NXT
Date: February 4, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, Alex Riley

It’s the go home show for Takeover next week and the main stories are the tournament to crown a new #1 contender and making Zayn vs. Owens a title match at Owens’ demand. Tonight we have two semi-final matches with Hideo Itami vs. Finn Balor and Adrian Neville vs. Baron Corbin with the winners facing each other next week. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Emma vs. Carmella

The fans want Blue Pants but Carmella says she’s back on the clearance rack. Enzo and Cass dance in the background while Carmella talks to a less than thrilled audience. Thankfully Cass does his spelling and the fans are right back. Carmella shouts at the guys and gets kicked down as we hit a brief catfight. Emma gets choked on the ropes and Carmella mocks her dancing while checking the nails. They fight out of the corner and the Dilemma has Carmella in even more trouble. Not that it matters as she trips Emma down and puts on that leg lock crossface for the submission at 1:52.

#1 Contenders Tournament Semi-Finals: Adrian Neville vs. Baron Corbin

Baron easily takes him back into the corner to start and Adrian looks at him with a realization that he might be in major trouble. A cross body doesn’t work but some kicks to the ribs work a bit better. Neville hits a running dropkick but gets his head taken off by a right hand. Adrian rolls outside with his bell rung but Baron throws him right back inside to stomp away in the corner.

A big slam gets two on Neville but he dropkicks the knee out to send Baron into the buckle. Neville scores with a springboard dropkick to knock Baron outside but the springboard plancha is caught with ease and Baron drops him on the barricade. With Neville going back inside, Bull Dempsey comes out and posts Baron, setting up the Red Arrow for the pin at 5:27.

Rating: C. For once, I really don’t like the booking here. They easily could have had the posting lead to a countout (Corbin barely beat the count back in) instead of a pin, but at least it wasn’t clean. That being said, does ANYONE want to see Corbin vs. Dempsey again? As Riley said, what does Corbin have left to prove against him? The match was a decent power display from Corbin but I didn’t like the ending and it hurt things a good bit.

Sami Zayn says Kevin Owens played this perfectly to get what he wants. Even Regal didn’t see this coming and Regal has seen it all. All that matters now is Takeover next week and Sami is bringing everything he has. Of note here: Sami said the date of the show. That’s such a lost little thing in WWE today. They always say “in X amount of weeks” or something other than just the date. Say the date of the show and get it in the fans’ heads instead of just the name of the show so they’ll know when it’s there.

Corbin vs. Dempsey next week in a No DQ match.

Bayley vs. Becky Lynch

Bayley’s music is very, very catchy. The fans aren’t sure who they like better here but it seems to be Bayley with more support as she grabs an armbar. Becky goes after Bayley’s bad knee to take over and hits a nice snap suplex. Three straight legdrops get two but Bayley sends her outside.

Cue Sasha Banks as Bayley misses a charge into the post, allowing Lynch to kick at the knee again. A dragon screw leg whip looks to set up a leg lock but Bayley counters into a small package for two. I actually bought that as the pin. Bayley SNAPS and goes after Becky’s leg before throwing her into a half crab, sending Lynch into the ropes. Sasha throws Becky back inside and the Belly to Bayley is good for the pin at 4:18.

Rating: C-. Neither girl is all that great in the ring but they’re both capable of doing something passable enough to get through a ring. Lynch is far more attitude than in ring ability and there’s nothing wrong with that. The four way next week has a lot of potential and while Banks winning probably makes the most sense, all four are options and that’s one of the great things about NXT: it can be hard to predict sometimes, which is a very rare case in WWE.

Becky shoves Banks down as Charlotte comes out to watch.

Owens says of course it was a plan and Sami knew that’s what was happening. Now he’s going to take the NXT Title two months to the day of his debut.

We see a graphic for the next tournament match and the Solomon hacker screen comes up.

Blake and Murphy vs. Lucha Dragons for the Tag Team Titles next week.

Tyler Breeze is asked what his plans are now that he’s out of the tournament. After calling that a stupid question, he says he’s going to watch the rest of the tournament closely.

#1 Contenders Tournament Semi-Finals: Finn Balor vs. Hideo Itami

Neville is on commentary, which isn’t something you see that often in NXT. The bell rings and the fans debut a new chant: “WE’RE NOT WORTHY!” They hit the mat to start for a nice wrestling sequence and the fans give the stalemate a big ovation. Fans: “BETTER THAN RAW!” Balor’s chinlock attempt is countered into an armbar as Graves brings up being Tag Team Champions with Neville for a nice bit of continuity. Finn scores with a dropkick and we take a break.

Back with Itami getting two and putting on a quickly broken chinlock. Balor rolls through into a hard basement dropkick for two before putting on an arm trap chinlock of his own. A pair of rollups get a pair of near falls on Itami before it’s off to a chinlock. The announcers are basically interviewing Neville about what it means to be champion again and getting inside his head instead of just asking him generic questions and plugging Twitter. Hideo fights up and goes up top, only to get kicked in the head for two as we take another break.

Back again with Balor taking the skin off Hideo’s chest with chops. A running knee in the corner has Balor in some quick trouble, followed by a top rope clothesline for two. The GTS is teased again but Balor escapes and they trade kicks to the head. They slug it out with Itami getting the better of it and hitting a running basement dropkick in the corner. Back up and Balor scores with a Sling Blade but he tweaked his knee on some of those kicks. It’s good enough to dropkick Itami hard into the corner and the top rope double stomp is good enough to send Balor to Takeover at 17:58.

Rating: B. The ending was a bit abrupt but this was the kind of match both guys needed. They both held their own for a long match and it never got boring. Balor still looks better but the second that GTS finally hits, it’s going to blow the roof off the place. The best part is you can’t even say it’s stealing anything because Punk took it from Itami in the first place. Really solid match here and Neville vs. Balor is going to rock.

Balor and Itami shake hands and Neville stares Finn down.

One last Owens vs. Zayn promo ends the show. Zayn should have seen this coming but Owens surprised him. They were the best of friends but then Owens got married and had a kid and things changed. Next week, Zayn is going to see what Owens is made of.

Overall Rating: B-. The earlier stuff hurt it a bit but the main event brought the show up a good deal. More than anything else though, I want to see Takeover next week. The card is stacked and they’ve done a great job of building up the show in just a few weeks as opposed to the multiple months they usually have. Next week feels like new stuff crossed with an R-Evolution sequel, which is actually a cool feeling.

