Royal Rumble 2015 Review

First off, I know there’s a lot of internet fans hurt over the booking of the Royal Rumble. This review isn’t just going to be me ranting at WWE in 1000 words. I aim to take a slightly alternative view on the controversial event.

Let’s start at the very beginning, the pre-show. The pre-show match was changed from the originally planned six-man to another tag match (making it four tag matches in a row). WWE got their first warning they got a smarky crowd with Cesaro getting big chants and the New Day getting heat. At this point WWE should have gone, ‘have we booked this Rumble correctly?’ Anyway, we’ll get to that later. We get a good tag match, helped by a lively crowd and some awesome faux-Bullet Club T-shirts. You can’t go wrong with Cesaro and Kidd, they make a great team. Adam Rose makes the distraction (who is at ringside, someone forgot tell him it wasn’t a six-man tag anymore) which leads to the finish where Kidd and Cesaro pick up the win.

The main show opens with the New Age Outlaws hyping up the Philly crowd (as if they need to). The Ascension then make their way out.  On a side note, I’m glad the camera angles stayed the same from WWE to NXT, Ascension make a cool entrance. This does what it needs to do, Dogg and Gunn do their old moves but Ascension win and look strong. All okay but why the hell did they have to look weak on Raw? Surely that could have been done with the Ascension beating some jobbers then the legends berating them on the mic?

What’s next? Another tag match. Yay! The Uso’s put the titles on the line against Miz and the stupidly, but rightfully over Mizdow. Miz refuses to tag out to his stunt double and looks good against both Uso’s. The match is booked well as the dissention continues to brew between the two Miz’s but the match being relatively even. Uso’s go for dives but one of them lands on his head trying to do a sention. I’ve never liked the Uso’s suicide dives, they look like backyard kids trying something they saw on TV, just sloppy. In the end the Uso’s retain and Miz blames Mizdow for the loss. I like the Miz, I have always liked him. He’s always great at getting heat and can put on a good match between the ropes. The eventual feud between the A-Lister and his stunt double should be fun. I just wonder what happens to Damien after that?

And now, for the fourth time tonight, a tag team match. I have no problem with this, it does fit more people onto the card. This time it was Divas action, as the Bella twins took on Paige and Nattie. It was a good little tag match. Strangely the referee was pretty noticeable here. It’s an odd thing to say but a good referee is one you don’t notice. Here, he repeatedly kept bothering Paige to stand in her corner. Paige and Nattie controlled the match at first until the Bella’s isolated Nattie. Nattie then went to make the hot tag but Paige was pulled off the apron and the Bella’s won with a punch. Yes, the Bella’s won with a forearm strike. What is she the female Big Show? Really, Nattie and Paige should have won leading to Nikki v Nattie, Nikki v Paige then either a triple threat or a four way. Easy booking but who knows, maybe in some sort of way this will still happen.

Onto the big title bout. And it was epic. Totally worth going out of your way to watch. Right away Brock goes into rampage mode. Rollins plays the sneaky heel exiting to the outside, allowing Cena to take suplex after suplex. Rollins gets involved, takes some suplexes then hits his first cool spot of the night,a springboard knee to Lesnar’s head. Later, Lesnar catches a springboarding Rollins onto his shoulders for the F5, great spot.  J & J Security get involved, they do the Shield triple Powerbomb on Cena but he soon gets revenge hitting a double AA on both Mercury and Noble which they sell for the rest of the bout. The action spills to the outside where Cena tackles Brock through the timekeeper’s wall. Brock soon finds himself on the announce table but where’s Seth? Oww, he’s just about to steal the show. He hits an insane diving elbow from the top rope through the Spanish announce table. Brock stays down and medics come out.

 

Keeping Brock out allows Cena and Seth to go at it. It’s a little bit over the top as they kick out of each other’s finishers but it’s keeping me on the edge of my seat as I think Seth is about to win the title. Mr. Money in the Bank climbs the top rope and I’m thinking he’s going for a moonsault, instead he busts out the Phoenix Splash, madness. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a corkscrew 450 and it’s insane. Especially the height he got on it. Someone needs to check he hasn’t got rabbit legs. Lesnar then enters but Seth hits him twice with the briefcase. He goes for the Curb Stomp on the case but Lensar scoops him up and hits the F5 for the win. What a match. And best of all of three men are booked looking strong. Cena gets his whole hero role and was never pinned, so stays Strong. Rollins steals the show with that performance and guarantees his role as the future of WWE. They would be mad to misuse him now but then again, they’ve done stranger things. And Lesnar looks unstoppable heading into 'Mania.

