NJPW Destruction in Kobe Predictions

I've never done any predictions for any non WWE show but I felt like this would be a cool time to try it. With me getting more and more into New Japan, I'm going to try some predictions for their big show tomorrow. I'm only going to be doing the four major matches though as the rest of the card is full of multi-man tag matches that work as previews for other future matches and such.

At the G1 Climax finals, reDRagon captured the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships from the Young Bucks. That was just over a month ago and this is, I believe, their first title defense. Normally, I would say that means they were a lock to retain here but the Jr. Tag Team Titles change hands incredibly often. This year alone they've gone from reDRagon to the Young Bucks to Roppongi Vice back to the Bucks and back to reDRagon. With KUSHIDA dropping the singles Jr. Heavyweight Title at Destruction in Okayama, I can see the Time Splitters walking away with the belts here and that's what I'm picking.

Winners: The Time Splitters

Of the entire card, this is the match that I want to see the most. During the G1 Climax, I became a huge fan of both Katsuyori Shibata and Tetsuya Naito. Their match early on in the tournament was one of my favorites and the build to this has been fun. Shibata with his "fuck you" attitude and Naito's attitude of "I don't give a shit" makes for a great contrast. The brawls they've had have been good and I see this stealing the show. As much as I like Shibata, I sense Naito winning here. First, Shibata won their G1 match and seond, Naito is one of two men that beat Hiroshi Tanahashi during the G1 so he wins here before going on to face Tanahashi for the Tokyo Dome title shot.

Winner: Tetsuya Naito

Speaking of Hiroshi Tanahashi and defending his Wrestle Kingdom 10 title shot, he'll be doing it here. Besides Tetsuya Naito, the other person to defeat him in the G1 was Bad Luck Fale. In fact, going back to the G1 24 in 2014, Fale also beat Tanahashi in that tournament. It would seem that he kind of has Tanahashi's number. That is one of the main reasons I can't see Fale winning. He's not going to beat Tanahashi again. Not only that but there is no way Fale gets the biggest title shot of the year. Expect a solid match as Tanahashi seems to get the best out of Fale, and a win for the ace of New Japan.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi

The main event of this show will be an Intercontinental Title match as Hirooki Goto defends the strap against Shinsuke Nakamura. There is obvious history here as Goto won the belt from Nakamura earlier this year. Goto then defeated Nakamura in the rematch at Dominion in July. Nakamura got one of those wins back during the G1 Climax, earning him this championship match. Honestly, Goto isn't going to go 3-1 against Nakamura this year is he? The IC Title and Nakamura have become synonymous, so I say he wins it back here, building to a big defense in the Tokyo Dome. Maybe against AJ Styles?

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura

Fave Five 9/14/15-9/20/15

1) Jay Lethal: I bring you this a bit late again due to the busy week of wrestling. It was an interesting week where two companies had a guy with two titles defend them both in one night. Jay Lethal did so with the ROH World and ROH Television Championships at All-Star Extravaganza. He successfully opened the show by defending the Television Title against Bobby Fish. Lethal has made half of the TV Title defense in the entire existence of the belt, which is sick. He then defeated Fish's partner, Kyle O'Reilly, with the World Title on the line in the main event. Both matches were good showings, and despite him retaining through cheap terms (a handful of tights on Fish and interference against O'Reilly), Lethal proved once again that he is the man in ROH.

2) Seth Rollins: The other champion to make two defenses in one night during this week was Seth Rollins.I'd say his performance was better than Jay Lethal's, as he had to wrestle back to back matches, but he did lose one belt. First, he faced John Cena in a good match. It was a notch below their SummerSlam outing and Cena won back the US Title. Now before anyone complains that Cena isn't my list, I preferred the matches of some other people on my list and chose to recognize people capturing their first taste of certain titles. Anyway, back to Seth, he then faced Sting and had a good match with him too. I mean, if you would have told me five years ago that Tyler Black would be headlining a PPV by facing Cena and Sting in one night, I'd have slapped you. The fact that he did so while putting on a great performance and beating Sting, is enough to put him on this list. 2015 continues to be the year of Seth Rollins.

3) Kevin Owens: Two months ago at the Battleground PPV, Kevin Owens should have won the US Title. I stand by that. At Night of Champions though, the WWE righted that wrong somewhat by having Owens defeat Ryback for the Intercontinental Title. I'm not one of those people who was very against Ryback being champion and I think if he didn't get hurt or have to feud with Big Show, he could have had a good reign. Still, Owens being champion could get us back to a place where the IC Title matches were the best on the card. My biggest wish for this is that Owens gets a rather dominant run with the strap and it leads to a match against Sami Zayn at WrestleMania. It would not only be a great match but would give an IC Title match a great storyline.

4) AJ Styles: During Ring of Honor's All-Star Extravaganza Pay-Per-View, there was a Four Corner Survival match to determine the next number one contender for the ROH World Title. Adam Cole, AJ Styles, Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong competed. While I don't believe the match was on a Match of the Year level, it was still my favorite of not only the ASE even itself, but the entire weekend, including Night of Champions.After a good back and forth match, Styles won after hitting Cole with the Styles Clash. This now sets up Styles as a future challenger for Jay Lethal, which should be interesting. The Bullet Club are heels, but get treated like faces in ROH. It's interesting that Styles has never held the ROH Title, but I see him losing to Lethal and putting him over down the line.

5) Charlotte: I was pretty torn on who would get this spot, between Charlotte and the Kingdom. The Kingdom has grown on me and they did capture the ROH World Tag Team Titles at All-Star Extravaganza, but I chose to go with the new Divas Champion, Charlotte. Charlotte was unable to end Nikki Bella's title reign before she broke the record to become longest champion, but in her rematch at Night of Champions, she managed to win the belt. She won a solid match against Nikki Bella to become champion for the first time. It's a pretty worth accomplishment to make the list this week.

