to take care of Sheamus and his Money in the Bank briefcase. I don't know if WWE sees him as a top level guy at this point however, I don't think many do. That doesn't mean they can't make him into one and I think Survivor Series could be the time to do it. As with every other idea I've had, I think Reigns will be in the finals and in this scenario, he wins. WHOO, Roman finally achieves his dream, but uh-oh, Wade Barrett & Rusev are on the attack. Sheamus' music hits as his newly found cohorts beat down the freshly crowned champion. Sheamus is ready to cash in, but HERE COMES DEAN AMBROSE! Reigns' friend and partner is here to have his back OR IS HE? Ambrose turns and drops Reigns with dirty deeds to the shock of everyone. Sheamus hands over his briefcase, nails Reigns with a Brogue Kick and pins him to become the new WWE Champion. The only thing I didn't like about my previous ideas involving an Ambrose heel turn is that the title match would have a screwy ending. With this, there's a clean finish and you put Sheamus & friends in a top slot while getting his briefcase story out of the way without having to rush it come next year. Plus, it's a perfect chain of momentous events with Reigns getting revenge over Ambrose then taking that and using it to redeem himself at WrestleMania by defeating Sheamus and finally becoming the WWE Champion and actually having a reign to follow that moment.

The last scenario I was going to discuss is one that I stopped writing about just as I began writing about it. Why? Because it's one created by a track record of moves by WWE and as I thought about it on it's own, it makes no sense. This scenario sees John Cena return and win the title. It IS WWE's safe option, but I really don't expect that to happen this go round. They need to start building towards WrestleMania and Cena winning doesn't really start building towards anything whereas Reigns being in the finals creates a number of different paths they could go down, many of which I detailed above. Beyond that, Reigns is rumored to be the guy they're building Mania around once again so it wouldn't make any sense at all for Cena to go over him in a title match. So sorry guys, no CENAWINSLOL this time. Then again, I've been wrong and with WWE in such a tough position, there's not much they can do that will surprise me from a dumb booking standpoint. The premise of Cena using this as a chance to pursue his 16th World Title is a bit intriguing though, but for that to work, he'd have to be given an edge to his character and we all know how redundant of a statement that is therefore this is one of the few times that I won't be putting my money on Cena.

However, what do you think? Like/dislike my ideas? Have some of your own? Comment or tweet me @ThePWTruth with your thoughts! Thanks for reading!

2015 Elite 80 Rankings Update - Rollins, Cena, Ibushi, & Styles all out of action!

The wrestling world has been shaken up with the absence of four top stars all across the board to due to injuries and/or sabaticals. In the past month, we've seen John Cena go on a break, Kota Ibushi & AJ Styles suffer injuries, and now you can add Seth Rollins to that list as the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion is no longer. He suffered an injury at a house show last night and is going to be stripped of the championship. This leaves our Wrestler of the Year tracking system at a very interesting point going into the final two months of 2015.

Currently, the Top 6 men on the list are as follows:

1) Roderick Strong - 190 points

2) John Cena - 188 points

3) Seth Rollins - 168 points

4) Kota Ibushi - 156 points

5) Kevin Owens - 153 points

6) AJ Styles - 150 points

Looking at that list today, November 5th, four of the competitors are inactive for various reasons which I detailed above. This REALLY puts the Top 10 and specifically the #1 ranked Wrestler of the Year slot in a huge toss up position. Roddy only has a two point lead over John, but he is out. Third place Rollins is gone, along with fourth place Ibushi. The only man with a chance of catching up at this point is Kevin Owens. It's a near 40 point defecit and with Roddy having a big ROH PPV coming up, potential ROH TV Title defenses, and two big PWG shows on the horizon, all of which are chances to rack up big points, Big Kev is going to have to bust some serious ass to catch up however I wouldn't rule him out. WWE is holding a tournament at Survivor Series to crown a new WWE Champion and I'd say that there's a good chance that Owens could be that person. If so, he could slide right up into a battle with Roddy over the #1 position.

As for the rest of the Top 10, it's going to be a battle. As of right now, the rest of the Top 10 is as follows:

7) Zack Sabre Jr - 135 points

8) Ricochet/Prince Puma - 117 points

9) Kyle O'Reilly - 114 points

10) Hirooki Goto - 111 points

Behind these four men are the aces of NJPW in the form of Okada, Tanahashi, & Nakamura who could all easily jump into contention as I've yet to view the King of Pro Wrestling event from late last month, not to mention there's still several New Japan events on the schedule for the remainder of this year.

As for Sabre, Ricochet, O'Reilly, & Goto, unless Styles & Cena are able to come back and jump right back into the groove they were in during the first 3/4th of the year, they could be looking at a run for a Top 5 ranking.

However, it's all speculation at this point. This is my first year using a points system to form my Elite 80 Wrestlers of the Year list and it's become pretty much a set in stone occurence for future years because it makes for exciting moments like right now as the rankings could shift in a variety of directions. With all this happening in the final two months of the year, who knows how this year's list will shake out. Only time will tell and be sure to stay tuned to the blog and @ThePWTruth on Twitter to keep up with all that goes down. Of course, I won't be giving updates in December to keep the ultimate reveal at the end of the month a surprise, but I'll try my best to be up to date through the month of November with so much taking place.