 

 

How do you follow that? Well, it’s the Royal Rumble match, that can’t let us down right? So the first two out are The Miz and R-Truth. Never mind, I’m let down already. The early highlight was Bubba Ray Dudley who does his Dudley Boy move-set with R-Truth because D-Von isn’t here. Slightly racist booking by WWE, don’t ya think? Bray Wyatt comes in and goes on an absolute tear, evening cutting a promo waiting for people to come out. Would have made more sense if he was entrant one or two. There’s a cool moment where Wyatt, Harper and Rowan face-off. It looks like Harper and Rowan will team up, then Harper turns on sheep-face, then Wyatt eliminates both. But Rowan took Curtis Axel’s spot which would make sense but Cole kept putting over that Rowan isn’t in the rumble, that means Axel’s still in right? Wrong, apparently we are meant forget about this. Rusev then comes in and teams with Wyatt throughout the Rumble becoming the best thing in the Rumble. Although, I did see Wyatt hit Rusev once, why I don’t know. Maybe he said something about his Sister Abigale.

Kofi does his Rumble spot but it’s really tame compared to his usual madness. He gets thrown over the top rope onto the Rosebuds. They catch him and carry him around the ring, that’s it. Miz and Mizdow have an altercation, Miz wants his stunt double’s spot but gets knocked out before entering, allowing Mizdow to enter. He hits a few moves then like most of the competitors gets eliminated needlessly early, a list that includes fan favourite Daniel Bryan. Fans get pissed and boo the majority of the competitors in the match. Next up they try and break Santino’s record of one second with Titus O’Neil but he botches falling over the top rope, lame. The Big Show and Kane begin to look strong but the commentators ruin the rest of the rumble with their constant spouting of statistics. I don’t care, commentate on the match, tell me after the match has finished. Ziggler is the final man, that must mean something right? Nope, he gets the Knockout Punch from Show and gets hoisted out by Kane and Show.

We’re down to the final four: Kane, Show, Reigns and Ambrose. Ambrose soon goes out because WWE doesn’t care about what the fans want. Instead we get Kane and Show versus Reigns and we all know how this is going to end. Show tries to turn on Kane and they argue. Why do WWE think we are interested in Kane and Show? Kane and Show re-enter and attack Reigns until The Rock shows up. He’s clearly there because they’ve failed at building up Reigns successfully. It doesn’t help, after he deals with Kane and Show, the fans still boo Reigns. The match isn’t over because Rusev was never eliminated (neither was Curtis Axel but whatever), Reigns spears him and dumps him over the top to win. Cue more boo’s.

Many people think the problem is Reigns. They feel that this push has come too early. For me that’s not the problem. The problem isn’t Reigns, it is the booking. If booked correctly Reigns could have won the Rumble and be cheered. Instead WWE booked Reigns as if he was Cena which was the exact opposite of how they should have booked him in Philly. It wasn’t just Reigns booked badly, it was the entire Rumble match. All of the booking went to hell: Why was there so many jobbers (Ryder, Sin Cara, Fandango etc), where was the NXT star (Neville or Zayn would have gone down huge) or big returning name (Orton or Sheamus) and where was the plucky early entrant who constantly avoids elimination?

 

It’s going to be interesting what happens next leading to Mania. WWE are going to have to work hard to get the fans believing in Reigns. You would have thought they would have learnt from their Batista mistake last year. They certainly aren’t going to turn him heel after all the effort they’ve put into him. Brock v Reigns should be a massive fight, Reigns being built up as the only man who can match Lesnar’s power and de-throne the Beast. Instead, if WWE continues like this, the rest of the card may push the title fight out of the main event spot. Especially with the card including Rusev v Cena, Sting in some match and Rollins, Bryan and Ambrose all in other matches.

