WWE Monday Night Raw Review - September 28th, 2015

A recap of last week's saga between Seth Rollins & Kane airs to start the show. Ever since Team Hell No, I've grown to really appreciate Kane and while he's not one of my favorites, he doesn't have that "ugh" stigma to him like he and many others did in 2008-2010.

TONIGHT: Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt

We go live and John Cena is headed to the ring with his United States Championship and it's time for the open challenge! Or so, it seems. He teases it happening tonight, then says, right now. So glad this segment is back. I was expecting Heath Slater due to the social media banter, but no IT'S NEW DAY! This is so perfect. After some back & forth, they end things with the line "You're about to get lost in the Woods!"

1) John Cena (c) vs. Xavier Woods - United States Championship Match
Cena floors Xavier with a clothesline right off the bat. We've got serious Cena here and it's awesome. I forgot to mention that during the opening promo, Cena's response to New Day was that if they didn't get serious, he'd beat all of their asses. OOOOOHHHH. Anyway, the ref ends up throwing out Big E & Kofi as we go to commerical. We come back and Cena & Woods basically trade big moves & counters for a few minutes until Cena locks in the STF. This leads to Big E & Kofi running down which causes a DQ. They start beating down Cena when PYRO HITS! THE DUDLEYS RUN DOWN FOR THE SAVE! We've got a staredown! New Day and The Dudleys & Cena! I smell a six man tag as we go to commercial.

2) John Cena & The Dudley Boys vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods)
This trios contest is underway when we return. Dudleys & Cena are working over Kofi then New Day gets their control seg which as said before is the best in the business at the time. It's even better when they're working over someone like Cena. Big E hits his huge splash on the US Champ and goes for it again, but misses. This leads to the hot tag for Kofi & Devon. It gets pretty chaotic at this point. A near fall or two. Big E runs in and charges, Devon moves, BIG E SPEARS JOHN CENA THROUGH THE ROPES OFF THE APRON! I love that spot so much! The Dudleys nail the whazzaaap on Kofi then set up for the 3D. Xavier pulls Bubba's legs out from under him which allows Kofi to hit Devon with the Trouble In Paradise Enziguri Kick and get the three count.

Match rating - ***

Backstage, Kane is introduced to someone who will evaluate him tonight. Rollins comes in and says it sounds like a lot of pressure. Kane responds with the line of "Don't worry, Seth, I can handle the heat." Kane gets fired up, no pun intended, before immediately settling down into his Director of Operations persona and walking off happily with the lady who's going to evaluate him.

NJPW on AXS Review - Power Struggle '14 - September 25th, 2015

New Japan on AXS has been trekking through 2014 and we now find ourselves in November of that year at NJPW's November event, Power Struggle. Tonight's show promises to be another true strong style fest as Tomohiro Ishii defends the NEVER Title against Hirooki Goto and Shinsuke Nakamura defends the IC Title against Katsuyori Shibata. Four of strong style's finest are in action tonight along with what promises to be a super fun tag team match with Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi teaming up to face Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI.

1) Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Hirooki Goto - NEVER Openweight Title Match
The night kicks off with this match that is filled with stiff shots right out of the gate as we've all come to expect from a match involving Ishii. Sadly, this match was clipped so after the early flurry, they skipped ahead a bit and sure enough, Ishii was still laying in the shots to Goto. Goto retaliated however as he nailed Ishii with a sick kick that drew blood from his mouth. Things graduate to a new level of stiff at this point with every shot being heard loud and clear. They blast each other and Goto finally FLOORs Ishii. Cover, 1...ISHII KICKS OUT! He doesn't get up, but he did get the shoulder up quick to show his resilience. Once both men rise to their feet, Goto nails Ishii with a nasty looking facebuster before they begin trading shots again. Goto comes out on top again, but the third time turns out to be the charm as Ishii HEADBUTTS GOTO TO THE MAT! Whaaaattt?! After a few moments of hesitations, Ishii hits the ropes and LARIAT FROM GOTO! Hard hitting and fast paced is the best way to describe the action here as you can tell. After a showing of fighting spirit from Goto, Ishii is finally able to put him away with a hug brain buster and retain his NEVER Championship.

