NXT
Date: January 17, 2018
Location: Center Stage Theater, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson

Opening sequence.

Heavy Machinery vs. Tino Sabbatelli/Riddick Moss

Roderick Strong vs. Fabian Aichner

Strong tries a headlock to start as the fans seem split. A leg lariat gives Strong two but Aichner powerslams him out of the air as we take a break. Back with Aichner holding an abdominal stretch until Strong fights out. The Angle Slam is broken up so Strong settles for his first backbreaker. Aichner is right back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker of his own and goes up, only to dive into another backbreaker. The Strong Hold (now a Liontamer) is good for the tap out at 7:37.

Post match Strong says he wants Lars Sullivan, who had already said he wanted to face Killian Dain. So we might be looking at a three way?

Aliyah vs. Lacey Evans

William Regal makes the title match for Takeover. Zelina Vega comes in to say Velveteen Dream deserves the shot more than Johnny Gargano so they should have a #1 contenders match.

We look back at the Undisputed Era attacking Sanity to avoid the title defense last week.

Authors of Pain vs. Street Profits

Results

Tino Sabbatelli/Riddick Moss b. Heavy Machinery – Rollup to Moss

Roderick Strong b. Fabian Aichner – Strong Hold

Lacey Evans b. Aliyah – Right hand

Authors of Pain b. Street Profits – Last Chapter to Ford

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume VI: July – December 1999 in e-book or paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/11/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-and-thunder-reviews-volume-vi/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

https://wrestlingrumors.net/rumor-roman-reigns-involved-steroid-distribution-ring-miami/

It’s way, WAY too early to know if this is going anywhere, but if it’s true I’d be stunned if he gets the title in New Orleans.  With the TV deal coming up, I don’t think WWE would want to pull the trigger on something like this.

That of course brings up the major problem: what if they postpone THIS TIME FOR SURE until XXXV and make us waste another year on this nonsense?  I don’t think I can take that again.

205 Live
Date: January 16, 2018
Location: Laredo Energy Arena, Laredo, Texas
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Vic Joseph

Opening sequence.

TJP vs. Gran Metalik

With that not working, TJP ties him in the Tree of Woe, only to miss a baseball slide and hit the post. A superkick and a rope walk dropkick set up the rope walk elbow for a VERY close two. The Metalik Driver is countered but Metalik reverses the Detonation Kick into a rollup for the pin at 5:17.

Post break, TJP is livid again in the back and might be crying.

Goldust vs. Zo Train

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume VI: July – December 1999 in e-book or paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/11/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-and-thunder-reviews-volume-vi/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Mixed Match Challenge Episode #1
Date: January 16, 2018
Location: Laredo Energy Arena, Laredo, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Beth Phoenix

No opening sequence here, which is quite the jarring difference.

Renee Young and Byron Saxton are on the floor as hosts.

the fans like a new audience.

We get some rapid fire vignettes from other teams, including Carmella eating pancakes and Nia Jax being presented with some lucky underwear.

First Round: Finn Balor/Sasha Banks vs. Shinsuke Nakamura/Natalya

Nakamura kicks Balor in the head though and hits the running knee for two. Kinshasa is countered with the Sling Blade but Natalya breaks up the Coup de Grace. Sasha throws Natalya outside but Kinshasa is countered again, this time with Nakamura being sent into the post. Stereo basement dropkicks set up the Bank Statement to make Natalya tap at 12:48.

Next week: Big E./Carmella vs. Asuka/The Miz.

New Day is fired up and Carmella is in a washing machine.

Miz speaks English and Asuka shouts in Japanese before they both speak English (BECAUSE ASUKA CAN FREAKING SPEAK ENGLISH!).

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume VI: July – December 1999 in e-book or paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/11/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-and-thunder-reviews-volume-vi/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Smackdown
Date: January 16, 2018
Location: Laredo Energy Arena, Laredo, Texas
Commentators: Corey Graves, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton

US Title Tournament Semifinals: Jinder Mahal vs. Xavier Woods

The finals will now be next week instead of at the Royal Rumble. Mahal kicks him in the face to start and elbows a charging Woods in the jaw. A jumping knee gets two and we take a break. Back with Jinder holding him in a chinlock and Big E. throwing pancakes at the Singh Brothers. The fans want pancakes as Jinder forearms Woods down to the floor. Back in and a knee to the head gets two as we take a second break.

