Sunday 29 March 2015

WWE Wrestlemania 31 Preview

WM31Poster.png



The showcase of the immortals, Wrestlemania 31, takes place this Sunday at the Levi's Stadium in San Francisco, California. Some of the card looks pretty good; the rest not so much. Let's take a look.

 We get two matches on the Pre Show. The first in a fatal 4-way match for the Tag Team Championships. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro will defend their titles against The Usos, The New Day and Los Matadores. This is a tough one to call but I think Kidd and Cesaro will win here.
Predicted Winners: Tyson Kidd and Cesaro

The other match on the Pre Show is the second Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The announced participants are Hollywood Miz, Curtis Axel, Ryback, Fandango, Adam Rose, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger, Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Big Show, Corporate Kane, Erick Rowan, Damien Mizdow, Sin Cara Version 2, Goldust, Heath Slater, Mark Henry, Konnor, Viktor and Hideo Itami from NXT. There are so many to choose from but I have a feeling that Damien Mizdow will win this one.
Predicted Winner: Damien Mizdow

AJ Lee and Paige will face The Bella Twins in a Divas tag team match. This has the ability to be  good match if they're given a chance. I'm going for AJ Lee and Paige to win here.
Predicted Winners: AJ Lee and Paige

The Intercontinental Championship will be defended in a ladder match with Bad News Barrett facing the challenges of R-Truth, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper and Stardust. I'm quite looking forward to this match and anyone could win it (except for R-Truth). I'm going for Dean Ambrose to win here.
Predicted Winner: Dean Ambrose

Randy Orton will take on Seth Rollins in what could be a good match. I think that, despite the inevitable intervention of Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble, Randy Orton will get the win.
Predicted Winner: Randy Orton

The United States Championship will be on the line as John Cena (yes, you read that right) challenges Rusev. I would love Rusev to win here but he's facing John Cena for fucks sake. I'll be an idiot if I think that Cena won't win here.
Predicted Winner: John Cena

The Undertaker makes his return to face Bray Wyatt. It does seem so weird that this isn't a Streak match but I think that this could be a good match. I'm going for Undertaker to win here.
Predicted Winner: The Undertaker

We get to see history made as Sting has his first WWE match against Triple H. This is the match that I'm most looking forward to and I feel that it will be a good match. Sting will definitely win this, otherwise what was the point?
Predicted Winner: Sting

This is match that I'm not really looking forward to: Roman Reigns challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I'm with the majority of fans who feel that Roman Reigns is not ready for this position. WWE has tried to force it down our throats but for me, it's not working. Despite that, I think that Reigns will win here. However, I will be the happiest man in the world if Seth Rollins cashes it in afterwards or the following day.
Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

I won't get to see all of it live but I'm going to publish within the next two weeks. Until then, I hope you guys enjoy the show.

Saturday 28 March 2015

WWE Fastlane 2014 Review

The inaugural WWE Fastlane took place on Sunday 22nd February at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. Will the final Pay Per View before Wrestlemania set up things or keep the current status quo? Let's take a look.

The first match was a six man tag match between Big Show, Corporate Kane and Seth Rollins from The Authority and the team of Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback. The Authority get to work on Rowan after he crashes knee first into the ringpost. Rowan does manage to tag in Ryback and they do get back into it. However, it was all in vain as Big Show hits the KO punch on Ziggler behind the ref;s back when he was trying to hit a fameasser on Rollins. Kane then pins Ziggler to get the win. Afterwards, the Authority continue their beatdown on their opponents when Randy Orton makes his return. He RKOs Jamie Noble, Johnny Mercury and Kane. Rollins and Show flee. It was an ok match but it seemed to be used more for Randy Orton's return.
Winners: Big Show, Corporate Kane and Seth Rollins

The next match is something I would have preferred to have seen at Wrestlemania: Goldust taking on his brother Stardust. They both teased doing Tombstones then Goldust goes for the Director's Cut but Stardust avoids it and rolls out of the ring. The end comes when Stardust teases doing his finisher and Goldust suddenly rolls him up to get the pin. It was a decent match and I was quite surprised at the ending but Goldust said to his father Dusty Rhodes that he didn't want to hurt his brother, so it kinda makes sense. It looks like they will continue this feud. Slight problem tho: they're not facing each other at fucking Wrestlemania!!
Winner: Goldust