NJPW Destruction in Okayama Review

This morning, New Japan Pro Wrestling held Destruction in Okayama. I didn't catch it live but watched it once i woke up this morning.

Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu def. Tetsuya Naito, David Finlay, Jay White and Manabu Nakanishi in 7:47
While I've been watching a fair amount of New Japan this year, I haven't seen much of the young lions, but I have liked what I've been able to check out. The main focus during this match was the rivalry between Shibata and Naito, who will wrestle on Sunday at Destruction in Kobe. I have really loved their interactions during the "Road to Destruction" and did so here again. Naito was the last guy out for his team, while Shibata was first out for his guys, which is perfect for their personalities. The match featured a fair amount of fun back and forth, while Naito and Shibata were very aggressive with one another. Nagata got the win for his team when Naito refused to tag in and then chose to watch the pinfall rather than help. This was a blast and built towards Shibata/Naito more, meaning the match did it's job. ***1/4

reDRagon def. Jushin Thunder Liger and Mascara Dorada in 8:31
I've gone on record to state that I firmly believe reDRagon is the best tag team in pro wrestling, so I always look forward to seeing them. Liger is always fun to watch as well, though I again admit I haven't seen much of Dorada. He did well here, including a really sweet dive to the outside. I feel like this worked more as a tuneup of sorts with reDRagon having a bigger title defense at Destruction in Kobe. This was fine, and reDRagon won with Chasing the Dragon in a decent match. **1/2

NWA World Junior Championship: Tiger Mask def. Steve Anthony (c) in 10:10
This would be the last match of the night to feature someone I've yet to really see. Steve Anthony is new to me, but was clearly the heel. The two men worked at a decent pace but I just couldn't get into this. I'm honestly unsure if it was because I didn't know much about the competitors or the match itself but I found myself tuning out. Part of it is my fault but their inability to suck me in made this lackluster for sure. Tiger Mask won, to earn the title for the second time in his career. Looking at the history of the belt, it's his first reign in nearly a decade. **

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Matt Sydal def. Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga in 10:01
Similar to the giant opening tag team match, this was partially here to build towards a match at the next Destruction show, between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Bad Luck Fale. The other story in this was the NJPW debut of Matt Sydal. The faces started hot and surprisingly, the heat seemed to come on Tanahashi. Sydal didn't get that much ring time, but looked fine in the time that he did get. Fale stayed looking strong as he didn't eat the pin and was dominant at times against Tanahashi. A Shooting Star Press, followed by the High Fly Flow ended this. Basic stuff but overall, the crowd was hot and it was enjoyable. **3/4

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson (c) def. Tencozy in 13:15
Tencozy consists of Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima. They are older guys, both in their mid-forties, but can still go, which they showed during the G1 Climax this year. The tag team scene in NJPW tends to be lacking but I thought this was good. It started out slow with a highlight being seeing Karl Anderson steal Kojima's trademark chops in the corner. As the match grew to the climax, there were a fair amount of false finishes and near falls. Coming in, I fully expected the champions to retain but I bit on some of the close calls. A Gun Stun on Tenzan and the Magic Killer on Kojima wrapped this up. ***1/4

Chaos (Baretta, Rocky Romero, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi) def. Alex Shelley, Captain New Japan, Hirooki Goto, Rysuke Taguchi and Tomoaki Honma in 13:23
Right from the bell, it was clear that Ryusuke Taguchi was going to be an agitator, getting in the face of Nakamura several times. It is sometimes funny but it came off as annoying here and I guess that was the point since even his teammate, Goto, shoved him. I'm a big fan of Alex Shelley, like Roppongi Vice and have come to really enjoy Goto, Nakamura, Ishii and Honma, making this really fun. At one point, Capt. New Japan, Taguchi and Honma did a triple Kokeshi, which made me chuckle. As expected, the interactions between Honma and Ishii and Nakamura and Goto were both probably the highlights. Capt. New Japan ate the pin after a Boma Ye and brainbuster. ***1/4

Kazuchika Okada and Toru Yano def. AJ Styles and Cody Hall in 9:52
Of all of the Bullet Club members, I feel like Cody Hall is probably the worst in the ring. Despite this, his interactions with Toru Yano were fun, though that was more due to Yano. Hall came off as awkward a fair amount of the time. Yano was a joy but the key to this match was the interactions between Styles and Okada. They are set to face for the IWGP Heavyweight Title at King of Pro Wrestling next month and much like their match at Dominion in July, their exchange was fast, furious and fantastic. Yano stole the win for his guys with a rollup on Hall. Again, not a great match but one that I had fun watching, which is all I can ask for sometimes. **3/4

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega def. KUSHIDA (c) in 16:26
These two had a pretty great match at Dominion in July, where KUSHIDA took the title from Omega. This match wasn't on the level of that one and I think part of that had to do with the crowd here not being as hot as the Osaka one from July. Still, this was going well, with the focus being on KUSHIDA's back and KUSHIDA trying to get his armbar locked in throughout. Doc Gallows and Alex Shelley got involved, which I expected and thought was fine, until it got taken too far. It was fine as a quick thing but happened again after a ref bump and then Karl Anderson showed up too. KUSHIDA ate a Gun Stun and the One Winged Angel to lose the belt. I disagree completely with this decision as there was still a good amount that could have been done with KUSHIDA at champ. A match with his partner or the tiebreaker with Ricochet for example. Matt Sydal was shown at ringside throughout and Omega called him out in an awkward segment after. Omega/Sydal is coming and I'm not too excited about it. This could have been much better. ***

