WEEKLY SLAM MAGAZINE 8/17/18 – ISSUE #3
IN THIS ISSUE:
- NJPW G1 CLIMAX 28 FINALS COVERAGE
- SUMMERSLAM PREVIEW
- NXT TAKEOVER PREVIEW
- PFL 6 COVERAGE
- BELLATOR PREVIEW
- WWE NEWS
- OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
- MMA NEWS
- AND MUCH MORE!
WEEKLY SLAM MAGAZINE 8/17/18 – ISSUE #3
IN THIS ISSUE:
THE WEEKLY SLAM MAGIssue #2 – Week of 3/16/18 Edition – WRITTEN BY JACK WANNAN
The Second Issue
JackWannan.com / @JackWannan / @JackWannanWeb /
The Countdown Is On
Word Of The Week by Jack Wannan
Now that Elimination Chamber has come and gone, and that Fastlane is over, almost everything about Wrestlemania is falling into place. We have matches from RAW and Smackdown being set, with some of the newer rivalries and storylines just getting started. Not to mention, there is also NXT storylines for TakeOver that are starting as well. It’s the best time of year, in my opinion. In this issue you get to delve right into all of the shows and the drama surrounding them, and fully immerse yourself in this week of wrestling. RAW offers a show that was quite honestly more interesting than most episodes. Smackdown felt a little lacking this week, but had twists and turns that are worth noting. This week I also get back into the swing of watching NXT and Impact. Cut me some slack if I’m not 100% accurate about every storyline. NXT this week comes from Atlanta, in a very odd but very cool venue. Impact offers very interesting storytelling this week. The somewhat comical segment between Austin Aries and Alberto El Patron is worth reading through. I covered three special shows last weekend, which you can also read through in this issue. The first of three, was ROH. On Friday last week, ROH ran their 16th Anniversary show, which had a lot of twists and turns (including a shocking special appearance). The saturday show was a trainwreck. Black Label Pro ran their Jar of Flies event. It was, well, it was something. If you want to read about a bad show, I guess that article is for you. Sunday was WWE’s last PPV before Wrestlemania, Fastlane.
It was surprisingly a bit of a slow news week, but we still have some stories to talk about in this issue. The biggest of all might be the drama around The Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal which was set for Wrestlemania. The battle royal is still to go on, but the name has been scrapped. Personally, I think it was a poor move by WWE to originally call it that. I highly doubt that they were blind to the controversy around her, I feel it would be hard to. I don’t know how you could somehow think that it would bode well with people, if you were aware of the controversy. If they didn’t know about it, that’s a different story, but I highly doubt it. I feel that it would be hard to be so oblivious.
Besides that story, there is other small tidbits covered in the issue. Next year’s Wrestlemania host, CM Punk’s UFC plans, and yes, we cover Kid Rock. The article written about Kid Rock is one that I dreaded writing, but I made it a little fun, so I feel like it’s worth checking out. And of course, just like the first issue, this one has match cards. I couldn’t be more thankful of Cagematch for allowing me to use them as a source for show results. Every show has a link beside it where you can go find even more details about the match on their website.
I’m very proud of this release, and I’m happy that I was able to put it all together. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, let me know. Well, that’s all I have to say. All that’s left to say is, enjoy the magazine.
-Jack Wannan
SHOW REVIEWS
RAW
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Monday Night RAW is live from Detroit, Michigan this week. Kurt Angle comes to the ring to start the show off. Kurt expresses his excitement for his Wrestlemania match. Angle informs the crowd that Lesnar will not be here tonight. The crowd does not like this announcement. As Angle is about to mention MizTV, Roman Reigns cuts him off. Thank god, maybe he can not do MizTV this week.
Roman says that Brock has respect for nobody. He claims that Brock did not show up to work. I mean, yeah, he did. Roman says Brock is Vince’s boy, that’s why he wasn’t fired. Roman says that he will not be disrespected by Vince McMahon. He walks backstage to the green room, and confronts Vince. Vince says they will go talk about it in his office. Vince instructs them to cut to commercials. That ends the first segment.
I feel like Roman was being a little too extra. Even in story, Lesnar can do whatever he wants because WWE doesn’t want to lose him. I feel like in story, WWE knows that having a un-controlled Lesnar is better than having no Lesnar, so they let him do what he wants. Roman expecting to be held up to the same standard is absurd.
After the break, Renee Young is reporting outside of Vince’s office. When Roman leaves the office, Renee tries to ask a question, but he refuses to answer anything. Vince leaves the office too, and speaks to Renee. He says that Brock isn’t anyone’s boy. He also says that there was no intention of disrespecting Roman. Vince also said that he told Roman to “Know your role and shut your mouth”. He also says that Roman is temporarily suspended. The crowd cheered loud for this. Makes sense, he’s the one who is being disrespectful in my books.
Sonya Deville w/ Paige and Mandy Rose vs. Sasha Banks w/ Bayley
Sasha Banks tries to fix her friendship with Bayley, while competing tonight against Sonya Deville. Bayley is ringside during the match, looking uncomfortable. Sasha put Sonya into the Bank Statement for the win. She also did that Double Knees move earlier, which is cool. Just after Sasha won, Bayley stormed off. As Bayley left her, all three members of Absolution circled around Sasha. Mandy and Sonya ganged up on Banks, as Paige wasn’t even allowed to go near because of her injury. Bayley was nowhere to be found during this scene.
MizTV w/ Seth Rollins and Finn Balor
Well, I guess we will have MizTV this week. His guests this week are his two Wrestlemania opponents, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins. He is without The Miztourage because they are fighting later on tonight. He introduces Seth Rollins first, then Finn Balor. As usual, Miz threw around insults and both of his guests. Miz’s comments eventually drive Seth up the wall, eventually telling Miz to shut up. Rollins claims that Miz is trying to start shit between the Finn and himself. Ironically, when The Miz shuts up, that’s when the beef really starts. They are about to do something, but when they notice The Miz smiling and rubbing his hands out of anticipation, they take him out. Finn made the mistake of turning his bad, and Seth attacked him too.
This was formulaic, but this was a great segment. The crowd loved it, so did I. I hope they can do something clever with this rivalry next week too. After the break, Rollins versus Balor is set for later tonight.
The Bar vs. The Miztourage
The aforementioned Miztourage match is next. Instead of a match starting, a full brawl broke out. The Revival and Anderson & Gallows joined the brawl. As The Bar tried to escape, Heath Slater & Rhyno AND Titus Worldwide joined the fight too. The Bar finally escape, and the rest of the division just stands around.
John Cena Talks About Wrestlemania
John Cena comes out to talk about Wrestlemania, and where he will find himself on the card. Cena says that he will not be at Wrestlemania this year. He says that he will be there, but not competing. He goes into the crowd so visually show people that he may be sitting beside you at Wrestlemania. Apparently he took a sip of beer from the crowd, but my feed cut out so idk lol. He says that since he won’t have a match, he’ll go for the longshot. He challenges The Undertaker. Cena did a great promo, challenging The Undertaker. It was seriously good. John Cena is still a legend.
Elias On Stage
Elias does a concert in the ring. It is interrupted with a promo from Braun, saying that he is angry that he doesn’t have a Wrestlemania opponent yet. His promo has those awful words onscreen. It was an odd segment because it just sorta ended.
Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
The previously announced match between Rollins and Balor happens now. Late in the match, Balor tried for a coup de grace but Seth fought it off. Seth did a Suplerplex instead. Balor did a roll-up right after for the win.
The match was amazing, but the roll-up felt kind of stupid. Like sure, Balor countered whatever Seth was about to do, but I feel like this completely undermined the Superplex. It’s not a big deal though, so I won’t fret.
Asuka Interview and Asuka vs. Mickie James
Asuka is being interviewed about how appearance at Fastlane last night. When she is asked a question, she is immediately interrupted by Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. Alexa Bliss calls Asuka smart because she won’t face her, because she will lose. Alexa also mocks her many times, saying that Asuka has bad English, saying that there is a language barrier, which is, questionable. Asuka says “to be the woman you got to beat the woman!”. Asuka says she wants to face the best champion in WWE. Asuka challenges Alexa to a fight tonight. Mickie attacks Asuka, then they have a match after the break. Asuka won the fight via Asuka Lock. During this match, I have to note how well Asuka’s leg strikes are. They look so real, and so brutal. It’s always been like that, I’ve just never pointed it out. Alexa Bliss stormed away from the ring after the fight.
Nia Jax vs. Local
Nia Jax versus local next. Nia wins. After the match, we see backstage footage of Alexa and Mickie talking shit about Nia. They make a ton of fat jokes, and stuff like that. Honestly, I fucking hate using stuff like that for an angle. I thought they were doing so well with Nia on the main roster, but they have finally went all in with making fun of her size. It’s so lazy, pathetic and somewhat degenerate.
Tag Team Battle Royal
Our last match is a tag team battle royal. All RAW tag teams are in a battle royale to determine the #1 contenders for the tag belts. Before the fight starts, Braun Stroman comes down to the ring. Stroman is a part of this match now apparently.
Braun Stroman won the match, so I guess he’s facing the tag champs at Wrestlemania. I guess they can have a good storyline or whatever, but I just feel like this is such a downgrade compared to everything else Stroman has done this year. That ends RAW
SMACKDOWN LIVE
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Smackdown is in Indianapolis, Indiana this week. AJ Styles comes to the ring to kick off the show. Styles cut a promo, talking about his match on Sunday, and about himself in general. Nakamura comes out to the ring too. Nakamura says that his dream his to put his knee to Styles’ face, and to become champion. After this, Rusev and Aiden English come out too. It’s because Rusev faces Styles next. Wow, this segment felt lame. Nakamura barely got to say anything, then the segment just kinda ended. This did NOTHING to build the Wrestlemania match.
AJ Styles vs. Rusev
After the break we get out first match. Styles did a Phenomenal Forearm to the outside before another commercial break. Rusev did a nice Superkick for a two count. Styles dodged a move for a Pele Kick and a neck-to-knee move. Styles tried to end it with a Styles Clash but Rusev reversed it into an Accolade. Styles turned the Accolade into a Calf Crusher. Aiden English jumps in as Styles was about to win, ending the match. As this two-on-one brawl started, Shinsuke came in from ringside to save Styles. While he ends the brawl, he does not check up on Styles, he just leaves. I thought that was a good little detail.
Jimmy Uso and Big E vs. The Bludgeon Brothers
After ½ of The Usos and ⅔ of the New Day were taken out by The Bludgeon Brothers, what’s left tries to get their revenge. They are set for a match, but it quickly devolves into a brawl. Jimmy and Big E grab steel chairs, while The Bludgeon Brothers have huge hammers. The chairs did nothing, and the two jumped out of the ring. We come back from the break with a match underway. So much for the brawl, I guess?
To most likely nobodies surprise, The Bludgeon Brothers dominated. After the match, they continued.
Charlotte and Asuka
Charlotte comes out because she wants to meet Asuka “woman-to-woman”. Asuka comes out shortly after. The two trade promos. Asuka says that Charlotte is the Queen, but she is the Empress. I thought this was good, I have no complaints.
Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal
After the break, Randy Orton is in the ring with a mic. I’ve notice there is a lot of talking segments this week. Orton talks about how he is the US Champion now. Bobby Roode comes out next, and says that he gets a rematch was Wrestlemania. Jinder Mahal interrupts, because I guess he has a match with Roode now. Late in the match, Roode hit a Spinebuster for a close count. Samir Singh distracted Roode, letting Jinder get control of the match. He hit a Collass, to win the match. Afterwards, Orton hit an RKO on Jinder.
Naomi vs. Carmella
Carmella squares up one on one against Naomi. This match is to promote the Moolah Battle Royale which will happen at Wrestlemania this year. Carmella got the cheap roll-up win after countering a move that Naomi was attempting to do off the second rope.
Shane comes to the ring. He says that after tonight he is taking an indefinite leave as Smackdown manager. Before he leaves, he books Kevin Owens versus Sami Zayn for Wrestlemania. Kevin Owens comes out, not liking this idea. Sami also comes out, very angry as well. A brawl breaks out between all three. Owens and Zayn gang up on Shane. Referee’s come out attempting to stop this, but they beat up the refs too. Outside the ring, they wedged a chair in-between Shane’s head, then ran him into a post. They both drag him backstage, and slam him onto some sort of metal table? I have no clue what it was. Shane gets stretchered off as the show goes off-air.