Next we get the Tag Team Championship match as the team of Tyson Kidd and Cesaro challenge The Usos. There was a cool spot when Cesaro does a giant swing on Jimmy followed by a half Boston crab. Kidd manages to apply the sharpshooter on Jimmy but Jey breaks it up. Jey and Cesaro brawl and end up outside the ring. Kidd then hits a fisherman suplex/neckbreaker on Jimmy to get the win and win the Championships. I quite enjoyed this match and I'm getting into Kidd and Cesaro being a team. I still think that Cesaro should be pushed towards the top but it's nice to see Kidd get some TV time as I feel he is underrated.
Winners: Tyson Kidd and Cesaro

We now get a segment between Triple H and Sting. I'm not going to get into they said but it ended up with Triple H facing Sting at Wrestlemania. This is a match that I'm really looking forward to seeing. Triple H is my favourite wrestler and Sting will be wrestling a WWE match, something I don't think anyone thought they would ever see.

We now get the Divas Championship match as Paige challenges Nikki Bella. Nikki gets the advantge early on and, after sustaining a comeback by Paige, hits a running powerbomb for 2. Paige goes for the PTO but fails and Nikki sends her head first into the bottom turnbuckle. Nikki then rolls her up for the win. A short match, which is standard for Divas matches, but I wasn't a fan of the ending.
Winner: Nikki Bella

In the Intercontinental Championship match, Dean Ambrose  challenges Bad News Barrett. There was a nice spot where Ambrose goes for Dirty Deeds but Barrett gets out of it, goes "fuck this" and tries to leave. However, Ambrose hits him with a sweet suicide dive. Ambrose then constantly stomps Barrett in the corner, despite the referee telling him to stop. The referee then calls for the bell and Ambrose is disqualified. Afterwards, Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds then took the title and left. It was getting to be a good match then ruined it with the ending. At least they will face each other at Wrestlemania (well, kind of)
Winner: Bad News Barrett

After a great segment with Bray Wyatt calling out The Undertaker for Wrestlemania, we get John Cena challenging Rusev for the United States Championship. It seems weird Cena being in a US Title match but anyway. Some nice spots include a tornado DDT by Cena then the STF and Rusev got out of it and hit an Alabama slam. They spend the match trying to make each other submit, which seemed a bit unusual. The end comes when Lana decides to do something she has never done before: interfere in a Rusev match. She slides in with the title belt and when the referee is dealing with it, Rusev hits a low blow then applies the accolade. Cena fades and passes out, giving Rusev the win. Afterwards, Rusev and Lana stand over a fallen Cena with the Russian flag hanging above them. It was a good match and I was expecting to see Rusev win thanks to dubious circumstances. However, Rusev does get a clean(ish) win over Cena, which is refreshing to see.
Winner: Rusev

The main event is between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan. The winner will face Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania. We get an interesting match as Bryan is out wrestling Reigns but Reigns is out powering him. Reigns goes for the Superman punch but Bryan hits him in the gut, winding him. This gives Bryan the advantage as he hits two suicide dives but when he goes for a third, Reigns grabs him and does a belly to belly suplex onto the floor. There was a good spot when Reigns goes for a spear but Bryan hits an inside cradle for 2 then hits the running knee for 2. Bryan does the LeBell Yes No Lock twice but Reigns powers out of it.   Bryan goes for another running knee but he gets hit with a spear and Reigns gets the victory. Afterwards, Bryan shakes Reigns' hand and says that he had better kick Lesnar's ass.

This was a good match and definitely the match of the night. However, I wanted Bryan to win. I feel that Reigns is nowhere near ready to be in a WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania. I feel that you can get a better story with Bryan and have it be a classic David vs Goliath situation. You can maybe get the Authority involved as well although they are more focused on Sting at the minute.
Winner: Roman Reigns

Fastlane wasn't that great. It seemed to be a transitional event and, except for the Tag Team Championship, nothing really changed. I hoped that Wrestlemania would rectify that but based on the card, I'm not so sure.


Thursday 26 March 2015

WWE Royal Rumble 2015 Review

The first Pay-Per-View of 2015, the Royal Rumble, took place on Sunday 25th January at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. We will get to see who will main event Wrestlemania 31 for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Will they be able to defend Brock Lesnar? Let's review.