NEVER Openweight Championship: Togi Makabe (c) def. Kota Ibushi in 18:41
Kota Ibushi has been one of my absolute favorites in NJPW and I've totally bought in on him trying to win a title above the Jr. Heavyweight level. I wasn't a huge fan of their G1 Climax match, which Ibushi won, but this blew that match away to me. I love that Ibushi doesn't look like a badass dude, but absolutely can hit with the hardest of them. They just beat the fuck out of each other and it was worthy of headlining an event like this. When they fought outside, Ibushi hit a sick dropkick and then brought a table into play and hit a double stomp from the top onto it. When Ibushi countered the Spider German, he did so by landing on his feet, showing off his athleticism. However, the high risks that he takes proved to be an issue as he missed the Phoenix Splash. He tried to fight off the Spider German again, so Makabe changed it to a Spider Dragon suplex and finished it with the King Kong knee drop. I wasn't a big fan of Makabe retaining, but it played into Ibushi coming so close to winning a big title. He was close to winning the Intercontinental Title at WK9, the Heavyweight Title at Invasion Attack and now the NEVER Title here. After the match, Tomohiro Ishii showed up and it looks like we'll be getting Makabe/Ishii again, which I could do without. Either way, this was a great, hard hitting battle and another star making performance for Ibushi. ****

Overall: 6.5/10. I rather enjoyed this show. I don't think it was one of the stronger New Japan shows of the year, but I didn't expect it to be judging by the card. Still, they managed to put on a show that I found to be fun. There were a few matches that I wasn't big on, but there were some good tag matches and while the Jr. Heavyweight Title match disappointed, the main event was awesome. Worth a look.

Split Personality Kane Raw Review

In an absolutely shocking moment for me, Raw did not open with an Authority segment. I know Sting opened things recently but still. The Wyatt Family opened the show to discuss their win. Roman Reigns arrived and brawled. Dean Ambrose ran out to help, followed by Randy Orton. It was a chaotic start and didn't take up 20+ minutes. This was a refreshing start to Raw and things like this are needed more often. My only gripe is that I'd like to have heard more about Chris Jericho walking out on Shield lite but I guess that will either be ignored or saved for something down the line. Now, we went backstage where Seth Rollins tried to get in Kane's face, but Kane played dumb and said he only just got back and gave Seth his US Title rematch tonight. Goofy Kane would be a theme throughout the night.

There was a PPV 24 hours earlier which means that we have to get the obligatory rematch. This time, it was the Cosmic Wasteland taking on Neville and the Lucha Dragons. The match was much better at Night of Champions and this time the faces won. It was more of that 50/50 booking that helps nobody. The Cosmic Wasteland lose momentum here and the match felt like it meant nothing. Moving on, Kevin Owens joined commentary for Ryback's match with Bo Dallas. Ryback looked pissed throughout and attacked Bo but ended up getting worked over. Look, I like Bo and would like to see him as more than a jobber, but if he's going to be a jobber, then Ryback needed to just plow through him here. An angry Ryback murdering Bo after losing the belt would have been best. Owens tried a post match attack but Ryback sent him packing. Cool points to Owens for killing it on commentary once again.

We were now taken to an in celebration ceremony for Charlotte's Divas Title victory. Since these are usually reserved for cocky heels or faces like Jeff Hardy and Eddie Guerrero, who worked for years to get there, I assumed it was time for Paige's heel turn. Ric Flair came out first to put over his daughter again. We get it, she's a Flair. Can we move past this now? Charlotte thanked her dad and her friends, especially Paige. This is when Paige went off, stealing the microphone and saying that she started all of this and then telling Charlotte that there is no "Divas Revolution." She threw jabs at everyone, saying that Becky is irrelevant, Charlotte is only there because of her dad, the Bellas are here "for reasons we all know", Summer & Lana are more focused on who to jump on and questioning where the hell Natalya has been. She threw down the microphone and left, which brought out the Bellas, leading to Charlotte facing Brie. Charlotte obviously won but the real story was Paige. I think the heel turn was well executed and I like that it didn't just feature Paige randomly attacking Charlotte. Hopefully it goes somewhere good since heel Paige is infinitely better than face Paige. From the palest woman, things go to the palest man as Sheamus took on Mark Henry. Sheamus won and then cut a promo saying that, as far as he's concerned, he is the WWE Champion. Basic stuff that got Mr. Money in the Bank some heat back but was nothing more.

More from split personality Kane as he even plays the game with Stephanie and Triple H, saying that Stephanie must have lost his mask. Backstage, Paige runs into Natalya and calls her a "mother hen". New Day came out for a six man tag, with Xavier Woods cutting a funny promo about table shards being in his buttocks. They teamed with Rusev, aka my dream team, to face Dolph Ziggler and the Dudley Boyz. The dream team won a fun match, made all the better by how great the UpUpDownDown guys worked together. I wish that one of the Dudleys ate the pin instead of Ziggler though as it wouldn't have hurt them, especially if it was done with a handful of tights or something. Also, they announced the Dudleys get another shot on the October 3rd MSG show.

With Paige watching on a monitor backstage, Natalya returned to the ring against Naomi. They worked a short match that they managed to cram a lot into. Naomi won after her teammates got involved. I would normally point out that Sasha Banks should be doing a ton more, but I have hope that once she wraps up her NXT stuff on October 7th, she'll become more of a focal point. Big Show faced Cesaro next and guess the outcome? Cesaro loses. Look, I get that with Big Show having a match against Brock Lesnar in MSG, he could use wins, but why Cesaro? Why not have him squash Miz? Adam Rose? Fandango? Mark Henry? Or all of them at once? That would have been much more logical. He then cut a promo on how he beat Brock in MSG back in 2002 but whatever. That result was poorly done.