205 LIVE
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This week’s 205 Live started with a recap of the 205 Live tournament matches that happened last week. After the recap and usual intro video, we go to the live crowd in Indianapolis, Indiana. We go right into our first match.
Akira Tozawa and Hideo Itami vs. Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik w/ Kalisto
Accompanied by Kalisto, Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik face the team of Akira Tozawa and Hideo Itami. This match was pretty good. I love that Tozawa did a very loud yell while doing his Missile Dropkick. It was hard to pick who to cheer for, since both of these teams are pure babyfaces. Really, if I could have any qualms with the 205 Live division, it’s that nearly everyone is a babyface. Metalik tried doing a rope spot to win, but Itami countered it with some cool Stunner type of move for the win. The end of the match was very fast, shades of a ROH tag match. Dorado did an amazing spot near the end, where Dorado jumped off of Metalik’s back, to the outside.
Gentleman Jack Gallagher vs. Murphy Myers
Before our next segment, our general manager Drake Maverick comes out. He will be a guest commentator for the next fight. The brutal grappler, Jack Gallagher is facing Murphy Myers. As I expected, this match was a cakewalk for Gallagher. He ended it with a headbutt.
Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander (Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Semi-Final Match)
Our main event of the evening, is Strong versus Alexander. The winner of the match is heading to Wrestlemania. Cedric did a Backdrop to Strong early in the match where Strong almost did a full flip. Looked crazy. These guys looked like they were nearly killing each other at the start. Alexander did a comeback, hitting a Springboard Cutter and a dive over the top rope to the outside right after. It wasn’t enough to put away Strong. Alexander hit the Lumbar Check and the commentators sold it as if that would be it, but Strong last second put his leg on the rope.
Strong hit his Lumbar Check type of move, but Alexander put his leg on the rope this time. I liked that they repeated that spot. After a combo of moves, Cedrick Alexander won the match with a Cradle Roll-up. This match was absolutely fantastic. I loved almost all of it. The only part of this match that I wasn’t huge about was the finish. I feel like a roll-up did not do the match justice. But besides that, wow. Amazing match. Both men should be proud of the performance that they put on.
That wraps up this episode of 205 Live. Next week we get another week closer to Wrestlemania (point at the sign!)
WWE NXT
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Sanity vs. Riddick Moss and Tito Sabbatelli (Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Round 1 Match)
We go to the Atlanta Center Stage for this week’s episode of NXT. The first match on this episode of NXT is part of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. In their second Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, Sanity faces Riddick Moss and Tito Sabbatelli in the first round of the tournament. Alexander Wolfe and Eric Young are the two members of Sanity who are competing in this match. Early in the match there’s a spot where Alexander dodges a punch from Moss, making Moss punch his partner instead. Eric Young got a hot tag, hitting an Diving Elbow Drop. When he went for the pin, Moss pulled him out of the ring. When the ref wasn’t looking, Nikki Cross dove onto Moss, who was outside the ring. Sanity did a double team move to win the match.
This match was very quick and very predictable. I didn’t have any problems with it, except maybe what Sanity is supposed to be. I haven’t watched NXT in a long time, but I don’t understand why people are cheering Sanity. Aren’t they supposed to be a heel group? Everything about them is heel.
Ciampa Heads To The Ring
Our next segment is Tomasso Ciampa coming to the ring to talk. When he got to the ring, almost everyone in the crowd was holding a Johnny Wrestling sign. It was actually a pretty cool sight to see. They were obviously given the signs by production, but it was still cool. It felt like Ciampa was given legitimate heat, compared to cheers for being a good heel. That’s something you don’t see too often, but you have to appreciate. With a look of frustration, Ciampa drops his mic in the ring and leaves. He never started a promo, but instead just took in the heated enviroment that was pitted against him. As he was leaving the venue, a “Ciampa Sucks” chant erupted.
I thought this segment was great. It did a good job at painting Ciampa as someone who is massively hated by everyone. It also helped that the commentators did not talk during the whole segment.
Lacey Evans vs. Dakota Kai
The second match on the show this week is Lacey Evans versus Dakota Kai. Kai was given a very warm welcome from the Atlanta crowd, while Evans barely got a reaction. In under a minute, Kai won with a roll-up. This caught me off guard to be completely honest. The only offense in the match was from Evans, who had vicious strikes. It’s worth noting how cool her knee strikes here.
After the match, Shayna Baszler came to the ring to confront Kai. Dakota Kai was cornered in the ring, looking terrified. They stare each other down until Ember Moon came out. Moon had a mic, and said that Shayna started “this”, but Ember will end it at NXT TakeOver. They brawled, until referees came and broke it up. This fight was so awkward. The refs were attempting to pull them apart, but at the same time looked like they weren’t trying. The fighting looked very fabricated because of this. Ember got knocked down by a strike from Shayna, but Ember hit a kick afterwards. Ember tried going to the top rope, but Shayna stopped here. Dakota Kai came back, stopping Shayne from hitting a move. The brawl ended with Ember Moon hitting the Eclypse.
Street Profits vs. Heavy Machinery (Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Round 1 Match)
Continuing the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament, the Street Profits face off against Heavy Machinery. The Street Profits energized the crowd with their entrance. The Street Profits did a comedy bit early in the match, getting a member of Heavy Machinery to drink out of their Solo Cup. Heavy Machinery also had cool spots, basically throwing around the Street Profits. They did a double team move called the “Battering Ram”, where they ran one member of the Street Profits into the other, who was standing in the corner. Dawkins got a hot tag where he hit his 360 Stinger Splash. Heavy Machinery tries to end it with a double team, but the Street Profits got out of it. Montez Ford won the match is a long and high up Frogsplash. This match was fast paced and very enjoyable. I like both of these teams.
Adam Cole vs. Pete Dunne (WWE UK Championship Match)
The main event for this episode of WWE NXT is Adam Cole challenging Pete Dunne for the UK Championship. The belt means basically nothing by now, but at least we should still see a good match. Dunne did a good job early in the match at working body parts in a technical way. Dunne did a great suplex, flipping Cole onto the apron. Dunne hit a Sit-Up Powerbomb for a close two count. Cole did the Last Shot, but Dunne kicked out of that. As Dunne was about to win the match, The Undisputed Era came into the ring to beat down on Dunne. Roderick Strong came in the ring to save Dunne, but got ganged up on as well.
Dunne and Strong all of the sudden get energy and scare off the Undisputed Era. After the scene happened, Dunne slapped away a handshake from Strong.
NXT Championship Contract Signing
The final segment on this week’s episode of NXT is a contract signing. Andrade Cien Almas and Aleister Black sign a contract, which is moderated by William Regal. Andrade’s manager, Zelina Vega comes out to represent him for this contract signing. During this segment, Black makes many short jokes, to insult Zelina. His mockery is stopped after a hard slap from Zelina. At the end, Black brings out Candice LeRae, who comes out and beats up Zelina. Candice ended it with a Running Bulldog off the second rope. This ended this week’s episode of NXT.
Well, it wasn’t a bad segment, though I feel like it ruined a lot of the Mystique of Aleister, but that might just be me. Also, I thought the short jokes were a little cop out. But besides that, this was still a good segment, and a good show.
IMPACT WRESTLING
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The show this week starts with a recap of last week. Last week was Crossroads, an event with many special matches. Tonight is Feast Or Fired, we will get to that later.
Sami Callihan w/ oVe vs. Fallah Bahh
Our first match is the leader of oVe, Sami Callihan versus Fallah Bahh. Callihan won this match with a Death Valley Driver. That was a pretty impressive match. I don’t like Callihan’s gimmick, but he put on a good match with Fallah Bahh. After the match, oVe tried to attempt the baseball bat spot that Callihan did to Eddie Edwards last week. Eddie came out and stopped this from happening.
Austin Aries Interview
After a nice 20 minute break because of them showing really old footage, we get an Austin Aries interview. He talks about being vegan, but then Alberto El Patron interrupts him. He ends the interview, and talks to Aries. To mock Aries, Alberto tries to serve him meat as a welcoming gift. Aries eventually gets mad, and slaps the steak out of Alberto’s hand. I thought this segment was really good. It was a little awkward of a segment, but besides that, it was pretty well done to be honest.
Abyss Returns
Jimmy Jacobs accompanies Kongo Kong to the ring. He calls out Abyss. Instead of Abyss, they get Father James Mitchell. After talking for like forever, Father James Mitchell says that he brought Abyss back. Abyss finally comes out. Abyss attacks Kongo Kong and runs him out of the ring. After, James Mitchell invites them to Monsters Ball. This segment was so boring. The talking went on for way longer than it should have.
Taya Valkyrie vs. Rosemary
In the second hour of the show, we finally have another match. Rosemary faces Taya Valkyrie in a grudge match. This match was great with lots of action, but ended in a double countout. Despite the match ending, Rosemary and Valkyrie kept fighting. Taya ended the brawl by hitting the Road To Valhalla. This was okay. The finishing move by Taya is great.
Matt Sydal Reveals
Matt Sydal comes to the ring to reveal who has been helping him recently. Who is it that has been helping him out recently? It’s Josh Matthews! Matthews has a gift for Sydal. It’s a mask of his “spirit animal”. As a gift back, he crowns Josh Matthews the new Impact Grand Champion. I shit you not. The Impact Grand Champion. It was actually hilarious, but with that being said, it’s so goofy.
Impact’s Feast Or Fired
It’s time for the main event of the evening, Feast or Fired. For anyone who doesn’t know, Feast Or Fired is a 4 briefcase match. 3 cases have title shots and so on, with the fourth one having a termination of contract. Petey Williams hit a nice Canadian Destroyer in this match, and got case #2. Moose got case #4 after getting EC3 off of it. Although EC3 was robbed of that case, he did get case #3 shortly after. Eli Drake took the final case after taking out everyone else involved in the match. This match was okay, but felt like it went on for forever. We find out about the cases next week, which sucks.
ROH 16TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW
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It’s time to review that Ring of Honor 16th Anniversary show. Let’s get started with the show introduction.
The 16th anniversary started with video package recapping some of ROH’s fondest memories in the companies history. It did a good job tying old stuff to the stuff we will see tonight, although the music used in the video made no sense. It sounded very comical. We go to the ring where Bully Ray shouts into a mic which is way too loud on the microphone. By the way, on the pre-show, we could hear Bully explaining to the crowd when to start cheering.
Anyways, Bully is hyping up the show in the ring. He finishes his hyping, then that’s it haha. He was good at getting the crowd loud, but this segment meant nothing in the long run. They should have at least tied it into something. Let’s get to our first match.
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Flip Gordon
Hiromu Takahashi, who has been a huge name for a year now, faces Flip Gordon. An audience member gave Hiromu a daryl stuffed animal, which he carried around the ring. I’ll be completely honest, this is the first that I have seen of Gordon. I liked the somewhat egotistical way he carried himself around the ring. Something about the way he acts when walking around that is so unique and cool. When he sets up for dives and such, he’s never running super fast, just the speed he needs. Early in the match, Hiromu hit Shaka Boots outside the ring. I liked that move. Just another example of how Hiromu throws caution to the wind.
He used the Daryl doll as a weapon during the match. Should have been a DQ if we are talking technicalities, but Todd Sinclair cut him some slack. What was adorable about this was that Todd referred to Daryl as a person, telling Takahashi that “he (Daryl) stays there (outside the ring”.
Flip was impressive when he hit a Standing (he had a running start) Shooting Star. Hiromu hit a Canadian Destroyer, and Flip Gordon hit him with a Superkick right after. Listen, I love me a Superkick, and I sure love a Canadian Destroyer, but Gordon completely no sold the move. I hate almost any no sell as big as this, because it feels like it almost invalidates the move.
Gordon hit a Star Spangled Stunner (which looked great), for a two count. He went right to the top rope after and did a 450 Splash, but Hiromu countered it by putting up his knees. A roll-up was kicked out of by Gordon. Takahashi did a Death Valley Driver into the corner. Gordon tried for another Stunner, but Hiromu countered it with a German Suplex, bridged into a pin. Gordon kicked out. Hiromu hit a Superkick then a great Lariat for a two count. Hiromu hit the Timebomb for the win.