The Kick Off match was between Kofi Kingston and Big E Langston from The New Day versus Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. A great highlight was Cesaro doing the giant swing on Kingston, which ended with a dropkick by Kidd. In the end, Kingston gets hit with an European uppercut by Cesaro followed by a swinging fisherman's neck breaker to get the win. It was quite a good match and the crowd was really into it.
Winners: Tyson Kidd and Cesaro
Predictions: 0 for 1

The first match was between The New Age Outlaws and The Ascension. The Outlaws put up a decent fight and tried to win it by Gunn going for a fameasser on Viktor. However, he missed and Ascension hit the Fall of Man to get the win. The match wasn't anything special as it seemed to just be used to put The Ascension over.
Winners: The Ascension
Predictions: 1 for 2

We now get another tag team match as Hollywood Miz and Damien Mizdow challenge The Usos for the Tag Team Championships. As usual, the crowd was cheering on Mizdow, who spent most of the match on the apron. Miz did a great job of teasing the tag to Mizdow but refusing. Later on, Mizdow broke up a pin but looked like he wasn't suppose to do that. Mizdow then hit the skull crushing finale and positioned Miz for the pin. However, that plan only creates a 2 count. In the end, Jimmy hits a Superfly splash on Miz to get the win. The match was pretty good but it's more memorable for Mizdow's actions, which were the best parts of the match.
Winners: The Usos
Predictions: 2 for 3

Next is the Divas tag team match with The Bella Twins take on Natalya and Paige. The Bellas work over Natalya before she cuts off Nikki. Natalya tries to tag out but Brie pulls Paige off the apron. Nikki then hits Natalya in the throat to get the pin. The match was a bit too short and I feel that it didn't play to their strengths.
Winners: The Bella Twins
Predictions: 3 for 4

We now get a triple threat match with John Cena and Seth Rollins challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Lesnar continues his fetish for German suplexes by hitting Rollins and Cena. Noble and Mercury try to help Rollins but they're easily dispatched. Cena hits Lensar with 3 consecutive AA's but Rollins breaks up the pin. Rollins later on, hits an elbow sending Cena and Lesnar through the Spanish announce table. The end comes when Rollins hits Lesnar twice with the MITB briefcase then tries the curb stomp. However, he misses and Lesnar hits the F5 to get the win. I really enjoyed this match and I wouldn't mind seeing a singles match between Lesnar and Rollins
Winner: Brock Lesnar
Predictions: 4 for 5

We now get the Royal Rumble match. Miz comes in at number 1 and R-Truth comes in at number 2. We get our first surprise entrant as Bubba Ray Dudley came in at number 3 followed by the Boogeyman at number 7. Our third surprise entrant was Diamond Dallas Page at number 13. During the match, the crowd were not happy with some of the eliminations. Daniel Bryan, my pick for the Rumble, came in at number 10 and got eliminated by Bray Wyatt. This generated a chorus of boos from the crowd. Kofi Kingston, who came in at number 17, had a pretty cool annual elimination avoidance spot. Rusev threw him over the rope into the Rosebuds. They carried him around the ring then put him on the apron. Rusev then eliminates him. There was a nice bit later on, when Mizdow comes in at number 21. Miz comes in and demands that he will take Mizdow's place. Miz doesn't get a chance to enter the ring so Mizdow enters but quickly gets eliminated by Rusev.

Later on, Corporate Kane came in at number 24 and Big Show at number 29. Number 30 was Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler eliminates Cesaro and Bad News Barrett. Unfortunately, this was when Kane and Show joined forces and eliminated Wyatt, Ziggler and Dean Ambrose, massively pissing off the crowd.

The final four were Corporate Kane, Big Show, Roman Reigns, who came in at number19, and Rusev, who was laid out outside the ring. Reigns eliminates Kane and Show and the bell rings. They return to attack Reigns and The Rock comes down to help Reigns. After that happened to boos from the crowd, Rusev recovered and attacked Reigns. However, Reigns dealt with it with a spear and eliminated Rusev to win the match.

I thought it was a pretty decent Rumble. The problem was that the crowd clearly were not into Reigns. I thought that maybe Bryan or Ziggler would win it as I believed into a classic David vs Goliath story. However, WWE feel that Reigns is the next guy and I'm not sure if he is ready for that.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Predictions: 4 for 6

I thought that the Rumble was a good way to start the year with some pretty good matches and it was refreshing to see a few tag team matches on the card. As for the winner of the Rumble, I'm not sure if it was the right decision. Brock Lesnar is an unstoppable juggernaut right now and I can't see Reigns being the one to topple him and become Champion. They now have two months to make the fans believe that he can be Champion. The question is, will they succeed? (Spoiler alert: they don't)

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Lo-Down Wrestling Awards 2014



The 2014 Lo-Down Wrestling awards are finally here. I thought that 2014 wasn't a bad year. However, due to work, I don't get to watch that much wrestling anymore. I only get to watch the PPVs and that's when I get the chance. I've gone off TNA, only read what has happened on RAW and Smackdown; and rarely watch NXT, which is probably the best wrestling show on TV. Hopefully, starting at Wrestlemania, I will get to watch more wrestling. Anyway, let's give out some awards.