After our opening six man tag rematch and then the six man tag that mixed the Dudleys and Ziggler match, we just had to have one more Night of Champions rematch. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins. Which we saw a bunch at the end of 2014, on Raw a month ago, on SummerSlam and at NOC. They worked at a lesser pace than the PPV, which is kind of expected. Cena won with an AA, continuing the trend of making the WWE Champion his bitch because Cena > WWE Champion all of the fucking time. After Cena left, Corporate Kane appeared on the tron to say that Seth has a bunch of challengers lined up. His pyro went off and Demon Kane came up through the ring and pulled Seth into "hell." That ended the show. I think that this Raw was similar to the past few weeks. The wrestling wasn't really bad but the booking decisions continue to be baffling at times and the show drags at times. Some things were good, like goofy Kane, Paige's promo and the Rusev/New Day pairing. I'm okay with Seth/Kane if it's a fun one-off match. 5/10.

Night of Champions Review

The Kickoff show for this Pay-Per-View actually featured a match I was pretty interested in. The Cosmic Wasteland of Stardust and the Ascension faced Neville and the Lucha Dragons. I thought that this was a great choice for the Kickoff show. It allowed for the Cosmic Wasteland to get some shine together and they worked a really fun match. There was a spot where the three faces all did dives outside at the same time, which was a really cool visual. I expected the faces to take it, but was more than happy to see the Cosmic Wasteland win. There is potential for them to be a really fun midcard heel stable. This was fun and didn't overstay its welcome. ***

            Our actual Pay-Per-View broadcast began with the Intercontinental Title match. Ryback and Kevin Owens have had a pretty nice little feud and I'm glad they haven't wrestled a ton coming into this. I was wondering how their styles would work and I liked what they went out and did. Owens went after the arm and continued to target it throughout. It was solid stuff and I give props to Ryback for selling it well, especially since he's someone who doesn't have to sell like this very often. Ryback was unable to hit the Shell Shock because of the arm work, allowing Owens to roll him up. Fine match and the finish allows for a rematch down the line. Perfectly acceptable and the crowd was red hot for Owens. **3/4

They announced that October will basically be Brock month as he'll be on the MSG show, on Austin's podcast and will main event Hell in a Cell against Undertaker. Meh. Up next, the saga between Dolph Ziggler and Rusev continued. Dolph's attire makes him the anti-Rick Rude because he has Lana's face on his crotch. See what I mean about him coming off as the heel in this? He just throws thing in Rusev's face. They worked at a lesser clip than their normal match. This went too long and the finish came as Summer threw her shoe in the ring, hitting Rusev and it led to the Zig Zag. Disappointing for sure as this ridiculous feud will continue. *3/4

              The New Day came out to cut a promo on saving the tables and were great as always. The match that they worked with the Dudley Boyz was okay but left a lot to be desired. It seemed like they knew this was going to be extended until next month and kind of went through the motions here. The best thing about this match was Xavier Woods and his ringside antics. He would cause the finish as he ran to cause a blatant disqualification. New Day went to use a table after the match, forgoing their #SaveTheTables trend, but the Dudleys turned it around and put Woods through one. Decent at best. **1/2

The video package they used to hype Nikki Bella's title run was much better than the actual run itself. Outside of a match with Paige on Main Event at the start of the year, this was probably the best match of her run. Charlotte tweaked her knee early and Nikki worked that well. It was better than when Nikki works the arm just because it's there as this actually had reasoning behind it. She dominated for a fair amount until Charlotte hit a spear from out of nowhere and won with the figure eight. This was solid but the crowd wasn't into it. I think part of that had to do with what happened on Monday. Not stopping the record from being broken took away from this actual win. Also, I was never part of the group that felt they only had NIkki break the record for spite AJ, but having her break it only to lose it instantly after kind of seems like that was why they did it. ***

Recently on Raw, a fan got next to Seth Rollins and security failed hard again on this show. A random fan got right next to Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns.That is not good at all. Anyway, the mystery partner turned out to be Chris Jericho. I don't think he is who I'd choose to combat a monster like Braun Strowman. The match that they actually worked was one of the better ones of the night. They did everything they should have. Ambrose and Reigns finally got Strowman down and as Reigns set for the spear, Jericho tagged himself in and ended up losing. The right guy took the loss here. After the match, Jericho shoved his partners and left, making for something somewhat interesting. Jericho is always much better as a heel. The crowd was into it, they did solid work and it was probably the best thing so far. ***1/4

Seth Rollins was set to work back to back matches, facing John Cena for the United States Title here first. They worked a very similar match to their SummerSlam encounter, though I feel like this wasn't as good. Granted, it was better than their late 2014 stuff. Rollins was, like SummerSlam, on a whole different level. Not taking anything away from Cena though, who was on his game too as even his usual offense that looks clunky, looked pretty good. He regained the US Title following an AA. I don't mind him having the belt again because his title run was fun but why did Seth even become a double champion if it was just going to be for one month? Anyway, solid match but not MOTY candidate level for me. ***1/2

Seth Rollins tried to bail but John Cena stopped him and hit another AA on him outside. Cena can be such a dick right? Sting came out and tried to capitalize, but Seth escaped his grasp. They fought outside and Sting took a table bump, which looked pretty rough. Sting gets a ton of credit here as he also jumped from the top rope to the outside. He was really doing his best here. Near the end, Sting took a buckle bomb and got hurt, causing a lull as officials checked on him. They went to the finish, where Seth countered a Scorpio Death Lock into a small package and retained. Solid work here and I bump the score up due to Sting's effort. ***

After the match, Sheamus came out to cash in and hit Seth Rollins with a Brogue Kick. Kane then returns, in a mask, and chokeslams both Seth and Sheamus, before hitting Seth with a tombstone. So in 2015, we're ending PPVs with Kane. Yup. I guess we get Seth/Kane next month and hopefully that ends with a clean Seth win after just one match. Overall, I came out of this show thinking it wasn't very good but looking back, the matches were, for the most part, pretty good. Some of the finishes and booking decisions were a bit questionable though. Seth was the MVP of the show again and it gets an average score, like most WWE PPVs in 2015. 6/10.