I thought this match was an amazing start to the show. As I already mentioned, this was my first time watching Flip Gordon. From this match, I consider him a great wrestler. I can not wait to see him again soon. And as always, Takahashi put on a show.
Punishment Martinez vs. Marty Scurll
Our second match on the card is a grudge match. Marty Scurll and Punishment Martinez. The camera didn’t catch it, but the fight started before the bell rang. The crowd seemed just as or maybe even more loud for this match. Outside the ring, Marty Scurll was surrounded by security after making a ref flinch. Martinez did a dive over a ringpost, onto the crowd. It was a pretty good dive.
Punishment Martinez did a great Curbstomp, on the apron of the ring. Martinez took out a table and set it up. Martinez did a Swanton Bomb outside over the ropes onto the table, but Scurll got out of the way. At some point in the match, Scurll started bleeding in the right eye. Minimal blood, but it looked nasty. Scurll unleashed his more Strong Style of fighting, doing multiple curbstomps to an already downed Martinez. Scurll pretended to throw a bag of powder, but it was nothing. The ref looked away when this happened, giving him a chance to kick Martinez in the groin. This gave him the win.
It was a cheap victory, but to be honest, that’s a clever one. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone win via making the ref flinch and look away. Not as good as the first match, but still a good match.
Silas Young vs. Kenny King (ROH World TV Championship Match)
Our first match for gold tonight is Silas Young versus Kenny King. The crowd definitely calmed down for this match, but still showed a lot of energy. They did a spot late in the match where Todd Sinclair was down, delaying a pin for Silas. Silas would have won the match, but King kicked out at 2. King hit the Royal Flush for the win. After the match, a big name shows up. Austin Aries comes to the ramp with a microphone. Aries says that he is collecting belts. He implies that he wants Kenny King’s belt. This match was good but not great. I didn’t dislike it. The Aries segment felt somewhat awkward because it ended with no real satisfying ending.
Bullet Club (Young Bucks and Adam Page) vs. So Cal Uncensored (ROH 6-Man Tag Team Title Match) (Street Fight)
The Young Bucks and Adam Page, the the self proclaimed Hung Bucks, are defending their ROH 6-Man belts in a street fight. They face So Cal Uncensored. A brawl erupts before the fight officially starts. Streamers from the crowd are all over the ring. The start of this match was absolute mayhem. Everyone was doing crazy spots left and right. Page did a great Shooting Star off the apron onto someone who was being held up. The Bucks get out a table next. We see that Kazarian is completely covered in blood on the forehead.
Nick Jackson went for a move onto the table outside the ring, but Jackson gets pushed and goes through the table by his lonesome. Nick gets isolated by himself in the ring and picked up by So-Cal Uncensored. Page and Kazarian traded head blows with the top of a trash can. Looked brutal. Page whipped Kazarian with a belt that has nails on it. Oh my goodness, that was the most painful thing I have seen all week. Wow.
So-Cal Uncensored set up a table that was made out of the metal guard rails. They try to put a Buck through it, but he gets saved. The Young Bucks hit the Double Cease, but Kazarian broke it up. Page hit an amazing Hotshot Lariat. Daniels gets put through the Guardrail structure. Kazarian gets put on a table. Nick Jackson takes out a ladder in attempt at going through the table. Scorpio stops it from happening. Matt Jackson takes out Scorpion, then goes up the ladder himself.
He did an Elbow Drop off the top of the ladder. Nick Jackson put a trash can on top of Scorpio Sky then did a 450. He went for the pin, but Shane Taylor came out and distracted Nick. Taylor attacked the Bullet Club. The Bucks did a Piledriver of some sort onto Taylor. Because of this distraction, So-Cal is all healed up and fighting again. Page gets zip-tied to a post. The Bucks start going crazy with Superkicks. Scorpio hit a Cutter into a Dragon Sleeper onto Nick Jackson. Nick taps, giving us new champions.
Honestly, I expected the crowd to give So-Cal Uncensored heat, but the crowd fell silent. The match was good, but the Young Bucks losing completely killed the crowd. I feel like a big issue is that The Young Bucks are loved so much, that people aren’t satisfied if they don’t win. I can’t preach a solution to this because I don’t know what to do.
A team of some sort attacks people after the match, but this wasn’t emphasized at all. When we came back from an ad, the commentators reacted like nothing ever happened. I didn’t even catch their names.
Matt Taven vs. Cody
For this grudge match, Cody has Brandi Rhodes and Bury The Bear at ringside. Taven hit a Cross Rhodes for a two count late in the match. The crowd was absolutely dead for this match. I think the match before completely deflated the crowd. As the ref is down, those same two people who attacked The Bucks are back. They kick Cody in the groin, but afterwards we see that Cody was actually wearing a cup. Cody hit a Cross Rhodes for the win.
Earlier in the match was rough, but the end was very clever. Even more so when the match ended, the crowd was absolutely dead. I hope that they can pull it together before the main event. After the match, the bear attacks Cody. The bear takes off the mask, and you see that it is Kenny Omega. He hits a V-Trigger on Cody afterwards. This brought the crowd to life. The plot thickens. Brandi is mad at Kenny, but kisses him on the lips. I can only assume this was to further the Ibushi story, even though that’s not a ROH thing. What a crazy way to end this segment. I enjoyed it.
The Briscoe Brothers vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Ring of Honor Tag Title Match)
Our next match is The Briscoe Brothers and the Motor City Machine Guns. The crowd was near silent for this match. I wasn’t really digging this match either. To be completely fair, these guys had such a disadvantage. They crowd was silent no matter what they did. The Briscoes won, new champs. Not that exciting of a win.
Jay Lethal vs. Dalton Castle (ROH World Championship Match)
Yes yes, it’s main event time. Jay Lethal challenges Dalton Castle for the ROH World Championship. When Lethal did a dive to the outside, Bobby Cruise took one. Like 15 minutes into this match, this is the only big highlight that I have. This match was slow, boring and bad. The crowd was absolutely dead, and they were working a slow pace, way different than every other match tonight. Late in the match, Lethal tried for a Lethal Injection but Dalton got out.
This match for sure picked up near the end. Castle hit a Bangarang for the win, to retain his championship. The final combo of moves at the end of the match was well done. The end of the match was good, but in general I did not enjoy this match. It was very slow, and the crowd slept on it.
That wraps up the 16th anniversary show for Ring of Honor. Come to the site later this week for a ROH TV review.
BLACK LABEL PRO: JAR OF FLIES
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Shane Sabre vs. Mark Wheeler vs. Space Monkey vs. Leva Bates
Here we go with our first match of the evening. Sabre, Wheeler and Space Monkey come out for a three way fight. The commentary team accidentally spoiled that the three way would become a four way, mentioning it before Leva Bates came out. Leva Bates entered the ring with no real story behind it other than she joined the match. Must I add, I’m a huge Space Monkey fan.
I saw a minute of the match, then my feed cut out. Feed came back to a commentator saying “Women can’t be trusted”, okay. Space Monkey hit a Springboard Tornado DDT, which was nice. Space Monkey does a banana spot, making Wheeler slip on a peel. After that, he hit a tailwhip for the win (whipping with a tail).
It’s a little hard to judge this because of they blew a fuse at the venue, but the end of the match felt somewhat anticlimactic. And no, I wouldn’t consider a tailwhip illegal, since it is part of Space Monkey’s anatomy.
The Carnies vs. A.J. Gray and Mance Warner
Before our next match, we get another short outage. The Carnies come out for their match. They have a carnival megaphone, which I bet was fun for the live crowd, but I barely heard anything. A.J. Gray and Mance Warner make their entrance. Mance picks up a kid and carries him around. The child did not look like he was happy. The wrestlers did comedy stuff for the first 5 minutes of the match. Mance Warner did eye pokes to everyone outside the ring (didn’t know that was legal).
Mance Warner and A.J. Gray won the match. It was a decent win, though I feel that there was a little too much comedy stuff.
Kobe Durst vs. Eric Ryan
Before our next match, the announcer reminds the crowd that it is a family friendly show, and that people need top watch their language. Anyways, our next match is a singles bout between Kobe Durst and Eric Ryan. Durst did a Suicide Dive early in the match. This match was very high octane. Kobe won with a Code Breaker. I actually really enjoyed this match. Though, the commentary was god awful. The play-by-play guy is okay, but the other commentator keeps trying comedy bits that go nowhere.
Josh Briggs vs. Jake Parnell
Briggs and Parnell is next. Briggs hit a Moonsault which was dodged, which is impressive because of how tall Briggs is. Briggs got a 2 count from a Jackhammer of some sort. Parnell went to the top rope for a move, but got caught by Briggs for a Chokeslam Backbreaker. Decent match, the one before was better. I still enjoyed it though.
Danny Adams & The Warlord vs. Kevin Ku and Percy Davis
We got a tag match next. Danny Adams and Warlord won. It was a pretty bad match. War Lord was very tired. This match was very boring
Matt Knicks vs. Pat Monix vs. Draztick Boy vs Gringo Loco
After the intermission we have our next match. It’s a four way elimination match. Draztick Boy did an impressive dive over a ringpost onto Loco and Monix. Draztick eliminated Knicks and Monix right after eachother. Gringo Loco won via roll-up. This match was decent. Draztick Boy carried the whole fight. He was absolutely great, I loved him. The finish of the match seemed sort of lame, a roll-up is never too fun.
Dasher Hatfield vs. C.W. Anderson
We have our final singles match before the main event. Dasher Hatfield, the true american character, faced C.W. Anderson. Dasher almost got put asleep by a kick, but saved himself by putting his leg on the rope. A nasty (in a good way) Spinebuster was what put Dash away.
Teddy Hart vs. Nick Gage
Before the main event, Mance Warner comes out, wanting to be added to the main event. It became official shortly after. Hart did a crazy suplex on the floor outside the ring. Hart did a Springboard Backflip (I think it’s called that), off the top rope onto the two performers. Gage and Hart did a double team Blockbuster Powerbomb through a table. Gage pins, to win the match.
I’m sorry, what? That was a double team spot, yet Gage won? That makes no sense. It was a cool spot, but that made absolutely no sense. This match was fine, but the finish was absolutely horrific.
In general, this show was horrendous.
WWE FASTLANE
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It’s time to review the final PPV before Wrestlemania, Fastlane. Let’s get started.
The Fashion Police & Tye Dillinger vs. Chad Gable, Shelton Benjamin & Mojo Rawley
The pre-show match for Fastlane is a collision of rivalries. Dillinger teams with The Fashion Police to face Gable, Benjamin and Rawley. Tye Dillinger got a win for his team, doing a knee move of some sort. This match was very short, but honestly it was the first match I have seen from Dillinger where I though “wow he was good in the ring”.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev
Alright so to the live show. Well, I can’t judge the intro to the show because the Network is awful and crapped out on me, but I tuned in before the first match. This time when Aiden English introduced Rusev, he had a custom Rusev Day microphone. We got a lot of pinfalls in this match. Maybe a little too much. But despite that, this match was pretty good. Rusev did a nice roll-up transition into The Accolade which Nakamura escaped. Nakamura escaped an Accolade and did a Kinshasa to the back of his neck. He followed it up with a regular Kinshasa.
This match was well paced. It had slow wrestling at the start, but progressed and progressed until it finally culminated. This was a great start to the show as well. The crowd was very invested in the fight.
Randy Orton vs. Bobby Roode (US Title Match)
Our third match on the card tonight is our first that has gold on the line. Roode defends his US Title against Randy Orton, in the culmination of the US Title #1 Contender Tournament. This match, just like the one before was pretty good. Orton hit a Superplex late in the match. Roode did a flying nothing off the top rope that Orton reversed into an RKO. That ended the match. This completely unglued the crowd.
Jinder Mahal came out after the match to confront Orton. Mahal attacked Orton acter the match, but Bobby saved him. After that, he gave Orton a Glorious DDT. Roode, who just lost his title, walks away with his music playing.