Match of the Year
Team Cena vs Team Authority, Survivor Series
This match was so much fun to watch. You had Mark Henry being eliminated almost instantly; Cena being eliminated halfway through the match, which was a massive surprise; Ziggler doing a SuperCena and winning despite being against 3 people; and the way overdue WWE debut of Sting. Tremendous match.
Honorable Mention: Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins Lumberjack Match, Summerslam
They built these feud for quite a while and what I loved about this match was how out of the box it was. You had the lumberjacks fuck up the one job that they had and Corporate Kane coming in to sort out the resulting clusterfuck; Ambrose hitting Rollins with a curb stomp; and a wonderful ending. Without doubt, the best lumberjack match that I have ever seen.

PPV of the Year
Summerslam

Once again, Summerslam was in my opinion, the best PPV of the year. I really enjoyed it and it had some really good matches such as the Lumberjack Match. Plus, I got to see Brock Lesnar completely destroy John Cena with SIXTEEN German suplexes, which as a Cena Hater filled me up with such glee.

Feud of the Year
Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins


This was a great feud with some great matches such as the lumberjack match. Hopefully we will see them fight it out over the WWE Championship at some point.

"Wait, What the Fuck?!" Surprising Moment of the Year
Brock Lesnar beating The Undertaker, Wrestlemania XXX


This is, without a doubt, the most shocking moment in WWE history. I don't think anyone thought that Brock Lesnar would beat The Undertaker and the reaction when it happened was unbelievable. I don't think I will see a crowd reaction like that ever again.

Moment of the Year
Seth Rollins betraying The Shield, RAW (2nd June)


This is my favourite moment as it seemed so unexpected. They had beaten Evolution two Pay-Per-Views in a row then the next day, Seth Rollins goes "fuck you all" to Ambrose and Reigns and beats the fuck out of them with a chair. It was a great moment by the WWE and set Rollins on the road to being a future WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Real Life Douchebag of the Year
TNA

I can watch TNA for free but I chose to stop watching it last year. It has so much potential but the lack of revenue resulted in them losing a lot of their talent and their TV contract not being renewed. The final straw was having their biggest show of the year, Bound for Glory, taking place in Japan. I can't imagine WWE doing anything like that with Wrestlemania. I hope 2015 can be a good year for them.

Most Improved Wrestler of the Year
Damien Mizdow

What a year for Mizdow. After he lost his World Heavyweight Championship against John Cena, he seemed to be falling down the card. However, since becoming the stunt double of Hollywood Miz, he was absolutely brilliant and sometimes the best part of whatever show he was on. I know it will end it eventually but long may it continue.

Female Wrestler of the Year
Paige

It has been a great year for Paige. The inaugural NXT Women's Champion then wins the Divas Championship on her first day on the main roster. She has gone on to have a good feud with AJ Lee and is currently on the reality show Total Divas. I hope she can continue on that path.

Male Wrestler of the Year
Seth Rollins

What a year for Seth Rollins. As part of the Shield, he was involved with some great matches against the Wyatt Family and then Evolution. After a unexpected heel turn, he won Money in the Bank and has become one of the top heels in the company. I can't wait for him to cash in his briefcase and become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Thursday 5 March 2015

WWE TLC(S?) 2014 Review

The final WWE Pay-Per-View of 2014, Tables, Ladders, Chairs and Stairs(?), took place on Sunday 14th December at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Once again, Brock Lesnar, the fucking WWE World Heavyweight Champion, is not here. However, the last two events have been pretty decent and he hasn't really been missed. So, let's look at the event to see how it did.