Night of Champions Predictions

Remember when Neville was one of the coolest things going in wrestling during his excellent NXT Title run last year? He could still be that but main roster creative has decided that he is the new Evan Bourne. The guy with the really cool high flying finisher and NOTHING more. He and Stardust are two of my favorite performers but, outside of the Stephen Amell appearance last month, they've been pre-show mainstays. I love the idea of the Cosmic Wasteland as super villain Stardust could use some henchmen and it gives the Ascension something to do. I really want them to win here, but I've picked a fair amount of heels and don't think there are major plans for the Cosmic Wasteland.

Winners: Neville and the Lucha Dragons

Can someone please explain to me how Rusev is the heel in this feud? He's come off as the more sympathetic character while Dolph Ziggler has been a total tool. Regardless, he has been booked as the face and I have to think he should win out soon but I'm not going to pick that. Rusev has still only been pinned by two people, John Cena and Cesaro. Not only that, but, while he's no longer dominant after the horrible Cena feud, Rusev has never been more entertaining. Along with Sasha Banks, New Day and Seth Rollins, there is nobody I look forward to seeing more each week than Rusev. He's been the only redeeming thing about this rivalry and he should win here.

Winner: Rusev

The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family was really cool. This diet, watered down version of the feud...not so much. The outcome of the match would seemingly come down to who the mystery partner is. If it's someone disappointing, which I think it will be, the Wyatts win. If it's a big deal, the faces win. Since I believe it will be someone we don't really care for, I pick the Wyatts to win. They came out of Battleground looking good, while the faces went over at SummerSlam. I'm going to go with the Wyatt Family here, via Braun Strowman looking like a beast, before things finally end at Hell in a Cell with the faces going over there.

Winners: The Wyatt Family

Similar to their match at SummerSlam, I can't really get excited for this. They've faced off far too many times for me to care. Despite that, I do think their SummerSlam match was their best outing, mainly because of Seth Rollins. John Cena has been great at times in 2015, but Seth was on a different level on that night. I don't expect them to match that here, since Seth has to save some energy for the main event. I sense they open things, which would be an interesting place to find Cena. I said it during the Rusev feud and again during the Owens feud, but I'm going to keep picking John Cena to win on these PPVs until he losing a program. It hasn't failed me yet.

Winner: John Cena

It's cool that Seth Rollins holds both titles right now but Kevin Owens absolutely should be the US Champion right now. His match against Cesaro at SummerSlam could have actually meant something. Instead, he's gone from must see TV to another guy that's kind of just there. I don't mind Ryback and I think he was a solid choice for IC Champion but between his injury and the awful program with Miz and Big Show, his reign has been incredibly forgettable. He absolutely should win the IC Title here to make up for not winning the US Title. Unfortunately, I don't have faith in the WWE's faith in Kevin Owens. I think Ryback retains here and if the match manages to exceed expectations, maybe Owens wins a rematch.

Winner: Ryback

There may not be a match that I'm more excited to see. The Dudley Boyz are the kind of veterans that I like to see return. They can still go and I don't believe that they have problems putting anyone over. Also, I actually enjoy them unlike the New Age Outlaws and their return in 2014. Meanwhile, New Day has been the most enjoyable thing about the WWE in recent months, only getting more entertaining by the week. Every single time I think they can't top themselves, they do and I love it. The Dudley Boyz just returned and New Day just won the straps so that means the WWE would probably pull the trigger here. I think that's a bad call though as New Day should retain via shenanigans and make the Dudleys wait.

Winners: The New Day

Honestly, if the WWE wants to prove that Nikki didn't just break the record for the sake of breaking it, she kind of needs to retain here. If she doesn't, it just seems like she made it to 296 days just because. Their match on Raw was going pretty well until the awful finish. Without shenanigans, I truly think they could have a really good PPV match. That being said, I kind of see some more shenanigans. Nikki retaining and AGAIN depriving the fans of seeing a new champion could bring massive heat. They've done a ton wrong with the "Divas Revolution" but I think that bringing a lot of heat to the angle could help. Give me a reason to want Charlotte as champion. Granted, as a fan of NXT, I already want her to win, but for the casual person who didn't see NXT, there is no reason to really cheer for Charlotte. They barely tell you to boo the Bellas, who work as faces half of the time, and all they tell us about Charlotte is that she's Ric Flair's daughter. I think Nikki retains and loses the title until about the one year mark.

Winner: Nikki Bella

I'm honestly pretty nervous about this match. You see, the only decision that makes sense to me is to have Seth Rollins win here. He just defeated John Cena to become the US and WWE Champion, so why drop the big belt to Sting here? Since him losing wouldn't make sense, that is exactly why I'm worried that it will happen. Granted, Sting starting his career 0-2 isn't the greatest, which just goes back to why he should have hone over Triple H at WrestleMania. I also realize that Sheamus is lingering but I really would rather not see him as WWE Champion. Anyway, I'm still looking forward to this because a guy that I fell in love with on the indies is going to wrestle Sting for the WWE Title. I never expected that. Consider me hopeful as I think Seth retains.

