offical wwe thread

[Arcademan]

WWE Roadblock PPV Results: 12-18-16

(4) RICH SWANN vs. T.J. PERKINS vs. BRIAN KENDRICK Cruiserweight Title shot

Austin Aries joined the announce team. Kendrick was knocked to ringside early with a potential injury so Swann and Perkins battled. He re-entered, but they knocked him out again. Perkins applied a knee-bar. Swann crawled over to the bottom rope. Perkins didn't have to break because it is no DQ rules in a Triple Threat match (which is stupid). Perkins broke anyway (which made him look stupid). Swann began to fight back with punches. Kendrick returned. Perkins and Swann double superkicked Kendrick. Swann then superkicked Perkins to get the anti-climactic win. Swann then broke into his smile.

WINNER: Swann to retain the Cruiserweight Title.

That cartoonish overbearing wide-mouthed smile Swann breaks into feels forced and phony at this point. Show a wider range of genuine emotions instead of seeming like he's just there to pose for a poster with his signature facial expression all the time. The match, like most Cruiserweight Division matches in WWE, was watchable but not as good as it needs to be.

-Afterward, Neville's ring entrance aired. The announcers talked about Swann and Neville being friends. Neville then attacked Swann. Perkins made the save. Neville knocked him out of the ring. Graves said he loves this side of Neville. Cole wondered why he was doing that. He attacked Swann at ringside, throwing him hard into the barricade. Fans chanted Thank you, Neville. A portion of the crowd is not enamored with the top two babyface personalties in the Cruiserweight Division. Neville made heelish facial expressions reminiscent of a vintage heel Triple H.

The Cruiserweight Division is the right place for Neville. Being a heel is the right for Neville, who is so vanilla as a babyface. This can ignite the division with a star athlete who can raise the level of in-ring work. He immediately leapfrogs Kendrick as a centerpiece heel who very likely will end Swann's reign.

 

[Arcademan]

WWE Roadblock PPV Results: 12-18-16

(5) SASHA BANKS vs. CHARLOTTE Women's Title 30 minute Iron Man Match

The challenge for wrestlers in this match is pro wrestling shifts from Overtime in an NHL game type of stakes to Inning one in a baseball game type of stakes. The edge is taking off near falls because they're just a point scored, not a finish. The announcers called the first ten minutes like it was a golf tournament in the early holes. The crowd treated it like a tennis match. A few oohs and ahh and some applause after allies, but no sense of anything really being at stake.

Ten minutes in, they cut to a guy in the crowd making a cartoonish shocked face. It showed up on the big screen and the crowd laughed. It totally took away from the match and shows that they're just encouraging fans to become clowns to try to get their two seconds of fame.

Charlotte kicked Sasha off the ring apron and Sasha went head-first into the ringside steps. At 18:00 Banks kicked out of a Natural Selection. She set up a moonsault, but Sasha stood and knocked he off balance. Charlotte finally scored the first fall with 10:42 left after she gave her a Natural Selection by leaping off the top rope for extra impact.

FALL: Charlotte scored first pin to go up 1-0.

Charlotte went for a second pin right away, but Sasha kicked out. Charlotte began trash-talking and slapping Sasha, giving off a sense of feeling better about herself and her position in the fight. Out of nowhere, Sasha surprise Charlotte with a small package for a pin to even the score.

FALL: Sasha scored a pin to even the score 1-1.

Charlotte went right back on offense. Sasha avoided a moonsault and applied a Bank Statement mid-ring. Charlotte reached for the bottom rope, but Sasha rolled her back to the middle. Charlotte tapped out.

FALL: Sasha submitted Charlotte to take the lead 2-1.

Charlotte turned it up and went after Sasha's leg aggressively. She went for a figure-eight, but Sasha fought out of it. Charlotte wrapped Sasha's leg around the ringpost with four minutes left. Charlotte applied the figure-four. Sasha reversed it. Charlotte un-reversed it. Sasha cried out in agony as she looked up at the clock with 35 seconds left. She again reached for the bottom rope. When Charlotte bridged to turn it into a Figure Eight, the crowd counted down 5-4-3 at which point Sasha tapped out.

