Super J-Cup Finals

Super J-Cup Finals
August 21st, 2016 | Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan

Last month, NJPW held the first round of the Super J-Cup, binging it back for the first time in years. Here, a lengthy card featured the next three rounds and talent from around Japan was on hand to compete. I wish we got more shine from other promotions (Dragon Gate, AJPW, etc.) but the rest of the tournament itself is NJPW and NOAH.

BUSHI, Gurukun Mask and Kaji Tomato def. David Finlay, Eita and Yuma Aoyagi in 7:59
Five of the six men involved here got eliminated from the tournament on night one. I want to be as happy as Kaji Tomato one day. He’s just so much fun. As expected, this was very fast paced. BUSHI didn’t seem too pleased with his teammates, even tripping Tomato to tag himself in at one point. Gurukun Mask returned the favor by throwing him outside after a tag. BUSHI and Tomato got into a shoving match, leading to Eita taking Tomato out with a tope con hilo. BUSHI took Finlay inside and beat him with the leaping Codebreaker. I dug the story of BUSHI not wanting anything to do with his partners. Eita and Finlay looked really good and Tomato is just a blast. ***¼

Post-match, BUSHI spit mist at Tomato and ripped Gurukun Mask’s mask off.

Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: Taichi def. Jushin Thunder Liger via countout in 3:01
Taichi got his absurdly long entrance. Look, if you’re gonna take forever in your entrance, at least have it be entertaining. Desperado came out and attacked Liger beforehand, giving Taichi the advantage. Even after the bell rings, Desperado gets involved and the referee kind of just watches. All three men ended up fighting in the crowd and Desperado literally held Liger down so Taichi could beat the count. Bad match, worse finish and shit booking. The referee looked like an incompetent fool. Also, this ruined any chance at Liger and KUSHIDA rematching their Wrestling Dontaku outing in the next round. Good going. DUD

Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: KUSHIDA def. Kenoh in 10:30
Maybe it was because of the previous match, but the crowd didn’t really seem to get into this one. Lots of empty seats too. I don’t think they ran the entire building since it holds about 12,000 and they drew just over 3,000. KUSHIDA didn’t work the arm too much, which seemed unlike him. Kenoh fired off some kicks and even countered a cross armbreaker attempt into an ankle lock. KUSHIDA kicked out of a dragon suplex and diving double stomp at one but the crowd barely registered it. He survived some kicks and won after turning the Hoverboard Lock into an armbar. Pretty good but I wanted a bit more. The crowd hurt this way more than it helped. ***

Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Ryusuke Taguchi in 9:27
I’m still questioning why Taguchi not only made the BOTSJ finals but why he advanced in this tournament too. Taguchi is rough on a normal basis and, while I haven’t seen a ton of Kanemaru, he did not look motivated at all here. He did a DDT on the exposed floor outside and got little to no reaction. That was honestly the high point of this match. The rest of the way saw Kanemaru hold serve in boring fashion, while Taguchi used ass based offense to try and rally. After a low and spinning Brainbuster, Kanemaru advanced. Boring match that didn’t interest me at all. *¼

Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: Matt Sydal def. Will Ospreay in 12:45
Look Gedo and Jado, we’re not stupid. You can say these guys represent ROH and Chaos, but they’re just NJPW guys. Lots of flips and counters in a fast paced start in this one. It was interesting to see Sydal try and ground Ospreay. It’s not usually a strong part of his game but he tried several submissions to keep him down. That didn’t stop Will from flying around and hitting a sweet dive to the outside. They both busted out some big, impressive kicks at different points. Sydal scored on a reverse rana and won with the Shooting Sydal Press in what has to be considered a bit of an upset. This was good and the best thing so far, but they’re capable of better. So far, the second half of Ospreay’s 2016 hasn’t been anywhere near as quality as the first. ***½

Caristico, Titan and Volador Jr. def. Euforia, Gran Guerrero and Ultimo Guerrero in 15:21
Titan went out in the first round, while Volador Jr. had a good showing in the BOTSJ earlier this year. The pace in this one was pretty fast for the most part. They were looking to get all of their shit in. Lots of triple team moves from the Guerrero team. They did one where they all picked up their opponents in one seemingly giant submission, which was interesting. The opposing team came back with dives outside that Volador capped with a big rana. They continued to have a spot heavy match, which was fine since it is what you expect from them. It went a little long for what they were doing to me though. Volador got the win for his guys with a super Spanish Fly. Good match. Volador felt like the star here. ***

Super J-Cup Semi-Finals: KUSHIDA def. Taichi in 9:56
Taichi chose to take a while for entrance again and then attack KUSHIDA during his. Even with that upper hand, Taichi spent a good chunk of the match bullshitting. He’d hide behind his lady friend, distract the referee and allow Desperado to get in a ton of work on KUSHIDA. He choked KUSHIDA with weapons and it was typical Suzuki-Gun stuff. KUSHIDA eventually turned the tide and somersaulted onto both Suzuki-Gun members. Taichi tapped to the Hoverboard Lock but Desperado was back up and distracting the referee. After all of that, it was a small package that got KUSHIDA the win, which is disappointing since he should have had a more definitive win. Too much bullshit for my taste. It’s just like when the Bullet Club interferes a ton and ruins stuff. I get that they’re heels but there’s a limit. The worst KUSHIDA match I’ve seen in quite some time. They beat him up after the bell too. *½

Super J-Cup Semi-Finals: Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Matt Sydal in 9:52
Continuing a trend of the night, something about this didn’t fully click with me. Kanemaru again didn’t seem to care much and came off as unmotivated once again. I’m not a big Sydal fan but bless him, he tried here. He did his best to put some spirit into the match and rally against Kanemaru’s dull offense. Sydal’s spark was fun and he went up for the Shooting Sydal Press, but Kanemaru got his knees up. Shortly after, Kanemaru hit a DDT and spinning Brainbuster to make it to the finals. Not a bad match, but nothing to write home about. **½

GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada (c) def. ACH and Taiji Ishimori in 12:32
ACH and Taiji Ishimori recently won the Jr. Tag tournament in NOAH to earn this shot. More than anything else on the card, this was the match I was most excited about. Right off the bat, ACH and Ishimori were in control and hit dives outside. The fans seemed to appreciate the athleticism of ACH. The challengers busted out a sweet ace crusher tandem move but the pin was broken up. The teams traded stuff with neither gaining a clear advantage throughout. ACH may have been the star, wowing the fans several times. He was one of the few things they reacted to all night. I was surprised to see how well the challengers worked together since I don’t think they’ve teamed up often. They went for stereo 450 splashes but the champs got their knees up. There were several close calls until ACH ran into a brutal knee. With him out, the champions hit a flurry of offense on Ishimori, capped by tiger and German suplexes to retain. The best thing on the show. The NOAH juniors division is really good at times and this was one of them. ACH looked great, Ishimori was his usual impressive self and the champions are, hands down, the best Jr. tag not named reDRagon (or maybe even MCMG). A hotter crowd would have put this over the hump. ***¾

After the match, the Booking Disasters, Gedo and Jado, challenged Momo No Seishun to a GHC Jr. Tag Title match, which seemed to be accepted.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (c) def. The Motor City Machine Guns in 16:01
Stop me if you’ve seen this match before. I love the Machine Guns and I hate the Young Bucks. It was great to see Alex Shelley back in Japan. The Bucks wore tights that had tons of photos of Dave Meltzer’s face on them. Ever since they named a move after him, he’s had a non-stop wrestle boner for them. Expect this match to get at least 4.25 stars from him. Anyway, this was standard fare for these teams. They both went through the spots they’re known for. I’m not going to put too much effort into recapping this because it was exactly what you’d expect from them. It’s fine stuff but I’ve seen it too many times. They both had close calls, but an Indytaker on the outside and Meltzer Driver inside ended things. Others will rate this higher but I didn’t love it. It was good but not their best work together, which I don’t even that great. **¾ 

Post-match, the Young Bucks stated that they were coming for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles. I’d normally be more upset, but the heavyweight titles mean as little as the junior ones at this point, so I don’t give a shit either way.

Super J-Cup Finals: KUSHIDA def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru in 19:55
The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion against the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion. NOAH vs. NJPW continues. Kanemaru had Suzuki-Gun with him, so KUSHIDA brought Taguchi and Liger. This got off to a good start, with Kanemaru actually looking interested in putting forth some effort. He worked over KUSHIDA and wore him down, playing off of the Suzuki-Gun beatdown earlier in the night. KUSHIDA began the comeback and nailed a somersault to the outside. He even busted out what I believe was a stardust press but TAKA pulled the referee out. It was time for Suzuki-Gun bullshit. The referee ejected everyone and as he was doing that, Taichi showed up through the crowd to attack KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA still rallied and eventually applied the Hoverboard Lock. Taichi tried to intervene again but Taguchi showed up to hit an ass attack. Seeing he had no more hope, Kanemaru tapped. Though I understood the idea behind all of the interference, I would have rather had a straight up finals in a tournament this prestigious. I didn’t watch the G1 Finals this year, but I’m pretty sure Omega didn’t win thanks to a ton of interference. Anyway, other than that, the match was good and the right guy went over. KUSHIDA is the ace of the juniors and this helps to solidify it, even though he didn’t have a great night of matches. ***¼

In a nice moment, Alex Shelley came out to congratulate his buddy and former partner as KUSHIDA celebrated.

Overall: 5/10. This show was long and it felt even longer. The tournament matches ranged from shitty to pretty good and nothing stood out. The multi-man tags were both pretty good, while the two Jr. Tag Title matches were split. The Bucks/MCMG was more of the same, but the NOAH one ruled and was the match of the night. The Super J-Cup was not only strangely booked but it was a severe disappointment and was extremely underwhelming.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic 8/24/16 Review

WWE Cruiserweight Classic
August 24th, 2016 | Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida

The show began by showing the reveal of the CWC trophy that we saw during TakeOve this past weekend.

That was followed by recaps of Akira Tozawa, Noam Dar and The Brian Kendrick advancing to the second round.

Rich Swann def. Lince Dorado in 8:12
Super fast paced start with both guys showcasing their athleticism. Lince stopped Swann from dancing to bust his own move, doing a little Alex Wright. Things got more serious as the match progressed and they began throwing harder shots. The crowd was firmly behind Swann. He went for his very impressive standing 450 splash but Dorado got his knees up. Commentary hammered home these guys knowing each other well and having to pull out something new to win. Dorado missed a shooting star press and Swann won with a fantastic phoenix splash. Really fun, high impact opener. Considering Gulak/Sabre is on this card, something fast paced like this is a great idea. This was a ton of fun. ***1/2

Footage from Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa losing at TakeOver airs. Gargano is interviewed and knows that he's a favorite to win it all and doesn't want to let anyone down. He's going to pour his heart out tonight and do whatever it takes to come one step closer to winning. Ciampa was there with him.

Zack Sabre Jr. def. Drew Gulak in 8:26
No handshake from Gulak who chose to slap Zack's hand instead. These two guys just chose to torture each other with various vicious submissions that bent the arms and body in ways they shouldn't. Gulak started to target the leg with an ankle lock and body slam into the ropes that particularly hurt Sabre's ankle. Sabre went after the arm with his signature submissions.They graduated up to some very hard slaps and strikes. In the end, counter after counter led to Sabre applying a fancy pinning combination that got him the win. He meets Noam Dar in the quarter finals. A really good battle of two guys doing great mat work. ***3/4

TJ Perkins def. Johnny Gargano in 12:19
This is easily the match I'm most excited for in this tournament outside of Ibushi/Alexander. This ruled. The crowd was into both guys despite Gargano being more established. Commentary talked about Gargano's knee being banged up from TakeOver even though this was recorded way earlier. Cool points for that though. Gargano had the knee taped up and banged it in a spot here to make it not only play off of the Brooklyn match but make sense with this as a stand alone match. Gargano sold the hell out of the leg, failing on the lawn dart on his first try before connecting on his second, in brutal fashion. Perkins went for his knee bar a few times and finally got it latched in. Gargano nearly reached the ropes but Perkins fully locked it in to advance. I dug the surprise result and Gargano continues to play one of the best resilient babyfaces in all of wrestling. I might rate this higher than some but I'm a big fan of both guys and really enjoyed this, so screw it. ****

The quarterfinals are set. Akira Tozawa vs. Gran Metalik, Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Noam Dar and TJ Perkins vs. Rich Swann.