What are your thoughts on the Rumble? Was Reigns winning the right call? How would you have booked the bout? Let me know @marcusandberg

 

Royal Rumble 2015 Predictions

It’s that time of year again, the ultimate opportunity. 30 men go in (apart from 2011) but only one will leave (apart from in 1994) with a guaranteed WWE World title shot. Here are 5 possible winners, some more probable than others:

 

1) Daniel Bryan – You got to admit from a storyline point of view, this makes perfect sense. The underdog overcomes the Authority wins the belt, gets injured, recovers, wins the Rumble and goes onto reclaim the title he never lost (and it makes up for the awful decision to have Batista win the Rumble last year, while the crowd chanted for Bryan who wasn’t even in the match!). I admit, it does sound good until you realise that it will be the same story as last year: Bryan versus the Authority. But the situation has changed. Batista is gone, Orton is seemingly not with the Authority and they wouldn’t put him against Triple H again. Which would suggest a bout against Seth Rollins. If that is the case, sign me up right away and give me a magic remote, so that I can travel forward to ‘Mania early.

 

2) Roman Reigns – Ever since his epic performance last year this guy has been favourite to win this year’s Rumble. The company seems to invest a lot in this guy and see him as their big name going forward. Is this his year? Yes, most likely. Despite Bryan’s comeback throwing a spanner into the works, Reigns is still the favourite to win. They got to be careful how they do it, push him too hard or have him eliminate someone like Bryan would be disastrous for his push. He doesn’t need another elimination frenzy like last year, just a clean performance to set up a most likely clash with Lesnar at ‘Mania. He is the favourite but are WWE really that predictable? Is Roman just a big red herring?

3) Dolph Ziggler – Hey, stranger things have happened. I know he’s currently fired and WWE seemingly doesn’t see him as a main event star but this could be a great opportunity for the “Showoff” to… well… show-off. He’s currently ‘fired’ at the moment which would make a great surprise at the Rumble and his win would really irk the Authority and allow him to fight to get his and his friends jobs back. The real question is whether WWE would really put Ziggler in a ‘Mania main event. You would think not but just look back to Survivor Series, I bet no-one predicted that either.

 

4) Randy Orton – It’s a given that he is going to make an appearance at the Rumble, it is just a question of ‘to do what?’ Will he interfere in the World title match? He’s got unfinished business with Seth Rollins. Could he cost him the win? It would be a bad move by WWE to just bring him back for the interference, so why not put him in the Rumble as well. It would provide a nice shock and if done well, get the crowd on his side. Of course, it could go horribly wrong like last year with Batista but Orton is WWE’s safe pair of hands. The only doubt is the Mania match. Storyline wise, it would make sense for him to face Rollins but would that really main event over guys like Cena, Lesnar, Bryan and Roman all of whom are going to be involved in the card. Most likely those two will get a grudge match at ‘Mania without the title, so the Rumble win for RKO is unlikely.

5) Cesaro – Dude can lift the Big Show over the top, surely he can… oh wait, we’ve forgotten that ever happened? Okay, WWE…

6) Triple H – Yeah, I said it. Personally I think it’d be awesome. It would be an obvious call-back to 1999 when Vinny Mac won the Rumble. But Triple H would make this work much better, mainly because as he has proven, he can still go in the ring. I’m still trying to work out the details, like who would he face at Mania. But let’s forget about that, how awesome would it be for Bryan to be the final guy and Triple H enter himself into the Rumble just to dump Bryan out. Imagine the heat. Yeah, it’s not going to happen but let me fantasy book in my head.

Others:

 

Bray Wyatt – It would be nice to see the WWE book him strong for once but this seems a step too much. Some promos cut during the match would be cool to see.

 

Dean Ambrose – A fan favourite and a winner the WWE Universe would get behind. But if he can’t even win a match on television, he’s not going to win the Rumble.

 

Either loser from the WWE title bout – This could be any of the three depending on the result. Lesnar losing the belt and winning the belt would be cool to see but would annoy a lot of people thereafter. Since they already complain about him being a part-time champ. Rollins winning the Rumble would also be cool to see but does he really need it? He’s already Mr. Money in the Bank and his time will come. And Cena, no, just no.