FALL: Charlotte submitted Sasha to even the score 2-2.

The announcers acted like this had never happened before and referee Chad Patton had a big decision to make in terms of how to handle this. The ref explained to the announcers that they'll head to overtime, first fall wins. Cole said normally in a draw, the champion retains. The ref checked on Sasha's leg to be sure she was capable of continuing. Eventually the ref called for the bell. Charlotte went right after Banks, but Banks cradled Charlotte for a leverage near fall. Sasha scored another near fall with a small package a minute later. No countdown clock, so this was essentially a regular match now. Or as Cole called it, sudden death overtime.

Sasha gave Charlotte a backbreaker, but clutched her knee afterward in pain. She had a bloodied nose at this point. She moved in and applied the Bank Statement mid-ring. Charlotte grabbed Bank's bad leg and tried to torque it. She shifted into a figure-four. Charlotte began to bridge as Sasha nearly reached the bottom rope. Charlotte then bridged. Banks tapped. They immediately cut to a sad girl in the crowd.

WINNER: Charlotte to retain the WWE Women's Championship. (***1/4)

Good match, for sure, but not without some issues. The Iron Man stip worked against it for the first 20 minutes or so. The overtime was well played and the recall of how important the bridging by Charlotte was right before regulation added drama to the actual finish in overtime.

 

[Arcademan]

WWE Roadblock PPV Results: 12-18-16

(6) KEVIN OWENS vs. ROMAN REIGNS WWE Universal Title match

Reigns came out to massive boos, according to in-arena accounts, but his music was really loud and the TV sound was turned down. He mouthed off to fans heckling him as he entered the ring. Owens bailed out as soon as the bell rang. He did it a second time, so Reigns pursued him. Owens took over a few minutes later at ringside, landing a senton off the steps on Reigns lying on the mat at ringside. He scored a two count after rolling Reigns into the ring. Owens settled into his Obligatory Mid-Match Chinlock. He landed a neckbreaker and then a flip splash for a two count afterward. Owens settled back into another chinlock, then entertained fans with some trash-talking of Reigns, saying he'll stay there all night.

Reigns sowed signs of life with a flying clothesline. He hulked up a bit and threw a series of forearms at Owens in the corner. Owens staggered, but caught a charging Reigns with a forearm. Reigns nailed him with a forearm. Owens blocked a Samoan Drop and landed a German suplex. Reigns hit a Samoan Drop. Reigns went for a Samoan Drop. Owens countered into a DDT for a near fall. Owens mocked Reigns and then landed a cannonball for a two count. A Ro man sucks! chant broke out to the beat of New Day Sucks! Reigns set Owens on the top rope and breathed deeply and then went for a superplex. Owens resisted and punched Reigns in the ribs. He elbowed Reigns on the head to knocked him down. Reigns then hit Owens with a Superman Punch. Boos and silence. Owens then gave Reigns a cradle suplex off the top rope for a near fall. Zero pop and I mean zero for the big babyface kick out. Did Vince go deaf years ago and it's been kept secret from everyone?

Owens then landed a top rope cannonball right onto Reigns's lifted knees. Owens cried out in pain. Reigns set up the spear. The crowd erupted into boos. Owens rolled to the floor. Reigns gave Owens a Drive-by. Owens rolled into and right out of the ring. He avoided another Drive-by, then superkicked Reigns. Owens kicked Reigns onto the announce desk. Owens then leaped off of the barricade with a frog splash. The table didn't give. Owens went for it again. This time the table collapsed flat. They cut to a girl jumping up and down and holding her hands to her face like she was in a Home Alone sequel. Owens entered the ring. The ref reached nine before Reigns leaped dramatically into the ring to beat the count at the last possible split-second. Owens landed a frog splash. Reigns kicked out. No pop.

Reigns caught Owens mid-air and powerbombed him for a near fall. Both were slow to get up. Owens hit a Pop-up Powerbomb a minute later but Reigns put his leg over the bottom rope. Owens went to grab his title belt. The ref admonished him. Owens swung it. Reigns speared Owens and the belt fell to the mat. Chris Jericho then ran to the ring. He slid into the ring and assessed the situation. He looked down at Reigns, then turned to Owens and gave Owens a Code Breaker. The ref DQ'd Reigns. Cole gullibly exclaimed, So much for the friendship.