We come back again with Woods hitting a missile dropkick and winning a slugout (with those AMERICAN right hands). A discus punch drops Mahal and a Shining Wizard gets two. New Day goes after the Singh Brothers and chases the up the aisle, leaving us one on one. The top rope elbow misses though and Woods is whipped throat first into the bottom rope (kind of a dangerous move). The Khallas sends Mahal to the finals at 18:02.

AJ Styles dubs Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens as Kami and says he sees himself as being down 3-1 because Owens is like two people.

Lana promises to make it the Ravishing Rumble.

Naomi is going to make everyone feel the Glow.

Riott knows how to create chaos and no one can stop her.

US Title Tournament Semifinals: Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley

Randy Orton, in a ring in an empty arena, likes to be surrounded by chaos, so the Rumble is his match.

Charlotte/Becky Lynch/Naomi vs. Riott Squad

Long video on AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens.

Next week: Rusev Day vs. Ascension.

US Title: Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal

The bosses present Roode with the title to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. Oh just no in every sense of the word. This was a great illustration of everything wrong with Smackdown as of late, with the focus completely missing and no reason to watch. You think the low attendances of late might have been bolstered by guaranteeing you get to see a new champion? Not happening here of course, because we need to do something like this instead with almost no big name talent appearing instead.

Results

Jinder Mahal b. Xavier Woods – Khallas

Bobby Roode b. Mojo Rawley – Glorious DDT

Riott Squad b. Charlotte/Becky Lynch/Naomi – Codebreaker to Naomi

Bobby Roode b. Jinder Mahal – Glorious DDT

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume VI: July – December 1999 in e-book or paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/11/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-and-thunder-reviews-volume-vi/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

That’s an upgrade.

One of the fun things to do in wrestling is look back and see who wasn’t such a big deal back in the day but then got better over the course of time. In this case we’re looking at the improvement over the course of a year, in which there were a lot of names who got far better than you would have expected from them.

As is so often the case, we’ll start down in NXT where they grow stars like few other places. One such star is Lars Sullivan, who came from practically nowhere and turned into one of the best monsters the show has ever seen. Throw him out there as a monster and let him run people over while showing no fear and no pain. It’s a story that has worked for years and there’s no reason Sullivan can’t pull it off exceedingly well.

Sticking in NXT (that might be a theme today), we have the current NXT Champion Andrade Cien Almas. Now this one might be a lot more about Zelina Vega being amazing and one of the best managers in a long time but Almas himself has turned into quite the act as well. He’s gone from someone who looked to be a lost cause to being someone who is a top star in the promotion and looking like a legitimate big deal. They have a good act together and one that looks like it could work for a very long time.

We might as well knock off the other NXT option with someone who shocked the heck out of me. Velveteen Dream looked like he was going to be any other effeminate character but wound up being not only a solid in-ring performer but one heck of a character who is almost mesmerizing to watch. His feud with Aleister Black was a major high spot but it was also the only major thing he did all year. Still though, one great thing is more than most people get in any given year.

We’ll head up to the main roster now with someone who didn’t do much in NXT but has found his calling in WWE. In this case we have Elias, who sings a song about every city he’s in and manages to get the fans to hate him every single week. It works like a charm and the in-ring work has been quite good as well. Elias might not be a top star but he’s a solid midcard hand and there’s nothing wrong with doing that for a long time.

Next up is someone who I had pegged to win this for a good chunk of the year with Neville. He was always talented and one of the better cruiserweights on the roster but the King of the Cruiserweights character was something fresh and new which made him feel so much better in a hurry. It’s a shame that he left the company under such bad circumstances but hopefully he’ll be back and no longer jobbing to Enzo.

Finally though, and this isn’t much of a surprise, we have Braun Strowman. Where do you even begin with the year this guy had? Strowman came into 2017 as just another strong man and came out as a fan favorite and someone you could see winning the World Title at some point in the near future. To take a fairly one note gimmick and knock it so far out of the park like Strowman has is quite the accomplishment and I’m looking forward to seeing just how far he can take it. Starting where he was back at the beginning of 2017 is all the more impressive, making him the most improved wrestler of the year.

https://wrestlingrumors.net/breaking-confirmation-ricochet-mann/

So yeah, you knew this one was coming sooner or later.  RIcochet is one of the best high fliers in the world and at just under thirty years old, there’s no reason to not come to the big show.  He’s had some success in New Japan so now it’s time to go to WWE and see what he can do.  Of course it’s in NXT first (as it should be), but I’m a bit scared of what we might be seeing over in WWE.  That being said, Ricochet has the charisma and talking ability to make this work and could be a big star, assuming he’s not just thrown onto 205 Live and left to drown.