Much like the rest of this year, it looks like to be a wild final few months and I can't wait! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the new Elite 80 system I've formulated! Feel free to tweet me your thoughts on Twitter!

ROH TV Review - Episode 215 - November 4th, 2015

Kyle O'Reilly opens the show with a pre-taped promo. Having watched him essentially from the start of his rise in 2011 to now, he's improved leaps & bounds in the ring obviously, but he's also been slowly taking steps toward being a better talker. This was another example of this as it's definitely one of his better promos. He hypes the main event even more. I had forgot about it, but NOW I'M SO HYPED AND CAN'T WAIT.

TONIGHT: AJ Styles vs. Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly

Mark Briscoe is joining Nigel McGuinness & Kevin Kelly for commentary tonight. Steve Corino is still out after snapping on BJ Whitmer a few weeks ago.

1) The Young Bucks vs. Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser (w/ The Boys)
This is an odd match. I love The Bucks & Silas so it's gonna be cool seeing them work together for what I believe is the first time. THE BOYS are dressed in tank tops and sunglasses. I guess that's the outfit of a real man? Matt gets isolated by Silas & Bruiser. BCB has the utter audacity to pull a page out of Big KEv's book with the runniing flip into the corner. Nick eventually gets the hot tag and I mean, HOT. This crowd is so hyped for The Bucks as usual. Nick cleans house before he's caught off guard by Silas. The Last Real Man perches himself on his head in the corner for his unique finisher and SUPERKICK! FUCK! The Bucks clean out the Brusier and they have this place rocking. Silas gets on the mic and says this match was originally supposed to be The Boys against "The Young Punks" and that he & Bruiser are done with it. Cliffhanger headed into the commercial break. We return to The Boys taking the place of Silas & Brusier just as he said. Matt takes out one of the boys. Nick gets in with the other boy. Silas grabs his leg and he ends up superkicking him on the apron along with the Brusier. The Bucks bust out some double team stuff and keep working him over. FIFTEEN PERCENT. The Bucks miscommunicate and THE BOYS MOUNT SOME OFFENSE! Dropkick off the top, double hurricanrana, and SUPERKICK. Well, the boys tried. Bucks go through their stuff and win with More Bang.

Match rating - **

 Silas & Beer City Bruiser go after The Boys following the loss. The Bucks get back in the ring and superkick BCB. Silas escapes before he got a superkick of his own. I'm dying for a Bucks/Castle trios match now. The thought of the matching ring gear they could come up with has me sold completely on the idea.

NOAH: The Great Voyage in Osaka 2015 Review

NOAH had a loaded card on September 19th for their Great Voyage in Osaka event. The promotion has been hit or miss in 2015, but this is said to be one of their best shows this year and there's only one way to find out if this is fact or fiction.

The first few matches seem to be throwaway's for the most part despite a few being a part of the Junior Tag League. Therefore, I'm only reviewing the crux of this card in the form of the final six matches. The results for the opening contest can be found below, though.

1) Akitoshi Saito, Muhammed Yone, Quiet Storm & Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Hajime Ohara, Kenou, Captain NOAH & Genba Hirayanagi

2) El Desperado & Taka Michinoku defeated Kota Umeda & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya



3) Billy Ken Kid & Buffalo defeated Super Crazy & Hitoshi Kumano

4) Zack Sabre Jr & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Masamune & Taji Ishimori
It's my first time seeing everyone here except my top mate ZSJ. I'm going british, ladies and gents. None the less, this was a pretty fun junior tag match. Sabre is always a joy to watch and it was no different here. He & Ishimori had a fantastic exchange early on that sold me. They kept me interested throughout and delivered some hot action down the stretch. If the crowd was a bit more alive, this could possibly have neared the higher end of the three stars. They were there, but not fully into it despite giving proper reactions to most things. A good match regardless. Sabre gets the win for he & Ogawa with a BRUTAL looking submission, I don't even know how to explain, you should just see it for yourself and I'll let you decipher it.

Match rating - ***1/4

5) Shelton Benjamin (w/ Taka Michinoku) vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

It's 2015 and Benjamin has somewhat re-emerged in a notable form as a member of Suzuki-gun here in NOAH. He hasn't been doing much of note, but this was easily his best singles match that I've seen in the past year or two. Nakajima is obviously the fan favorite due to Benjamin's Suzuki-gun affiliation so when Nakajima charged Benjamin right after the bell, the audience got right behind him. A nice flurry ends up being nothing more than that as Benjamin takes over and slings Nakajima into the railing several times. Despite the early transition periods with both guys getting a little time in control, particularly Benjamin, we end up with the two men trading kicks to the head in the center of the ring. Nakajima does a genius spot where he superkicks Benjamin into the corner 8 times as the crowd counts along. I have no clue if that was intentional, but dude, in this age of superkicks, how has no one thought of that spot. Instead of punches in the corner, do superkicks with the crowd counting along. Wow, I really sound like an advocate for killing the legitimacy of a superkick so I need to stop. The superkick was a vital part of this match though as Benjamin would end up hitting two on Nakajima followed by some sort of jumping facebuster for the victory after a number of momentum shifts and several near falls.