There are two things I want to bring up here here that continue to make NXT feel special. First of all is of course the crowd. That BETTER THAN RAW chant they started tonight kept up the feeling that the fans are having a great time every week at this show. How many times do you feel that fans coming to Raw are naturally excited to be there? It’s like they show up and hope for a good show but don’t expect much. When the NXT fans show up, it’s time for a great show and they know it because NXT has earned that respect.

The other thing that stood out to me tonight is the commentary. Every week I have to spend the first half hour of the show figuring out who the commentary team is this week because they always rotate and it’s hard to pin them down given how similar their voices are (save for Albert and Renee of course). For a long time that got on my nerves because I had to listen for them to say their first names, but the more I think about it, the more that’s a good thing. The announcers are just faceless entities most of the time and that means the focus stays on the action and not on them. That’s the polar opposite of WWE and it’s so nice.

Results

Carmella b. Emma – Leg lock crossface

Adrian Neville b. Baron Corbin – Red Arrow

Bayley b. Becky Lynch – Belly to Bayley

Finn Balor b. Hideo Itami – Top rope double stomp

NXT
Date: January 28, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Alex Riley, Jason Albert, Tom Phillips

This is another big show as we’re two weeks out from Takeover and the showdown between Owens and Zayn. The contract signing is tonight and Owens has promised to say what he has to say to Zayn to his face. Also tonight the tournament to crown a new #1 contender continues with more first round matches. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Tag Team Titles: Lucha Dragons vs. Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake

Blake and Murphy are challenging and have some new, loud entrance music. We even get big match intros before we get going. Cara and Blake get things going with Wesley slamming him down in the corner, only to have Cara come back with a double springboard wristdrag.

Murphy dropkicks him out of the air for two though as the challengers are staying aggressive. Blake puts on a chinlock for a bit until Cara fights up and makes the tag to Kalisto. Everything speeds up and a sunset bomb gets two on Buddy as everything breaks down. Blake counters Cara’s springboard and makes a blind tag. Kalisto hits Salida Del Sol on Murphy but the legal Buddy rolls him up for the clean pin and the titles at 4:00.

Rating: C. This is where NXT’s booking pays off for them in the end. Murphy and Blake haven’t won a bunch of matches over the months, but they’ve hung in enough of them that this isn’t the most shocking win in the world. In WWE, a team like Slater Gator has been crushed almost every time they go out there and would have almost no chance in a title match. Even if they won, it wouldn’t be accepted. On the other hand, this was fine and made sense, as well as giving us a fresh set of matches for the division.

We recap Bayley suplexing Charlotte last week and Regal making the fourway title match.

Charlotte yells at Bayley but Bayley says maybe she’s been too nice. She saw what Sami Zayn did when he got more serious and now it’s time for her to do it. Charlotte says if Bayley tries that again, she won’t make it to Takeover.

Tyler Breeze is going to be watching the rest of the tournament very closely.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd

The fans are split on who they like best. They hit the mat to start for a nice counter sequence leading to a standoff. Adrian starts cranking on the arm before he takes Tyson down with a hurricanrana, sending Kidd scrambling to the floor. Neville even teases him with a dive but pulls back with a Tajiri handspring flip. Kidd keeps sliding under the corner and out the other side of the ring to break the count, eventually drawing Adrian outside where he gets sent into the floor.

We take a break and come back with Kidd hitting a hard dropkick to the face and rubbing the same face into the mat. Neville sends him right back outside with a clothesline and hits a big old flip dive to take him down. A standing moonsault gets two for Neville as the referee is drenched in sweat.

The spinning fisherman’s neckbreaker snaps Adrian’s neck for two but he flips out of a release German suplex and grabs a Batista Bomb (crowd: “Better than Batista!”) for two. Neville heads outside but a hard dropkick sends him to the floor. Back in and Kidd can’t hook the Sharpshooter, allowing Neville to hit a running kick in the head (similar to the Helluva Kick), setting up the Red Arrow for the pin at 16:25.

Rating: B+. These guys beat the heck out of each other and it got better and better throughout the match. This is the basic idea of hitting each other really, really hard over and over again until one of them can’t get up and that’s a great way to enjoy a match. Really fun stuff here and worth checking out.

Neville says he’s ready to face either Corbin or Dempsey. The fans seem very interested in Neville vs. Corbin. I can’t say I disagree.

Becky Lynch implies she’d turn on Banks to win the title. Good, as I like her better than Sasha.

Murphy and Blake are thrilled to win the belts and would give the Lucha Dragons a rematch anytime anywhere. They’re still getting the hang of this talking thing.

Becky Lynch/Sasha Banks vs. Bayley/Charlotte

The fans aren’t as into Bayley as they used to be. Bayley and Banks get things going with Bayley hitting a springboard armdrag but botching a second attempt, allowing Banks to take over. Off to Lynch for a forearm to the back before it’s already back to Sasha. Charlotte comes in and snapmares Becky down before tagging Bayley right back in. In a smart move, Bayley thinks about going to the ropes but realizes http://onhealthy.net/product-category/stop-smoking/ Banks would nail her in the back and opts for a jumping clothesline to a seated Lynch instead.

The villains use some cheating to take over and Sasha gyrates a bit, drawing a Sasha’s ratchet/no she’s not dueling chant. Becky comes back in and goes for the knee, only to get suplexed down, allowing the hot tag to Charlotte. She quickly gets Banks in the bridging Figure Four but Becky breaks it up as everything breaks down. Sasha Bankrupts Charlotte and Bayley makes a save but hits her partner in the process. Charlotte and Bayley start fighting each other and the opponents come in, drawing a double DQ at 5:50.

Rating: C. The match wasn’t great but it was exactly the right booking. There was no need to have anyone get a pin here and it let Bayley show a lot more aggression. I’m still really high on Becky but she needs to show that she can do something in the ring as she’s barely had any ring time so far. The fourway could be awesome if they let these four go nuts.

Hideo Itami comes up to Finn Balor in the back and says he brought Finn into the company and will take him out if he has to in order to advance in the tournament.

The returning Emma says things haven’t gone as she planned since she left NXT so next week she’s coming back to face Carmella.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Bull Dempsey vs. Baron Corbin

Baron sends him into the corner to start and runs him over with a shoulder. Dempsey bails to the floor but Baron is right back on top of him to send him back inside. Back in and a corner splash has Bull in trouble and the End of Days is good for the pin at 1:31. Total squash here with Dempsey getting nothing. That almost has to end the feud.

Baron Corbin says he just took a step closer to becoming NXT Champion and next week Adrian Neville takes a step closer to being erased. Dempsey comes up and says he’ll knock Corbin’s teeth out. Baron just walks away. That would seem to be the way out of Baron losing clean next week.