Monday Night Raw
Date: January 15, 2018
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Booker T.

^{In the back, Braun leaves while threatening security.}

Raw moment: Hugh Jackman is guest host.

Post break, a security guard orders Strowman to leave and the destruction is on. Braun promises to do even more.

The Bar vs. Titus Worldwide

Post break, Strowman wrecks catering and chokeslams Curt Hawkins through a table. He does however take a piece of chocolate cake from a nearly catatonic worker. I can appreciate a man with a taste for some cake and Strowman as the unstoppable monster is fun.

Tony Nese vs. Cedric Alexander

Angle is thinking about calling in a SWAT team but is told Strowman is heading towards the production trucks.

Tom Phillips replaces Cole on commentary.

Nia Jax vs. Asuka

Alexa Bliss comes out to check on Nia.

The announcers talk about Martin Luther King Day.

Video on Martin Luther King.

Revival vs. ???/???

Roman Reigns vs. Miztourage

Sasha Banks vs. Sonya Deville

The rest of Absolution, Bayley and Mickie James are at ringside. As we get started, Paige is officially ruled out of the Royal Rumble. Nothing is mentioned beyond that though. A very early Bank Statement attempt send Deville bailing to the ropes but Mandy offers a distraction so Sonya can get in a few shots.

Some wrestlers were at the National Civil Rights Museum last week.

Matt Hardy vs. Heath Slater

Royal Rumble rundown.

Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins

Balor is rather shaken up and the camera stays on him for a long time to end the show.

Results

Titus Worldwide b. The Bar – Rollup to Sheamus

Cedric Alexander b. Tony Nese – Lumbar Check

Asuka b. Nia Jax via referee stoppage

Revival b. ???/??? – Shatter Machine

Roman Reigns b. Miztourage – Spear to Axel

Sonya Deville b. Sasha Banks – Kick to the chest

Matt Hardy b. Heath Slater – Twist of Fate

Seth Rollins b. Finn Balor – Blackout

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume VI: July – December 1999 in e-book or paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/11/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-and-thunder-reviews-volume-vi/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

It’s the building block of wrestling.

2017 was a heck of a year for feuding wrestlers, with some excellent options for the best feud of the year. Some of them were better than others but the top choices are hard to separate. There are almost as many options here as there are for any award, making this one of the hardest choices to make.

I’ll actually start with something from New Japan as you just can’t ignore Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega. I know the promotion isn’t built around promos like WWE but Okada challenging him for the rematch and the matches going 1-1-1 is way too much to look past. These two tore the house down every single time and put on an all time classic trilogy. Definitely worth a look if you somehow haven’t seen it yet.

We’ll go with a tag feud now and one that I considered putting at the top of the list with New Day vs. the Usos. These guys just beat the fire out of each other all year with some really entertaining promos and segments as a bonus. The Usos showed why they’re the best team in WWE at the moment while New Day got to prove that they still have it (you know, because they’re so old and such). Their match in the Cell was excellent and capped off an incredible feud, which is the big key that you need for one of these things to work. I loved this stuff and it made me an even bigger Usos fan.

Down to NXT we go (you knew this was coming) with Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream. This was much more psychological with Dream desperate to have Black say his name (with some innuendo running wild), leading to an outstanding match at Takeover: WarGames where Black beat Dream but gave him what he wanted. I got way into the build for this and it made Dream look WAY better than he would have otherwise. This is probably second on my list, which blows my mind as I was rolling my eyes when I heard the feud start.

We’ll stay in NXT (mostly) for the UK Title feud between Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne. They met for the inaugural title and then had two incredible followups for one of the best trilogies WWE has ever put together. Much like Okada vs. Omega, this was all about the action with both guys (who are way too young to be able to do stuff like this) leaving it all in the ring every single time. Their Chicago match was the best match I saw all year and I’d love to see these two again, assuming they don’t overdo the match.

We’ll continue with the battling countrymen with Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho. These two started the year off as best friends before falling apart at the Festival of Friendship (we’ll be coming back to that one). It lead to some awesome matches and title changes with some of the best moments of the first half of the year. I could have gone for one more big gimmick match between the two of them but what we got more than did the trick.