Match rating - ***3/4

6) Atushi Kotoge vs. Naomichi Marufuji

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - November 2nd, 2015

Roman Reigns kicks the show off. He's on my good side after that amazing match last week where he became the #1 Contender. Speaking of that, the champion himself, Seth Rollins came out to see his challenger here. They had a war of words that leads to Rollins teasing a run to the ring before The Authority comes out. A 5 on 5 Survivor Series-esque elimination match is announced for tonight with Reigns captaining one team and Rollins captaining the other.

1) Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler
Big Kev goes right after the injured leg of Ziggler as a result of attacks from Tyler Breeze and speak of the devil, he shows up a few minutes into this contest. It interrupts an attempted comeback from Ziggler off of an awesome DDT that sent Owens to the floor. This allows the IC Champion to regain the advantage. He wears down Ziggler with head locks and stuff. Ziggler starts mounting a comeback only for Breeze taking a selfie to distract him. Dolph runs right into a pop up powerbomb from Owens. That's a three count.

Match rating - **1/2

Post match, Tyler Breeze is sneaking a photo with Ziggler when he awakens and punches him in the face. The retaliation is short lived as Breeze hits him with the snapshot kick out of nowhere to put him right on his back again.

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - October 26th, 2015

The Authority kicks off the show and oh no we're back to this again :-(

It's really not that bad, though. Considering that I wasn't browsing Twitter before the show like usual, I had no clue of the #1 Contender's Tourney that H & Steph were here to announce. They bring Rollins out and have a lovefest before announcing the aformentioned tournament. All the winners from last night are facing off in singles matches with the winners meeting in a Fatal 4 Way at the end of the night. The winner is the new number one contender to the WWE Title. I like. A lot. The segment looks to be over then Roman Reigns' music hits and wow, they just totally gave away the winner of this thing. Nice little staredown between Rollins & Reigns.

1) Roman Reigns vs. Kofi Kingston (w/ Big E) - #1 Contender's Tournament Match
This was alright albeit somewhat underwhelming considering the talent of both guys and the roll they've been on. Kofi's on the best run of his career and Roman is being positioned as THAT GUY so you'd expect this to be great, but it was nothing more than a decent little match. Kofi out quicking and out smarting Reigns came into play throughout the match. They had a good final few moments as usual with Reigns matches. Kofi misses the Trouble in Paradise and gets nailed with a spear. Reigns advances to the finals.

Match rating - **1/4

TONIGHT:
- Alberto Del Rio vs. Neville
- Big E vs. Dolph Ziggler

UP NEXT: Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro

2) Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro - #1 Contender's Tournament Match
The crowd is HOT for the IC Champ and Cesaro. There are Cesaro Section signs and FIGHT OWENS FIGHT chants across the arena. A series of roll ups and pinning combinations make for a fast start with several near falls. The two former Indie superstars then begin slugging it out and the crowd eats up every second. Owens' trash talking gets better and better every week as he gets more comfortable in the WWE setting. I honestly can't remember anyone who does the mid match shouting like him. They did a great unique false finish spot with a double clothesline on the floor. Both men didn't make it back in until the count of nine. This sends into the commercial break with a stalemate. We return to Cesaro making Vince look completely delusional yet again. The uppercut train that ends with a crisp dropkick that I'd say can only be topped by the likes of Okada & AJ Styles. Cesaro starts flying around the ring with a running flip off the ring apron, a cross body from the top rope, and a springboard uppercut from the second rope. Owens is reeling and ends up using the ropes & ref as a barrier to create some separation between he & Cesaro. A precisely placed superkick and a pop up powerbomb earns Owens the victory after a highly entertaining contest. Cesaro killed it once again and KO is starting to gain momentum.

Match rating - ***1/2

3) Charlotte, Paige, & Becky Lynch vs. The Bellas & Alicia Fox
This was a straight forward and to the point match. Usually, Divas matches that last around 7 minutes aren't noteworthy however this was quite the action packed contest. The Divas are truly finding their stride as I said a few weeks ago so this is well worth viewing if you missed it. Good heat between Nikki & Charlotte with them knocking each other off the apron whenever they got the chance, the blind tag from Charlotte to Paige followed by a double drop kick foreshadowed so many things, and the finishing sequence full of big moves topped off this trios contest.

Match rating - ***

Post match, Paige does the inevitable by snapping and attacking Charlotte & Becky which got a big mixed reaction from the crowd. This definitely brings some more life to her character and I'd say that between the match and this post match attack, tonight is the best Paige has looked since her original debut on the main roster.

Renee Young interviews Zeb Colter & the new US Champ Alberto Del Rio backstage. Colter references John Lennon and announces that he & Del Rio are the first citizens of MexAmerica. I guess that's going to be what they call themselves going forward. It sounds like the start of a stable.