Winner: Seth Rollins

2015 Prediction Record: 42-25

2014 Prediction Record: 22-18 (Only five PPVs)

ROH All-Star Extravaganza Review

Last night, Ring of Honor held All-Star Extravaganza live on Pay-Per-View from San Antonio. I got home a few minutes after it started, so I missed any opening video packages, but caught all of the matches. This review will be in the same recap vein of the Field of Honor review I did last month.

ROH World Television Championship: Jay Lethal (c) def. Bobby Fish in 14:04
This was the wisest choice for an opener, considering Jay Lethal had to also main event. Bobby Fish worked submissions, focusing on Lethal's leg. Lethal was aggressive, beating up Fish on the outside and wisely trying to leave with a countout victory. Fish continued to work the leg and submissions, while commentary even contemplated if Lethal should surrender the TV Title to preserve his World Title. That was a pretty good story to have throughout. Lethal retained after a rollup with a handful of tights. I felt like this was a strong opener that really played into hos desperate Lethal is. ***½

Silas Young def. Dalton Castle in 11:02
These two have been feuding for a while and have had some decent matches. It has been rather fun though and Dalton Castle is always enjoyable to watch. I particularly loved his performance at Field of Honor. This was the weakest match of the night but I wouldn't call it bad. Silas Young did a good job in showing how much he wanted to win, trying all sorts of things to win. He was finally able to do so and took Dalton's "boys" with him. This should lead to some really fun TV coming out of this. Decent enough. **½

The All-Night Express def. The Briscoes in 8:36
The Briscoes were scheduled to face a mystery team. After the Decade came out first to disappoint people and join commentary, the Romantic Touch showed up since he's been stalking the Briscoes. They beat him up and the lights go out before the letters ANX appeared on the tron. Kenny King and Rhett Titus appeared to a fun pop and worked a rather short but really solid match. Commentary continually put over the fact that ANX never lost the ROH World Tag Titles as they were stripped when King left ROH. They won following a doomsday blockbuster giving them momentum to join ROH's deep tag division. The Decade attacked the Briscoes after, but ANX made the save and shook the hands of their opponents. All in all, this was well done and I'm excited for more from the tag division. ***

No DQ Match: Moose def. Cedric Alexander 13:18
This was probably the most fun match of the night. The feud has lasted a while, featured Veda Scott turning and has seen Alexander knock out Moose with a wrench more than once so the fact that the match came off as very heated was perfect. They used the big spots like Moose front flipping onto a ladder very well. Veda was great throughout, looking fine while getting involved and bringing weapons into play. The finishing sequence was really cool as Alexander accidentally kicked Veda, got hit with the wrench and was then speared through a table by Moose. A really fun brawl here that should be the capper to this rivalry. I would also like to note that Moose has seemingly improved each time I've seen him. ***½

Match #3 in Best of Five: ACH def. Matt Sydal to take a 2-1 lead in 16:33
I think this match was perfectly placed on the card. Following a car crash like brawl, these two worked a completely different match, giving us a great change of pace. They started slow, building towards the bigger stuff. They played off of Matt Sydal being the veteran and trying to outsmart the hungry youngster in ACH. Sydal worked the leg, which ACH seemed to forget about during his comeback. He hit a 450 for the win in a good match that could have been great had he sold the leg more. Still, it was solidly worked and the series could do a fair amount for ACH's stock in ROH. ***½

ROH World Tag Team Championship: The Kingdom def. The Addiction (c) and The Young Bucks in 14:06
Maria Kanellis appeared and off came my pants. This was typical Young Bucks stuff as they got in all of their stuff. I don't like them, but I'd rather watch them in New Japan where I don't have to hear Steve Corino shout SUPERKICK every five seconds. The match was going decent enough until we got the big finisher rally with everyone hitting big moves. Maria got on the apron and Daniels decked her, so Michael Bennett charged and we got a ref bump. A man in a red mask came out, and is supposedly Chris Sabin, but he attacks the Addiction. He even hits Sabin's finisher. The Bucks hit their finish but Matt Taven blind tagged in and rolled up Matt I believe to steal the straps. I've grown tired of the Bucks style and the overbooking of the finish in this match just made this a whole lot of stuff I wasn't a fan of. While I was never big on the Kingdom, the heat they got for this was pretty great. My friend was there live and said the crowd LOATHED them by the end of the night. **½

No. 1 Contenders Match: AJ Styles def. Adam Cole, Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong in 14:35
Considering how much I love AJ Styles, this was one of the matches I was most excited to see. Early on, they did a good job of showcasing how much of a force Michael Elgin is. They worked at a hectic pace which was fun, but it did cause them to have a few hiccups and mess up a few spots. I totally bit on a near fall from Adam Cole following the destroyer. AJ Styles was able to score with the Styles Clash on Cole to pull this out. I was a bit surprised but happy with the result. While this was just barely my match of the night, I felt like it was missing something to make it great. Still, despite that, I felt like it was a really enjoyable time. ***¾

ROH World Championship: Jay Lethal (c) def. Kyle O'Reilly in 14:00
Right from his entrance, we saw Jay Lethal limping, to sell the leg work from the opener. Early on, he sells it very well, changing up his offense at times because it effected him. However, he seems to forget it about it later when going for the Lethal Injection and things like that. It had a good idea behind it, but he needed to be more consistent with it. O'Reilly was a blast, applying various submissions, hitting the Nigel, a brainbuster and brutally stomping on Lethal. Truth Martini got involved, so Nigel McGuinness physically ejected him. Lethal tried to use the belt after another ref bump, but Bobby Fish showed up for the save. Then Donovan Dijak ran out and THEN Adam Cole ran out. Reilly was near the win but Cole turned on him with a superkick. Lethal Injection hit and Lethal retained. Outside of Lethal's lack of selling towards the end, this was going very well until the overbooked finish. Another good match that was kept from being great by something. ***½

Overall: 7/10. This show came off similar to Death Before Dishonor in that nearly everything was good, but nothing was great. Looking at the show, the only two matches I didn't give three stars to were Castle/Young and the Tag Titles. Everything else falls between three and just under four stars. The overbooking in some of the top matches hurt because, while that works in some situations, it was a bit much here. This was a good three hours of wrestling that could have been great with a bit more.