The Kick Off Show match was Gold and Stardust taking on Kofi Kingston and Big E from The New Day. The match didn't have anything special that really stood out to me. Despite the Dusts' best efforts, thier opponents get the win thanks to a Big Ending/ Axhandle combo.
Winners: Kofi Kingston and Big E
Predictions: 1 for 1

The first match of the show is a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship with Dolph Ziggler challenging Luke Harper. There was a nasty bit early on when Harper did a suicide dive and I thought that he broke his arm when he landed badly on a ladder. As with most ladder matches, we get spots with wrestlers either landing on ladders or having them thrown at them. Harper did a brutal powerbomb, sending Ziggler onto a ladder. In the end, Ziggler managed to superkick Harper off a ladder and climbed up to win the Championship. I really enjoyed this match. Hopefully, I feel that Ziggler should be going for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and I worry that he will be permanently hitting the glass ceiling.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Predictions: 1 for 2

We now get the Tag Team Championship match with The Usos challenging Hollywood Miz and Damien Mizdow. The Usos were dominant for most of the match and there was a nice bit when one of the Usos had Miz in a vertical suplex and Mizdow was doing a handstand as well. In the end, Miz and Mizdow decided to leave. One of the Usos suicide dived Mizdow and Miz hit him with the belt to get disqualified. It wasn't a bad match but I thought it was too short.
Winners: The Usos
Predictions: 1 for 3

We now get the first ever Stairs match between The Big Show and Erick Rowan. To be honest, except for them hitting each other with stairs, there wasn't too much to this match. Big Show gets the win after hitting the knock out punch then using some stairs to help him get the pin. It wasn't a great match and hopefully we won't see a stairs match again
Winner: The Big Show
Predictions:1 for 4

The next is a tables match between Seth Rollins and John Cena. During the match, Rollins had some help from his lackeys Jonny Mercury and Jamie Noble. We get a ref bump and Cena puts Rollins through a table with an Attitude Adjustment, but doesn't win thanks to the referee being down. Eventually, they both go through a table and the referee conveniently wakes up and calls for the bell. After some discussion with two other referees, the original referee restarts the match. Cena hits an attitude adjustment sending Reigns onto the announce table but it doesn't break. The Big Show comes out and attacks Cena. However, Roman Reigns runs in and spears Show through a table. Cena does eventually get the win when he sends Rollins through a table thanks to an attitude adjustment.
Except for the false finish involving three referees, I quite enjoyed the match. I'm not a fan of seeing Brock/Cena III at the Rumble but at the minute, I can't see Brock facing anyone else right now.
Winner: John Cena
Predictions: 2 for 5

Next is the Divas Championship match with AJ Lee challenging Nikki Bella. AJ hits the shining wizard but Brie puts Nikki leg under the ropes to stop the pinfall. The referee notices this and sends Brie to the back. Nikki uses this opportunity to take a spray bottle out of our knee pad and spray it into AJ's face. Nikki then kicks AJ and pins her to get the win. The match was ok but it still pisses me off that Brie just decided to join Nikki despite everything that happened to her.
Winner: Nikki Bella
Predictions: 3 for 6

Kane takes on Ryback in a chairs match. Kane almost wins it when he throws a chair into Ryback's face then chokeslams him for 2. In the end, Ryback avoids a tombstone onto a chair, hits Kane with a meathook clothesline then a shell shock to get the win. Like the stairs match, there wasn't too much to write about bit it was an ok match.
Winner: Ryback
Predictions: 3 for 7

The penutlimate match is for the United States Championship as Jack Swagger challenges Rusev. Swagger was going for Rusev's ankle but Rusev manages to apply the accolade but Swagger gets to the ropes. Rusev goes for the accolade again but Swagger manages to get out of it and apply the patriot lock. Rusev broke free by kicking him in the face, hits a couple of kicks then applies the accolade to get the win. It wasn't as good as last few matches but it was ok.
Winner: Rusev
Predictions: 4 for 8

The main event is a TLC match between Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt. There was a great bit in the beginning when Ambrose threw a ladder into wyatt when he finished his entrance. The match went back and forth with so many highlights such as: Ambrose fucking up Wyatt with a kendo stick; then putting him through a table with an elbow drop; Wyatt hitting Sister Abigail for 2 followed a few minutes later by Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds for 2. The end comes when Ambrose puts Wyatt through the Spanish announce table with an elbow drop then grabs a TV monitor. He tries to hit Wyatt with it bit it is still connected so he tries it again. However, it explodes with pyrotechnics blinding Ambrose and giving Wyatt the chance to hit Sister Abigail to get the win.

I really enjoyed the match and I thought that it was a good main event. However, I did not like the ending as it makes Ambrose look like a bit of an idiot.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
Predictions: 4 for 9

Overall, I thought that TLC was an ok event. There wasn't anything much that stood out except for the main event really. WWE are in a unique position with their World Heavyweight Champion being nowhere near the event. I feel that WWE ended 2014 with a slightly drab not and I hope 2015 with the Royal Rumble and the Road to Wrestlemania, will get to be better.