Overall: 9/10. Another standout episode. Three good to great matches and the hour of wrestling just completely flew by. You get a good, fun spot fest opener, a technical battle in the middle and then a great mixture of both to close things out. This tournament continues to be awesome.

Fave Five 8/15/16-8/21/16

1) AJ Styles: Sure there were championships won and history made but one thing stood out during the weekend and that was AJ Styles vs. John Cena. Their match at Money in the Bank was great but this one proved to be much better. It was a straight up one on one match that saw Styles pick up the biggest win of his young WWE career. He didn't just beat John Cena, he beat him cleanly. That's something only a handful of people (HBK, HHH, Owens, Khali, Batista and a few others) have been able to do. He became the second man to kick out of the super Attitude Adjustment. Cena looked at him as if to say "maybe you really are better than me". Styles then won and continued his great 2016. That need to put the WWE Title on him before the year is over. He truly is the best wrestler on the planet in my eyes.

2) The Revival/Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa: I just had to give both teams equal credit this week. Outside of the Styles/Cena match, the weekend was stolen by the Revival and Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. The Revival had a tremendous series of matches with American Alpha earlier in the year and I enjoyed this match at TakeOver: Brooklyn more than any of those. Gargano and Ciampa had the crowd in the palm of their hands and it was their best performance in WWE. The Revival continued to make a case for best tag team in the world. They just get it. In a world where everyone is all "WRESTLING IS EVOLVING, WE WANT NEW", they work 80's style tag matches and it's fucking awesome. This was the best tag team match I've seen all year long.

3) Finn Balor: History was made at SummerSlam. Raw debuted their new, ugly title, the WWE Universal Championship and Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to win it. The match was really good, but just shy of being great. Balor's win was not only historic for winning the title, but for being the first man to win a top title in his first ever Pay-Per-View match. I don't think he's quite ready yet (still needs a fair amount of character work mainly), but kudos to the WWE for having the balls to actually pull the trigger on someone instead of drawing it out for too long. Balor is now the face of Raw just one month after his main roster debut.

              4) Shinsuke Nakamura: On a lesser week, Shinsuke Nakamura's NXT Championship win would rank higher. It was the first title win for Nakamura since coming over to the WWE back in April. Within a few months, he found himself headlining their biggest show of the year in front of their biggest crowd ever. Nakamura got star treatment with a big time entrance featuring a live violin player. The match itself is what kept him from ranking higher. Don't get me wrong, he and Samoa Joe had a good one, but it was rather disappointing. The guys that competed in the other matches on this list all did better in my eyes. Either way, the foreseeable future of NXT is in Nakamura's hands. 

5) KUSHIDA: The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion won the Super J-Cup, winning three matches on the final night.

WWE SummerSlam Review

WWE SummerSlam
August 21st, 2016 | Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York

I'll breeze through the Kickoff Show here. First, there was the 12 man tag rematch from Smackdown. It was mostly a carbon copy except that the Usos stole the pin from American Alpha and teased a heel turn. Fun little match that went 14:29. **¾. Next up, Sami Zayn and Neville teamed up to defeat the Dudleys in 7:55. Zayn and Neville were fun as a team but it's a terrible place for Sami coming off of his incredible Battleground performance. **¼. To end the Kickoff Show, Sheamus bested Cesaro to start their Best of Seven Series with a Brogue Kick at 14:09. It was good old fashioned, hard hitting match that would have fit right in the G1 Climax earlier this month. ***½

JeriKO def. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady in 12:08
Enzo and Cass starting the show was the right call. They were incredibly over in New York and had the crowd singing within minutes. The match itself was mostly formulaic but what made this work was the men involved. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens just nailed every antic, while Enzo and Cass are always fun. Enzo took a beating until Big Cass got to get the tag and do his thing. It ended up leading to Enzo back as the legal man, where he took a popup Codebreaker combo from the heels that ended it. A lot of people weren’t happy with the result but I predicted that to possibly set a rematch or multi-team match at Clash of the Champions. Good match that got a boost from the personalities involved. ***

WWE Women’s Championship: Charlotte def. Sasha Banks (c) in 13:51
Their match on Raw last month got four stars from me, as did two of their NXT matches. Something about this one never quite got going. I think one thing that hurt it was Charlotte dropping Sasha on her head from the top rope in the first few minutes. After that, it seemed like Sasha was shaken up and things were a bit awkward. Charlotte wasn’t done botching there, however, the second half of this match picked things up. These two hit each other hard and went for broke on some big spots. I have to commend them for righting the ship following the horrible starting stretch. Sasha went for the Bank Statement in the end, but Charlotte rolled over and got the pin. At first glance, putting the title on Charlotte is horrible. Her 309 day reign was unbelievably boring. However, reports came in that Sasha has a bad lower back and is hurt. There are no babyfaces on Raw so I assume Bayley gets the call up to save us from Charlotte. Good match that had a slow start to keep it from great. ***¼
WWE Intercontinental Championship: The Miz (c) w/ Maryse def. Apollo Crews in 5:44
Right off the bat, it was clear that the crowd just didn’t care about this. Add in that two super popular babyfaces lost in the opening matches and they were killed early. It was a decent midcard match but lacked a ton. It didn’t help that the build to this was almost non-existent. Crews did fine in the ring but still needs more from a character standpoint outside of smiling bald guy. Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale to win after Crews missed a stinger splash. This was there. Maryse’s outfit was easily the highlight. **

