Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Fave Five 7/25/16-7/31/16

1) Finn Balor: I badly wanted to put Sash Banks in first. So badly. However, I can't ignore what Finn Balor did this week. On his Raw debut, he made a massive impact. First off, he won the opening match of the night, defeating Cesaro, Kevin Owens and Rusev to earn a spot in the main event. The match was awesome (I gave it ****) and Finn pinned Rusev, which is something not many people have done. Then, after Roman Reigns advanced to the main event, Finn became only the second person to cleanly pin him in singles action. The win not only was a huge one over Reigns, but it thrust Finn into a marquee match at SummerSlam against Seth Rollins to determine the first ever WWE Universal Champion. This is huge for Finn and shows that the company has some faith in him.

2) Sasha Banks: I truly believe that Sasha Banks should have won the WWE Women's Title at WrestleMania. When that didn't happen, all signs pointed to SummerSlam. Instead, she was given a shot on the first post-draft Raw and delivered. Sasha hasn't had the best first year on the main roster and Charlotte has been mostly terrible as champion but it all came together on Monday. Sasha and Charlotte had one of their best matches ever, as if they were back in NXT. Sasha made her tap to the Bank Statement and became champion. I met Sasha at Comic-Con on the 29th and she had the title with her, looking so very happy to have it. Sasha also gets points for bringing out a spot in tribute of her all-time favorite, Eddie Guerrero, en route to winning.

3) Zack Sabre Jr.: Zack Sabre Jr. did his thing several times this week. First, he made his Cruiserweight Classic debut in the opening match of the week, defeating Tyson Dux. Sabre showcased his skills and pulled off some awesome moves throughout. Then, at PWG 13 he successfully defended his title against Kyle O'Reilly in a match that I HAVE to see. Roderick Strong came out afterwards to immediately cash in his rematch clause. Sabre also retained the title against him, making for two successful defenses in a row on one show.

4) Dolph Ziggler: After one of the most disappointing and lackluster 2015s, things have turned around for Dolph. Actually, I should say he was lackluster in all of 2016 so far too. However, despite doing nothing of note over the past year and a half and losing a feud to Baron Corbin, the WWE decided that Ziggler should get the WWE Title shot at SummerSlam. That's right, on the second biggest show of the year, Ziggler vs. Ambrose is the WWE Title match. Ziggler won a Six Pack Challenge on the first Smackdown Live, pinning AJ Styles of all people, to earn the shot. I disagree with the decision, but it is a big win for the "Showoff".

5) Takashi Sugiura: Won back the GHC Heavyweight Championship from Go Shiozaki.