It’s time for the contract signing. The champ comes out first but Regal is hesitant to bring out Owens. Kevin comes out and Sami looks sad as much as mad. Regal isn’t going to let this turn into every other contract signing in WWE because he’ll cancel the match if they make any contact. The fans chant OLE and Sami signs without saying anything. Owens looks at Sami instead of the contract. Sami asks if he’s just going to look at him or if Owens is going to explain why. Owens doesn’t move so Sami says he’ll talk about the last 12 years.

They fought with and against each other so maybe he should have seen this coming. The truth is he didn’t see it coming though and he never thought it would happen on a night like R-Evolution when both of them arrived. It doesn’t matter though because Sami is going to beat the heck out of him at Takeover. Owens still won’t sign because he doesn’t like it being a non-title match.

What Owens did at R-Evolution was business because he’ll fight anyone for the right prize. That title means more money and a better life for his family, so Owens isn’t doing this unless it’s a title match. Regal doesn’t like Owens’ last minute demands but Sami says wait a minute. Make it a title match because Owens really won’t do it if he doesn’t get what he wants. Regal writes something on the contract and Sami signs again. Owens eventually signs and throws the pen at Sami before leaving to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This show was about moving things forward for Takeover and they’ve done a great job. The title change was a nice surprise as it was something you almost never get on TV but it made sense. That’s the tagline I would use for almost everything on this show: it made sense. It’s clear that someone is paying really close attention to these stories and has planned them out step by step. That’s such an important thing to do and the matches are almost always worth the payoff. Good show here and they’re doing a very good job of a short build to the next Takeover.

Results

Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake b. Lucha Dragons – Rollup to Kalisto

Adrian Neville b. Tyson Kidd – Red Arrow

Bayley/Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch went to a double DQ

Baron Corbin b. Bull Dempsey – End of Days

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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NXT
Date: January 21, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, Jason Albert

Things are starting to pick up again in NXT with Kevin Owens making another appearance last week to lay out NXT Champion Sami Zayn after a successful title defense against Adrian Neville. These two are on a collision course and there’s no way the match isn’t going to be awesome. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens over the last few weeks. Neville promises revenge.

William Regal announces the next Takeover special for February 11. There will be a tournament for the #1 contendership starting tonight, as well as Charlotte defending against Sasha Banks. As usual, Regal keeps this quick as he was on screen less than a minute and announced a show, a tournament and a title match.

Opening sequence.

Sami Zayn vs. Tye Dillinger

Sami charges the ring and EXPLODES on Dillinger, knocking him to the floor before the bell rings. No match I’m assuming.

Zayn demands Owens get out here right now but he gets Regal instead. The champ says he isn’t wrestling one more match unless it’s against Owens so get him out here right now. Regal says he can’t do that because Owens hasn’t earned a title shot yet. Sami offers to make it non-title or whatever he has to do to get his hands on Owens. He won’t explode out of respect for Regal, but he’ll do whatever Regal asks him to get what he wants. Regal agrees and makes the showdown for Takeover.

Owens vs. Zayn at Takeover will be non-title.

Regal says Owens and Zayn will sign the contract next week.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Curtis Axel vs. Finn Balor

I love how foreboding Balor’s music is. Fans: “FINN’S GONNA KILL YOU!” Axel elbows him in the face to start so Balor knocks him to the floor for a big flip dive. Back in and Axel clotheslines him in the back of the head for two and nails a great looking dropkick. The fans keep it simple by telling Axel that he sucks.

We hit the chinlock before a running knee to the head gets two more. It’s amazing how much easier Axel matches are to sit through when he doesn’t have all the big expectations behind him. Heyman seems to have caused him more problems than good. Balor fights back up with the Pele and Sling Blade, followed by the top rope double stomp for the pin to advance at 4:55.

Rating: C-. Not much of a match here but Axel is fine for a generic heel. He has the skills to make a match work but all of the expectations put on him due to being associated with Heyman really brought him down. I liked his work in NXT (this one, not the old show) as McGillicutty and now he’s just a more intense version of that character, meaning he’s a lot easier to sit through. That being said, this was just a formality for Balor.

Here are the full tournament brackets.

Finn Balor

Curtis Axel

Adrian Neville

Tyson Kidd

Hideo Itami

Tyler Breeze

Baron Corbin

Bull Dempsey

Sasha Banks says Charlotte has no one to protect her tonight and it’s time to win the title. She doesn’t care if Devin has any more questions.

Bull Dempsey swears revenge next week.

Women’s Title: Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte

They grapple to the mat to start with Charlotte getting the better of it but having to nail Becky in the face. Back in and Charlotte hammers away but Becky comes in for the DQ at 2:15. Not much of a match due to time.

Bayley comes in for the save but eventually picks up the title. Charlotte isn’t cool with that and eats a Belly to Bayley. It doesn’t seem like a heel turn as Bayley almost looks like she regretted it. It worked for Rick Steiner back in 1989 (albeit in a face turn) so why not here? Regal comes out and makes a fourway title match for Takeover.

Kevin Owens doesn’t want to be interviewed and will say whatever he has to say to Sami’s face next week.

Vaudevillains vs. Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake

The Vaudevillains have been doing dinosaur training to make up for their recent losses, which apparently involves the Iron Sheik’s Persian clubs. English misses a forearm to Murphy in the corner to start and eats a running forearm, only to take Buddy into the corner for a beating. Off to Gotch for a suplex for two and English hooks a chinlock. Murphy finally rolls over for the tag to Blake who gets a fast two off a powerslam with Gotch making the save. With the referee getting Gotch out of the ring, Murphy sneaks in a kick to the head, giving Blake the pin at 3:58.

Rating: D+. The match was nothing special but I really like the booking. Murphy and Blake have been around long enough that people are familiar with them and they’ve gotten close enough to picking up wins that this isn’t a huge stretch. It gives the Dragons fresh challengers for the titles and keeps the cycle moving. That’s one of NXT’s strengths and something I really wish WWE would get better at. Keep the future challengers safe instead of squashing them, because you never know when you might need them.

Tyler Breeze is ready to implement his plan to separate the gorgeous ones from the uggos.

Murphy and Blake say that wasn’t an upset and want a title shot next week.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Hideo Itami vs. Tyler Breeze

Marcus Louis is seen looking at Breeze from behind the stage during Tyler’s entrance. Breeze avoids a big kick to start and wags a finger at Itami. Another kick misses and the fans call Breeze a TOTAL DIVA. Breeze suckers Itami in for a kick of his own before running into a knee to the ribs. Back up and Itami gets sent face first into the middle buckle and tossed out to the floor. A dropkick (noticing a theme here?) gets two for Breeze and a neckbreaker gets an even closer near fall as we take a break.