Naomi and Becky Lynch vs. Carmella and Natalya
A women’s tag match is the next fight on the card. I wasn’t aware that there was any beef between these four, but I guess they are doing a match so they must. Carmella had really good strikes in this match. They all looked very brutal. Becky hit a Leg Drop late in the match but Natalya won the match. Natalya tried to give Carmella the briefcase to hit Becky while the ref wasn’t looking. She failed to do this, but this distracted Becky, giving Carmella time to hit a move for the win. Decent match, not bad. Carmella seems like she improved.
New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston w/ Big E) vs. The Usos (Smackdown Tag Team Title Match)
This match was the New Day versus The Usos for the tag titles. The Usos did a double dive to the outside onto all three members. After this spot, The Bludgeon Brothers made an uninvited appearance. They attack everyone, ending the match. The beatdown was pretty good. At first I was pretty annoyed, but it was better than what I expected.
Ruby Riott vs. Charlotte Flair (Smackdown Women’s Championship Match)
Ruby Riott and Charlotte Flair fight for the Women’s title. During the match the rest of the Riott Squad tried to attack Charlotte, but Naomi and Becky Lynch came down from the ramp to make sure they didn’t. After Riott Squad got thrown out after repeatedly punching Charlotte. Charlotte put Ruby Riott into the Figure 8 to retain.
This match was really, really good. It really buried Riott though. Even though her henchwomen attacked Charlotte, she lost. Makes her look super weak. Honestly, who didn’t predict that she would win. Still, enjoyable.
After the match, Asuka came out to the ring. The crowd gave Asuka a huge reaction. Asuka pointed to the Wrestlemania sign, showing that she wanted to challenge Charlotte for her title. She can, since she won the Rumble.
John Cena vs. Baron Corbin vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. AJ Styles (WWE Championship Match)
It’s finally our main event of the night, a match which should truly be mayhem. Cena, Corbin, Owens, Zayn, Ziggler and Styles all in one big fight. Cena did an AA to Styles through an announcers table, after failing to do it to Owens. Later on, Zayn laid down for Owens to pin him in this match. Owens called bluff. Zayn tried to roll him up, then they both started brawling like crazy. Some shit happened with Owens, Zayn and Shane McMahon, but my WWE Network cut out so that sucks.
Owens hit a pop-up Powerbomb, then AJ Styles hit a Phenominal Forearm out of nowhere onto Owens to win.
This match was pretty good. My network decided to just cut my feed halfway through the match, so it’s hard to judge, but what I saw I enjoyed.
In general, this was a good PPV. There was a bad or boring match here or there, but in general it was a pretty good show.
NEWS THIS WEEK
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Wrestlemania To Return To New Jersey In 2019
After a successful outing at the MetLife Stadium many years ago for Wrestlemania 29, WWE is set to return to New Jersey in 2019 for Wrestlemania 35. Originally reported by The New York Post, the news broke Thursday night that WWE would return to the New York venue. Just 7 years apart from the last Wrestlemania held in that venue, it’s a similar scenario to what we are seeing this year. New Orleans, the area which held Wrestlemania 30 five years ago, is holding Wrestlemania 34 this year.
WWE To Rename “The Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal” For Wrestlemania
After severe backlash online and pressure from sponsors of the event, WWE has chosen to rename “The Fabulous Moolah Battle Royal” to just the “Wrestlemania Women’s Royal Rumble”. It was promoted for a week or so that there would be a sister match to the Andre The Giant Battle Royale this year, paying homage to The Fabulous Moolah. This recieved massive scrutiny online as in the past Moolah has been reported as a bad person. She had been described as someone who would “pimp out” the women she would train, and was also described as an abusive person.
Because of this, The Fabulous Moolah will not be represented on WWE TV going forward. The criticism online was one thing for this situation, but what many speculate as the main reason why it changed was that Snickers released a statement, calling the name of the match “unacceptable”. Their full statement read:
“We were recently made aware of the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc’s (WWE) decision to honor a former wrestler during the upcoming WrestleMania 34 event. As a principle-based business that has long championed creating inclusive environments that encourage and empower everyone to reach their full potential, this is unacceptable. We are engaging with the WWE to express our disappointment.”.
CM Punk Claims That He Will Fight At UFC 225 (Published on 3/12/18)
CM Punk is claiming that he will fight at UFC 225. UFC returns to Chicago, Punk’s hometown on June 9th for UFC 225. Today, former WWE wrestlers and current UFC roster member CM Punk responded Luchaman0miedo on Twitter, after the user asked when will be the next time that Punk cries in the octagon.
Punk responded, saying “June nine, after I win and lock eyes with my beautiful wife, embrace my coaches and shout out my entire team”.
We have yet to hear any UFC employee’s or higher ups confirm or deny this, but when we hear anything of that sort it will be reported.
Punk had previously teased being on the Chicago card, tweeting a eyes and thinking emoji in response to UFC’s tweet announcing the event back in February.
Kid Rock To Join The 2018 WWE Hall of Fame Class (Published on 3/12/18)
Earlier today, Billboard broke the news that Kid Rock will be the celebrity wing entry into this year’s WWE Hall of Fame. Kid Rock has performed twice at WWE events, those events being Wrestlemania 25 and 2012 Tribute To The Troops. Kid Rock said in the article that he is looking forward to the Hall of Fame ceremony, saying that it “will be a fun night and it will be great to see everyone again.”
For anyone who doesn’t know, Kid Rock is a rock and country musician. Debuting in 1988, Kid Rock has been known for hits like Picture, All Summer Long, Bawitdaba and Cowboy.
Outside of music, Kid Rock is known for his extremely right wing views. Kid Rock is pro-guns, he’s a little iffy on the idea of marrying gay people, and in 2016 he said he “digs” Trump. As a matter of fact, Kid Rock will be alongside Trump, as he is also an inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame.
The WWE Hall of Fame airs on the WWE Network at 8PM EST on April 6th.
RESULTS OF THE WEEK
All of these match cards were graciously given to us by Cagematch.net. The title of every show is a direct link to that card on their site. We very much appreciate them providing us with this information.
WWE
WWE NXT Live 3/9/18 Citrus Springs, Florida, USA (Link)
WWE Live Road To Wrestlemania Tour 3/9/18 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (Link)
WWE NXT Live 3/10/18 Fort Pierce, Florida, USA (Link)
WWE Live Road To Wrestlemania Tour 3/10/18 Oshawa, Ontario, Canada (Link)
WWE Fastlane 3/11/18 Columbus, Ohio, USA (Link)
WWE Monday Night RAW 3/12/18 Detroit, Michigan, USA (Link)
WWE Smackdown Live / 205 Live / WWE Mixed Match Challenge 3/13/18 Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (Link 1) (Link 2) (Link 3)
US INDIES
Freelance Wrestling: This Very Moment 3/9/18 Chicago, Illinois, USA (Link)
ROH 16th Anniversary Show 3/9/18 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (Link)
MPW 3/9/18 Moorpark, California, USA (Link)
PSW 3/9/18 Piedmont, Alabama, USA (Link)
AIW Enter The Dragon 3/10/18 Akron, Ohio, USA (Link)
Excellence The Color Purrple 3/10/18 Sellersville, Pennsylvania, USA (Link)
VPW Blood, Sweat & 12 Years 3/10/18 Centereach, New York, USA (Link)
WOW Fallout 2018 3/10/18 New York City, New York, USA (Link)
EWF 3/10/18 San Bernardino, California, USA (Link)
CZW Proving Grounds 2018 3/10/18 Voorhees, New Jersey, USA (Link)
CWF Mid-Atlantic The Big Payback 3/10/18 Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA (Link)
NAW 3/10/18 Chewey, Oklahoma, USA (Link)
HOG Kicking It Old School 3/10/18 New York City, New York, USA (Link)
IPW Ladder Royal 2018 3/10/18 Des Moines, Iowa, USA (Link)
WLW 3/10/18 Moscow Mills, Missouri, USA
ROH TV TAPINGS 3/10/18 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (Link)
Ryse 3/10/18 Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania, USA (Link)
Black Label Pro: Jar Of Flies 3/10/18 Crown Point, Indiana, USA (Link)
NOVA Skin Or Swim 3/10/18 Annandale, Virginia, USA (Link)
NOVA Rip Her To Shreds 3/10/18 Annandale, Virginia, USA (Link)
GPW 3/10/18 Lafayette, Georgia, USA (Link)
UIW 3/10/18 Carrollton, Georgia, USA (Link)
SPW 3/10/18 Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA (Link)
IWA Mid-South Prince Of The Death Matches 2018 3/10/18 Memphis, Indiana, USA (Link)
UPWA 3/10/18 Wilmington, North Carolina, USA (Link)
Anarchy Wrestling 3/10/18 Cornelia, Georgia, USA (Link)
SHINE 49 3/10/18 New York City, New York, USA (Link)
AWE Oh Lort! 3/11/18 Atlanta, Georgia, USA (Link)
0. The Gymnasty Boyz (Timmy Lou Retton & White Mike) def. Bailey Blake & Mr. Sleaze
GPW 3/11/18 Ellijay, Georgia, USA (Link)
OVW TV #969 3/14/18 Louisville, Kentucky, USA (Link)
WORLDWIDE
wXw 16 Carat Gold 2018 Day 1 3/9/18 Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland (Link)
Thrash Wrestling Pass The Assault 3/9/18 Vernon, British Columbia, Canada (Link)
wXw 16 Carat Cold 2018 Day 2 3/10/18 Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland (Link)
wXw Ambition 9 3/10/18 Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland (Link)
POW Live In Rostock 3/10/18 Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Deutschland (Link)
WrestlingKULT #6 – KULT Goes Carat 3/10/18 Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland (Link)
NWF Velkommen Til Ullevold 3/10/18 Oslo, Norwegen (Link)
DPW Jailbreak 3/10/18 Horsens, Danemark (Link)
STHLM The Red King 3/10/18 Stockholm, Sweden (Link)
#WrestlingDeutschland 3/10/18 Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland (Link)
EWA/SWE Champions Night 3/10/18 Stockerau, Niederosterreich, Osterreich (Link)
MCW Tensions Rising 2018 3/10/18 Essendon, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Link)
MPW One Night Only 3/10/18 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Link)
NCW Scene De Crime 2018 3/10/18 St-Therese, Quebec, Canada (Link)
FLC Erreure Fatale 2018 3/10/18 Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada (Link)
wXw 16 Carat Gold 2017 Day 3 3/11/18 Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland (Link)
APC Guerre Des Gangs 2018 3/11/18 Nanterre, Frankreich (Link)
EPW 3/11/18 Northbridge, Western Australia, Australia (Link)
UK
BPW I Got You Bro 3/9/18 Sydenham, Greater London, England, UK (Link)
HOP March To Victory 3/9/18 Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England, UK (Link)
EVE SHEroes! 3/10/18 Bethnal Green, Greater London, England, UK (Link)
BCW Live In East Kilbride 3/10/18 East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK (Link)
NCL.9 Let The Cannons Fly 3/10/18 Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Tyne And Wear, England, UK (Link)
TW Live In Carlisle 3/10/18 Carlisle, Cumbria, England, UK (Link)
TCW Our Time Down Here 3/11/18 Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK (Link)
PROGRESS Live At The Dome #5 3/14/18 Tufnell Park, Greater London, England, UK (Link)
MEXICO
CMLL Super Viernes 3/9/18 Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico (Link)
CMLL Sabados De Coliseo 3/10/18 Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Lucha Memes 3/11/18 Coacalco de Berriozabal, Estado de Mexico, Mexico (Link)
Promociones MDA 3/11/18 Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico (Link)
CMLL Domingos Arena Mexico 3/11/18 Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico (Link)
CMLL Guadalajara Domingos 3/11/18 Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (Link)
IWRG 3/11/18 Nuacalpan de Juarez, Estado de Mexico, Mexico (Link)
CMLL Lunes Arena Puebla 3/12/18 Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Mexico (Link)
JAPAN
AgZ 3/9/18 Tokyo, Japan (Link)
Wrestle-1 Tour 2018 Trans Magic Day 2 3/9/18 Oita, Japan (Link)
NJPW New Japan Cup 2018 Day 1 3/9/18 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan (Link)
Sendai Girls 3/10/18 Osaka, Japan (Link)
Ice Ribbon #870 3/10/18 Saitama, Japan (Link)
REINA Seishun Collection 3/10/18 Tokyo, Japan (Link)
NJPW New Japan Cup 2018 Day 2 3/10/18 Nagoya, Aichi, Japan (Link)
Wrestle-1 Tour 2018 Trans Magic Day 3 3/10/18 Sasebi, Nagasaki, Japan (Link)
Dragon Gate Glorious Gate 2018 Day 4 3/10/18 Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan (Link)
DDT Yokohama Twilight 2018 3/10/18 Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan (Link)
TJP Let’s Go! Go! If You Go! When You Go! If You Get Lost You Just Go To Yokohama (wtf) 3/10/18 Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan (Link)
ZERO1 Dojo Match 2018 8 3/10/18 Tokyo, Japan (Link)
ZERO1 3/10/18 Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan (Link)
PURE-J Rainbow Series Day 7 3/11/18 Tokyo, Japan (Link)
Sendai Girls 3/11/18 Tokyo, Japan (Link)
WAVE Catch The WAVE 2018 Opening 3/11/18 Tokyo, Japan (Link)
Ice Ribbon Sozei Pro Vol. 3 3/11/18 Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan (Link)
BJPW Big Japan Full Metal 3/11/18 Fukuoka, Japan (Link)
NOAH The Great Voyage 2018 In Yokohama 3/11/18 Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan (Link)
NJPW New Japan Cup 2018 Day 3 3/11/18 Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan (Link)
Wrestle-1 Tour 2018 Trans Magic Day 4 3/11/18 Fukuoka, Japan (Link)
Dragon Gate Glorious Gate 2018 Day 5 3/11/18 Onomichi, Hiroshima, Japan (Link)
DDT Ganbare You’re My Sunshine 2018 3/11/18 Osaka, Japan (Link)
FREEDOMS 3/11/18 Osaka, Japan (Link)
K-DOJO Club-K 3000 3/11/18 Chiba, Japan (Link)
DDT Taisho Dramatic Romantic 2018 3/11/18 Osaka, Japan (Link)
NJPW New Japan Cup 2018 Day 4 3/12/18 Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan (Link)
BJW Hiroshima Nekkyo Pro-Wrestling 3/12/18 Hiroshima, Japan (Link)
NJPW New Japan Cup 2018 Day 5 3/14/18 Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan (Link)
DDT/Saki Akai Produce DDT Collection 3/14/18 Tokyo, Japan (Link)
NJPW New Japan Cup 2018 Day 6 3/15/18 Tokyo, Japan (Link)
IN THE NEXT ISSUE:
PDF Version of Issue: Mag 1
THE WEEKLY SLAM MAGIssue #1 – Week of 8/11/17 Edition – WRITTEN BY JACK WANNAN
The Inaugural Issue
JackWannan.com / @JackWannan / @JackWannanWeb /
The Start Of A New Project
Word Of The Week by Jack Wannan
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It’s time that I start a new project. Something that I’ve wanted to do for months now. Yes, I have started a magazine, or newsletter, or whatever you want to call it. As the title reads on the front, I am referring to it as a magazine. I thought this would be a great project for me. This can be a hub for all of the work I do in a week, with some exclusive content being thrown in too. This newsletter will revolve around show reviews, news coverage, predictions, and if I’m lucky, maybe even interviews. Before I go any further, I want to clarify what my intentions are with this weekly project. This newsletter/magazine is a way for me to publish everything that I have done in a week. I want it to be a summary of every week in wrestling. You can go and look at what shows happened, what news broke, and what my opinions were on certain people or brands at the time. I have no intentions of replacing other newsletters like the Wrestling Observer Newsletter or the PWTorch Newsletter. I recommend everyone to read those often. I am simply just improving my work and showcasing my work to people on a weekly basis.