AJ Styles def. John Cena in 23:10
The match between these two at Money in the Bank was great and bordered on the next level until the Club got involved and it took away from it. There was none of that here. This was two of the best wrestlers of the past decade just having a match and it delivered. They built a match about pure determination to be the best and it just worked. It did follow the typical Cena formula of big near falls and finisher kick outs at points but not too much to the point where it distracted me. They countered each other and nailed tons of huge moves. When Cena hit the super AA, I legitimately thought it was over. Styles kicked out and Cena sold the disbelief perfectly. It was as if he knew, right there, that Styles was the better man. A Styles Clash and Phenomenal Forearm later and Styles joined a short list of men who pinned Cena cleanly. The right decision to end a tremendous match. The score may go up after a second watch but even without that, I loved almost everything about this. ****½

WWE Tag Team Championship: Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows def. The New Day (c) via disqualification in 9:09
Big E was out so it was Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston here. Jon Stewart did the intro for New Day and it was all pretty awkward. I was excited for this match originally, but they underwhelmed in a big way here. The match wasn’t too bad but there was nothing really to it. I also wasn’t a big fan of the comedy. The build-up has been funny but the Club bringing out the jars for the testicles was too much. It felt like they were more interested in that than actually winning the titles. The match dragged along until the challengers tried to crotch Stewart only for Big E to run and make the save, leading to the DQ. I love New Day and know they’re about to hit a year with the titles, but I think now was the time to make the switch. Disappointing match for sure. *¾

WWE Championship: Dean Ambrose (c) def. Dolph Ziggler in 15:18
Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan sat at ringside and kept these two apart before the bell. I question the placement of this match also. Ambrose, despite being way more popular, played the heel for the most part. He mocked Ziggler’s superkick and poses, while basically toying with him at times. It felt like Dean’s character believed Dolph was beneath him, which has been stated during the build, but Dolph never did anything throughout to step up to his level. The story seemed to call for Dolph to make a big rally and fall just short. Instead, it all felt flat. Add in the quiet crowd and it all just never clicked the way it needed to. I honestly think they may have reached a point where the fans just don’t buy Dolph as a threat anymore. This never felt like an important title match. **¾

Alexa Bliss, Natalya and Nikki Bella def. Becky Lynch, Carmella and Naomi in 11:04
With the recent Eva Marie suspension, the heel team was left without a partner. After teasing Eva, Nikki Bella made her return to a pretty great pop. I’m a man, so I will point out that nearly every woman in this match looked great. I appreciate that they were given a fair amount of time and did well with it. Having Nikki involved made the crowd more interested in this I think. My biggest issue was that not everyone got a chance to shine. I didn’t feel like Alexa specifically meant anything. It was built around Nikki and her return. I would have liked to see Alexa get the pin but the returning Nikki won with a TKO on Carmella. Fine match but odd placement on the card too. It wasn’t earth shattering but everyone did well and it made for entertaining stuff. **½

WWE Universal Championship: Finn Balor def. Seth Rollins in 19:24
Putting this on before the United States Title match gives the feel that Roman Reigns isn’t in the title picture, but he’s still more important. Finn’s demon look was one of my favorites ever with cool face paint and a green tongue drawn on. This came off as a bigger deal than the earlier title match. After Finn tried his finish early, things slowed down with Finn taking a bit of a beating, including a power bomb into the guardrail which seemed to hurt his elbow. The crowd hurt this because they spent a fair amount of time chanting among themselves and discussing or booing the ugly Universal Title. The final stretch was really good though, with Balor kicking out of God’s Last Gift and a Pedigree. He countered a second attempt, hit a double stomp and then a bigger Coup de Grace to become the champion. I prefer Seth but I’m glad they had the balls to pull the trigger on Balor. They overcame the bad crowd and got them back with a hot ending and clean win. ***¾

Instead of Roman Reigns vs. Rusev again, we got a big brawl and a match that never really started. They beat each up and Rusev kicked ass. But the BIG DOG can’t stay down, so he turns it around and attacks Rusev with a chair. Even after Rusev was down, Roman continued the assault and Rusev was deemed unfit to compete. At least it kept the show from running over since the WWE can’t manage a six hour show.

Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman def. Randy Orton via ref stoppage in 11:44
I really enjoy watching Brock Lesnar when he actually tries. The thing is, I don’t think he does anymore. He sabotaged the Dean Ambrose match to preserve himself for UFC and this was just the same thing he’s done for a while now. I had high hopes for his matches with Seth Rollins, Ambrose and Randy Orton, but none of them really delivered. Orton took a beating and went through a table before hitting Brock with an RKO on the table. He also hit his DDT and a second RKO but Brock kicked out. I THOUGHT IT ONLY TOOK ONE RKO RANDY! Brock wailed away n Orton and busted him open horribly with an elbow. Orton just laid in a pool of his own blood. Brock went back on the attack and the referee had to stop things. Typical Brock stuff but I do give credit for the finish being somewhat different. **¼

Brock continue to attack so Shane stepped in to stop this. Brock wouldn’t let him walk past and picked him up before planting him with the F5.

Overall: 6/10. These six hour shows are too much. I love pro wrestling but it is way too much. The show always drags at points and the WWE can’t seem to ever book these right. They also make odd decision and place matches in strange places. It happened at Mania and again here. There was some good (Finn/Seth, Sheamus/Cesaro, JeriKO/Enzo and Cass for example) and one phenomenal match (AJ/Cena) but the main event was underwhelming along with a few other matches.

WWE SummerSlam Predictions

I actually recently said that I wanted the best of seven series to return. However, I didn't want it like this. Don't get me wrong, Sheamus and Cesaro should have some really good matches throughout. I just didn't like that they've already had two in recent weeks that weren't part of it. Also, I want there to be some sort of reward for winning. Now, it's just them facing each other for the sake of it. Have the winner earn a United States or even Universal Title shot.

Winner: Sheamus

It will be interesting to see what they do with this match now that Eva Marie is suspended. I'd actually really like it if Nikki Bella returned and took her spot. I grew to kind of like her before her injury. Anyway, the Smackdown women's division is pretty interesting after a rough fist week or so. As much as I love Carmella and Becky Lynch, I also really like Alexa Bliss. If we get a Nikki return, which I kind of expect, I say the heels win.