Do you agree with the predictions? Or do you have a different prediction for Rumble winner. Let me know @marcusandberg

Sami Zayn: Most Watchable Wrestler

I didn’t plan on writing this article. I was reading back on previous posts and noticed that in a passing comment I called Sami Zayn, the “most watchable wrestler”. Which got me thinking, is he? So, it’s time to put the NXT Champion to the test. I’ll pit him against five other WWE superstars and see if he really is WWE’s most watchable wrestler.

1) Kevin Owens – First off, let’s compare him to his old rival. If you had asked me this question when they were on the indies, Owens would have won easily. But in NXT, it is hard to compare. Owens hasn’t been around long. What he has done is good, very good, but it’s not much. Especially when you compare it to Zayn, who constantly puts on the match of the night. Maybe in time, Owens may move ahead. Owens is going to be deadly on the mic but will he be as good as Zayn in the ring? Only time will tell. Result – Zayn wins via pinfall.

2) Dean Ambrose – Up next is the “Lunatic Fringe”. He is arguably one of the few in the WWE who could match Zayn’s fan response. But the real fight, is well… the fight. Ambrose isn’t bad in the ring, actually he’s pretty good but when you match him up against Zayn, it’s hard to compare. Zayn has that explosive offence that wow’s you every time. On the mic, Ambrose may just best Zayn. Ambrose’s promos are unlike anybody else’s. So it’s a close call but personally, I’d prefer to watch Zayn, so he just edges it. Result – Zayn wins via Submission.

3) Dolph Ziggler – What I would give to see this match. Wouldn’t it be awesome? Ziggler can certainly go in the ring. His selling alone puts him above most other Superstars. He may just match Zayn in the ring. However, on the mic, he falls short to Zayn. Now you may question this. But all you have to do is watch any recent Zayn promo and see how amazing his mic work is. What makes it even more incredible is that for years on the indies he barely said a word of English. Zayn’s promos have heart and he gave one of the promos of last year when he met Adrian Neville just before NXT Takeover R-Evolution. Result – Zayn via countout.

4) Daniel Bryan – The challenges just get harder as the NXT Champ is pitted against the YES man. Before his injury Bryan was the man to watch. In the ring he matches up to Zayn. There is an argument that maybe Zayn’s matches are more entertaining because of his spots. If you give them both five minute matches, Zayn’s is going to be better. On promos, they are a dead heat. Bryan gives the same passion and emotion into his promos that Zayn does. Of course, Bryan has gotten over with the WWE Universe. Zayn is just a big fish in a small pond but I am not ranking this on overness. Result – Zayn via DQ.


5) Seth Rollins – Now here’s the final challenge, I’ve already written about how much of a fan I am of Mr Money in the Bank but how does that compare up to Mr. Wednesday Night? In the ring, they could go toe-to-toe. A match between these two is mouth-watering exciting. There would be nothing to separate the two. Seth is one of the very few that matches Zayn in terms of raw explosiveness in the ring. On the mic, the contest remains even. Rollins has never been that good on the mic but since his split from the Shield his promos have improved. I’m tempted to give the edge to Zayn here but in the interest of fair play I think this one is going to have to end on level terms. Result – Draw.

Do you agree with results? Am I favouring Zayn too much? Do you have your own ‘Most Watchable Superstar’? Let me know @marcusandberg

Seth Rollins: Started from the Bottom...

...Now we're here.

 

 

I felt for one of my first pieces I had to write about Seth Rollins. Not just because he is one of the best in the business at the moment but because of what he represents to me. The best way to describe this, is to compare it to a good song. We all have songs in our lives that represents moments in our lives. That could be your school days, a particularly wild night out or your first dance at your wedding. And Seth Rollins is one of those moments for me. Because Seth Rollins was the wrestler who got me hooked on Indy wrestling.

 

The year was 2008. I had been a WWE fan since childhood and started watching TNA’s monthly PPV’s for the past few years. I knew about Indy wrestling but wasn’t clued in on who’s who. We used to have a channel in the UK called “The Wrestling Channel”, which showed some old ROH matches. Sadly, whenever I turned over, the old World of Sport matches were on

 

But it was Rollins that got me hooked. It was ROH’s Take No Prisoners PPV. I found it randomly searching online and decided to give it a watch. I am so glad I did. Without that event, maybe I would never have been so into Indy wrestling. Maybe I wouldn’t be writing this blog today.