Back with Breeze holding a chinlock but Itami fights up with clotheslines and a tornado DDT necksnap. There’s the top rope clothesline followed by a release fisherman’s suplex for two on Breeze. Back up and Breeze blocks an O’Connor Roll and DRILLS Hideo with the Supermodel Kick for two.

Itami is shaken up in the corner so Breeze crawls onto his back for a kind of snap crucifix for a fall so near that the referee looked like he had to slow down for the kickout. Tyler shouts that this is about him but Itami screams at him. More kicks have Breeze rocked and the running dropkick in the corner sets up a running boot to the face for the pin at 14:24.

Rating: B-. I’m trying really hard to care about Itami and it’s just not quite there. His offense has definitely gotten better but I really have no reason to care about him. There are a lot of guys who kick really hard and Itami hasn’t shown he has much to differentiate himself from the pack. Breeze continues to live way beyond his gimmick and looks more and more comfortable every week.

Overall Rating: C+. This show was much more about moving things forward than the wrestling itself. They’re rushing to the next Takeover with only about six weeks since the least one, but with the main event they have set up, they would be crazy not to go with it right now. The rest of the card could be excellent with the fourway being wide open and the tournament having some potentially awesome finals. Another good show this week but in a different way.

Results

Finn Balor b. Curtis Axel – Top rope double stomp

Charlotte b. Sasha Banks via DQ when Becky Lynch interfered

Wesley Blake/Buddy Murphy b. Vaudevillains – Kick to the head

Hideo Itami b. Tyler Breeze – Running kick to the face

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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NXT
Date: January 14, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Renee Young, Rich Brennan, Alex Riley

It’s the first show on Wednesday nights and we’re starting with a bang as Sami Zayn is giving Adrian Neville his rematch for the NXT Title. Kevin Owens is still lurking around and there’s always a chance he could get involved. We also have the continuing story of crazy Marcus Louis stalking Tyler Breeze. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Tyson Kidd vs. Finn Balor

Balor has the full entrance minus the face paint, which is still awesome. On another note, does Charles Robinson age? He looks identical to how he looked back in 1999. Balor starts with a running dropkick at the bell but misses a top rope stomp. That’s fine with Finn as he takes Tyson into the corner for a running basement dropkick, sending Kidd out to the floor. The Irishman follows but gets speared into the barricade for a loud crash. The fans seemed to like that one and I can’t say I disagree.

Kidd has dedicated this match Charlotte. His cat, not the wrestler. Back in and Kidd shouts at Finn to kill him before we take a break. We come back with Kidd catapulting him face first into the bottom buckle for two before we hit a chinlock. A dropkick in the Tree of Woe gets two for Kidd but Balor nails a Pele Kick to get a breather. I’m glad someone in WWE finally started using that move. A running sleeper drop puts Kidd down so he bails to the floor, only to have Balor nail a great flip dive.

Kidd pops back up with a running chest kick from the apron and the springboard elbow drop for two. They’re just beating the heck out of each other here. The Sharpshooter goes on but Finn finally crawls over to the ropes. A slingshot Fameasser misses Balor so he grabs a reverse Impaler, followed by the top rope double stomp to end Kidd 11:55.

Rating: B+. These guys were beating the tar out of each other and it was awesome. Balor has such a presence to him and is more than ready to be on the main roster. Based on that, I’d be surprised if he makes it there in the next year because WWE won’t bring people up to the main show for reasons I don’t understand. Granted the longer he’s here and doesn’t have to get “fixed” by the writers, the better he’s going to be.

Package on Zayn winning the title at R-Evolution minus the post match beatdown. This is all about Neville vs. Zayn.

Bull Dempsey says he’s just as undefeated as Baron Corbin and tonight will be Corbin’s End of Days. The last thing he’s going to hear is BULL BULL BULL.

Baron Corbin vs. Bull Dempsey

The fans start the counting as they hammer away on each other with Bull going down first. Thankfully the fans give up after about twenty seconds and the fight heads outside. Back in and Bull slams him down but misses his flying headbutt. End of Days is good for the pin at 1:36. This was exactly what it needed to be and Baron looked like a monster.

Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch vs. Natalya/Charlotte

Banks’ theme song is rapidly growing on me. Natalya headlocks Becky to the mat to start before getting two off a rollup. Renee tells us about Natalya and Lynch tagging in Japan about nine years ago as the villains are sent to the floor, setting up stereo baseball slides from Natalya and Charlotte. A double delayed suplex gets two on Becky before Charlotte wheelbarrow slams Natalya on top of her for two.

Banks comes in and gets snapmared down, allowing Natalya to step on the back of her head to drive Sasha’s face into the mat, immediately followed by a low dropkick. Sasha pops back up with two knees to the ribs as things FINALLY slow down a bit. The men on the main show can’t keep up a pace like that most of the time. Off to Charlotte for a neckbreaker for two as everything breaks down. Banks hits a neckbreaker of her own on Charlotte and grabs the tights for the pin at 4:20. Banks: “I WON!!!”

Rating: B-. I really wanted more of this as Charlotte and Natalya were looking like a polished team out there while Lynch and Banks have more than enough attitude to carry themselves. I still want to see more from Lynch as she has a great look and persona, but Banks is getting almost all of the spotlight, which she certainly deserves.

NXT Title: Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville

Sami is defending. They shake hands to start and Sami scores first with an armdrag. The champ hooks a headlock but charges into an armdrag, sending him out to the floor for a second. Back in and Neville sends him into the corner but gets caught in his third headlock in three minutes. Sami leapfrogs over Adrian and avoids a dropkick, sending Neville into his first frustration of the match.

Adrian slaps him in the face and Neville says he’s sorry. Sami says sorry and forearms him in the face, starting the slugout with Neville getting the better of it and sending the champ to the floor. A big dive puts Sami down again as we take a break. Back with Neville hitting a running uppercut in the corner for two and hooking a hurricanrana for an even closer near fall.

Sami grabs the leg to block the Red Arrow but Neville won’t let him hit the Blue Thunder Bomb. The power of OLE lets Sami force him up on the second try but Neville kicks out again. Zayn rolls some Germans but Neville flips out of a chicken wing/half nelson suplex. Neville cartwheels onto Sami’s shoulders and snaps off one of the hardest hurricanranas you’ll ever see for two. The referee has to check if Sami can continue but he shakes his head yes.