4) Alberto Del Rio vs. Neville - #1 Contender's Tournament Match
Based off Alberto's performances outside WWE this year, this could be really good. Based off his match with Cena last night, this could be extremely average. Thankfully it turned out to be the former. Del Rio was vicious from the bell, even slapping Neville multiple times in a stiff manner and basically toying with him. Neville fired back by going lucha on ADR which appeared to throw the former El Patron off his game. This turned into quite the back and forth battle with both men dishing out all their best shots. Del Rio even nailed Neville with the back breaker that put Cena out the night before along with several sick kicks to the head. Neville kept fighting and ADR had to resort to the HANGING DOUBLE STOMP FROM THE TOP ROPE for the win. Great match that gave me hope for Del Rio's second run in the E.

Match rating - ***1/4

5) Ryback & The Dudley Boys vs. Sheamus, Rusev, & King Barrett
The International Alliance team just can't have a bad match. This is their third six man match and it appears that they are really bonding together as they each made their entrance then waited to walk to the ring together. The story here was the losers from last night being placed in this match instead of the contender's tournament. That makes them pissed so they charge each other before the bell even starts. Huge brawl that settles into Devon going at it with Sheamus. Devon ends up getting isolated which builds to the hot tag for DA BIG GUY as the crowd was chanting FEED ME MORE. He gets in and does his thing. Bubba Ray comes in soon after. We get a triple meathook spot from Ryback & The Dudleys which was awesome. They go into the "GET THE TABLES!" schtick after this which allows Barrett to sneak the victory with a roll up on Devon. Well booked match with satisfying action. This was quite good. The icing on the cake was the celebration by the heels. Barrett fucking cut a flip and rolled onto his feet and hugged Rusev as Sheamus joined in as well. I can buy into this three being an official thing!

Match rating - ***

Bray Wyatt has arrived to explain his actions last night. As usual when he attacks someone randomly, he doesn't give a REAL reason why he did it. It's moreso subliminal shit like usual, but it works here only because of who's involved. Wyatt basically says that Taker's soul belongs to him now and asks for a moment of silence for him. During the silence - FIRE PYRO! BAH GAWD IT'S THE DEMON KANE! Does this mean we're gonna get a Brothers of Destruction reunion?! That match on the Mexico tour meant something after all! Kane gets offense in to start with only to get dominated by the numbers game once Harper, Rowan, & Strowman appear. The Wyatt Family beat him down then carry him out on their shoulders just like they did with Undertaker. I'm definitely interested in where this goes.

6) Big E vs. Dolph Ziggler - #1 Contender's Tournament Match
This was in a tough spot on the show. For me personally, at least. It's been a pretty fantastic evening of Monday Night Raw and beyond that, I got distracted during this match with some personal matters. Nothing bad, just had a few things to take care of. With that in mind, I wasn't able to give this my full undivided attention despite not missing any of the contest. From what I took in, it felt like it went slightly too long. Tyler Breeze came out before the match and sat down at ringside with Summer Rae. It was cool seeing him, obviously. Ziggler & E do have a chemistry due to their past together, but it felt like they could've trimmed this down a bit and it would've been better. The final few minutes were great. After they traded momentum for a bit, Ziggler gets the win which actually shocked me! Good for him, though. Well deserved opportunity for the Zig Man!

Match rating - **1/2

7) Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio - #1 Contender's Match
GAWD ALMIGHTY, this was something else. I truthfully didn't know how it would turn out, much like my initial thoughts headed into tonight's show. However, much like the rest of this show, this match completely blew my expectations out of the water and was the perfect finale for what this entire episode of Raw was built around. The big feel, the drama, the atmosphere and the action here all combined to make a match that I'd say is must see. It solidified Del Rio as worthy of the huge push he's gotten only one night into his return, it showed Dolph Ziggler as still one of the most consistent athletes on the card, it gave Kevin Owens his first EPIC moment with his showdown with Roman Reigns, and Roman, speaking of that guy. This match felt like his redemption story. His facial expressions, the way he almost won the crowd over as they gave him mixed reactions only to pop so hard for the finish that the reaction turned into all cheers as he sat in the center of the ring after the three count was made. I didn't think I'd say this, but this could damn near top Cena/Cesaro as my favorite Raw match of the year, it was just so beautiful. Hell, it was one of the best WWE matches of the year overall. From an in-ring stand point, the action was off the charts and undeniably intense. I'd name a few spots or things that happened, but I got so into this that I don't think I'll be able to remember everything in detail which proves that this is something you need to see. There were a number of crazy exchanges and special moments. This was just an overall phenomenal match up. I loved it.