 

 

 

Let’s contextualise, Seth wasn’t called Seth back then, he was called Tyler Black. He had “invaded” ROH as part of a group called “The Age of the Fall”. The storyline was red hot and Black was always going to be the breakout star and this was his moment. The opener pitted four guys (including Claudio Castagnoli, now WWE’s Cesaro) against each other with the winner challenging for the World title in the main event.

 

I must add the rest of the show was fantastic. There’s Kevin Steen (WWE’s Kevin Owens) in action, the Briscoe Brothers in a Tag Team War against the rest of the Age of the Fall and a semi-main event between Bryan Danielson (WWE’s Daniel Bryan) and TNA’s Austin Aries. Also, I remember liking Davey Richards in his tag match. He alongside Black would be my two favourites on the Indy scene until they both left.

 

Black wins the opener and goes onto main event the show where his opponent was the reigning ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuiness. What follows is one of my favourite matches of all time. I knew that McGuiness would walk out champion but the display that Black put on made me question (a few times) that Black would win the belt. No other match has ever done that. No other match has made me question the result that I knew as a fact. It was something truly special.

 

In fact, while researching for this post. I found out some comments Seth made on the match. In a feature on WWE.com, Black picked this match as 'the match that changed his life'. Here's what he had to say about it:

 

"The match that changed my life was me versus Nigel McGuinness, my first shot at the Ring of Honor World Title. It was in Philadelphia, Pa., at the National Guard Armory. Nigel was a world-traveled, top-of-the-line, first-class professional wrestler. I was 21 years old and really had no idea what I was doing. I had just broken into Ring of Honor. I hadn’t quite been established yet. At that point, I had been there for maybe six months, and Nigel took this guy who had just gotten started, but had a bit of a following, and made him a star in one match.

 

It was a huge educational process for me, just learning the beauty and the art form of what we do. It doesn’t necessarily have to be hero versus villain, but it was about a young, hungry up-and-comer against a veteran who’s the standard of a company. Feeling the momentum of that match, from the beginning until the very end, was something I’ll never forget.

 

When I came out of it, I had such a greater understanding of what professional wrestling could really do to an audience. To be a part of that is something that is fairly indescribable. You can’t compare it to just seeing it.” — SETH ROLLINS

 

Despite being heel, he pulls off the underdog performance of a lifetime and gets the crowd on his side. But after a spirited fight, he falls short to the champion. But in doing so makes a name for himself. I understand that to others indy fans this might not be special and that’s why I have never watched the event back, in fear that it doesn’t live up to my expectations and damage one of my favourite wrestling memories.

 

Tyler soon broke away from the Age of the Fall and turned face. He finally captured the ROH World Championship in 2010. Then signed with the WWE, transforming himself into Seth Rollins. It’s been a journey. From the breakout Indy star to challenging for the grandest prize in pro wrestling at the Royal Rumble. As well as holding the Money in the Bank briefcase, it’s only a matter of time before he wins his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

 

To have achieved all this and still be under 30 years old, it is clear Seth has a bright future ahead of him. It is plain to see why he has been called the Future of the WWE but to me he will always be the guy who opened my eyes to the world of Indy wrestling. Now if you excuse me, I've got a certain match to re-watch.

 

WWE.com Article link

WWE 2015 Predictions

2014 was a mixed year. There were some good points like Taker’s streak ending, Cena being dominated by Brock at Summerslam and the eventful Survivor Series main event. But, there were also some bad moments like Taker’s streak ending, Cena being dominated by Brock at Summerslam and the eventful Survivor Series main event. Yes, it does depend on who you ask.

With it being the start of the year and the start of a new blog, I’ve decided to kick off with some predictions. Some are more predictable than others and others, you may not agree with. But here’s my list:

 

Roman Reigns will win Belt

This almost seems certain, the former Shield member has got all the tools you need to make it far in WWE: the big muscular look, the love of the fans, a handful of flashy moves and most importantly backing from McMahon. He’s like a Samoan John Cena. It’s clear the big boss sees a lot in “the Juggernaut” and 2015 will be his year. He’s been predicted to win the Rumble and after a near miss last year that is still a possibility. A much safer bet will be for him to win the WWE World Heavyweight title sometime this year.

Rollins will fail to cash in

Since breaking from the Shield, Rollins has just got better and better. He’s been given plenty of time on the mic and faced all the top names in the WWE. I’ve followed Rollins for years, ever since he was in the Age of the Fall in ROH. He’s evolved a lot and is now one of the best in the business. Arguably he is the WWE's top heel at the moment and this may not be a prediction that all agree with but I am going to predict that Rollins is going to fail to cash in. It would make sense for Rollins to run in after a beat down and cash in on a weakened champion. But, instead I see Rollins going to cash in and being stopped. There’s a whole line of suspects who it could be: Orton, Ambrose or even the man they call Sting.

Cena to beat Rusev

Rusev had one of the best win/loss records in 2014, it’s only a matter of time before someone breaks the Russian’s streak. Some are predicting Ryback will Shellshock his way to victory against Rusev. It would certainly help Ryback forget about wasting most of his year with Curtis Axel. But what is more likely is that the face of WWE John Cena will be the man to put the Russian down for the three count. Let me say this, I don’t agree with this. It should be a shocker, someone we don’t expect, to give them a big win. But I can’t see that happening. Cena will halt this train just like he did to Bray Wyatt last year.

Brock to return to UFC

This has been doing the rumour mill for the past few months, so it’s more likely than others. But can Brock cut it in the UFC anymore? There were questions asked when he first went to UFC in 2008 and he certainly delivered. But he’s an older man now and with the injuries and illnesses he’s had, will he be able to compete at the top level? But then again, UFC signed CM Punk last year and he’s in a similar boat. The other scenario is that he stays with WWE but after losing the belt, what is he going to do? He’s not going to be on Raw every Monday, so if he’s not the champ what’s the point in showing up?

 

HHH vs. Sting

This was teased at Survivor Series, the sight of these two in the same ring was a sight to behold. Fans have been begging for ‘Taker versus Sting on the Grandest Stage of them all. But the big question is whether we will ever see “the Deadman” compete in a WWE ring again. Maybe that was the original plan but with ‘Taker done have they drafted in “the Game” as a replacement? Hell, maybe they’ll do both, HHH at the Rumble and ‘Taker at Wrestlemania. Whoever Sting eventually faces, it’s sure to be a highlight of the year. And that’s one we can all agree on.

Owens NXT champ

That’s how you make an impression. Win your first match and injure the new champ, just another day in the life for Kevin Owens. We’ve only seen a glimpse of what the man formerly known as “Kevin Steen” has to offer. WWE must have faith in the big man otherwise why would he have been rocketed to the main event when NXT is already overloaded with stars. I don’t want Zayn to lose the title, he is the most watchable guy in the whole WWE. But who else would you want to end Zayn’s fairytale?

 

Balor joins the main roster

Finn Balor has always had the “it” factor. Ever since he was a young Irish kid competing as Prince Devitt in Japan. I didn’t understand all the fuss about his facepaint. Yes, it’s different and something that makes him unique but there is far more to Balor than just some arty war paint. It’s good that they’ve kept him with Hideo Itami as Itami may need more time to settle in but there will come a time when Itami is holding him back. Once he goes on the singles route I see him stealing the show every night, leading to a call up at the end of the year.

Miz v Mizdow feud

With their titles now gone maybe this will happen sooner than we think. Damien Mizdow has been comedy gold since he took on his stunt double role, it just about makes up for his awful misuse before that. Now, with the fans on his side, a face turn must be on the cards. I’d like to see a long drawn out feud. Keep them together for now, they slowly pull them apart. A lot of people don’t like the Miz but I think he’s underrated and this feud may just be one of the highlights of the year.

 

Ziggler still gets underutilised

Dolph spent the early part of 2014 heavily underutilised, he didn’t do anything until half way through the year. He then went on an absolute tear, putting on match of the night every time he stepped into the ring. Then his highlight of the year happened at Survivor Series even if his performance was outdone by Sting’s arrival. Since then he has continued to put on matches of the highest quality. But what does 2015 bring for the “Showoff”? Sadly, much of the same I predict. The main event is already stacked especially with the return of Daniel Bryan. There’s too many names in front of Ziggler, sadly he’s stuck in his spot.

Do you agree with the predictions? Do you have your own? Let me know @marcusandberg