Zayn half pops up into a Koji Clutch attempt but Neville rolls away, only to have to bail outside to avoid the Helluva Kick. Sami loads up the diving DDT through the ropes but Neville superkicks him into a state of shock. Back in and Adrian has to bail out of the Red Arrow but avoids another Helluva Kick into a sweet bridging rollup for two. Sami goes into Beast Mode and grabs the exploder suplex followed by the Helluva Kick for the pin at 13:56.

Rating: A. This was a completely different kind of match than the title change. While that one was about the drama and storytelling, this was about two guys beating the living tar out of each other and actually making me believe the title was in jeopardy. Outstanding match here and both guys come out looking awesome.

Sami celebrates but Owens comes in with a pop up powerbomb and puts his boot on Sami’s face. Owens kicks the title over to Zayns’ head to end the show.

Overall Rating: A+. This was as good of an hour of wrestling television as I’ve ever seen. Ignoring a 96 second power brawl (which was entertaining as well), the worst match would have been the best Divas match on the main roster in probably six months. Between Balor and Kidd just beating the heck out of each other and Neville and Zayn beating the heck out of each other even harder, I haven’t had this good of a time watching a show since…..oh I’d say the last big NXT show. Go out of your way to see this episode as they debuted on Wednesday with a major bang.

Results

Finn Balor b. Tyson Kidd – Top rope double stomp

Baron Corbin b. Bull Dempsey – End of Days

Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch b. Natalya/Charlotte – Neckbreaker to Charlotte

Sami Zayn b. Adrian Neville – Helluva Kick

NXT
Date: January 8, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, Alex Riley

One of the many things I like about this show is they set up something for next week almost every time. In this case, we have three things, ranging from Itami vs. Curtis Axel to the Vaudevillains getting their rematch from R-Evolution to the return of Sami Zayn for the first time since he was laid out by Owens. That sounds like a stacked show so let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Here’s the champ to get things going. Sami gets ready to talk but leaves the ring to go be with the crowd and hold up the title. A YOU DESERVE IT chant stops him again before he gets to talk about what this title means. In anyone else’s hands, it means you’re the best. In his hands though, it means you can do it your way and keep doing it how you want because the proof is right here.

He’s going to hate himself for saying this, but this title isn’t his. It belongs to both him and the fans. Everyone here is part of a band called Sami Zayn and the Zaniacs. The fans start the OLE chant and Sami loves that song. Takeover was the best night of his life, but it didn’t end like he wanted it to. Owens cried on his shirt that night and then hurt Sami really bad. He may have hurt Sami, but the champ is right back here, ready to defend the title.

This brings out Adrian Neville who says they tore each other to pieces last time and Zayn was the better man. Neville saw a new Sami and he’s now the champion so congratulations. Sami appreciates it and is pretty sure Neville is entitled to a rematch. This brings out William Regal to congratulate them on having such a great match at R-Evolution. There will indeed be a rematch and it takes place next week on the first Wednesday show.

The Vaudevillains can’t wait to right the wrong from Takeover and prove their manliness.

Hideo Itami vs. Curtis Axel

Axel is trying to be the last real man in wrestling. At this point point there are almost enough of those to make a stable. Itami scores with the early kicks but Axel takes him into the corner and hits a series of clotheslines to the back of the head. A chinlock doesn’t get Curtis anywhere but a knee to the jaw gets two. Axel throws Hideo down and asks who cares about Itami.

Curtis slaps on an armbar out of nowhere (no arm work so far into the match so let’s ignore the neck work and go after the arm) but Hideo fights out and nails a clothesline of his own. Itami loads up a tornado DDT but instead jumps to the apron to snap Axel’s throat across the top rope. The top rope clothesline is good for two but Axel tries the PerfectPlex. That goes nowhere so Itami snapmares him down and hits something like Trouble in Paradise to a kneeling Axel for the pin at 5:45.

Rating: C-. Not bad here and Hideo is starting to round into form as a singles guy. The clotheslines are a nice alternative to the kicks and it really opens up his offense quite a bit. It’s also nice to see him finally have a finisher, even if it’s the same move he does more often than any other. Axel as the new version of Tyson Kidd would be a fine role for him as he’s talented in the ring but needs to reestablish himself after the last few years.

Tyson Kidd is getting ready in the back so Natalya tries to intercept Byron Saxton. A Total Divas interview is cut off by Kidd asking if she’s taken care of the cats. Natalya goes off to feed them so Kidd can talk about how important it is to become NXT Champion. That means he can be the new face of NXT, right before he replaces Sarah McLachlan as the face of the ASPCA. Kidd loves all cats, except Grumpy Cat. Fact.

Video on Bull Dempsey vs. Baron Corbin, based on who can squash jobbers faster. They face off for the first time next week.

Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss

This is due to Banks breaking Bliss’ nose a few weeks back. Alexa grabs a quick sunset flip for two but has her headscissors countered into a faceplant. Banks takes her time trash talking but stops to blast Alexa with right hands to the face. She lays Bliss across the middle rope for a double knee to the ribs, setting up the Bank Statement for the submission at 2:06.

Quick package on Neville vs. Zayn from R-Evolution.

Tyler Breeze vs. Chad Gable

Gable is an Olympic wrestler who has gotten rave reviews so far. Gable easily takes Breeze down to start and rides him with a front facelock. The fans are WAY into Chad to start as Graves won’t confirm or deny that he runs Breeze’s fan club. Breeze fights up and takes him down for a chinlock while throwing in some trash talk to the Uggo. Gable gets to his feet and throws on an armbar over the top rope ala Alberto Del Rio. He breaks at four and Breeze is TICKED, setting up the Beauty Shot for the pin at 2:37. Gable looked good out there in the limited time he had.

Finn Balor is looking forward to facing Tyson Kidd next week, but Kidd is going to need more than nine lives to survive. Fact. Simple, yet effective. Why is that so lost on the main show writers?

We see a still from Breeze’s post match celebration, showing an ominous face peeking out from the curtain to look at him. It’s not clear whose face it is.

Tag Team Titles: Lucha Dragons vs. Vaudevillains

Vaudevillains are challenging again after the Dragons pinned the illegal man at R-Evolution. Kalisto quickly springboards onto Gotch and pounds away with right hands before it’s already off to Cara. Some kind of modified Gory Stretch has Gotch in trouble as Graves says these two might be equally strong. English comes in and says the titles are coming home with them tonight. He school boys Cara through the ropes and out to the floor for a nice move, but Kalisto sends both Vaudevillains to the floor for a big double dive.

We take a break and come back (after an announcement that Daniel Bryan will be in action on the first Thursday Smackdown) with Kalisto trying the big spinning wristlock, only to have English hold the ropes to send the masked man crashing down. Gotch gets two off a big belly to back before a double chop puts Kalisto down again.