WINNER: Reigns via DQ. (**3/4)

-Jericho threw the belt at Owens, smiled, and raised his arms. Graves said, They fooled us all. They laughed and hugged as Reigns fumed at ringside.

It's tough to give a good review to a match where the crowd reacted the opposite of all TV time invested in both characters and the intent of the promoter, but fundamentally they told a good story and executed the match well if the babyface was actually, you know, liked by the fans.

-As Owens and Jericho were leaving together, Seth Rollins walked out. Reigns speared Owens. Jericho ran into the ring. Seth met him there and gave him a Pedigree. No pop. Boy, Seth was a lot more popular back in May before WWE storytelling damaged him and ruined his character. Seth tore the announce table apart. Reigns said, Time to break furniture. Reigns then powerbombed Jericho onto the table. Cole declared, Shield style! Seth yelled, That's how we do it! It's too late. The Shield nostalgia is not greater than the resentment of Reigns. Owens limped toward the back, but Seth caught up with him. Reigns and Seth powerbombed Owens off the stage and onto the Raw announce desk. Reigns's music played as Seth and Roman looked down at Owens.

 

[JoeAwesome]

I'll post my pics from this weekend's local event. In the mean time, here's a clip (not mine) of a botch of a reverse frankensteiner that looked worse from the other sides of the ring:

https://twitter.com/SigEp_Caveman86/status/810511550398218240

 

[famicommander]

Wrestle Kingdom 11 main card

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Kenny Omega

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

NEVER Openweight Championship: Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs Hirooki Goto

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Gorillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) (c) vs Great Bash Heel (Tomoaki Honma and Toki Makabe)

IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks/Bullet Club (c) vs Roppongi Vice/Chaos (Trent Baretta and Rocky Romero)

IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship: Kushida (c) vs Hiromu Takahashi

ROH World Championship: Kyle O'Reilly (c) vs Adam Cole

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet: Ricochet, David Finlay, and Satoshi Kojima (c) vs Chaos (Will Ospreay, Yoshi Hashi, Tomohiro Ishii) vs Bullet Club (Adam Page, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Evil, and Sanada)

Cody Rhodes vs Juice Robinson

And the pre-show has the traditional NJPW Rumble and some weird promotional match where Tiger Mask wrestles an anime character

a few changes

The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship will now be
The Gorillas of Destiny/Bullet Club(c) (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) vs Great Bash Heel (Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe) vs Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano)

Which means Jado replaces Ishii on the Chaos team in the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship gauntlet match

Everything else will be the same, more or less

there's a ton of Chaos vs Bullet Club, and every match on the card features at least one member of Chaos, Bullet Club, or Los Ingobernables de Japon except the Tiger Mask anime match

 

[famicommander]

Women's Revolution™

 

[FilthyRear]

Do you think Vince will finally step away no that his wife is on the presidential administration?

 

[famicommander]

Vince isn't going anywhere until he dies, gets some major criminal activity exposed, or fails to deliver a profit to the shareholders.

 

[JoeAwesome]

Vince isn't going anywhere until he dies, gets some major criminal activity exposed, or fails to deliver a profit to the shareholders.

My money's on death.

 

[famicommander]

 

[norton9478]

Vince isn't going anywhere until he dies, gets some major criminal activity exposed, or fails to deliver a profit to the shareholders.

IIRC, the company is setup in such a way that the shareholders could not oust vince.

 

[JoeAwesome]

Here's some of my photos I took at Wrestling Circus on Saturday (lots of them, but mostly resized):

Spoiler:

ACH vs. Chris Hero

ECIII making fun of Pentagon Jr.