Match rating - ***1/2

After the match, Togi Makabe is checking on Goto when Ishii notices. Oh boy! I could see it coming and got hyped. Ishii steps over Goto right in front of Makabe, essentially placing his crotch in his face in a cocky manner. Makabe stands up and towers over Ishii while staring him down. LAWD! These two would meet in January of 2015 at WK9 and this was one hell of a teaser.

2) Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi vs. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI HASHI

ROH TV Review - Episode 209

As you already know if you keep up regularly with the blog, my ROH TV reviews have gotten out of order due to me catching an extra early viewing of NEXT week's episode. I went ahead and posted my review of that yesterday so be sure to give that look in prep for next week. However, now we have the much anticipated episode of ROH TV from tonight. I've been looking forward to the main event six man since it was announced so this should be a fun hour of pro wres.

1) Michael Elgin vs. Silas Young
Big Mike is back!! It's his first TV appearance since returning from Japan where he had quite the run in the 25th Annual G1 Climax. The internet buzz has clearly translated to the ROH fanbase as they've re-embraced him as well. This was reiterated by the pop that he got here. I like the choosing of Silas as his first opponent. Mainly because I've liked Silas forever, but yeah. Elgin shows off his power early to wow the crowd before Silas takes over after a DDT on the ring apron. Elgin is forced to be on the defensive at this point which was really the perfect set up for this match considering how popular Big Mike is at the time. Speaking of perfect, this was the exact comeback that Elgin needed in ROH. He broke out the inside out falcon arrow off the second rope that I completely lost my shit for. Silas kicks out in a huge nearfall. Elgin struggles to maintain control and ends up on the outside where Silas pulls back part of the mat. He sets Elgin up for something, BUT ELGIN POWERS HIM UP!! RUNNING POWERBOMB INTO THE RAILING! BIG MIKE!!! He rolls Silas back in the ring and ELGIN BOMB! This one's over!

Match rating - **3/4

2) ACH vs. Caprice Coleman

TNA Impact Wrestling - September 23rd, 2015

It's been yet another several week break from Impact for me and I barely felt inclined to tune back in. A recent wrestling kick drew me into watching plus the fact that they are going to start building towards their biggest PPV of the year tonight made me figure that tuning in was worth a shot. Currently, TNA is coming off their mini-feud with GFW. Last week, they won the war in a Lethal Lockdown match. Sadly, something I wanted to see ended up going bland just weeks into the story and I didn't even watch the blow off. Sigh. Anyways, here we are.

Dixie Carter opens the show. The roster is surrounding the ring and Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Bobby Lashley, & Bram are inside. Drew Galloway comes out and Dixie congratules him & the rest of the winning team. After this, she calls out Eric Young who goes ballistic and I loved it. Except for the random inclusion that he has some sort of iron clad contract with TNA which is going to keep Dixie from firing him. Those kind of things seem so fake and spur of the moment, but it is what it is. Dixie's punishment for him is giving Chris Melendez, the war hero who got his prostethic leg taken by EY, one more shot at revenge.

1) Eric Young vs. Chris Melendez
This happened. I've always enjoyed watching Melendez simply because he's a spectacle to see in the ring, but this wasn't anything special. The crowd wasn't very hype and you knew the inevitable was coming so I kind of just waited for it. Minutes later, it happens. Melendez gets the pin after a series of offense including a sweet dropkick off the second rope. Nice pop for him as he gets his leg back.

Match rating - **

2) Gail Kim (c) vs. Jade - Knockouts Title Match

ROH TV Review - Episode 210

This probably seems extremely odd and it is. I was scanning through my local channel that airs ROH hoping to find an early airing of this week's show since I missed the original early air time this weekend. I found just that except it turned out to be NEXT week's show. I haven't even seen the episode that will air on Destination America this coming Wednesday featuring Goto & The Briscoes against RPG Vice & Okada! I'm not complaining, though. This episode features Cole/Nakamura and Sydal/KUSHIDA so I am hyped. I just felt the need to let you all know what was up so no one would get confused. The reviews will be out of order, but I plan on covering this week's show as well. However, now is the time for the show that will air on the first of October 1. Let's get into it.