Now let’s look at what this week has been like. WWE came to Canada for a series of shows under both the RAW and Smackdown brand. This week we have a in-depth breakdown of RAW, and a less-detailed description of Smackdown, but from a live-fan’s eyes. 205 Live also gets discussed in this issue, with notes from being in the crowd. Also this week was the unfortunate news of Bayley and Scott Dawson getting injured. It’s bad news to hear for both since we are so close to Summerslam. Bayley was set up in a RAW Women’s Championship match. There wasn’t anything set up yet for Scott Dawson to fight at Summerslam, but it sucks for him too since now he is completely ruled out of competing there. Since Bayley is not available at Summerslam, WWE set up two triple threat matches this week on RAW to help decide the #1 contender for Summerslam. The two winners of the triple threat matches face each other next week on RAW. You can find more information on those two triple threat matches, including the results and my opinion, by going down to the RAW results and review.
What isn’t featured this week is a review of a weekend event. I was busy this weekend and wasn’t able to write about any shows. Next issue though, I will have three big weekend shows to discuss. The first two are under the EVOLVE promotion. The final of the three is the final day of the G1. You know, this year I really tried to follow the G1. I pathetically only lasted up to around Day 5. It’s just so much wrestling. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just I have things to do. Already watching so much wrestling a week or day, it’s hard to find space for another three hour show 4-5 times a week. So I thought it would only be fair that I at least cover the final day. It’s looking to be a pretty exciting final.
Now that week have previewed this issue, and teased what’s to come in the second issue, I now welcome you to a lot of writing, and work that I have done this week. You might agree, you might disagree, you might even think my opinions are stupid. But no matter what you think, I appreciate that you are taking time out of your day to read it. Let’s get this thing started now, shall we?
NOTE: Next week’s issue will be even larger than this. This is almost a test issue if anything.
SHOW REVIEWS
RAW
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The show starts with the usual intro and theme. After that, we cut to the live crowd in Toronto. The commentators hype the match between Roman and Stroman that is later tonight in a Last Man Standing match. We then go to the ring where ” is already set up.
An aggravated Miz is in the ring. He says the show won’t start until Kurt Angle’s illegitimate son comes down to the ring (Jason Jordan). Instead of Jason Jordan, Kurt Angle comes out. Kurt says that Jason Jordan won’t be on the show because he has a match later tonight against Curtis Axel. The reveal of this match got a lukewarm reaction from the crowd. Kurt does mention that he has someone for them, that man being Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. These two of course got a huge reaction.
Miz stands behind the Miztourage while he does a bad Paul Heyman impression, then says that Brock will probably lose at Summerslam. Miz goes on for a few more minutes, talking about how little of a chance Lesnar has in that match. Heyman finally gets to speak. He says that everyone in the ring will roleplay. He says that Axel is Stroman, Dallas is Joe, and Miz is Reigns. Lesnar then brings the roleplay to life by attacking, and F5’ing all three guys in the ring. This ended the segment.
I thought this segment was very well done. It wasn’t stretched on like some MizTV segments, and it was a good way to hype the PPV match. I thought that it was a interesting change of pace to have Heyman not speak too much, but it did work out. I do think that it does not make much sense that we will see Jason Jordan in a match against Curtis Axel. If they really want to put over Jordan, then they should match him up against wrestlers who could believably beat him. They can’t put him up against the lowest on the food chain and make it look like a push. Whatever, it is what it is.
The first match of the evening is Seth Rollins versus Sheamus. This match was set up after what went down between them last week. Sheamus made his entrance this week without the concussion (I think it’s called that) pyro at the start. It felt so weird, and I hope it wasn’t intentional. I know that WWE has been cutting down on pyro recently, but I felt it was needed for this intro.
Anyways, Sheamus was in control of the match as we went to the first commercial break. When we came back from the break we still saw Sheamus in control of Seth. Sheamus tried for a Brouge Kick but Seth dodged. Seth hit a enziguri which gave him time to breathe. When he got up he took a Double Boots by Sheamus. Sheamus went to the top rope, but Seth joined him on the ropes too. Seth hit a hurricanrana off the top rope then did a Superkick. He went for the pin after that but only got a two.
Seth hit a Swingblade when they both got back up. Seth then went to the top rope, but Cesaro distracted him. Due to this distraction, Seth jumped but missed Sheamus, then got rolled up for the win.
After the match Seth was fed up and attacked the team. Cesaro and Sheamus outnumbered Seth and beat him up. People were looking for Dean Ambrose to come out during this, but nothing happened. Their music hit then they walked away.
I thought the match was pretty good, but the end of the segment was pretty odd. Everyone expected Dean to save Seth, so when he didn’t, we just got a quiet, still anticipating crowd. It was hard to judge this match since a huge chunk of it was during the commercials, but from what I saw it was a close and exciting match. Of course roll-ups are a cop out for rivalries that will continue for X amount of weeks, but that feels like it’s beating a dead horse to criticize a match for that these days.
After the break we see a beat up Seth Rollins walking backstage. He sees Dean Ambrose. Ambrose says he looks like a jerk ’cause he didn’t save Rollins, even though he warmed Seth not to do that this week. Seth implies that they want to team up again, but Dean shoots the idea down. Seth also says that Dean is a jerk. Wait a second. Dean is a jerk for not going out of his way and saving him, even though he warned him to not get in a brawl? Seth makes no sense in this context. I feel that Dean is totally in the right.
Jason Jordan vs Jean Pierre Goulet
It’s time for Jason Jordan vs Curtis Axel. As Jason Jordan is making his entrance, we go backstage and see that Curtis Axel has been attacked. He can’t compete. Kurt Angle finds a random dude backstage and tells him to face Jason Jordan. “Jean Pierre Goulet” comes out and loses a match in around a minute. Funny thing, I saw Jean Pierre at a indie show in January. I don’t remember if he fought under that name, but he fought a great match. It was against Mike Bailey. I remember it being a fantastic match. Jason Jordan put on a good showcase of his main moves in this fight. Not much to say about this since it was so short.
Bailey Comes To The Ring
We come back from the break to see Bailey being interviewed in the ring. Bailey is wearing a cast. They replay the footage of her injury from last week. Bailey talks about how it felt to be injured. She also thanks the people on Twitter who sent her well wishes. It is mentioned that two triple threat matches will decide who faces Alexa Bliss at Summerslam. Bailey says that she thinks Sasha Banks will win. The first of two triple threat matches starts now.
Sasha Banks vs Alicia Fox vs Emma
The first of the two triple threat matches is Sasha Banks versus Alicia Fox versus Emma. Before this match starts, the champ herself Alexa Bliss shows up. She will be a guest on commentary during this match. The match starts with Sasha and Alicia in the ring. Sasha goes against the ropes while the two are fighting, but Emma grabs her foot and drags her out of the ring. Emma then does a deadly german suplex onto the apron of the ring. I looked deadly, and great. Emma joins Alicia in the ring at this point.
Alicia does a Northern Lights Suplex on Emma and goes for a pin but Emma kicks out at two. All of the sudden Sasha is back in the ring and she does a Shining Wizard on Emma. Sasha does a double knees to Alicia and goes for the pin but Emma throws her out of the ring. Emma then goes for a pin but Alicia just barely kicks out. Later on Sasha Banks puts Alicia in the Bank Statement but Emma comes in and pins Sasha. Sasha kicks out then smoothely reverses that into another Bank Statement. Emma taps to this submission move.
I would say that this match was short and sweet. It was obvious from the start that Sasha would win, but I think they did a good job in this match at making Emma a close contender.
We now go backstage where Braun is being interviewed. The start of Renee’s question wasn’t really on a high enough volume, but I could tell that the question was something about Roman. Stroman cuts a promo about his match later and says that at Summerslam he will become the Universal Champion.
Enzo Amore and Big Show vs Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
Enzo Amore comes out to the ring for this segment and doesn’t say much before he introduces Big Show. Big Show starts talking, but he gets cut off by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. After more trash talk between the four, this match becomes official. Big Show makes the duo of Gallows and Anderson flee from the ring when we go to the commercial break.
Back from the break, Enzo is getting beat up by Gallows. Enzo was struggling to make a comeback for a few minutes. While this was going on, Big Cass shows up on the stage. This distracts Big Show. When Big Show looks back, he takes a big boot by Gallows. Anderson and Gallows try for their finish but Enzo fights out. Once Enzo fights out he takes a Superkick and that finishes him off.
After the match, Enzo and Big Show get in a brawl. Big Cass gets a knockout punch by Big Show during this brawl. Big Show and Enzo celebrate on the ramp after.
I have a bone to pick with this whole rivalry. I feel that you can’t put Enzo over if he has a big guy to do all of the handywork for him. After the match, Enzo was literally running away from Cass until Big Show knockout punched him. Enzo was the one who got pinned in this match, making it look like he’s weak without Big Show by his side.