Match rating - ****1/4

The post match staredown between Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins was the perfect sequel to what we just saw. I'm legitimately excited about the forthcoming Reigns/Rollins feud and I have a feeling someone else close to those two is going to be getting involved down the line as well ;-)

~ONE OF THE BEST RAW'S OF THE YEAR~

The way this show built throughout. The new direction of so many different talents. It seems like everyone up & down the card has a new momentum .Paige's turn, the final phase in Roman's rebuilding, the awesome showing from Del Rio to begin his second run in WWE - it feels like we're getting set for a great month ahead. Plus, some WrestleMania talk has already begun so it looks like WWE is planning ahead. This show exemplifies why WWE should rely on the wrestling to do the work because their roster is more loaded than ever and when you give them the chance, shows like this happen. Great show.

ROH TV Review - Episode 214

Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness are at ringside to start the show. This will come into major play as the show goes on. I guess Corino's fluster last week made him need a week off.

1) Donovan Dijak vs. Moose
What even?!? This was bonkers. As I posted on Twitter when watching this, I want to know what these two were on because this was absolutely insane for a big man match. Dijak & Moose seemed to attempt to one up each other with every acrobatic manuever they could deliver. You had a chokeslam on the ring apron, a spring board moonsault to the floor, a step up spinning flip kick off the top rope, and so much more. HOT, action packed opener in which Moose picks up the W with a spear.

Match rating - **3/4

2) Cedric Alexander (w/ Veda Scott) vs. Dalton Castle
Dalton's entrance just doesn't seem right without the BOYS. Cedric is here with Veda and that speaks for itself if ya feel me. This was a bunch of fun, if I'm not mistaken, Castle & Cedric faced off a month or so ago on ROH TV in a lit match. This wasn't quite on that level, but it was fine for what it was. Castle wins.

Match rating - **1/2

Veda gets on the mic post match and goes off on Nigel about Cedric's leg injury. She says she's going to see Ring of Honor in the court room. Kevin Kelly is losing his shit and Nigel is stone faced.

THE DOUBLE CHAMP Jay Lethal has entered the building! He strolls down to the ring and boasts himself as the best wrestler in the world. Before he can continue, RODDY STRONG'S MUSIC HITS BAH GAWD! ROD DOG IS HERE! There's a weird chemistry between Roderick & Jay that has developed in recent months and I love it. The verbal exchange here turns intense quite quickly and results in Nigel announcing that Roddy doesn't get a World Title shot however he gets a TV Title shot in the future. Good stuff.

WWE Hell In A Cell 2015 Predictions

Pre-Show:

1) Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, & Neville vs. Rusev, Sheamus, & Wade Barrett
These three on the pre-show, lol. In what world are we living? They tore it up with this same line up on Raw which saw Barrett sneak a victory over Ziggler. I have a sneaking suspicion that this match might not live up to their Raw battle due to possible time constraints. However, if they're given time to work, this could be the perfect kick off to the PPV. Either way, the baby faces will get their win back and return to wondering in the darkness with no direction.

Who I think will win - Ziggler/Cesaro/Neville

Main Show:

2) The New Day (c) vs. The Dudley Boys - WWE Tag Team Title Match
I was hyped on the prospect of this feud, but for some reason it feels like it has began to drag due to average booking. I would have loved to see more segments/promos between the two teams. None the less, we're here at their third (I think) meeting and I'm actually having a hard time picking a winner. Something tells me WWE wants The Dudleys to have one more reign as champs for the pure nostalgia while the other part of me doesn't want New Day to lose their steam. Then again, The Dudley's winning means New Day will likely get to dethrone them and become three time champs. But do we really want more New Day/Dudley matches for the next month or so? If it's building towards a TLC match at the TLC PPV, then yes. Yes, I do. So, Dudleys win the titles here, have a nostalgic run as champs one last time, then we get what I'm guessing will be a triple threat TLC match possibly also involving The Usos if they're cleared. In that match, New Day regains the titles by beating The Dudleys in their own match. It's the greatest rub that can also be seen as a sly victory because New Day still won't have a pin over the legendary duo. What to do between HIAC and TLC? I say throw out a six man tag for Survivor Series. New Day vs. Bubba, Devon & Spike? You betcha!

Who I think will win - The Dudley Boys

3) Charlotte (c) vs. Nikki Bella - WWE Divas Title Match

EthanPWT watches Dragon Gate 2015

With wrestling being absolutely crazy this year, I, like many others have had a hard time keeping up with everything. That leads us to this post. I originally said "Okay, I'm gonna do a half year round up for Dragon Gate" then before I knew it, it was time for Kobe World and it would be virtually pointless to that when I'd just be behind again. With that in mind, I decided to just do this mega-post with my thoughts/reviews/ratings for the matches I've watched from DG this year. I made sure to hunt down the biggest and most highly praised contest for my viewing. As the year continues, I will add to this post and link on Twitter when I update it. That way, you can come back to one place to find all my Dragon Gate stuff from 2015 in the future. So, let's begin!