In another feud that didn’t last very long but was a lot of fun, we have Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar. This was built around the idea of two guys beating each other up in a pair of matches that didn’t waste time. They beat the heck out of each other with the big match atmosphere that most people can’t bring. Joe’s promo of choking out Paul Heyman and saying he wanted Lesnar was great stuff and the singles match was as good of a short form match as you were going to find given this style.

The winner though is the other half of the Summerslam main event with Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns. This feud had more matches than the other options with a great segment (“I’M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU”) and some awesome, hard hitting matches. Reigns won the first match but Strowman dominated the rest of the feud, giving him a very rare win over Reigns. I never got bored with this feud and they beat the heck out of each other, making it the best feud of the year.

Royal Rumble 2004
Date: January 25, 2004
Location: Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 17,289
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Raw Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Evolution

Rating: D. This match fell into the same trap that all bad tables matches fall into: the dull set of spots that fail until one works for the win. You rarely get something that gets around this through sheer carnage such as the match at the 2000 Rumble, but this was just terrible. I have no idea what they were going for here as the fans were disappointed and they only had four and a half minutes to get into it. Also: real smart WWE. This is the right way to start a show in Philadelphia: have some of the most famous ECW guys ever lose.

Cena raps about winning the Rumble when RVD comes in to steal the joke. Weed jokes are made. Josh Matthews looks like the king of all tools here.

Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble

Noble yells at Nidia post match.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero

Back to the mat with Eddie working on the arm before Chavo nips up and hooks a rana to send them both to the floor. Chavo sends Eddie into the announce table to finally take over and get some of the aggression going. Back in and they get into a kind of MMA style brawl on the mat until Eddie hooks a cross armbreaker of all things. That goes nowhere so Chavo suplexes Eddie down for two, followed by the Three Amigos. Eddie counters a tornado DDT and hits Three Amigos of his own. Chavo is down so Eddie goes up and hits the Frog Splash for the pin. ANOTHER quick ending tonight.

Rating: C+. This was way better than the other matches, but this felt like it was missing fifteen minutes or so. Three matches so far have combined to be about fifteen minutes long which is pretty lame for a modern PPV, even for the Rumble. This could have been a lot more, but the feud was completely done after tonight. Eddie would become #1 contender on the following Smackdown.

Eddie destroys Chavo post match in a pretty heelish display. Chavo gets busted open.

Smackdown World Title: Brock Lesnar vs. Hardcore Holly

Raw World Title: Shawn Michaels vs. HHH

Out of nowhere Shawn takes out the leg and hooks a Figure Four, because where would we be without a Flair tribute? That gets a five count so Shawn hits a chop block for a four. HHH low bridges Shawn and we head to the floor for a bit. HHH loads up the announce table but Shawn blocks a Pedigree attempt. They slug it out on the table with HHH getting knocked to the floor, drawing a bunch of booing from the bloodthirsty Philadelphia fans.

Rumble video with a focus on Benoit.

Royal Rumble

The handspring elbow takes Orton down but Benoit rolls some Germans on Tajiri to take him down. Tajiri only gets two as I guess Benoit is conserving strength. Henry throws Orton to the apron but stops looking like an idiot. Bradshaw is #5 and he immediately clotheslines down everyone not named Benoit. Benoit takes offense to being left out and puts Bradshaw in the Crossface before pulling Bradshaw out. Eh he would get a nine month title reign stating in the summer so I feel no sympathy for him.

Everyone tries to throw each other out while laying on the ropes until Rikishi is #14. Benoit dumps Rhyno to keep us at six people (Benoit, Orton, Rikishi, Booker, Morgan, Hardy) in the ring. Morgan gets a Stinkface and nothing else happens for a bit. Renee Dupree with the French Tickler is #15. In a surprising moment, Dupree actually knocks Matt out, only to be superkicked out by Rikishi a second later.

Ratings Comparison

Evolution vs. Dudley Boys

Original: C

Redo: D

Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble

Original: N/A

Redo: D+

Chavo Guerrero vs. Eddie Guerero

Original: C+

Redo: C+

Brock Lesnar vs. Hardcore Holly

Original: D-

Redo: D

HHH vs. Shawn Michaels

Original: C+

Redo: C-

Royal Rumble

Original: A

Redo: A

Overall Rating

Original: C+

Redo: B-

Just as last time, the Rumble is the only thing worth seeing.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/23/royal-rumble-count-up-2004-he-who-must-not-be-named/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Volume VI: July – December 1999 in e-book or paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/11/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-and-thunder-reviews-volume-vi/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6