English comes back in but gets rolled up for two, only to slap on a chinlock. Back up and Kalisto finally rolls over for the hot tag to Cara. Everything breaks down and Gotch kicks Cara in the head, only to be low bridged out to the floor. In what looked to be a botched finish, Cara lifts English up for a powerbomb and Kalisto adds a spinning clothesline to the back of the head to retain at 11:45.

Rating: C+. The match was fine but the ending really didn’t look good. In theory it was supposed to be a clothesline to the front but it looked awkward instead of devastating. The Dragons need new opponents now, and thankfully NXT actually has some teams they could quickly build up into contenders. I’m not sure where the Vaudevillains go, but a refocus on the comedic stuff could be in order.

Overall Rating: ­C+. Not one of their stronger episodes here but they did a great job of setting up next week to look like something special. Sami’s opening promo was excellent with a ton of emotion and it set up the rematch next week. I really like how NXT is able to wait things out and tease the big stuff, such as Owens showdown with Zayn. Not the match mind you but just those two in the same place at the same time. Instead of hot shotting to that, we’re getting what should be a great match out of the way, instead of just jumping straight to it. WWE could learn from that, but the circumstances are a bit different up top.

Results

Hideo Itami b. Curtis Axel – Spinning kick to the head

Sasha Banks b. Alexa Bliss – Bank Statement

Tyler Breeze b. Chad Gable – Beauty Shot

Lucha Dragons b. Vaudevillains – Powerbomb/top rope clothesline combination to English

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We’ll wrap it up with another few horses race.

To begin with, I have to skip the ROH shows because I didn’t see most of them. I’ve heard they were good to really good, but I haven’t seen them.

We’ll start things off with a show that gets a lot of hate: the Royal Rumble. Unfortunately the only thing people remember about this show is the really questionable ending, along with the crowd’s reaction to it. What they forget is a great opener between Bryan and Wyatt, Brock Lesnar just DESTROYING Big Show and not even going down from the KO Punch and a good Cena vs. Orton match that the fans didn’t want to see.

What people also forget is a good Rumble for about 95% of the match before Mysterio’s music hit. Those last three or so minutes crippled what was going to be a good to very good match with Reigns breaking what was seen as a fairly untouchable record and some other entertaining parts. All people remember about it is no Bryan and Batista winning though and that ruins the memory of an otherwise great show.

Before we head down to developmental, I have to at least mention the post Wrestlemania Raw. It didn’t have the best wrestling, but the moments on that show carried it to greatness. You have the fans singing JOHN CENA SUCKS to the tune of his theme song to get the show going. That alone should tell you that we’re in for something special. Rob Van Dam returned, Rusev had his real debut, Warrior had his incredible farewell promo, Paige debuted and won the title and Shield turned face to end the show. The wrestling wasn’t great, but it was such a fun show that it warrants a mention.

That brings us to NXT, which set one heck of a standard this year with the Takeover shows. We’ll start at the beginning with the beginning at Arrival. This was back when we didn’t know what was coming with these shows and had our minds blown. Cesaro vs. Zayn was a classic and showed what Zayn and this promotion in general were capable of. You couple that with a really good ladder match main event where Adrian Neville took the title from Bo Dallas. This show would be up there for surprise of the year but it’s worth mentioning here too.

Now we get to the big shows, including Takeover: R-Evolution which blew the doors, roof, windows and pretty much everything else off the house. The show went from Kevin Owens being somehow even better than we were expecting to Finn Balor being a freaky dragon thing to Charlotte and Sasha Banks continuing the tradition of great women’s matches on these shows. Somehow that all paled in comparison to the main event though, as Sami Zayn defeated Adrian Neville for the NXT Title in my Match of the Year. Couple all that with the excellent surprise ending of Owens turning on Zayn and you have one of the best shows of the year.

I think the winner should be obvious at this point. When WWE actually puts an effort into the big shows, they know how to hit them out of the park. Well this year, they put a lot of effort into Wrestlemania XXX and the show was one of the best of all time. After an excellent pre-show match for the Tag Team Titles, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and The Rock appeared in the ring at the same time. I remember saying to a fan next to me that I could go home now and get my money’s worth.

This was followed by some excellent music video packages for the major matches, Daniel Bryan having the performance of a lifetime, Cesaro having what should have been a career changing performance, an incredible entrance for Bray Wyatt and the Streak coming to an end. What else could you possibly ask for from a major show? It was outstanding stuff and one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.

This is a short list and that’s kind of a shame.

I’m keeping this one quick because there just aren’t enough options there.

Sami Zayn’s Road to Redemption worked like a charm with the blowoff making it worth the journey. You could argue this story started back when Sami debuted and started his feud with Cesaro. Over the last few months, Sami has gone back and defeated everyone that has given him a loss before finally capping it off with a title win over NXT Champion Adrian Neville. It’s a classic story and the matches working like a charm made it even better. Yet another reason to love NXT.

Shield breaks up, which ties into a bunch of singles feuds. You had the Shield as perhaps the greatest three man combination ever and there was only one way to get out of that: someone had to turn. In this case it seems to have been the best option, as Rollins turned on his brothers and joined the Authority as the new ace heel. He has since become the top heel in the company and looks ready for the heel push towards the stars. It was a shocking moment and kicked off one of the best set of stories all year.

That leaves us with one option and this really shouldn’t surprise anyone paying attention: Daniel Bryan’s Road to Wrestlemania. Bryan going from the tag team guy to the champ to being screwed over to a Wyatt for a little while to being the people’s choice to the WWE World Heavyweight Champion was one heck of a rollercoaster and the blowoff was in the main event of Wrestlemania. I really don’t think I can give it more praise than that and this might be the easiest winner of the awards all year.

NXT
Date: December 25, 2014
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Jason Albert, Rich Brennan, Alex Riley
Hosts: Renee Young, Corey Graves

Back in the 1980s, Fritz Von Erich had a great insight about Christmas: Once you open the presents, what else is there to do? Well apparently we can watch NXT, which is on a roll as of late. The main story coming out of last week was Kevin Owens destroying Adrian Neville just like he did to Sami Zayn the week before. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

And we have an empty arena with only Renee Young and Corey Graves in the ring, meaning we have a Best Of show. There will however be a new match with Charlotte defending the Women’s Title against Sasha Banks in an R-Evolution rematch.

We start by looking at some of the stars who came from NXT up to the main roster, including Paige, Bo Dallas, Lana and Rusev. There’s nothing to say here as they’re just saying the names and showing maybe a ten second clip.

Video on NXT: Arrival. That feels so long ago even though it was only February.