Winners: Alexa Bliss' team

There is a lot of potential in this being the most fun match of the night. There is just something so captivating about Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, while the JeriKO duo is all kinds of awesome. The promos involving both teams have been great and I hope for similar stuff from the match itself. It's tough to pick a winner here. I believe Enzo and Cass are in line for a Tag Title run soon but I'm gonna say JeriKO wins here and we get a rematch at Clash of the Champions, where Enzo and Cass win.

Winners: JeriKO

While I firmly believe he needs more character development, I really like Apollo Crews. Captain BALD HEAD is just a joy and his in-ring work is strong. This is easily the biggest opportunity of his young career. Not only for the Intercontinental Title but on the second biggest show of the year. All that being said, I say the Miz retains. For one, he continues to excel in every role the company gives him (except for his horrible babyface run). For another, the build to this has lacked. I could see Apollo doing very well and giving Miz all sorts of trouble before Miz finds a way to retain. I expect Crews to be champion soon, but not at SummerSlam.

Winner: The Miz

Over the past year, Rusev has become one of the most entertaining people on the entire roster. Roman Reigns had some highlights in 2015, but 2016 has been a down year outside of one or two matches. The WWE had potential here because Reigns and Rusev could have a good old fashioned, hard hitting battle. Instead, the rivalry has seen Reigns make bad jokes while Rusev defends his wife's honor. Yet we're supposed to boo him and cheer Roman. Also, giving away the match on Raw this past Monday, with a totally clean finish, was stupid. After taking losses to Rollins, Balor and Ambrose, I think Reigns' punishments are over and he gets a run with the title here, even though I don't want that.

Winner: Roman Reigns

The time is up for the New Day. Their first title reign should have never ended, but their second one has gone on long enough. I'm not saying that I don't want them to continue to have success or that I think they're stale, I just think that Gallows and Anderson should win it here. They're the hot new team, New Day has held the gold for a year and if my predictions of Enzo and Cass winning the titles soon is to come true, taking them from the heel Anderson and Gallows makes more sense. Hopefully, this will be the breakout match the former Bullet Club members need in their WWE run. Plus, without Big E, there will be reasoning for the New Day to ask for a rematch.

Winners: Gallows and Anderson

This is how John Cena programs go lately. He loses the first match (which he did to AJ, Rusev, Owens and Rollins in the past year) before not only beating them back but beating them back several times over. I don't think AJ gets buried here but this loss is going to hurt. He's already just 2-4 on PPVs, not counting the Royal Rumble, and considering their recent promos, I just get the feeling that this loss will hurt. it would be great if AJ got the win here and could truly throw it in Cena's face. Instead, the WWE won't allow that to happen and Cena will make AJ eat his words after another great match. Another note of recent Cena feuds is that the best match usually happens first and things get progressively worse (Rusev, Owens and Rollins again).

Winner: John Cena

Originally, I thought this is where Sasha would win the title. Well actually, I thought WrestleMania was the time but the WWE blew that and gave us more months of Charlotte's dreadfulness. Sasha ended up winning the title on the excellent first post-draft Raw and it was wonderfully done. This should be another good to great match between the girls. Part of me could see Charlotte regain the title because, WWE. The other part though feels like it is finally Sasha's time and she needs to have a good title reign. She should win and defend the gold against both Raw and Smackdown girls, especially since Raw is just Nia Jax and Dana Brooke outside of these two.

Winner: Sasha Banks

File this under matches I never thought would happen at SummerSlam in 2016. Dolph Ziggler might as well be Mr. 2013. His 2015 was atrocious following WrestleMania. Just lackluster effort after lackluster effort and it continued into 2016. However, kudos to the Smackdown crew for actually making me care about this. I don't think Dolph should be ANYWHERE near the WWE Championship at this point though hopefully this feud can reignite him. Dean needs to retain and solidify his reign. Make sure he's THE man for Smackdown until dropping the title to AJ Styles down the line.

Winner: Dean Ambrose

First off, the Universal Title name is pretty dumb. With that out of the way, I can focus on the match itself. This is one of the toughest title matches to predict in a very long time. On the one hand, Seth Rollins makes for a great first champion. He's established, has credibility, is great in the ring, good on the mic and would make sense as a top heel running with the gold. However, Finn Balor is showing up as the "Demon". That changes things. Not because I believe he's some different entity in the paint but because I think it would be a mistake for the WWE to have the Demon lose his first main roster match. Either Finn wins the title super fast and gets another one over on Seth or Seth kills the Demon gimmick in one shot. I say the WWE goes with the latter. Should be a great match though.

Winner: Seth Rollins

The WWE is hyping this match like it is something incredible. Randy Orton has indeed been enjoyable since his return, but I'm sure once he's done feuding with new guys (Brock, Bray, AJ) we'll get unmotivated, lackluster Orton again. Brock walked away from his drug issue with no consequences, so I could see why a lot of people think he may eat a pin here. I don't see it. I think it would be a waste of everything done with Brock to have him get pinned by Orton, who is already established. Plus, they gave a tease for Orton/Wyatt on Smackdown and that feud can happen after Orton loses anyway. Brock should lose soon, but not to Orton.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

2016 Prediction Record: 36-21

2015 Prediction Record: 60-35

TakeOver: Back to Brooklyn Review

The main show begins with a video of the way Triple H opened TakeOver: Brooklyn last week. Highlights from that night are shown. Several NXT stars, including Joe, Nakamura, Roode, Asuka, Bayley, Jose and others are shown sitting down talking about where they were a year ago. Gargano was in a random city, Dawson didn’t have the title and Roode didn’t expect to be here. Joe and Bayley mention being at last year’s show. Nakamura says he watched the show live. Multiple people say they’re going to take over, with Bayley going last and adding “again”.

Apparently they have more fans this time than last. Tom Phillips and Corey Graves handle commentary.