1) KUSHIDA vs. Matt Sydal
KUSHIDA & Sydal exhibit mat work and counters to start. The leg soon becomes the target of Sydal and as usual, KUSHIDA targets the arm as prep for the hoverboard lock. KUSHIDA gets the first real advantage by catching Sydal with a front rolling kick out of nowhere when Sydal was hitting the ropes. This allows KUSHIDA to hop up on the top rope and do his signature front flip to the outside on Sydal. They pretty much went into the finish sequence after this with several submission teases from hoverboard lock attempts by KUSHIDA and big moves like Sydal catching KUSHIDA with a REVERSERANA in the midst of a back hand spring into the ropes. I marked like crazy for that! Sydal only gets a two count and ends up getting caught in the hoverboard lock soon after this once again. He fights out and throws a number of strikes at KUSHIDA that knock him to the mat. This allows Sydal to ascend to the top rope and finally nail the shooting star press that he missed earlier in the evening. Fun match and a significant victory for Sydal who will be heading to New Japan for the first time ever in a few days.

Match rating - ***1/4

2) Moose vs. Adam Page vs. Takaaki Watanabe vs. Will Ferrara - Four Corner Survival Match

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - September 21st, 2015

The Wyatt Family kicks off the show. This is different. Bray talks before he's interrupted by the sound of Roman Reigns' music. Roman marches down to the ring as the crowd chants his name and challenges Wyatt to a match. Wyatt agrees and they start going at it, but there's no reg. It's weird because Harper & Strowman are at ringside. Wyatt & Reigns go through some stuff then Harper & Strowman run in. Dean Ambrose makes the save. It's three on two so The Wyatt Family is still in control. RANDY ORTON comes down to a good pop and even I got hyped for this. Nice comeback for him. He helps Ambrose & Reigns clean house. This was a pretty great brawl. They made Strowman look awesome and it was nice change of pace when compared to most Raw openings in recent months.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is backstage looking for Triple H & Steph. He walks into their office and it's Kane. Not Demon Kane that attacked him last night, it's Corporate Kane with mug in hand. Oh my. It looks like we have a split personality version of Kane on our hands and I love it. Rollins walks off confused after Kane informs us of Rollins getting his US Title rematch later tonight.

1) Neville & Lucha Dragons vs. Stardust & The Ascension
This is a rematch I wanted to see. Neville & the Dragons seem like such the perfect team, as do Stardust & The Ascension. For extremely different reasons, of course. They actually got a decent amount of time with a commercial break even being interjected into the match. Cool exchange happened before the commercial and we come back to Neville being worked over. This leads to Kalisto getting the hot tag and doing his thing. He hits his variation of the sliced bread on one of the members of The Ascension for the victory. Pretty fun for what it was.

Match rating - **1/2

Rollins finally finds HHH & Stephanie getting into the arena and he's freaking out about Kane. They simply tell him not to worry about it. They'll handle Kane and he needs to focus on his US Title Match tonight.

2) Ryback vs. Bo Dallas

BJW: Twin Towers vs. Strong BJ - 5/28/15 Review

Twin Towers (Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato) (c) vs. Strong BJ (Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi) - BJW Tag Team Title Match - 5/28/15

The champions, Ishikawa & Sato, make their entrance.

These two teams have reportedly been having an awesome series of contests so I'm stoked to finally get the chance to see one for myself. As you read above, the Big Japan Tag Team Titles are on the line and they are being fought for by four mammoths. I mean that in the best possible way because everyone in this match is a complete beast. Okabayashi & Ishikawa exemplify this in the opening sequence as they trade shoulder blocks with neither man budging until Okabayashi finally got the upperhand. Sekimoto is tagged in next followed by Sato who is undoubtedly the smallest man in this match.