This leads to a package of Adrian Neville going home to Newcastle, England. Wearing glasses, which is an odd look on a wrestler for some reason, he goes to see his mom and talks about soccer for awhile. His original plans were to play soccer for Newcastle United but then he saw something called WWF and things changed. We get some clips of his training and developing the high spots, which we then see in NXT. He even got to wear a Newcastle jersey to his match in the Newcastle arena for a very cool moment.

Tyler Breeze is still off modeling but wants to tell all the Wannabreeze that he’ll be adding gold to his ensemble in 2015.

We see the last six or so minutes of Zayn vs. Neville, plus the entire post match celebration and Owens’ heel turn to end the show.

Curtis Axel comes in to see Regal and thinks he needs to recharge his career. He wants in on this NXT thing but Regal tells him to make an appointment.

Lucha Dragons video. Sin Cara still hates to do the pre-match pose.

Vaudevillains video, of course in black and white.

We get about four minutes of the Lucha Dragons vs. Vaudevillians match from R-Evolution. There will be a rematch due to Kalisto pinning the wrong man.

Next week we’ll have Finn Balor/Hideo Itami vs. Ascension II.

Itami and Balor promise to destroy the Ascension. Itami’s English is improving by leaps and bounds.

We look at some NXT debuts this year, including Baron Corbin, Bull Dempsey, Hideo Itami, Finn Balor and of course Kevin Owens.

Owens says he’s sent the former champion and the new champion to the hospital in the span of seven days. If he’s done that to people he considers friends, what is he going to do to people he doesn’t care about? He’ll fight anyone and everyone until he’s the only one standing. “Why don’t you put that on a t-shirt?”

Time to look at NXT people making splashes on the main roster: Paige, Bo Dallas, Emma, Summer Rae, Adam Rose, Rusev and Lana.

Earlier this week, Bayley was watching the HHH DVD to see how he came back from his knee injury. It motivates her to come back bigger, better and stronger, just like HHH. So she’s gaining 40lbs of unnecessary muscle, slowing down and stopping everything that made her awesome in the first place?

Women’s Title: Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte

Sasha is challenging and this is a rematch from R-Evolution. She has Becky Lynch with her, so Charlotte comes out with her dad, Ric Flair. Ric looks sober tonight so this should be good. He says that he has two Hall of Fame rings (only wearing one here) but his daughter took the torch from him. Two weeks ago Sasha and Charlotte had one of the best matches ever (to Sasha: “Yeah I’m talking about you. You were great.”) and tonight they’re going to do it again.

They slug it out to start with Sasha diving at the champ, only to get caught in something like a spinebuster. Charlotte goes after the knee by wrapping it around the post, only to get pulled face first into the steel. We take a break and come back with Sasha in control and slapping Charlotte on the back. That’s not exactly the best offense. The announcers actually mention the “internet wrestling community” sending HHH a fruit basket as a thank you for R-Evolution. That’s such a cool story.

Banks drives two knees into Charlotte’s ribs and puts on Bankrupt, only to have Charlotte fight to her feet and escape with something like a jawbreaker. She’s really good at using her athleticism to get out of things like that, which really isn’t something most of the other women can do. Charlotte fires off some chops and a neckbreaker but gets caught in a double arm neckbreaker (Regal Cutter) for two more.

The Banks Statement goes on but it’s right next to the ropes. Another thing I like about NXT: heels feel like they could win a big match by submission. That’s what always annoyed me about heel Del Rio: he wasn’t going to make anyone big tap and the armbreaker felt like a waste of time. They fight up top with Banks nailing a nice superplex (Riley: “She’s straight gangsta!”), only to get caught in the Figure Four with the bridge to retain Charlotte’s title at 10:45.

Rating: C+. While it was nowhere near as good as the R-Evolution match, it was still another solid effort from the NXT girls. Banks is impressing me in the ring for the first time as she’s very feisty in there. She has the attitude down and the matches are getting better every week. I still think Lynch is the star of the team, but Banks is nailing it in NXT.

Overall Rating: C+. These are always hard to grade so I’ll just go with the same rating I gave the match. I really liked the Neville video as it’s the kind of personalized profile that you just do not get in WWE anymore. I would have liked to see more Sami here as he only won the title at the end of the year but he was still a huge part of NXT all year. The attention to detail in this promotion blows away everything else and it’s my favorite wrestling show to watch every week. If next year is as good as this one was, everything will be fine.

Results

Charlotte b. Sasha Banks – Figure Four

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Here’s another major award with some last minute entrants.

We’ll start with the frontrunner for most of the year, mainly due to its build up: the Wyatt Family vs. the Shield at Elimination Chamber. These two teams had looked dominant for months coming up to the match and they finally stared each other down. It’s one of those moments where you just knew it was going to be great and then they blew the doors off the place at Elimination Chamber.

Daniel Bryan vs. HHH from Wrestlemania is way up there and the ending was perfect with HHH getting to chuckle at all the fans (myself partially included) who thought he would put himself into the title match. This isn’t something that’s going to hold up though, as it’s good but the show’s booking hurts it a bit. At the end of the day, there was no way Bryan wasn’t winning here, which brings things down. It’s still great, but I can’t say it’s the best match of the year.

We even get a TNA entry with the ladder match in the Tag Team Title series. I know Full Metal Mayhem gets the attention because it was the final match, but the ladder match was just a hair better. This was back to the TLC formula of take six guys and let them break a lot of stuff, including their bodies. It’s a total stunt show and that makes for some very entertaining matches.

I know this one wasn’t universally popular, but I have to mention WeeLC from Extreme Rules. When WWE does comedy well, it can be some of the funniest stuff you get. They NAILED this one and made what could have been the worst idea in history into something hilarious that was a highlight of the night. This isn’t really a serious contender but man alive it was funny.

Back to the first major show of the year with Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt. Here we have two guys just beating the tar out of each other for over twenty minutes in an outstanding opener. Wyatt beat Bryan, but it’s a match where the winner really doesn’t matter. Bray has so much potential, and the fact that he can back it up in the ring is a very important point.

I can’t go with Team Authority vs. Team Cena as a nominee but I’ll throw it in as an honorable mention. The last ten minutes actually had my heart beating fast and not being sure of what should have been a sure thing. Throw in Cena going out halfway through the match and it gets even better. Great match, including STING, but I’m not sure if it’s one of the best of the year.

What I am sure of though is how amazing Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro from NXT: Arrival was. These guys just know how to make things work with Sami as the ultimate underdog and Cesaro being able to do insane power moves that just blow your mind. It’s a hair beneath the 2/3 falls classic, but they got in most of the same spots and Cesaro going into Beast Mode at the end. He doesn’t go there often, but when he goes to that place, I see the superhero that people say is inside him.