Pentagon Jr. mid chop with ECIII

Michael Elgin picking up Jeff Cobb for a 30 count

NSFW Jade shoving Joey Ryan's lollipop up his ass

Spoiler:

Hangman Page walking the ropes against Lance Hoyt

Tessa Blanchard vs. Donovan Dijak

War Machine vs. Trent and Dustin

and lastly, me and Rachael Ellering

 

[Syn]

Here's some of my photos I took at Wrestling Circus on Saturday (lots of them, but mostly resized):

Spoiler:

ACH vs. Chris Hero

ECIII making fun of Pentagon Jr.

Pentagon Jr. mid chop with ECIII

Michael Elgin picking up Jeff Cobb for a 30 count

NSFW Jade shoving Joey Ryan's lollipop up his ass

Spoiler:

Hangman Page walking the ropes against Lance Hoyt
View attachment 41535
Tessa Blanchard vs. Donovan Dijak

War Machine vs. Trent and Dustin

and lastly, me and Rachael Ellering

Thanks for sharing! I haven't been to a local show in a few years, i need to attend one soon.

 

[JoeAwesome]

You're welcome! I may not make it a huge thing to go to every local show, but when there's a decent card, I'll go. I ended up home at around 2:30am because "local" is still a 90 mile drive, and this show didn't let out until around midnight.

Here's the next event from these same people:

 

[andsuchisdeath]

^ Lemme tell you somethin' marks.

I got to know Delilah Doom back in the day.

 

[Hot Chocolate]

Women's Revolution™

There's always fun in a revolution

 

[famicommander]

Doing the sloppiest and worst backspin I have ever seen is fun?

 

[herb]

Doing the sloppiest and worst backspin I have ever seen is fun?

The finish to that match was just as bad.

 

[JoeAwesome]

^ Lemme tell you somethin' marks.

I got to know Delilah Doom back in the day.

Wikia says her theme is "Let's Go to the Mall" by Robin Sparkles. I've never heard of her, but she's already good in my book. What's the story?

 

[Hot Chocolate]

Doing the sloppiest and worst backspin I have ever seen is fun?

It was more fun to watch then Maria vs Allie

 

[famicommander]

It was more fun to watch then Maria vs Allie

How about Taeler Hendrix vs Mandy Leon?

as far as women's wrestling

LU > SHIMMER > Shine > Women of Honor > Knockouts > NXT > Smackdown > Raw

 

[andsuchisdeath]

I've never heard of her, but she's already good in my book. What's the story?

Not breaking kayfabe, brother.

 

[famicommander]

-Jay Lethal has re-signed with Ring of Honor. He had an offer from WWE but the money wasn't there.
-Adam Cole is said to be leaning towards going to WWE when his ROH deal is up in April, though nothing is set in stone yet
-Anthem is about to officially announce the terms of their acquisition of TNA, which should in theory remove Dixie Carter from power entirely
-TNA is "definitely" moving forward with its plans to go back to running house shows in 2017
-Drew Galloway's TNA contract expires soon and he is expected to be offered deals with TNA, ROH, and WWE among others. He has talked of wanting to stay in TNA but again, not set in stone.

 

[famicommander]

-The contract Jay Lethal signed to stay with ROH was for two years
-War Machine (Hanson and Ray Rowe), BJ Whitmer, Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly all have expiring contracts and as of now, none have re-signed yet
-Cole is signed through April, the rest are up at the end of this month
-Fish and O'Reilly are both being advertised for shows in mid January so even if they haven't re-signed, it doesn't look like they're leaving right away
-BJ Whitmer is said to be in contention to replace Steve Corino as a commentator, but WWE is also interested in him as a trainer
-Speaking of Corino, it appears that he's still going to work Wrestle Kingdom 11 with Kevin Kelly but that will likely be his last appearance before going to WWE
-Kurt Angle has been telling indie promoters he can't take more bookings because he's heading back to WWE for Wrestlemania season
-Jeff Jarrett is still having talks with Anthem/TNA but they haven't said what about. He's also still in LA trying to pitch a GFW TV show.

EDIT:
Also, I just realized who the two guys wrestling in the Tiger Mask match are

It's Tiger Mask W (Kota Ibushi) vs Tiger the Dark (ACH)

That should be pretty fucking ace

 

[famicommander]

Christopher Daniels has re-signed with Ring of Honor