Sekimoto uses his strength & size to grasp Sato in a headlock which he tries to fight out off in an intense struggle, but Sekimoto keeps it locked in before Sato rolls out and tries lock him in a cross armbreaker. BUT DEAR LORD, SEKIMOTO POWERS OUT AND LIFTS UP SATO. Sato gets out his grasp and kicks him in the leg which becomes his target for the next few moments. Sekimoto gets to the ropes then powers Sato into his corner where Okabyashi is tagged in. He's clearly thinking he has the upperhand as he throws chops & strikes at Sato. On the surface, Okabayashi would appear to be right then SATO THROWS AN ELBOW THAT SENDS OKABAYASHI TO THE MAT. Ishikawa gets tagged in and starts somewhat toying with Okabyashi and oh no, he fucked up. Okabayashi unleashes a fury of chops that backs Ishikawa into Strong BJ's corner. Sekimoto comes back in to go at it with Ishikawa then he hits a sensational dive and this leads to things sort of breaking down.

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - September 14th, 2015

SEASON PREMIERE OF RAW

A huge announcement was teased on Twitter from The Authority and it appears as if it's true as they come out to open the show. Most thought it would be a WrestleMania announcement, some hoped for a brand extension, but it turned out to be that of Sting wrestling on Raw for the first time ever later tonight. He will be facing... Big Show.. Alright. WCW THROWBACK NIGHT BOYS. Anyway, they talk about the Divas Title match and then introduce New Day for the tag title match. Stephanie starts dancing with New Day which is great then TRIPLE H STARTS DANCING WITH THEM AS WELL. Phenomenal stuff right there.

pic.twitter.com/hU2rLZrdXI

— DTAM (@DeathToAllMarks) September 15, 2015

1) The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston w/ Xavier Woods) vs. Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil & Darren Young) - WWE Tag Team Title Match
Something involving New Day never fails to be amazing so this was a super fun match. Woods still had the trumpet and the trashtalking down which exentuated everything Big E & Kofi did. Darren ends up getting isolated and taking a weird running kick to the back of the head on the apron. Titus gets the HOT TAG and it's still the best one in wrestling right now. He takes out Big E and starts rowling up the crowd. It rules so much. Outside, Kofi hits Darren with the trouble in paradise. Xavier gets on the apron with the trumpet and Titus rips a piece of it off! It costs him though and New Day hits their finisher for the win. This wasn't some epic tag match or anything, but it was your typical fun tag.

Match rating - ***

ROH TV Review - September 13th, 2015

It's the go home show before ROH returns to PPV for All Star Extravaganza and we kick things off with The House of Truth and REDRAGON!! Huge pop for them, from the crowd and from myself at home.

1) Donovan Dijak & J Diesel (w/ Jay Lethal) vs. ReDragon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish)
Oh my, the pop! Oh my, the feels! That's all I can say about what happened when ReDragon's music hit with Jay Lethal on commentary. The double main event for the upcoming PPV really feels big considering how over both O'Reilly & Fish are. It's almost like a completely new main event scene with Cole, Elgin, Steen, & Briscoe dominating for the past few years now we've got Lethal as double champ and the top tag team, ReDragon, heading into top of the card singles action on live PPV. None the less, this gets going and there's a pretty sweet exchange between O'Reilly & Diesel to begin that I never expected. Cool dynamic with Diesel having a boxing background and Kyle clearly being MMA influenced. This crowd is hot! And as if that's not enough, you've got Lethal killing it on commentary. I'm enjoying this too much as Fish tags out and in Lethal word's "takes the scenic route" as he walks behind him to get back to his corner. Moments later, Dijak slings O'Reilly out of the ring like a small child. Damn! Dijak controls things for his team for awhile then it breaks down. ReDragon starts cleaning house and Diesel ends up with a bloody nose. They do this AWESOME finishing spot with Fish locking Diesel in an ankle lock while O'Reilly stops Dijak from breaking it up by sinching in a chokehold. DOUBLE SUBMISSIONS! Diesel is bleeding from the nose as he taps out. This was a great builder towards the All Star Extravaganza main events. It made O'Reilly & Fish look like a vicious threat.

Match rating - ***1/4

 Silas Young cut a promo during the commercial break and it was fantastic. Dalton Castle is really the perfect dynamic for the Last Real Man. Silas says when he beats Castle at All Star Extravaganza and gets the boys, he's gonna teach them how to chop wood. That's all you need to know.