Austin Aries vs. No Way Jose

The crowd loudly sings along to Jose’s theme. HE HAS A CONGA LINE WITH HIM! Aries also gets a major pop. Go behind from Aries who takes Jose down and slaps him on the back before talking smack. Jose tries to attack but Aries backs into the corner. Jose does get in some shots that play into his anger. Aries hops over and avoids a shot, taking a powder outside. Aries goads him into a chase and gets in a kick but Jose answers with a right hand. Jose follows with a double axe handle off the apron. He then shoves Aries into the apron. Back inside, Jose gets in more shots but runs into a back elbow. Aries drops jose’s throat across the top rope, taking control. Snapmare from Aries, who steps on Joe’s face and comes off the middle rope with an elbow to the back of the neck, getting a near fall. Jose fights back but eats another elbow and Aries hits a jumping one for two. Jose sends Aries over the top, which would have been a DQ in old WCW/NWA days. He smashes his face into the turnbuckle twice and hits two double chops. Aries hits a kneebreaker and turns it right into Last Chancery to a big ovation. Jose crawls and reaches the ropes to break it. They have an awkward missed forearm spot. Aries misses a roaring elbow and takes a TKO for two. Aries knocks Jose outside and hits the heat seeking missile.Aries hits a neckbreaker on the ropes and corner dropkick. He goes for a brainbuster but Jose counters into a falcon arrow. HE DID THE DEAL for two. Roaring elbow connects but Jose comes back with a clothesline. He goes for his finish but Aries backs him into the corner. He tries again but Aries counters into a crucifix bomb. Corner dropkick connects for another near fall. Aries goes up top but Jose stops him. Jose wants a superplex and they fight up top. Aries wins out with a sunset flip bomb and Last Chancery goes back on. Jose taps.

Winner: Austin Aries in 10:40

Enjoyable match and the best I’ve seen from Jose so far. He did good in his first real test. The right guy went over, Jose looked impressive and this was a lot of fun. ***1/4

Aries attacks after the match and slaps the submission back on. HIDEO ITAMI’S THEME HITS! He comes out in a dapper ass suit. Aries starts in on attacking him. Itami lays him out with a ton of strikes and kicks. The pop he gets for hitting the GTS is unreal!

Ric Flair is shown in the front row.

Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura are shown in their respective locker rooms getting ready. Nakamura is with Funaki and Kota Ibushi.

Billie Kay vs. Ember Moon

Billie has new music. Ember gets a good pop. They lock up and Billie works a headlock. Ember gets free to work the arm. Ember lands on her feet on a hip toss attempt and hits her own. The camera focuses on her red contacts. She tries a crucifix bomb but Billie holds on and grabs the hair. She hits a big shot for two and clubs Ember in the back. Ember ducks a clothesline and hits a springboard cross body for two. Billie nails Eat Defeat for a near fall of her own. Billie struggles to get her up so she clubs away again and works a Canadian style back breaker submission. When Ember doesn’t tap, Billie tries two pins for near falls. Ember rolls her up for two and they trade blows. Ember elbows free of her grasp and nails a back elbow. She hits a spin kick, neckbreaker and suplex. Kip up from Ember who follows with a handsping attack. She goes up and hits the diving stunner and that’s all.

Winner: Ember Moon in 4:33

Mostly a squash, which I figured it would be. I think they could have a better match if given more time. This was meant to be the Ember showcase, while allowing Billie to hit some of her stuff. It accomplished the goal. **1/4

Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Bobby Roode

GLORIOUS! The crowd actually sings along to Bobby’s incredible theme. The crowd wants on part of Almas. A “this is glorious” chant starts. The crowd is pretty much 95% in Roode’s corner. He applies a wristlock, which Almas uses athleticism to get out of. Roode turns it to a headlock and outsmarts Almas by holding the ropes and causing him to miss a dropkick. Roode takes time to pose. Roode sends Almas to the ropes and he latches on like a spider, posing back to Roode. Basement dropkick by Almas but the crowd just doesn’t care. He snaps off a rana to send Roode outside and follows with an interesting baseball slide. Almas frustrates Roode by athletically getting over the ropes and posing again. Roode crotches him up top, causing him to fall hard. Roode hits a stalling vertical suplex for two. Almas dropkicks Roode off the top and sends him outside. He follows with a springboard corkscrew plancha. Cross body from Almas gets two. Almas fires off shots in the corner and signals for the double knees. Roode is up and takes his head off with a lariat. Roode seems to want a super German but Almas knocks him off. He gets up and tries it but Almas lands on his feet and hits a straightjacket suplex for two. Andrade tries a double moonsault but Roode gets the knees up. Almas counters a fisherman suplex into an inside cradle for two. They trade shots to cheers and boos. Almas wins out and hits a wheel kick in the corner. Double knees connect but Roode blocks the hammerlock DDT with a big uppercut. Roode runs into a boot but then hits a massive spinebuster. Roode signals for the end and hits a pumhandle slam that he calls the Glorious Bomb to win.

Winner: Bobby Roode in 10:23

Probably the best Almas has looked since his debut. The spectacle of Roode itself was five stars but the match itself wasn’t. It was pretty good though. ***

A strange vignette airs that shows a gate and graffiti on it that says “SANITY”.

Earlier today, Triple H had a meeting involving a big surprise regarding the CWC. It ends on 9/14 by the way. The men from Orange County Choppers made the trophy, which HHH revealed along with the guys. It’s pretty cool. It looks black for the most part, with a silver globe on top. Some remaining CWC participants (Swann, Ibushi, Dar, Kendrick) as well as the Orange County Chopper guys and Mauro are all shown in the front row.

In the back, Tommaso Ciampa hands Johnny Gargano a light blue shirt that basically says “DIY” since they do it themselves. Something like that.