Kzy (c) vs. Akira Tozawa - Open The Brave Gate Championship Match - 2/28/15

Tozawa takes control of the champion early on with a variety of head/face locks. He wears him down on the mat then HITS A TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER. We're only minutes in, agh. I love Tozawa, but I didn't like that. Mainly, I guess, because being a long time WWE fan and wrestling fan in general, I see the piledriver as a move that damn near puts people out of commision and seeing Kzy roll out of the ring, start limping away, and then come back from it a minute or two later was eh for me. None the less, Kzy takes control when Tozawa misses a forearm smash into the ring post and starts working on the arm in pretty great fashion. Let's hope they do enough good stuff to make me ignore that aforementioned moment. Kzy is working over the right arm of Tozawa in persistent fashion here. He makes the mistake of letting up and slinging Tozawa in the corner. Tozawa rebounds with a huge kick before falling back to the mat and clinching his arm. Tozawa regains controls with a few dives that he follows up with a brainbuster in the ring, but Kzy would soon fire back with some fast paced offense of his own including a bridging northern lights suplex for a near fall. Kzy dishes out a swanton bomb followed by a frog splash, but he only gets two. The crowd is getting more vocally behind Tozawa at this point. Kzy messes himself up by going up top again as he is met by Tozawa springing up there right behind him and BRAINBUSTER OFF THE TOP ROPE! Tozawa keeps pounding away with more offense following this, but Kzy ends up finding himself in a position to capitalize and hits a canadian destroyer esque move out of the corner. He doesn't go for the cover and Tozawa crawls to his knees to trade shots with Kzy in the center of the ring. Nice exchange here with Tozawa losing the upperhand because of injured arm from earlier. Tozawa fires up and nails one big shot before an uppercut from Kzy floors him. The actions too damn fast to call here and oh boy, they're getting me into it at this point. A snap german from Tozawa for a nearfall after several cradle attempts by both men. Tozawa is trying to capture the arms, Kzy fights him off. Kzy has him over his shoulders, TOZAWA COUNTERS, he's trying to capture the arms again, Kzy fights, BUT NOOOO HE GRASPS IT! STRAIGHT JACKET GERMAN! 1...2...3 - AKIRA TOZAWA IS THE NEW OPEN THE BRAVE GATE CHAMPION! Good match and a sweet moment for Tozawa as we see his post-match crowning and celebration.

Match rating - ***3/4

Bxb Hulk (c) vs. Uhaa Nation - Open The Dream Gate Championship Match - Champion Gate in Osaka - Tag 2 - 3/1/15

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - October 19th, 2015

The show starts off with STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN! BAH GAWD! Huge pop from the hometown Dallas crowd. Austin keeps it short and sweet. He does the "hell yeah" schtick, says son of a bitch a few times, plugs the podcast, AND introduces the Undertaker all in under five minutes. Taker comes out and wow, it feels like 1998. Austin & Taker starting Raw in 2015 is like, weird and crazy. Anyway, Taker says a few words about Brock which brings out the Beast Incarnate himself. Heyman says Brock will avenge the tainted victory Taker got at SummerSlam. Taker says the depths of hell will look like the gates of heaven compared to what he's going to do to Brock inside the cell. The Dead Man cuts the throat and sticks out his tongue after teasing a brawl with Lesnar.

1) John Cena & The Dudley Boys vs. The New Day
They sure are hitting the highspots tonight. WWE isn't afraid to hide their desperation in increasing the extremely low ratings. None the less, these six are regulars and this delivered for what it was. Dudleys & Cena do stuff in the first minute or two. New Day takes over with, you know what, THE BEST HEAT SEG IN THE BIZ. Cena is isolated and makes the big awaited tag to Devon. Great final minute with Cena exemplifying what has made 2015 one of his greatest years yet in one move - a flying cross body off the top turnbuckle to the floor. Crowd popped huge and so did I. John never stops. Big E tosses Bubba into the pole while Xavier rolls up Devon in the ring for the cheap win.

Match rating - **3/4

Cena & The Dudleys charge after New Day post-match. Big E & Kofi get away, but Xavier isn't as lucky. AA from Cena followed by GET THE TABLES. Power bomb through the table for Mr Woods. No pun intended. Cena has an open challenge at the Hell in a Cell PPV on Sunday so this could very well be his last Raw for a bit. It's so bittersweet. BUT this is the perfect time to plug a piece I wrote on who should dethrone Cena as champ in his absence. I wrote several different scenarios however the Samoa Joe one looks like the most likely at this point, so check that out by clicking here!

Cole announces that Randy Orton isn't at Raw and wasn't on the Mexico tour either. They say it's because of injury and that The Wyatt Family "got to him" again. This leaves Ambrose without a partner at NOC.