Smackdown 9/17/15 Review

The WWE and United States Champion Seth Rollins opens Smackdown because it's not enough that the heel has to open Raw every week. He brags about what he's going to do at Night of Champions, before mentioning tonight's main event. His partner tonight is Sheamus, who comes out to tease the Money in the Bank cash in again. He tries to make #RTH or Respect the Hawk a thing but I doubt it gets over. The opening contest features Becky Lynch and Paige against Naomi and Sasha Banks. As usual with these girls, the work is pretty fine. Naomi seems to be at her best when working alongside Sasha and she disappoints when in singles competition. She wins for her team here, rolling up Paige to continue Paige's losing streak. I suspect the heel turn coming rather soon.

We see a promo in the back from the Cosmic Wasteland about Night of Champions. I really happen to like this group. New Day is out next and cut a promo about saving the tables again. Seriously, the things that New Day does should not work at all but it always delivers. It's a testament to their chemistry and ability that they can talk about Mother Nature and trees and make it entertaining. They want the Dudleys to sign a petition to save the tables. It's on a clipboard, which Xavier Woods calls a "mini table". Kofi Kingston defeats D-Von Dudley with a cheap rollup. Time for Raw recaps as see highlights of the Rusev/Ziggler/Summer stuff. I still don't understand how Rusev is the heel in this feud? He's been the sympathetic character for sure. To continue the Raw recaps, we see footage of Nikki Bella setting the Divas Title record before they set up the BELLABRATION! They have 298 bottles of champagne, they name drop Kim Kardashian and Kanye West and it seems like Nikki is being a total bitch to her teammates. Next, we get a singles match between Big Show and Cesaro. Want to guess how this ends? It doesn't end with a Cesaro victory. It ends with a fucking Big Show win. Why? There is absolutely no logical reason for this. Cesaro beat Rusev on Raw, who actually has a match at NOC and couldn't really afford a loss, but he loses to Big Show is fucking hogging up a spot on the roster. This is so unfathomably dumb and they wonder why ratings are in the shitter.

Backstage, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns continue to tease their mystery partner for Night of Champions. They won't even tell Renee Young, despite her being infinitely adorable. Kevin Owens is out now for a match against Dolph Ziggler. Owens' entrance seems to just be far better in the intimate setting of NXT. With Owens and Ziggler being two guys that can go in the ring, this was a pretty solid showing from both guys but nothing out of this world. Owens continues to be one of the more entertaining things on the roster with his ability to draw heat and talk smack during matches. He goes for the apron powerbomb to end Ziggler but Ryback rushes out for the save, causing a disqualification. They brawl and Owens is able to escape up the ramp. Time for the BELLABRATION! Nikki expects a big crowd but, similar to the party AJ Lee threw when she was around, nobody shows. Team PCB shows up, despite not being invited. Becky Lynch is wearing three party hats because she's incredible. Charlotte tells her to prepare to be alone since she won't be with the Divas Title soon. "Party pooper" Adam Rose arrives to tell Nikki that her party sucks. Nikki wants to throw cake in his face but misses and the cake only catches Alicia Fox and Brie in the face. Funny little segment here, but Nikki Bella continues to be a very bad actress. To be fair, Charlotte's acting was bad throughout too.

We see Summer Rae come up to Dolph Ziggler to thank him for the gift on Monday. He says the gift is just a peace offering but then teases it could be more. RU RU IS GONNA BE PISSED! Main event time as Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns take on Sheamus and Seth Rollins. As you would expect, it was a decent match and the tension between Sheamus and Rollins was their downfall. It led to Sheamus eating a Superman punch and Dirty Deeds. Then the Wyatts appeared on screen to cut a promo. Decent little episode of Smackdown here. It didn't do much in the way of making me want to see NOC, but had some solid matches. Not the worst way to spend two hours as nothing was bad outside of the Cesaro/Big Show stuff and some of the Bellabration. 5.5/10.

NXT Report 9/16/15

Tyler Breeze comes out for the opening contest. Adam Rose is out with his new “party pooper” gimmick. He’s doing this because the WWE Universe took a poop on his party. Bull Dempsey comes out, getting “Bullfit” chants. He is here to beat Tyler “so bad”. Breeze says that being paired together last week was the only accident along with the day that Bull was born. Tyler says that he would fight Bull now but he’s about to compete. Rose calls Bull “tubby” and slaps him. Bull lays into him and takes him down with a body avalanche. Tyler attacks from behind and when Bull nearly turns things around, Tyler escapes.

Backstage, they try to get a word with Tyler about Bull challenging him. Tyler stops and answers with a selfie video, accepting a match for next week.

Tye Dillinger vs. Danny Burch

It’s interesting to see Tye Dillinger on the other side of one of these matches. They work some early back and forth, with Tye applying an interesting hold. He takes Burch over and shouts “TEN” before saying it again after a cartwheel. For some reason, he’s Danny Burch today but was Martin Stone for his past few appearances. Dillinger hits a nice clothesline and seems to be calling for the win. A Russian leg sweep and stomp follow. He brings the knee pad down and hits his finisher.

Winner: Tye Dillinger in 3:15
Your typical squash match. Nothing special but Tye got to be rather entertaining.

Baron Corbin and Rhyno are interviewed. They are asked if they’re worried about Gargano and Ciampa upsetting them. Rhyno isn’t and Corbin says that they are looking straight through them.