Finn Balor Heads To The Ring
Back from the break we hear Finn Balor’s music. Balor comes out to the ring and talks about his match with Wyatt last week. As he continues to talk about Bray, the lights go out and Bray’s sound effects play. When the lights go back up, Wyatt is in the ring, but Balor is ready, on the turnbuckles. Balor beats up Bray and hits him with a Swingblade. The lights go out once again and Wyatt is out of sight. We now see Wyatt on the big screen. Wyatt cuts his promo on the screen to end the segment.
I thought this segment was great. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It wasn’t like the cliché Wyatt segment, because Finn had actually predicted Wyatt and basically out-witted him by being on the turnbuckles. That’s why I liked it.
Cesaro vs Dean Ambrose
Since we saw Sheamus face Seth Rollins earlier, we now will see Cesaro face Dean Ambrose. Ambrose sees a lot of domination in this match. He starts losing control when he get distracted by Sheamus. While he is walking towards Sheamus, Cesaro jumps him. We go to break while this happens. Back from the break, the two are both in the ring. Moments later they both head to the same top turnbuckle. Cesaro was looking to Suplex Dean to the outside, but Dean superplexes him to the ring instead.
After that Cesaro started reversing everything. After a few minutes of that, Dean Ambrose started making a comeback. The comeback got stopped by a nasty uppercut by Cesaro. I mean nasty in a good way, by the way. Cesaro continues his beatdown with two clean lifts and slams of some sort. Dean tries for a Dirty Deeds but Cesaro reverses and tries for a Sharpshooter. Ambrose fights out of it and dodges a move by Cesaro which makes him fall to outside the ring. Dean attempts a Suicide Dive but Cesaro reverses it into another great uppercut.
Cesaro tries again for a Superplex but Dean fights out of it again. Dean goes for a roll-up but Cesaro kicks out at two. Later on it feels like Cesaro really had him in a Sharpshooter. Dean fights out of the Sharpshooter. Dean does a elbow off the top rope to the outside onto Cesaro. Back in the ring, Dean almost gets distracted Cesaro but in the moment is able to roll-up pin Cesaro for the win.
Immediately after the fight, Sheamus attacks Dean. Dean is getting beat up, but Seth Rollins comes out and saves him. After the attack ends, Seth and Dean get into a staredown. After the stare down, Dean puts out his fist to do the Shield fistbump. Seth thinks for a while, but then turns it down and walks away. The crowd was VERY loud for this. They were very invested in this fist bump.
Now to talk about this match, I would say that I enjoyed it. This was the first long match we have had on the show so far, but I would say it was well done. These two guys know what they are doing, and they know how to put together a good match. As I am writing this at 10:06PM, this is so far the best match of the night. Also, I would like to say that I enjoyed how Seth denied Dean because it was like a turning of the tables almost.
Ariya Daivari vs Akira Tozawa
It is now time for our first Cruiserweight match of the night. During this match, we have Titus O’Neil on commentary. Akira Tozawa makes light work out of Daivari during this match, winning via a Senton Bomb off the top rope. Not a bad match, not too much to talk about since it was such a short match.
Mickie James vs Dana Brooke vs Nia Jax
The next match is the second of two triple threat matches to decide who faces Alexa Bliss at Summerslam. To clarify, the winner of this match faces Sasha Banks next week to become #1 contender. This match starts with Nia throwing everyone around. Nia is really put over as a giant during this fight. The crowd loves it. It didn’t take long for Nia Jax to become the winner of this match. She won via a leg drop onto Dana Brooke.
I thought this match was a good way to put over Nia Jax. Very enjoyable. Not much more to say about it really.
Braun Stroman vs Roman Reigns (Last Man Standing Match)
It is now time for the main event of the evening. Braun Stroman faces Roman Reigns in a Last Man Standing match. The match starts with Stroman throwing Roman around. Roman tries to hit a Samoan Drop, but Stroman stops the move from happening. Stroman then throws Roman off the ropes and shoulder tackles him. When Roman gets up, he headbutts him then throws him into a corner. Ref starts counting since its a last man standing match but Roman gets up.
When Roman gets up he tries to fight with a punch, but Stroman continues to dominate. Roman is catching a breath outside the ring when we go to the first break.
Back from the commercial break, Roman is making a comeback. When they get back in the ring, Roman does multiple clotheslines. Roman grabs steel steps that were brought in the ring. He hits Braun twice, then hits him a third and fourth time while he is down. The steel stair shots looked DEADLY. They were great. The ref gets to a 5 count before Stroman gets up. When Stroman gets up, Roman goes for a Superman punch but it gets reversed. Moment later Stroman does some sort of crazy slam.
Roman is down until the 8 count, but then gets up. When they are both back on their feet, Roman goes off the ropes, gets picked up by Stroman but hits him with a Superman Punch in mid-air. When they both get back up, Roman calls for a Superman Punch again but Stroman hits him with a monstrous dropkick. When Roman gets back up at the 7 count, Stroman charges into the corner but Roman dodges.
The brawl gets taken to outside the ring now. Roman hits Stroman with a Drive-By. After that, Roman looks under the ring for weapons. Roman takes out a table. He pushes the table into the ring. Roman goes for another Drive-By but it gets reversed into a clothesline. Roman gets up at the 8 count from that move. Stroman sets up the table in the ring.
Stroman picks up Roman and brings him towards the table. Once he gets near the table, Roman fights out with punches. Reigns then slowly, but surely picks up Stroman and Samoan Drops him through the table. Both guys get up at the 8 count.
Outside the ring, Roman calls for a spear or something, and runs towards Stroman. Stroman throws a chair at him. That was a crazy, great spot. After this, the brawl continues into the crowd. They find their way over to the announce table. Roman hits Stroman with a drive-by over by the stage.
The two are both up on the stage now. Roman gets thrown up against the LED panels on the stage. The panels shake like crazy due to this. When Roman gets up, Stroman does it again. Roman gets up once again, and Stroman has something even worse to do. Stroman tries to slam him through the announce desk, but Roman reverses with a Superman Punch. He does another Superman Punch after that, then tries for a Spear. Stroman reverses the Spear with a boot. Seconds later, Stroman gets caught off guard by a Spear by Roman near the ring. Roman runs all the way down the ramp to charge up for this spear.
Roman Reigns walks near the crowd while Stroman is down. In the crowd is Samoa Joe, who puts Roman in the Cohena Clutch. This is all fully allowed, since it is No DQ. There are multiple refs telling Joe to leave, despite it being fully legal. Weird. Stroman gets up at the 8ish count, and Roman stays down for all 10. Stroman wins the match. What a fight.
This match was an absolute WAR, and that’s why I loved it. It was a pretty good episode of RAW. I only had a few critiques this week, but in general I would say that I enjoyed this week. Can’t wait to see if they will top it next week, but until then I have to go.
SMACKDOWN LIVE
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So since WWE was in Toronto, I decided to go to the live taping of Smackdown Live. It was tons of fun, and it was worth the money, but sadly, due to going to the show I did not do a full review. Since I haven’t been able to write a review, I will just give you my thoughts on the segments, without the results part of it. Let’s start with the opening segment.
The opening segment of the show was different, but fun. This opening segment that happened between Baron Corbin, John Cena and Daniel Bryan had a lot of banter in it. It also set up the Summerslam match between Corbin and Cena. Even though this segment was good, I felt the match at Summerslam doesn’t make too much sense. During this segment, Cena said that he wanted to fight, while Corbin expressed no interest in a fight. Cena had challenged Corbin to a fight since he wanted him to prove something. If Corbin had no interest in proving himself, then why even have the match? So far, there isn’t much to build around this match since Corbin doesn’t even care. They could do more next week, but how much impact would it really have when it’s the go-home show to Summerslam.
It is also worth noting that 2 whole sections on the side of the camera were mostly empty, and just under half of the upper level seating was curtained off. It was still a very lively crowd, but it was much more empty than what I would expect for Toronto.
After the opening segment, the first match was The Usos versus Sami Zayn and Tye Dillinger. Both Zayn and Dillinger got huge pops, most likely because they are Canadian. Also, the city that overused the 10 chants has still kept the trend alive tonight. I thought this match was fun, but it was very obvious that The Usos were going to win. You would have to be crazy to think that they would slow down The Usos’ momentum right now.
What happened after the match with The New Day was great. I remember being slightly confused when looking at the ramp where Big E was, then being super surprised when Xavier and Kofi attacked out of nowhere. I thought that was great.
Renee Young was backstage interviewing Randy Orton. Renee got a huge pop from the crowd. It was way louder of a reaction than I expected for a on-air personality. After the interview we saw the latest episode of Fashion Peaks. The crowd loved the segment, and I enjoyed it too. It was goofy. What I didn’t necessarily like is that The Ascension’s gimmick, or what is left of it, was pretty much demolished in this. The guys who are supposed to be creepy, scary dudes, were shown in a way that made them look like witty, normal dudes who just wanted doughnuts. I mean it’s not a big deal since people will eventually forget it, but that’s just what I thought.
Lana is facing Charlotte after she challenged her last week. Charlotte gets the win in under three minutes. This match had awkward grappling at the start then it ended very quickly. I felt this match was a little out of place on the card. I don’t know where the Tamina/Lana rivalry is going. I doubt it will go on the PPV, so maybe it fully happens on Smackdown?
Next talking segment is Shane McMahon addressing AJ Styles and Kevin Owens on their Summerslam match. I thought this was a great talking segment. It had good callbacks to last March on Smackdown and Shane McMahon reffing in 1998. I felt this segment did a good job for promoting the match and showing that nobody in this match really trusts eachother. Kevin has been very vocal about how he doesn’t trust Shane, and AJ said this week that he never trusts a McMahon. I overall thought this was good.
The next match is Naomi versus Carmella. Before the match I saw someone sneak under the ring when the lights were out. I didn’t guess who it was, but I did make note of it before the match. Naomi’s entrance is pretty cool live. Her whole outfit glows in real life just like how it looks on TV. The hair is really cool because it really glows in real life. Carmella won this match due to Ellesworth coming out from under the ring and pushing Naomi’s foot off the top rope or something like that. Ellesworth celebrated with Carmella after the match. I thought this was a great way to bring Ellesworth back. By the time that the interference happened I had completely forgot that someone was under the ring. I did not guess that it was James Ellesworth. I thought this was great.
Shinsuke Nakamura got interviewed by Renee Young. To be honest I couldn’t hear the interview too well. A mixture of the crowd and bad acoustics made it hard for me to pick up any of the interview.
The main event is Randy Orton versus Jinder Mahal. What I found crazy is that Toronto is very, very pro-Jinder. Jinder got a huge reaction and Randy got boos because of that. I don’t know if it’s because Jinder is Canadian, or if it’s just because the crowd likes him unironically or ironically. I’m leaning more towards the reasoning of him being Canadian. I thought this was a well fought match, but it had a odd feeling at the end since in a sense the heel won. Even though Randy won, it felt like the wrong guy won to the crowd. Like, it’s not really WWE’s fault or anything, it’s just Randy was met with so many boo’s that it felt like a heel ended off the show. Just before the show went off air, Rusev attacked Randy Orton at the ramp. When the show went off-air, Rusev did not attack any more. He stood and stared at Orton for a few more moments, then walked away. Orton laid down on the ramp and sold his pain for nearly another 45 seconds.
After 205 Live there was a dark match. Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin teamed up to face AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura in a “Toronto Street Fight”. Not sure what makes it any different from any other type of street fight, but whatever. I thought this match was super fun. Kevin Owens looked like he was having lots of fun during this match. A steel chair was used and they did a table spot in this match. If I remember correctly, the match ended with Shinsuke hitting a Kinshasa for the win. I would say that staying for 205 Live and the Dark Match were worth it. Overall it was a fun night, and from a spectators perspective it was a good Smackdown. I might have a some bias since I was there live, but I would still say that I thought it was a good episode.