ROH TV Review - Episode 213

1) The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. All Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus)
I missed the first 15 minutes of the show although I've heard I didn't miss too much. The All Night Express, Kenny King & Rhett Titus, made their return to TV to face off against The Addiction. And quite the return it was ANX picked up the victory. I may try to catch this match on the Destination America airing on Wednesday night, but if not, it's no big deal. If you were looking forward to my thoughts on this match, I'm sorry :-(

The Kingdom comes to the ring just as I'm turning the show on. They're dressed in all black, including Maria. Each member gets promo time and they exemplify how they've perfected what they do. Bennett steals a page out of CM Punk's book and basically re-does his unforgettable promo from 2005 about the snake and the farmer. Taven talks about the origins of the group and how they have now won gold all over the world as he & Bennett hold up their ROH Tag Team Titles. Cole explains why he turned on Kyle and says he will regain his ROH World Title soon. YEAAHHH! I'm ready for that eventual moment. The Kingdom doesn't have long to savor in their moment before Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish run down flanked by security. Fish grabs a mic and Taven dares them to come in the ring, mocking the fact that it is 3 on 2. That's when BIG MIKE'S MUSIC HITS! ELGIN! ELGIN! Elgin cleans house on the Kingdom with Adam Cole getting away by the skin of his teeth. Elgin says ReDragon has back up and challenges them to a six man tag, but The Kingdom retreats behind the curtain.

2) Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Page - No Disqualifcation Match

Who Should Dethrone John Cena as the United States Champion?

With the news coming of John Cena planning to take some time off in the coming month came the discussion of who should dethrone him as the United States Champion. I honestly have to say that I'm sad to see him go. He surely deserves the break. He's likely deserved one for quite some time, but this has to be the worst timing for it. From a product standpoint, at least, who knows what's going on personally.

The number of different ways that WWE could go with writing Cena off of television are endless. I'm not even sure they're going to write him off of TV. I, much like everyone else, am speculating him to drop the US Title though. It needs to be under a great number of circumstances however. If the right person gets the belt, the prestige of it can continue to grow and someone could be pushed to that next level. If the wrong person gets the belt, it could flounder much like it did for years before Cena regained it.

So, who should that person be? I have a few ideas to present.

- Cesaro -

You guessed it. I'm a huge Double C fan, I have to admit, but I don't choose him as this just because I'm a fan. As I always say, if he wasn't getting great reactions, if he wasn't delivering quality matches - I wouldn't let my fandom affect my opinion on what WWE should do with him. That doesn't happen to be the case at this point, though. Cesaro is undoubtedly the most misused talent in WWE in the past decade. You've had people who had potential due to their look and ability (Drew McIntyre), you've had those who had a damn good match with a top star then went no where (Sandow), but never have you had someone produce so many awesome matches against so many top talents and get pushed & depushed as many times as Cesaro has.

CWF Mid-Atlantic World Wide: Episode 21 Review

Time for something different! I've only watched CWF once, but I'm in the mood for a change of pace and this past week's episode looks like a solid hour of pro wres so here we are.

Lee Valiant is the ring to begin the show. His opponent Arik Royal is headed down when Aric Andrews attacked him and threw him off the stage into the ring post. The opening contest of the evening has been disrupted completely. Or so I thought. The security and trainees get Andrews to the back and the match gets underway.

1) Lee Valiant vs. Arik Royal
The story here was basic, but quite good. Valiant goes right after Royal who was beaten down pre-match to take advantage of him. Royal, the powerhouse, battles back and tortures Valiant much to the delight of the crowd. Valiant got one or two flurries here or there as he hit an spear from the apron back into the ring and a sliced bread on the floor which created some separation between himself & Royal. Royal is able to make it back in the ring at the last second before being counted out. Valiant charges him and gets caught in powerbomb position.. BUCKLE BOMB IN THE CORNER! It's followed up by a sick kick that floors Valiant! It somehow only gets Royal a two count so he sets up in the corner for a spear. Valiant pulls the ref in front of him to cover up and Royal nails him. It was a pretty awesome ref bump, but Lord, the eventual spear that he landed on Valiant after some shenanigans was even better. They did some late 90's WWF stuff with a new ref coming down after Valiant hit his finisher, the homewrecker, and got a nearfall. Valiant gets into it with the same security guy from earlier when he tries to bring a chair into the match. He eventually gets back in the ring and the awesome spear I mentioned earlier happens. It turns him inside out and Royal picks up the win. Nicely executed stuff here.

Match rating - **1/2

2) Trevor Lee & Chet Sterling (c) vs. Worst Case Scenario (Ethan Case & Elijah Evans IV) - CWF Mid Atlantic Tag Team Title Match

EthanPWT Watches BJW 2010

Big Japan Pro Wrestling has become one of my latest crazes. That's led me to going back and watching some stuff from the past. I'm going through the year 2010 and watching whatever matches I can find. I'm not sure when I'll finish this, but I'm aiming for an update at least once a week. It's really up in the air though due to how hard it is to keep up with current stuff, much less watch past material. Plus, I'm behind on current BJW as it is so we'll see what happens. It's gonna be fun either way!

Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshihito Sasaki vs. Yuji Okabayashi & Shinobu - 2/13/10
This was a pretty great way to kick this viewing off. You've got two men I'm familiar with in Sekimoto & Okabayashi and two that I'm extremely new to in Sasaki & Shinobu. With that in mind, I have to say right off the bat that Sasaki & Shinobu left a big impression on me during this match which was my first time seeing them. Their aggression and stiffness was unmatched here, even by two men vastly thicker than them in Sekimoto & Okabayashi. That's saying a lot considering they are two of my favorites and they had an awesome fighting spirit esque exchange here. Seeing Sasaki & Shinobu tear into each other early which built to them finally locking up again at the end and giving this match a hot finish was just fantastic. Good tag match.