NXT Tag Team Championship: The Revival (c) vs. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa

The crowd seems way into Gargano and Ciampa. I guess their team name is DIY since “nobody will do it for you.” Dawson starts with Ciampa and they lock up but break away quickly. Dawson targets the left arm but Ciampa goes after the same part. Big chop from Dawson and the Revival end up taking a breather to talk strategy. “Let’s go Ciampa” chants. Once back in, Dawson wrenches a headlock. Ciampa gets free and they do a similar spot from earlier. Instead of a chop from Dawson though, Ciampa ducks and hits his own, even giving one to Dash. Tag to Gargano, who Ciampa sends in for double knees on Dawson. Big “Johnny Wrestling” chant. Dash helps Dawson get free of a hold and when the referee tells him about it, Dawson pulls Gargano’s hair. tag to Dash, who has his arm worked by Gargano. Gargano nails a running single leg dropkick for two. Body slam from Dash, who tags Dawson. Gargano snaps off arm drags and works the left arm again. Gargano runs into a huge back elbow. The Revival try some double teaming by Gargano and Ciampa stop them and the four men standoff. They get into a big slugfest. Ciampa sends Dawson over the top and they go for the finish on Dash but Dawson pulls him to safety. Gargano takes out Dash with a suicide dive and Ciampa takes out Dawson with a knee off the apron, though the camera fucks up and misses it. The Revival come back with a cheap shot and back suplex by Dawson. Tag to Dash and they just clubber Ciampa in the corner. Drop toe hold/elbow drop combo from the champions for two. Time to wear down Ciampa. He tries to fight free with big blows but Dawson stops him. Sunset flip by Ciampa gets two. he tries an enziguri but Dash ducks and he catches Dawson. Ciampa gets close to Gargano but Dawson pulls Gargano off the apron and they’re back in control. Ciampa gets so close to the tag again, firing away on Dash but again gets pulled into the opposite corner. Dawson taunts Gargano and kicks Ciampa for two. Ciampa finally gets the tag, but Dash was in distracting the referee so the referee doesn’t count it. The Revival hit a backbreaker/middle rope elbow double team for a close near fall. Ciampa fires up after taking a beating but runs into a big clothesline from Dawson. Dawson knocks Gargano off the apron again and charges at Ciampa but misses and hits the corner. Dash misses a charge and Ciampa makes the tag. It’s legal this time. He hits clotheslines and a snap belly to belly. Gargano runs into a Dawson elbow but ducks him in the corner and hits a rolling kick. Jumping neckbeaker gets two. Gargano gets sent to the apron where he kicks Dash and slingshots in to spear Dawson for a close near fall. Gargano ducks Dawson, who blind tags Dash. He ducks both but eats a DDT. Dash covers for two. Gargano ducks clotheslines and rolls up Dawson for two as Ciampa pulls Dash outside. Tag to Ciampa who counters a DDT into his armbar. Dash pulls Gargano off and tries to get in but Johnny stops him. Dash gets free and saves the match. They try a double suplex but Gargano spears Dash. Ciampa rolls up Dawson for two again. Ciampa and Dawson get up forehead to forehead and trade blows. It breaks down into a slugfest and Ciampa annihilates him with a slap and knee. Dawson comes back with a bigright hand. Tag and they try the Shatter Machine but Gargano superkicks Dawson. Ciampa rolls Dash up for two and hits a big knee. Tag to Gargano and they hit their kick/knee combo. Gargano covers and we think it’s three but Dawson puts Dash’s foot on the bottom rope. They take out Dawson with a knee and kick and are left alone with Dash. Dawson pulls Ciampa out and sends him into the ring post. Dash chop blocks Gargano and tags Dawson. He comes in and they do the submission/stomp off the ropes spot that injured Big Cass. Inverted figure four by Dawson and Gargano has to tap.

Winners and Still NXT Tag Team Champions: The Revival in 19:10

Tag team wrestling is simple. It’s about deprivation and hope spots. The Revival do it so well. Incredible match. The emotion, the false finish, all of the action and everything about this just clicked. Best tag match I’ve seen anywhere, from any company. Give me this kind of tag over the stuff we get elsewhere please. ****1/2

Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch get huge pops as they are in the front row. They arrived there before the previous match. Charlotte is in another part of the front row and gets booed.

NXT Women’s Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Bayley

Bayley is wearing Carolina blue and white tonight. Bayley shoves Asuka off early and looks ready. Asuka gets behind her but Bayley turns it around and shoves her again. Test of strength sees Bayley kick free and school girl her for two. They go into a series of flash pins for near falls. Bayley hits a corner clothesline and tries her springboard arm drag, but eats a big knee by Asuka. Bayley charges in but only gets hip attack after hip attack. Running corner hip attack. Asuka applies an abdominal stretch in the ropes, breaking at three. Bayley takes a breather in the corner and sends a charging Asuka on the apron. Asuka kicks the hell out of her, finishing with a big one to the back of the head. She hits a running kick to a draped Bayley and seems to be toying with her. Bayley comes back with turnbuckle smashes and a suplex. Running elbow to the back and a clothesline are followed by a knee for two. Asuka sends Bayley to the apron. Asuka charges but misses a hip attack. She gets stuck in the ropes and Bayley clubs her before hitting a stunner of sorts. Double springboard cross body by Bayley gets two. She goes up top and kicks Asuka away. She misses a cross body and Asuka scores with a shining wizard for two. Asuka puts Bayley in the corner and wants a superplex. They fight and Bayley gets free, hanging her in the tree of oey Lawrence. She follows with her signature elbow for two.They exchange strikes and Bayley hits a running knee. Asuka comes bakc with a hip attack and Bayley does another running knee. Asuka trips her up and applies a stretch muffler. Bayley gets free only to end up in an ankle lock. She gets free again but gets kicked in the midsection. Bayley fires up, asking to be hit in the face. Asuka fires some off but Bayley catches one and gets two on a backslide. Shots from Bayley before she runs into a back fist. They kind of mess up a spot but commentay says it is because of Bayley’s bad ankle. She hits a Faarooq dominator for two. Asuka Lock gets slapped on and Bayley fights out. She hits the Bayley to Belly but only gets a near fall. Asuka gets the submission back on and Bayley again gets to her feet. She counters it into a pinning combination for two. Asuka gets up wit a kick but Bayley is all like FIGHTING SPIRIT! She slaps Asuka, who responds with one of her own and a huge kick to the head that does it.