205 LIVE
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Similar to my Smackdown Live report this week, my 205 Live report won’t have too much detail on results. On the plus side, I will be able to give my thoughts on the show. I happened to stay for 205 Live and the dark match main event, and both of them were enjoyable. The issue with 205 Live is the same issue as every other week. 205 made a significant chunk of fans leave, and the crowd that was left was very unenthusiastic. And the crowd being so quiet isn’t because people left. The energy picked right back up when the dark match main event started. It was like the crowd literally fell asleep then woke up later. But with that aside, I still enjoyed 205 Live. Let’s get the review started.
The show this week starts with a match between Tony Nese and Cedric Alexander. Live we couldn’t hear what Nese said while making his entrance, but I could see that he did the thing where he counted his 8-pack abs. I thought this match wasn’t that bad, and I thought the whole segment was good to get heat on Nese. Tony’s promo after the match was very well done. It showed that he was cocky, rude, and competitive. When I think of Tony Nese’s character, that’s three characteristics that I expect. Well done.
Noam Dar faces a local named Mark Thomas. Before the match, Noam Dar says he recognizes Mark. He says that he watched Mark while he growed up. He continues to rag on Mark since Dar is already in WWE and Thomas is doing a jobber match. The promo by Dar was great. I remember laughing at the end of the promo thinking “wow that was brutal”. This match didn’t last too long, with Dar of course winning in the end.
After a break we come back to see Corey Graves in the ring. He introduces Akira Tozawa for an interview. Tozawa is not dressed to fight. Corey isn’t even able to get through his question before Neville interrupts them. Out of everyone on 205 Live, I think that Neville got the best reaction from the crowd. Almost everyone on the floor seating immediately stood up, and he got a audible pop from the crowd. I thought this segment and the brawl that followed it was well done. I think that they are doing a good job at hyping up this match for Summerslam.
The main event of 205 Live was TJP versus Rich Swann. I thought this match was the best one on 205 Live this week. Swann’s Pheonix Splash to outside the ring was the highlight of the match for me. The one thing that I don’t really understand about this rivalry is that it feels like the “friendly rivalry” wasn’t too believable of an angle. Wasn’t TJP a heel for a few months? When did he turn babyface and become friends with Rich Swann? It might sound like a stretch, but I feel he wouldn’t be friends with Swann if he was a heel. Whatever, it doesn’t really matter I guess. The main event was good, and the show for the most part was good too. Like I said before, the show would be so much better if the crowd was better. Imagine how great an episode of 205 Live would be if they had a very loud crowd? It would be tons of fun. One can dream someday, right?
WWE NXT
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The show this week starts with the usual video package that we see for NXT. After that, we go to Full Sail where Mauro Ranallo, Percy Watson and Nigel McGuinness welcome us to this episode of NXT. They talk about how Drew McIntyre and Bobby Roode will face off tonight.
Opening Segment
We now cut to the ringside where Sanity enter through the crowd and get to the ring. Sanity are calling out the Authors Of Pain. AoP comes out and slowly walks down the ramp. One member charges and attacks three members of Sanity, while Eric Young comes from behind and jumps the other member. Rezar got tied to a guardrail while his partner got absolutely demolished in the ring. AoP lose this brawl.
As a opener to the show I thought this wasn’t that bad. AoP show dominance 2 weeks before TakeOver. The once heel Authors Of Pain also should be more cheered after this. Due to sympathy, I feel that Authors Of Pain will become babyfaces in this rivalry.
Metro Brothers vs Street Profits
Our first match on this episode is the Metro Brothers versus the Street Profits. The Street Profits have a spotlight on them in this match since a vignette played for them before this match. When they came out, the crowd gave them a very loud reaction. Chris Metro and Angelo Dawkins start off in this match. At the start, they lock up. Dawkins goes off the ropes and hits a hard Shoulder Tackle. He then hits an Arm Drag then a scoop slam. He tags in Montez Ford. They do a few double team moves. Ford hits Chris Metro with a Sideway Slam. Chris Metro does his first attack with a punch to the chest. He then tags in J.C. Metro. Metro mocks Dawkins, doing his hand gesture. Dawkins gets tagged in moments later and hits a Cyclone, Stinger Splash, then tags in Ford to do a Frogsplash. They go for the pin and win the match.
This match was great. This was a great way to showcase The Street Profits. The crowd being massively behind them also added to how well their performance looked. What I loved about the final combination of moves at the end was that they all happened so quickly. Matter fact, I had to rewind a little bit just so I could get all of the spots in this.
Drew McIntyre vs Bobby Roode Face Off
After a quick break we go to the ring where William Regal is governing a faceoff between Drew McIntyre and Bobby Roode. One at a time he introduces both wrestlers. Bobby has around 7 or so security guards with him for this faceoff. He says that Roderick Strong is running around trying to find him. The two guys trade promos for a little bit of time. They were good promos. All of the sudden, Roderick Strong’s music hits. Roderic comes to the ramp with a mic. Strong says that him coming out here isn’t about a title, it’s about disrespect. Strong challenges Roode to a fight. Roode gets very angry and says he will fight him. He says that he will fight him, even for the championship, but he has to fight McIntyre first. Roode says that Strong will face McIntyre next week, and if he wins he will fight him after TakeOver. After he says this, Regal shoots down the idea, saying that he is the one who makes matches. McIntyre insists on making the fight for next week. After the crowd chants “Make the match!”, and when all three fighters want the match, Regal makes it official. Next week, McIntyre versus Strong next week on NXT. That ends this segment.
Bobby Roode is such a great heel. It is so enjoyable to see him, alongside Drew McIntyre and Roderick Strong, talk in this segment. All three guys did a great job in this segment. Not much more to say about this, I just straight up enjoyed it.
Oney Lorcan vs Danny Burch
The rematch between Lorcan and Burch is the second match on this episode. This match starts with a collar and elbow tie up. It gets broken up in the corner. They do a few more lockups. A leapfrog got turned into a Flapjack by Burch, which was pretty cool. The two then start trading uppercuts. Lorcan absolutely ran Burch into the corner, went for a pin, then we went to commercials.
Back from the break, Lorcan is still in control. He takes Burch to the corner and did some chops to him. He then runs very fast into Burch in the corner. Lorcan tries for it again, but Burch counters the second time. Burch then hit a German Suplex and a Hooking Lariat. He goes for the pin and gets a two.
Moments later Burch tries for a slam but Lorcan escapes then hits a European Uppercut. Lorcan does another uppercut, hits another move then goes for a pin. He only gets a two count. Burch got back in control for a minute, but Lorcan caught him in a Single Leg Crab, while kicking him in the head. Burch tried to escape but Lorcan upgraded and put him in a Boston Crab. While in the move, Burch reverses it into a roll-up for the win.
I thought this match was fantastic. I can’t say that I necessarily loved that a roll-up was the finish for the match, but it is what it is. That is the only real critique I would have for this match. They deserved the sequel, and they lived up to the hype of their first time that they met.
No Way Jose vs Andrade Cien Almas
Our third match of the broadcast is No Way Jose versus Andrade Cien Almas. This match is also the main event of the episode. When the fight starts, one of the first moves is a side headlock. Jose Irish Whips him, making Almas fully roll out of the ring. When he gets back in, they lock up once again. Moments later, Jose hits a flapjack on Almas. Jose tries for a Firemans Carry but Almas escapes out of it. Almas gets thrown against the ropes but sticks to the ropes like what TJP does. While he sticks to the ropes, Almas kicks him, making him fall to outside the ring.
Almas gets back in the ring has a more aggressive approach. Moments later Almas wins the match with some sort of DDT move. This match felt pretty disappointing. It was boring, and ended very quickly and abruptly. They should have shown this match in the middle of the show, and shown Burch vs Lorcan as the main event. For the most part this was a good episode, but this was a bad way to end the show.
IMPACT WRESTLING
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Opening Segment
Welcome to the first review of GFW Impact Wrestling that I have ever done! I have reviewed TNA and Impact Wrestling in the past, but this marks the first time that I review this show under the GFW brand. Let’s get this started. The second we go on air we cut to a brawl that is happening backstage between LAX and The Veterans Of War. This brawl is out of control, with stuff flying everywhere. They brawl because they are set to fight each other late tonight. The fight eventually gets broken up. I enjoyed this brawl because it was pretty out of control. Although, I do not like the out of control camerawork that they do intentionally. Maybe that accounted a little for why the brawl felt so out of control. It felt like an abrupt way to start the show, but it wasn’t that bad.
Sienna In The Ring
After the start of the show, we cut to the ring where Sienna is talking. Sienna is bragging about how she is a great champion. She is standing in the ring in protest because of her match that is set up for next week’s Destination X match. Karen Jarrett comes out to respond to her. Karen says that she has never liked Sienna. Karen announces that her opponent for Destination X is Gail Kim. Kim’s music hits and she comes to the ring. She grabs a mic and says that she intends to beat Sienna and retire with the Knockouts Title. When Gail turns her back, she gets jumped by Sienna. Kim is able to escape whatever Sienna was trying for. Sienna runs outside the ring, but Gail jumps off the apron to attack her again. Two refs come out to try to stop the brawl but it continues for a couple more minutes.
I thought this segment was a good start to the show. It promoted a match on next week’s show, which is a show they expect to get big ratings from. What I didn’t like was the awful mic feedback that we could hear throughout this whole 5 or so minutes. But aside that nitpick, I thought this was not too bad.
Laredo Kid and Garza Jr vs El Hijo Del Fantasma and Naomichi Marufuji
Our first match this episode is four international wrestlers. Laredo Kid and Garza Jr team up to face El Hijo Del Fantasma, who represents CMLL, and Naomichi Marufuji, who represents NOAH. Fantasma starts in the ring against Garza Jr. Before much happens, Garza gets a chant of his name going. Both Garza and Fantasma do a great amount of chain wrestling in the first few minutes of this match. Both wrestlers tag out. Laredo Kid and Marufuji are now in the ring. Moments after these guys get tagged in, everyone does a dive spot. Fantasma does a great dive out of the ring. Back from the replay Fantasma hits a Hurricanrana off the top rope then hits a Frogsplash for a two count.
Garza tags in Laredo Kid for the hot tag. All four wrestlers do a spot that makes them all go down at the exact same time. Laredo KId does three moonsaults, each one being on a different rope in the corner. The third one gets countered by Fantasma. Fantasma hits some sort of strike then puts him in a submission that he escapes. Fantasma tags in Marufuji. The actions gets so fast at this point that it’s hard to follow. After all of the chaos, Marufuji is trading blows with Laredo. Laredo wins the striking war and goes for a pin but he kicks out. Garza gets tagged in and hits a GTS. Fantasma gets in the ring and hits him with a Superkick. Laredo comes in and kicks Fantasma at the same time that Fantasma kicked him. Laredo huricanrana’s Fantasma out of the ring and goes for a dive but Fantasma dodges the dive and hits his own version. Back in the ring, Garza hits a superkick and tries for a moonsault but Marufuji escapes. Marufuji gets control and moments later wins with a Sliced Bread.
This match was fantastic. This review does the match no justice because it was going too fast to follow. All of these guys showcased their talent very well. I haven’t been following Impact too closely recently, so I don’t know how this really fit into the show. It felt almost as if this was a random showcase match. Fantastic match, but felt almost out of place in a show that is all about storylines.
Grado and Joseph Park vs Kongo Kong
The cartoonish Grado and Joseph Park face off against Kongo Kong tonight. Grado starts for the duo in this match. Grado gets shoulder tackled once then tags in Joseph. Park looks terrified. Joseph dodges a clothesline then tries for a headbutt but takes most of the pain of it. Park tags in Grado after dodging a corner move of Kong’s. Grado tries for a combo but it does nothing to Kong. Park gets in the ring with Grado and muster up enough power to take down Kong. Kong gets thrown in the corner but moments later double clotheslines the duo. Kong hits Park with a move in the corner then wins the match via pin.
After the match, Kong attacks Grado. Kongo goes to the top rope. Laurel Van Ness comes to the ring and tries to talk Kongo out of going to the top rope. He gets off the top rope and the duo of Grado and Park escape. Van Ness slaps Kong out of frustration. Kong picks up Ness, but puts her down when he hears new music. Tyrus comes to the ring. Both wrestlers go face to face in the ring. Van Ness drags Kong away from the situation. That ends the segment.
I wasn’t really feeling this match to be honest. There was comedy in this match, which wasn’t awful, but what happened after the match made no sense. This whole segment felt very forgettable.