Match rating - ***1/4

Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshihito Sasaki vs. Abdullah Kobayashi & Takashi Sasaki - 3/19/10

VIDEO: RICOCHET - The King - Music / Highlight Video

 

As some of you know, I've begun making highlight/music videos for wrestlers, shows, promotions etc for fun. This is the second in that series that I post to the newly created Pro Wrestling Truth YouTube channel. I find this as an awesome way to showcase my favorite wrestlers & promotions while also putting a spotlight on some of my favorite bands. So, give this a look and let me know what you think! I hope to continue adding more content of all varieties to the YouTube channel in the future!

Rev Pro UK/NJPW: Uprising 2015 Review

Revolution Pro / New Japan Pro Wrestling: Uprising 2015

October 2nd, 2015

York Hall, London England

Rev Pro British Heavyweight Champion: AJ Styles

Rev Pro British Cruserweight Champion: Josh Bodom

Rev Pro Tag Team Champions: The Revolutionists (Sha Samuels & James Castle)

The tag team champions, The Revolutionists, open the show with an open challenge. Ahem, NON TITLE Open Challenge. Who accepts it? None other than TENCOZY themselves, Satoshi Kojima & Hiryoshi Tenzan! What a way to kick things off!


1) The Revolutionists (Sha Samuels & James Castle) vs. Tencozy (Satoshi Kojima & Hiryoshi Tenzan)
Samuels & Castle jump Kojima & Tenzan almost immediately. This leads to them taking control of the match despite a flurry from Tencozy. The crowd starts chanting "You look stupid!" at James Castle who has a Sheamus-esque Mohawk going on. You asked for that one, my friend. The chant makes for a distraction and allows Kojima to nail Castle with a DDT. The crowd loves Tencozy so there's a good pop for the hot tag to Tenzan. The final few moments sees miscommunication between Tenzan & Kojima allow Samuels to hit a low blow whilst Castle nails Tenzan with their title belt. A cheap, but crafty way for Samuels & Castle to pick up the victory. Those Revolutionists are real dick heads, aren't they?! A nice victory for them, regardless. A win is a win!

Match rating - **1/4

2) ACH vs. Martin Kirby

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - October 12th, 2015

Kane is backstage on the phone with The Authority. Triple H says they are running late and wants to make sure Kane can hold down the fort. You know where this is going. Kane convinces them he can and thus the Director of Operations is in charge until Haitch & Steph can get to the arena. As soon as the conversation is over, Kane sends someone to let Seth Rollins know that he'll be in a Lumberjack match tonight against him.

The Raw intro airs and we're live in the Allstate Arena with Dean Ambrose making his way to the ring to kick off the show. This is a sweet change of pace. Ambrose bottom line's it and says he's looking for a fight. Randy Orton comes out and lets him know that they are partners at Hell In A Cell in a tag against Harper & Strowman. They start trading words with the heat building with each line. Ambrose says he doesn't trust Orton, Orton says he can't even trust himself, etc.

This leads to NEW DAAAAY! Big E, Kofi, & Woods are extremely humorous with their positive schtick as usual. They recall what they did last week when they laid out Cena, Ziggler, & The Dudleys. They say it's something The Shield never did then name all the stables Randy has been in (Evolution, Legacy, The Authority) and that none of them did it either. Orton's smirk when New Day made fun of how many groups he'd been in was a glorious thing to behold. I was lauhging so hard at this point. Woods says Orton brings a new meaning to the term "groupie" which was equally as fantastic. All this leads to Kane making a tag match that starts.. now!

1) Dean Ambrose & Randy Orton vs. Big E & Kofi Kingston (w/ Xavier Woods)

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - October 5th, 2015

Coming off the fairly uneventful WWE MSG special, what's next on the Road to Hell In A Cell?

TONIGHT: Seth Rollins & The Big Show vs. The Dudley Boys

Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman are out first. I guess WWE expects them to boosts numbers that are at an all time low. Heyman delivers his usual great promo and they replay footage from WM30 & SummerSlam. Heyman vows that Lesnar will essentially end The Undertaker at the Cell PPV. Big Show comes out when it looks like Heyman is finished and gets an awesome belly to belly suplex for his troubles. Lesnar follows that up with a F5 before leaving.

1) Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, & Randy Orton vs. The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, & Braun Strowman)
Reigns is in first with Harper and goes right after Bray Wyatt. Fantastic stuff to follow up their match & brawl last week. This happens throughout the match as Reigns is focused on nothing, but getting his hands on Wyatt. As said last week, I'm actually looking forward to their Cell match following their brawl last Monday night. The way they worked this match was just the icing on the cake. The action here was hot most of the way through and on top of the Wyatt/Reigns stuff, they also protected Strowman nicely. Reigns wins by hitting a spear on Harper while staring at Wyatt.

Match rating - ***

2) Sheamus vs. Neville