A vignette airs for Kana, who will be going by Asuka. She is here NEXT WEEK!

Apollo Crews vs. Solomon Crowe

They shake hands and have a short standoff as their history on the indies is discussed. Apollo goes for a second handshake but Crowe kicks it away. They start talking about how Crowe might be jealous. Apollo shows off his athleticism and nails a nice dropkick. Crews goes for a baseball slide but Crowe gets him wrapped up in the apron and just pounds away on him. Crowe works over Crews for a bit, with some vicious looking offense. Crews starts to fight back and Crowe runs into a loud kick. Crews goes into his comeback, hitting a sweet corner splash and big leaping clothesline. Crews hits the gorilla press and moonsault for the win.

Winner: Apollo Crews in 4:51
Hey, I thought that was pretty good and could have been much better if given more time. Crowe was more aggressive and it suited him far better than his bland face work. **

Backstage, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa are itnerviewed about how their win wasn’t shocking and that they’ve earned their spots in NXT.

Devin Taylor interviews Dana Brooke and Emma, who requested this time. Emma says that they seem to be missing out from the fun of the new champion and the new Divas coming in. Playtime is over she says. Dana pats Devin on the head, which makes Emma laugh. She comes back and does it a few more times.

An Escalade it seems, pulls up to the arena. Out steps Sasha Banks.

We are given an update on the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. We are told that the Hype Bros advanced on a recent NXT live event. They will face Gabel and Jordan. The Vaudevillains also advanced over Blake and Murphy. Next week, in Texas, the Vaudevillains will face Dawson and Wilder. I think, I kind of looked away.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic: Baron Corbin and Rhyno vs. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa

We get told that the Semi-Finals and Finals will both take place at the next TakeOver. Ciampa takes control over Rhyno, surprising him with his offense. They work a cool double team that sees Gargano stomp on Rhyno. He sends Corbin out and follows with a suicide dive. Rhyno gets sent out and Gargano hits a second one! Ciampa climbs up top and hits a body press onto both opponents. Corbin works with Ciampa and hits a MASSIVE Bossman slam. After a commercial, Corbin is still working over Ciampa. They tease the hot tag but Rhyno and Corbin prove to be tough to overcome. Corbin draws monster heat. Ciampa gets an opening after a missile dropkick. Both guys tag out and Gargano comes in hot. He hits a kick to the skull and a slingshot DDT for two. Gargano leaps over a Gore and kicks Corbin in the head, getting a VERY close two hat the fans bite on. He charges but is caught in End of Days. 1-2-3.

Winners: Baron Corbin and Rhyno in 8:03
Another solid tag team match in this tournament. Gargano once again was the more impressive guy on his team but they played the monster heels vs. resilient babyface stuff well. **3/4

Devin Taylor interviews the Vaudevillains about their match with the Mechanics. They say it would be an honor to win the Dusty Classic. BAMF interrupt and Alexa Bliss says that they are using their rematch clause next week.

A Nia Jax vignette is shown.

Non-Title Match: Bayley vs. Sara Dobson

Bayley goes through the crowd and celebrates with all of the fans. She also brings her biggest fan Izzy, into the ring with her, which is pretty great. Dobson starts with a headbutt and is in control for the first few seconds. She hits an interesting cartwheel knee drop for two. Dobson applies a guillotine choke like submission, getting in far more offense than expected. Bayley powers out and rungs her into the turnbuckle to break the hold. Bayley gets in some double axe handles and her corner elbow. Bayley to Belly hits and that’s a wrap.

Winner: Bayley in 2:28
A squash match that started surprisingly one-sided on the other side.

Bayley gets a microphone after the match. She can’t say much because Sasha Banks interrupts. She says that she came out to congratulate her. All that she’s been hearing is about how they stole the show at TakeOver and had a match of the year. It was also the greatest women’s match in company history. I agree completely with that. Sasha says that’s great but she didn’t come here to put on great matches, she came here to be the best. She claims that Bayley was only better than her for three seconds. Bayley says she has something to prove too, and will give her a rematch whenever she wants, even right now. Sasha wants to prove that she’s the best female wrestler in the company. She wants to do more than beat her, she wants to send a message. Bayley suggests a 2 out of 3 falls. That’s not good enough for Sasha. Fans chant “Ironwoman” and out comes William Regal. He announces that the rematch happens on October 7th at TakeOver in a 30 minute Ironwoman match! They will also main event the show. Sasha and Bayley shake hands and Sasha leaves Bayley to close the show.

Random Match Reviews: reDRagon vs. The Time Splitters

Championship: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title
Show: Power Struggle
Date: 11/8/14
Location: Osaka, Japan

I've said before that I truly believe the best tag team in wrestling currently is reDRagon. On the other side, you have one of my favorite wrestlers in Alex Shelley and his partner KUSHIDA, entering as the reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Other than those obvious reasons, I chose to watch this because they actually have a match coming up in a few weeks for those same belts. Before watching this, I saw their first match, which took place in August of 2014. The match was a bit of a disappointment and the Time Splitters retained. reDRagon returned with a force, winning the Super Junior Tag Team Tournament to earn another shot. 

That's where we enter here. This was the match I wanted between these teams. You see, a lot of the IWGP Jr. Tag matches I've seen (which isn't that many to be honest) are very spot heavy and, while that can be fun, it's not something I want all the time. Here, they tease the high spots multiple times. Both teams stop the other from getting in big spots, so when those finally do hit, they mean more and get a better reaction. The focus from KUSHIDA and O'Reilly on the arms of their opponents is great and really makes me wonder if their interactions here sparked some intrigue to give them a big singles match the following year. The finishing sequence is excellent as a furious run is needed to win.

Match Time - 17:29 ****¼