2) Cedric Alexander (w/ Veda Scott) vs. Dalton Castle

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - September 7th, 2015

Seth Rollins starts things off basically giving an overview of all that has went on in the past few weeks as a way of previewing Night of Champions. The US/WWE Champion vows to finish off Sting AND John Cena at the PPV. The crow "caw caw"'s and Sting pops up on the screen. He is seen with Rollins' statue and dares him to come get it. Oh boy. This is so generic. Sting disappears from the screen and Rollins is furious. Before he can say anything, Sheamus comes out with the Money in the Bank briefcase and warns him that he could end up having a total of three matches at NOC. Rollins once again looks completely out of his element which I believe is setting up for him to overcome just about all of it in some form or fashion.

1) Paige vs. Sasha Banks
I was excited for this yet I wasn't. Sasha is amazing, but Paige has been underwhelming for a while now. Their last meeting on Raw wasn't as good as expected so I had nothing to really look forward to here. Despite all this, I can say they had a solid match here that was better than their first meeting. There were a few awkward moments and they didn't pick up a lot of steam until the final sequence however once they got going it was decent. THEN the finish happened and it was meh in every sense of the term. What looked like a double pin is awarded to Sasha. One other minor thing that irked me was that Sasha's music played as soon as the bell rang BEFORE a winner was announced after a controversial pin. I'm no huge advocate for "keeping it kayfabe" so to speak, but c'mon.

Match rating - **1/2

2) Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns vs. The Ascension

WWE Smackdown Review - September 3rd, 2015

The New Day opens the show. YES! They have their #SaveTheTables signs out and are being awesome. The Dudley Boys interupt the trio and Bubba Ray destroys it on the mic like usual. As if things couldnt' get better, Prime Time Players make their way down and the long awaited Titus-Bubba exchange happens which leads to the first contest of the evening.

1) The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray & Devon) vs. The Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil & Darren Young)
Big E, Kofi, & Woods are on commentary for this which is great on it's own. The match itself was very enjoyable, though. They did an awesome staredown spot to lead into commercial and PTP looked right at home in there with Bubba & Devon. I actually liked this more than 3D/New Day from Raw. That match went a bit too long. This one could've stood having a few more minutes, but what we got in the time they were given was a lot of fun.

Match rating - **3/4

After ripping the commentary booth a new one, New Day marches around the ring while the Dudley's celebrate their victory. KOFI HITS THE RING FOR A CHEAP SHOT ON DEVON! The perfect chicken shit heel move! I loved it! Kofi scats away as Bubba & Devon stare them down.

2) Neville vs. Stardust

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - August 31st, 2015

Sting opens the show, exactly as advertised. It didn't do much for me at all considering I've never been a Sting fan, but it was still fairly cool to see. Basic promo albeit a bit weird considering the entire jist of it was Sting comparing Rollins to HHH and saying he's not half as good as him. I guess that's gonna be the story within The Authority heading into Night of Champions and Sting won't be around until possibly the go-home show?

1) Dolph Ziggler (w/ Lana) vs. Rusev (w/ Summer Rae)
SummerSlam rematch here. Ziggler gets a great pop that was probably equal to Sting's. He's been over for so long. I've oddly enjoyed this feud barring the first few weeks of it where Rusev became a crybaby although seeing him have his breakdown was pretty hilarious. Speaking of that, he had a small one here during the match which was hilarious. Rusev's been on the best in-ring run of his career here recently and Ziggler is Ziggler so this was very solid. They had a nice callback to the countout finish from SummerSlam only for both men to make it in just before the ten count. They created some good drama here as you can tell. Rusev goes for the accolade only for Ziggler slide under and hit the Zig Zag. Just as he covers Rusev, Summer Rae runs in to cause a DQ. Lana and Summer have another CATFIIIIIGHT before they're separated. It is clear they just used this to build towards the rumored mixed tag for NOC and not a blow off match with a clean finish.

Match rating - ***

2) Becky Lynch vs. Alicia Fox - Beat the Clock Series Match