LAX vs The Veterans Of War (Street Fight)
Our next fight is LAX versus The Veterans Of War in a street fight. It was announced earlier in the program that because of the brawl earlier, this match has been upgrade to a street fight. As VOW head to the ring they already start brawling. Everyone is brawling outside the ring to start, using barricades, poles, trash cansnad more. Santana got belly to belly suplexed onto the ramp. It looked absolutely DEADLY. An LAX member gets put through a table. As the ref was counting, Homicide pulled him out of the ring.
Back from the break, this match is still absolute chaos. At a certain point, I just gave up on trying to follow this match. A few minutes after the break LAX win after a VOW member went thorugh a table. This match was good, but jeez, was it the hardest thing to follow.
ACH vs Taichi Ishimori
A semifinal match from the Super X Cup is up next. ACH faces Taichi Ishimori from NOAH. I would consider myself a big ACH fan. This match starts off with the two grappling a little. We go to the break with ACH in control. Back from the break, the action is still very close. ACH hits a hard clothesline that gets a very close count. ACH tries for something but Taichi reverses it with a knee move then a 450 onto ACH’s back, and stomach. That ended it for ACH.
Even though I want ACH to win this match, I still thought it was great to have Taichi move on. It felt like an upset almost. After the match, Taichi’s opponent for the final of the Super X Cup comes out. They shake hands. Not a bad segment.
Trevor Lee, Low Ki and Lashley vs Sonjay Dutt, Matt Sydal and Alberto El Patron
Our main event of the evening is a 6-man tag match. Every person in this match have some sort of tie in to the special show next week. The show starts with El Patron against Low Ki. Patron tags in Dutt after absolutely pummelling Low Ki. Low Ki is able to gain control and tag in Trevor Lee. Dutt tags in Sydal. Him and Sydal do a double dropkick onto Lee. Low Ki tries to attack, but he gets taken down. Sydal and Dutt do backflips onto their respective opponents at the same time. We go to the break with Lashley fighting Sydal. Back from the break, Lashley is in full control of Sydal. Low Ki gets tagged in to attack Sydal. Matt is getting isolated in the corner of the heels.
I wonder how uncomfortable it is for Low Ki to fight in such formal clothing. He is wearing long pants, a button up, and a tie. I would sweat gallons if I wrestled in that type of clothing. Massive props to Low Ki just because of that. Low Ki tags in Lashley. Sydal tries for a comeback but gets taken down by Lashley. Bobby tags in Low Ki once again. Low Ki puts Sydal in a Dragon Sleeper that he eventually gets out of. Trevor Lee gets tagged in against Sydal now. Sydal has been isolated for a significant amount of time now.
Sydal eventually fights out and tags in Sonjay Dutt. Sonjay, just like Sydal, gets isolated in the corner for quite some time. Later on El Patron gets hot tagged in and cleans house. He also does a dive to the outside onto Lashley. Dutt hit a Frogsplash onto Lee, but Lashley comes in and takes him out. El Patron comes in and Superkicks Low Ki and Lashley. Lee takes El Patron out. Lashley Powerslams Sonjay Dutt. Low Ki goes to the top rope and hits a Warriors Way (Finn Balor’s finishing move) to win the match. That wraps up the show.
This was a fast and amazing match. The final 2 or so minutes were great because it was just so out of control. Just like I mentioned earlier in the post, some matches aren’t done enough justice because I couldn’t follow all of the moves. A great match to conclude the episode and to hype up next week’s special show.
I would say that this episode was pretty good. It lacked story development, but that wasn’t the main focus for this episode. It’s the go-home episode for Destination X next week. It’s supposed to hype you up for the special show. The matches were good, and in general I liked it.
TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK
Bayley and Scott Dawson Confirmed Injured
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Bayley and Scott Dawson have been confirmed as injured by WWE this week. The first of the two, has had some suspense to their injury. It was apparent last monday that Bayley had hurt herself against Nia Jax in a match on Monday Night RAW, but it was just confirmed this monday that she had separated her shoulder. Even though WWE wasn’t public about her injury this weekend, Bayley did not make an appearance at any house shows she was billed for. Bayley won’t be able to compete at Summerslam due to this injury, so WWE has set up two triple threat matches for Monday Night RAW this week. The first match is Sasha Banks versus Alicia Fox versus Emma, and the second match is Mickie James versus Dana Brooke versus Nia Jax. The winner of both matches (which can be found in the RAW results and review) will face eachother next week to make the new #1 contender for Alexa Bliss’ RAW Women’s Championship.
The other injury that was announced was for Scott Dawson of The Revival. Monday afternoon WWE reported that Scott had suffered a ruptured bicep. This injury happened during a house show this weekend. This is pretty bad luck for The Revival since it was not too long ago that Scott Dawson was injured too. ProWrestlingSheet reported that Scott Dawson may need to undergo surgery. The Revival were currently not booked for any matches on Summerslam, but now they will not have any chance to be put on the card.
Kairi Sane Makes NXT Debut
After competing in the Mae Young Classic and suffering a concussion, Kairi Sane has returned and made her NXT debut. At the NXT St. Petersburg Live show, Kairi Sane won a 6-man tag match by teaming up with Aliyah, and Dakota Kai. The trio defeated Iconic, AKA Peyton Royce and Billie Kay alongside Shayna Baszler, who also made her debut. Kairi Sane was able to get the pin in this match, using her trademark elbow drop.
RESULTS OF THE WEEK
All of these match cards were graciously given to us by Cagematch.net. The title of every show is a direct link to that card on their site. We very much appreciate them providing us with this information.
CARDS ARE SORTED BY: WWE, US INDY, CANADA INDY, UK INDY, JAPAN, AND MEXICO
WWE
WWE Live SummerSlam Heatwave Tour
8/5/17 – Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
WWE Live SummerSlam Heatwave Tour
8/5/17 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada – Bell Centre
8/5/17 – Largo, Florida, USA – Minnreg Hall
WWE Live SummerSlam Heatwave Tour
8/6/17 – London, Ontario, Canada – Budweiser Gardens
WWE Live SummerSlam Heatwave Tour
8/6/17 – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada – Canadian Tire Centre
WWE Live Summerslam Heatwave Tour
8/7/17 – Kingston, Ontario, Canada – Rogers K-Rock Centre
8/9/17 – Los Angeles, California, United States – The Novo
8/10/17 – St. Petersburg, Florida, USA – St. Petersburg Armory
8/10/17 – Bakersfield, California, USA – Rabobank Theater
US INDY
CHIKARA Chikarasaurus Rex: Flesh and Stone
8/5/17 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – The Wrestle Factory
Sabotage Somethings Got To Give
8/5/17 – Imperial Beach, California, USA – Imperial Beach Sports Complex
8/5/17 – Clinton, Massachusetts, USA – Elks Lodge
8/5/17 – Voorhees, New Jersey, USA – Flyers Skate Zone
8/5/17 – Rochester, New York, USA – Eagles Club
8/5/17 – Ybor City, Florida, USA – The Orpheum
8/5/17 – Columbus, Indiana, USA – 4-H Fairgrounds
8/5/17 – New York City, New York, USA – Richmond County Bank Ballpark
Scenic City Invitational Tournament 2017 Day 2
8/5/17 – Ooltewah, Tennessee, USA – East Hamilton High School
8/5/17 – Troy, Missouri, USA – Race Wrestling Arena
8/5/17 – Claremore, Oklahoma, USA – Community Centre
8/5/17 – Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA – Westside Community Centre
8/5/17 – St. Louis, Missouri, USA – Jesse Jackson Ave & Archie Moore Ave
8/5/17 – Wallington, New Jersey, USA – Morgan Jr. Arena
8/5/17 – Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA – Perfect Practice Athletic Center
WrestleCircus The Cody Rhodes Summer Circus Show
8/5/17 – Austin, Texas, USA – 800 Congress Ave.
PWK Who’s Clothesline Is It Anyway?
8/5/17 – Indiana, USA – Rusty Spur
8/6/17 – Orlando, Florida, USA – Alafaya Village Shopping Center
8/6/17 – Elkhart, Indiana, USA – Texas Roadhouse
CANADA INDY
CWE A Nightmare On Elite Street Tour
8/5/17 – Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada – Parkland Hall
CWE A Nightmare On Elite Street Tour
8/6/17 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada – Cosmo Civic Center
CWE A Nightmare On Elite Street Tour
8/7/17 – St. Albert, Alberta, Canada – St. Albert Community Hall
UK UNDY
8/5/17 – Morecambe, Lancashire, England – The Carleton
ACW Apollo 3: There Can Only Be One
8/5/17 – Bermondsey, Greater London, UK – Keatons Hall
Absolute Wrestling: Chop Til You Drop
8/5/17 – North Shields, Tyne And Wear, England, UK – Linskill Centre
8/5/17 – Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK – West End Working Men’s Club
CPW #7: The Return Plus Fun Day
8/6/17 – Bude, Cornwall, England, UK – Budehaven Community Leisure Centre
8/9/17 – Louisville, Kentucky, USA – Davis Arena
JAPAN
8/5/17 – Osaka, Japan – EDION Arena Osaka
DDT Beer Garden Fight 2017 DNA 35
8/5/17 – Tokyo, Japan – Shinjuku FACE
ZERO1 Tatsuhito Takaiwa Triumphant Local Return & 25th Pro-Wrestling Anniversary Convention
8/5/17 – Kameoka, Kyoto, Japan – Kameoka Sports Part Gymnasium
DDT Beer Garden Fight 2017 DDT Day
8/5/17 – Tokyo, Japan – Shinjuku FACE
Dragon Gate Scandal Gate 2017 Day 1
8/5/17 – Kyoto, Japan – Kyoto KBS Hall
Ice Ribbon New Ice Ribbon #819
8/5/17 – Saitama, Japan – Ice Ribbon Dojo
8/6/17 – Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan – Art City Hamamatsu
8/6/17 – Tokyo, Japan – Korakuen Hall
W-1 Tour 2017 Flashing Summer Day 1
8/6/17 – Fuefuki, Yamanashi, Japan – Yamanashi Hotel Rock Garden
8/6/17 – Kadena, Okinawa, Japan – Navel Kadena Arena
K-DOJO Kaio Tournament 2017 Day Show
8/6/17 – Chiba, Japan – Chiba Blue Field
K-DOJO Kaio Tournament 2017 Night Show
6/8/17 – Chiba, Japan – Chiba Blue Field
Dragon Gate Scandal Gate 2017 Day 2
8/6/17 – Matsusaka, Mie, Japan – Matsusaka City Heartful Mikumo
8/6/17 – Tokyo, Japan – Kame Dojo
OZ Academy Mayumi Ozaki Homecoming
8/6/17 – Saitama, Japan – Saitama Industrial Technology Center
8/6/17 – Sera, Hiroshima, Japan
Osaka Pro Summer Festival 2017
8/6/17 – Osaka, Japan – Osaka Municipal Ikuno Kumin Center
AJPW 2017 Summer Explosion – Day 1
8/6/17 – Kobe, Hyogo, Japan – Kobe Sambo Hall
8/6/17 – Sendai, Miyagi, Japan – Sendai Rensa
AJPW 2017 Summer Explosion Day 2
8/7/17 – Matsue, Shimane, Japan – Kunibiki Messe Multi-Hall
Dragon Gate Scandal Gate 2017 Day 3
8/7/17 – Shizuoka, Japan – Twin Messe Shizuoka
8/8/17 – Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan – Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium
Dragon Gate Scandal Gate 2017 Day 4
8/8/17 – Tokyo, Japan – Korakuen Hall
8/8/17 – Tokyo, Japan – Shin-Kiba 1st RING
AJPW 2017 Summer Explosion Day 3
8/9/17 – Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan – Sasebo City Physical Education and Culture Hall
AJPW 2017 Summer Explosion Day 4
8/10/17 – Saga, Japan – Hotel Maritare Creation Saga
MEXICO
8/5/17 – Tlalnepantla, Estado De Mexico, Mexico – Arena Lopez Mateos
8/5/17 – Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico – Auditoro De Tijuana
8/5/17 – Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico – Arena Colisea de Mexico City
8/6/17 – Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico – Arena Mexico
8/7/17 – Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Mexico – Arena Puebla
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