It’s been too long since we’ve had a Shield match and HHH might bury me if I don’t mention him, so I’ll throw in Shield vs. Evolution in the elimination tag at Payback. They let the match go for a long time until we finally got to an elimination so the pin was a surprise. This was the old standard of let six guys beat the tar out of each other for half an hour with the young guys hitting one high spot after another and making the big comeback because the fans actually want to see them do it. In other words, they built up the drama and paid it off at the end. Wrestling 101 still works if you can believe that.

Now we’ll go to the other end of the spectrum with Bully Ray/Rockstar Spud vs. Austin Aries/Bobby Roode from One Night Only: Jokers Wild II. In short, this is the funniest match I’ve ever seen and you should watch it yourself. The key here: you can tell the guys in the match came up with the comedy themselves. Instead of inserting them into “funny” situations, the comedy flows naturally because it’s stuff that these people would logically do that is still funny. Over in WWE you see people doing things that are only being done because a script tells them to do it.

That brings us to the winner, which was the only match all year that I had to see. The build was perfect, the go home promo was perfect, the match was perfect, the execution was perfect, the aftermath was perfect, yet for some reason I only gave it an A. The match is of course Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville for the NXT Title at Takeover: R-Evolution. It’s a strong contender for Show of the Year and it was capped off by the Match of the Year.

This is a big one.

2014 had some VERY big moments with things that I never thought I’d see in wrestling. This might be the toughest of these all year so let’s start with some nominees in no order.

We’ll start with the most recent: the ending of Takeover: R-Evolution. Sami Zayn FINALLY wins the NXT Title and has a ten minute celebration to end the show. Adrian Neville thankfully did not turn heel and the locker room came out to celebrate with the new champion. Even Kevin Owens, Sami’s longtime friend who followed him to NXT was there to celebrate. Owens put his arm around Sami to end the show…..and then leveled him with a clothesline and powerbombed him onto the apron. The moment when Sami comes back for revenge is going to be amazing.

The Ultimate Warrior’s farewell speech. I was lucky enough to be in the arena for this and it was one of the eeriest feelings I’ve ever experienced when I found out he died about 15 hours later. It was as perfect of a farewell speech as I’ve ever heard and got the reaction that the Warrior deserved. Yeah the guy was nuts but he’s a legend of wrestling and deserves to be honored as such.

From the same night, we have the Shield turning face. This was similar to the night Ric Flair returned to Nitro back in September of 1998. Everyone knew it was coming but they let it build and build with the fans chanting HOUNDS OF JUSTICE. The music finally hit and you could feel it. The trio hit the ring and stared down the Authority with HHH trying to calm things down. He turned around for a spear from Reigns and the war was on. Shield knocked them to the floor and Ambrose and Rollins nailed perfect suicide dives to take down Orton and Batista. Bryan kneed HHH to end the show as he finally had some muscle to back him up.

We’ll jump forward to Summerslam with Brock Lesnar just mauling John Cena. I know most people were expecting Lesnar to take the title but dear goodness this was glorious. It was total destruction with Cena only getting in some token offense. I don’t impress easily, but that first F5 had me losing my mind and shouting NO WAY at the screen. If they had Lesnar beat him in 30 seconds it might have been the most amazing moment ever. As it was it’s just up for moment of the year.

Back to the beginning of the year for the Royal Rumble crowd. Just…..my goodness. If there has ever been a crowd like this, I’ve yet to see it. They absolutely rebelled against the show and were not interested in what was being presented to them. What people tend to forget is that the show really wasn’t that bad.

Actually it’s a very solid show from top to bottom with a match of the year candidate for Bryan vs. Wyatt, Brock just beating the tar out of Big Show and barely selling the KO Punch, Cena and Orton having a totally watchable match (try watching it with the sound off and see how much better you find it) that calmed the fans down after about five minutes, and a very good Rumble…..until the last buzzer sounded.

I’ve been watching wrestling for a very long time. I’ve seen a lot of matches and shows and I’ve heard a lot of interesting reactions. However, I have never, in my entire time watching wrestling, seen a crowd completely turn on a show like they did when Rey Mysterio’s music hit at #30. Keep that in mind: this was REY MYSTERIO at #30. It’s not like the music hit and “We’re a 3 Man BAND!!!” came on. Rey Mysterio is one of the most popular and successful wrestlers in the history of WWE and should walk into the Hall of Fame with ease.

However, he just was not who the people wanted that night. The fans wanted to see Daniel Bryan come out and…..that’s it. See, that’s the interesting part to this show: I don’t think the fans needed to see Bryan win the Rumble as long as he was in the match in some fashion. It’s a fascinating show and really worth a watch if you can somehow ignore the crowd. That’s very hard to do though, as the crowd rose up and said “This is not what we want.” in as loud and clear of a voice as I’ve ever heard in wrestling.

That brings us to our next moment: Daniel Bryan making Batista tap out to win the WWE World Heavyweight Title in the main event of Wrestlemania XXX. That whole night was a roller coaster with Bryan beating HHH in a great match to open the show, having his arm banged up again, still coming out for the triple threat, and fighting off both guys plus the Authority and getting off a stretcher to come back and win. If there has ever been a bigger one night push for someone, I’ve never seen it.

We’ll jump forward towards the end of the year now with one of the few things that I kept saying I wouldn’t believe until I saw it: Sting debuted in the WWE. I mean…..IT’S STING IN WWE! The Authority had Team Cena dead to rites and we heard the crow. Everyone knew who it was but actually seeing him walk down that aisle and laying out HHH to give Ziggler the pin (over Rollins, who had been out cold for about eight minutes after a single Zig Zag) didn’t feel real. It was an amazing debut and worth the nearly fifteen year wait.

Back to Wrestlemania for the final two options. First up is the opening of the show, with Steve Austin, the Rock and Hulk Hogan in the same ring at the same time. I really don’t think you need any further explanation than that.

And then Brock Lesnar hit his third F5 and conquered the Streak. I mean….Brock Lesnar just conquered the Streak. I have to go with this as the winner because of something I saw for myself in the Superdome that night. The three count went down (with a 21-1 graphic flashing on the screen at the two count) and the place went silent before everyone started screaming. I sat there in my chair and couldn’t stand up or speak. I looked around and saw grown men crying their eyes out and running out of the building, not even coming back later in the show. There was so much emotion from that loss that adult men were leaving Wrestlemania and not coming back. Think about that one for a second and let it sink in.

I didn’t realize how many major moments there were in 2014 but at the end of the day, the Streak coming to an end just is not going to be topped.