Winner and Still NXT Women’s Champion: Asuka in 14:05

I thought this was slightly better than their Dallas match. It told a good story of Bayley being more prepared for Asuka this time and doing everything in her power to try and overcome the unbeatable champion. She did her best but it still wasn’t enough. ***3/4

Asuka and Bayley hug after the match. After Asuka leaves, Bayley gets left alone and a “thank you Bayley” chant begins. Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch get involved too. Bayley is in tears as she puts her headband on and goes to hug Sasha and Becky. She goes over to hug Charlotte too, which gets boos. Her mom’s hug gets cheers again. Izzy gets one too.

NXT is going to tour Australia and New Zealand.

NXT Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

A guy with a violin is there for Nakamura’s entrance and is playing him out live! Joe is way over too. Joe’s entrance it to the point. They nearly brawl before the bell. The crowd is singing Shinsuke’s theme. They go to a test of strength and Joe kicks Nakamura away. Kick from Shinsuke and slap from Joe. They struggle to the mat and break and do the same on the ropes. Joe works the arm and headbutts Nakamura in the hand. Nakamura flips out into his a headlock. They break free and are at a stalemate again. Nakamura gives a clean break in the corner an misses a big kick. He taunts Joe and hits several knees. Good vibrations from Nakamura and Joe takes a breather. Joe pulls Nakamura outside and they trade blows. Inside, more kness from Nakamura but he misses a corner charge and Joe nails an enziguri. Nakamura hit a signature knee on the apron before missing a second and hitting the mat. Elbow suicida from Joe. Chop to the back and kick to the chest by Joe. He gets two on an elbow. Joe stomps and kicks away. Nakamura gets his ass kicked and as he comes back, Joe rolls into his legs to take him down. Powerbomb by Joe gets two and he goes right into a Boston crab, that then transitions into the STF. Enziguri from nakamura gives him breathing room. Vicious kick from Joe but Nakamura retaliates with some of his own and both men are down. When up, Nakamura hits a corner knee, drapes Joe on the top buckle and hits a running knee. Inverted atomic drop and kick from Joe, but Nakamura avoids the senton. Big knees from Nakamura but his next running attempt ends in an ugly STJoe. Nakamura comes back with a kick off the second rope and again, both guys are down. Shinsuke fires away with shots that back Joe ot the corner. Joe fires back with his own shot sand turns Nakamura inside out on a clothesline. Joe gets caught in a cross armbreaker but holds his grip to prevent it from fully being applied. It turns into a triangle choke but Joe powers out and works a cloverleaf. Nakamura gets free and breaks the Coquina Clutch but runs into a sick knee for two. Big elbows from Joe and he gets the clutch in. Nakamura uses his long legs to reach the ropes. They jockey for position until Nakamura nails a German. He calls for Kinshasa but runs into a powerslam that gets two. Jabs in the corner and Joe looks for the Muscle Buster. Nakamura fights off and Joe hits the enziguri. Muscle Buster connects but Nakamura kicks out. Joe wants a second but Nakamura gets free and hits Kinshasa, yet that only gets two. Second rope knee from Nakamura and a second Kinshasa hits to win the title.

Winner and New NXT Champion: Shinsuke Nakamura in 21:12

Good match that started off disappointingly slow before picking up. It ended on a relatively high note but didn’t quite reach the great levels of some other high end TakeOver matches. I did like that they avoided a spotfest or typical Nakamura formula and the stuff we got was nice and hard hitting. ***1/2

Overall: 8.5/10. NXT delivers another high end TakeOver. The weekly show is no longer at the level it once was, but they always step it up come TakeOver time. Nothing on the card is bad and the show had a big feel. The opener was a lot of fun, as was Itami's appearance. The Ember Moon match did what it needed to and Bobby Roode was a spectacle. The Tag Team Title match is the show stealer, being the best tag match I've seen this year. The final two matches are also really good and the entire show is worth a watch. Everything goes back rather quickly and it is probably my favorite Takeover this year.

NXT TakeOver: Back to Brooklyn Predictions

This seems like an odd use of Austin Aries. He's been overshadowed and his performances haven't been great, so he finds himself here. I could see this feud being used to help No Way Jose develop. He shouldn't beat Aries at all though. Aries has potential to be a key player for NXT going forward. He should win this while Jose needs to have the best performance of his career and both guys could benefit from it.

Winner: Austin Aries

NXT is going about getting Andrade Almas over in all the wrong ways. The vignettes were cool, but then he shows up dressed like male stripper and debuted against the popular Tye Dillinger, causing the crowd to not really feel him. Since then, his matches have been lackluster and he has no character at all. Now, he's set to face Bobby Roode, who debuted with one of best theme songs ever and cut an awesome promo. Roode made the impact, pun intended, that Almas hasn't been able to. Roode should win here and start his push towards a title contender and top guy in NXT.

Winner: Bobby Roode

Honestly, I think I'm looking forward to this match more than any other. The Revival are such a great old school team and have had some awesome matches over the past few months. Gargano and Ciampa have really grown on me and have undeniable chemistry. I don't know if this will be quite on the level of the Revival/American Alpha series, but they did set a high bar. Personally, I'd have Gargano and Ciampa win here so the Revival could join the Smackdown tag scene. However, I think they retain here and Gargano and Ciampa win it in their second shot.

Winners: The Revival

This is being hyped as a major rematch and, while it does feature the two biggest names in the women's division, I'm not too excited about it. Their first match was good but never reached great status to me. The Brooklyn crowd could help this, I just don't see it being amazing. it should be a very good encounter that sees Asuka retain. I know Bayley would win for the repeat moment but I don't see why that would be a good move. She's done all she can in NXT to be honest. Asuka needs to go over here, stay unbeaten and give the big rub to someone else, like Ember Moon.

Winner: Asuka

A worthy main event for sure. I do wish NXT spent more time building actual programs. Nakamura debuted, beat Sami, Aries and Finn and then it was just like "you get a title shot." That's fine sometimes, but I think NXT relies too much on big names facing each other, rather than an actual story. Anyway, this should be all kinds of rad. It should feel like a hard hitting G1 Climax style match and if Nakamura brings his "A" game, this could be a MOTY contender. Since it is a big show, like TakeOver: Dallas, expect the best from Nakamura. I say he wins to strike while the iron is hot.

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura