This week on UnWrest, a special feature on WHO could possibly take Kenny Omega's spot should The Elite jump to WWE? I give you two options that I think could work to help NJPW lessen the blow to some extent. Plus, your weekly review of TV shows, podcast recommendations, and the <<Rewind<< Match of the Week. Let's Do This!
Raw Thoughts
- WWE is now juggling too many shows. 3 shows they are trying to promote at once: Australia's Super Show-Down on October 6th, Evolution on October 27th, and Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia in November. Add to that The Mixed Match Challenge and the Mae Young Classic, and we've officially got too much going on from one company.
- The pop Braun got when he said that the main event at Saudi Arabia "sucked" should be something WWE should keep an eye on. It could be indicative of a larger resentment towards these House Shows.
- I have no problem with Dean Ambrose losing "clean" to Drew McIntyre. If you watched the match, Dean really cost himself the match by missing a match and going back in the ring to get caught with the Claymore kick. That protected him. It was a clean loss, for sure. But it wasn't a career killer by any stretch of the imagination. As for McIntyre, he's amazing folks. Future World Champion in the making.
- The Undertaker talked too long. But he's The Undertaker. If anyone deserves to spend 12 minutes cutting a 4 minute promo, it's that man. Adding Kane and HBK in the corners of each man adds more drama and interest for me to see Undertaker vs. Triple H.
- I'm enjoying the Cruiserweights infusion on Monday Night with Drake Maverick managing AOP and Lio Rush as Bobby Lashley's new manager. Rush won me over this week with his over-the-top personality and his incredible athleticism. I'm still waiting to see what else Maverick can add to AOP other than just being a mouthpiece.
- I stand by my belief that we've seen a resurrection of Dolph Ziggler this year. He's back to the spot he needs to be, and he's performing quality matches night after night. Glad to see him featured prominently on Monday Nights.
- The main event was a mixed bag for me. On one end, I was bored by a lot of it. The rest holds by Corbin just bore me to tears. But the last few minutes did get me excited as I thought the drama was well put together. So, I'm not going to rag on this too much.
Overall, this was a decent (not good or great) episode of Raw. Best match was definitely McIntyre vs. Ambrose. But the stuff with Corbin, the neutral position of a lot of storylines, and an overbooking of bookings (which I guess is a thing in 2018) just dragged the grade down for me. C-.
Let's see how Twitter viewers responded...
Again, Raw seems to be hated by a lot of wrestling fans. But at the same time, 57% of those polled gave it a passing grade.
SmackDown Live
- Miz vs. Bryan for the #1 Contendership adds another big match for the Super Show-Down event. I wasn't a fan of MizTV period. I felt like the segment was another bore as anyone should have seen Miz pulling a distraction to beat up Bryan. Ask the fake baby about that.
- It's always great to see Cesaro work a singles match on WWE TV. I hope The New Day vs. The Bar gets a lot of time. As Sunday showed, tag team wrestling can be good and tell a story if the talent are ENABLED to do so.
- I hate how hot and cold WWE has been on Rusev Day. So, it's finally good to see them just go one way with them, commit to it, and be done. I hate that English and Rusev are no longer running buddies, but it's better than this neutral "will they or won't they" stuff that was going on.
- Shinsuke Nakamura brought it in my opinion in the match with Rusev. Then again, my household pledges allegiance to the President of the United States of NakaMerica!
- Andrade and AJ Styles went at it again in another war on TV. I love these matches between the two of them. They have to give them a match at one of these WWE Network events. Give these guys 20 minutes, and LET THEM GO! This could be a ***** classic. And could you imagine if it takes place in Tokyo, Japan?! Dave may give it 7 STARS, my God!
The finish of the match was great with AJ pulling out something I swear I've seen him do on TNA a couple times in the past.
- Great line
Tom: You know Thor is Australian, right?
Corey: No. he's not. He's from Asgard, psychopath!
- I enjoyed the end with Becky Lynch sticking her victory in Charlotte's face. Charlotte, as a character, deserves to have some humble pie after going around for years telling everyone how much superior she is compared to everyone. Plus, it's so hard to boo Becky when she's been pushed down the roster for the past 2 years since losing the title at TLC 2016. Effective ending, and another solid match set up for the Australia show.
Overall, I really enjoyed the second hour plus of SmackDown Live (from Nakamura/Rusev on). I really didn't care for the MizTV segment for a lot of reasons, but thankfully the show picked up a lot after that. Match of the Night was definitely AJ vs. Andrade. Grade overall: B+. What was the grade on Twitter? Let's see how people responded:
ROH Wrestling (Episode Airdate: 9/14/18)
- We start the show off with Jay Lethal giving a promo. He puts over his match with Gresham as the best match he's ever had in ROH (it wasn't, but nice try). He then states that he's issuing a "Lethal Challenge" to anyone who wants to take the ROH World Championship from him. From a video on the screen, Will Ospreay answers the call and says he's coming for Lethal's ROH World Championship. This match will be good, even though it's the very definition of a throwaway match.
- Women of Honor wrestled with Sumie Sakai getting another victory. Again, ROH's women's division continues to be unimpressive to me. She won with a Cross Rhodes finisher. (I know it's a different name, but even Brandi Rhodes mentioned the similarity on commentary.) Afterwards, we get two announcements. 1) The WOH Championship is now considered a "World Championship" by ROH. (I guess I can name my Focus a SUPER Focus now. It'd mean just the same.) 2) Tenille Dashwood is getting the championship shot at Death Before Dishonor.
- Ian continues to be in the ring for the previous announcements and this next segment focusing on Jonathan Gresham and Bully Ray. Bully gets "ECW" chants from the crowd (as this is in the former ECW Arena). Bully gets in Ian's face about the comments he's made on commentary over the previous few months. He tells and allows Ian to get out of the ring. The size differential between these two is staggering. Bully Ray calls him a jobber. Gresham calls Bully Ray "Bubba" and challenges him to a match. He says "I know I can take you because I watched D-Von carry your ass for so many years."
Both men agree to shake the other's hand if they lose. The ref comes out, and the bell rings. Instantly, Bully Ray kicks him downstairs for the DQ and pushes down the referee. He shakes the hand of the laying Gresham, admits he's a better wrestler, and continues to attack him with a chain. Flip Gordon comes out to attack Bully, but he gets booted out. Jay Lethal comes out and fights Bully. But Silas comes out and attacks Jay with Misery. Bully tries to hug him, but Silas pushes him off.
Afterwards, in the back, Jay Lethal calls out both Bully and Silas. And it's on for next week: Jonathan Gresham and Lay Lethal vs. Silas Young and Bully Ray.
- The main event was a six man tag between SCU and the team of The Briscoes and Punishment Martinez. Decent main event. Nothing too great, but the heels used steel chairs on SCU and the referee. Then, Chris Sabin Punishment Martinez started brawling at it (Sabin even attacking Martinez with a shoe of all things). Ending comes when The Addiction hits Best Meltzer Ever on one of the Briscoes to win the match.
Overall, this was a productive episode of ROH. I wouldn't necessarily say this was good or great, but it accomplished a lot of goals in setting up matches and storylines.
NXT Thoughts
- We start off this week's show with Dakota Kai teaming with Deonna Purrazzo to take on the team of Aliyah and Lacey Evans. This match just did nothing to get me interested. I really didn't get into the storyline, and the action itself was bland and hard to get invested into.
-Jaxson Ryker (formerly Gunner in TNA/Impact) won a match against a jobber. So, it seems like the "Forgotten Sons" aren't so forgotten anymore.
- The show mostly belongs to the main event between Ricochet and Pete Dunne. An excellent match where both men used their style of wrestling to their advantage: Dunne's scientific, European-style grappling meeting Ricochet's aerial, high-flying offense. There are so many big moments in this match that are jaw-dropping. This was a PPV, NXT TakeOver quality match that I HIGHLY recommend everyone go out of their way to watch (along with the aforementioned Styles vs. Almas match from SmackDown Live). The Undisputed Era interfered in the match, causing the match to end in a tie. But this was a much more effective, less controversial non-finish than the Hell in a Cell ending a few days ago. Just how good was it? After the finish, both men were given their belts, and the fans didn't crap on the finish. Instead, there was a standing ovation for both men and an "NXT" chant. Mission accomplished all around. I'd grade this as an A+ match. Again, THIS IS A MUST WATCH.
Overall, NXT was a very good show overall catapulted by its excellent main event. Skip the first half hour of the show though, and you will be able to enjoy the awesomeness that is Dunne vs. Ricochet.
Impact Wrestling Thoughts
-oVe start us off with a six man tag against three luchadores (Loredo Kid, Aerostar, and Hijo Del Vikingo). Action-packed opener here that didn't have much in story, but it made up for it with some high-flying action.
- Eli Drake challenges another wrestler to come out and face him. Trevor Lee answers the call. A bit of a sloppy match in spots, and not exactly an interesting match at that. Drake continues to have good mic skills, but he's not showing much from an in-ring perspective.
- King from the OGs faces a guy named Kronus (RIP to ECW's Kronus). The match lasts exactly 30 seconds and King just pins the guy for the win after the OGs beat Kronus down.
- Backstage, LAX is with Konnan. LAX is complaining about not doing anything. Konnan says he's waiting until Bound for Glory to get his revenge in LAX's hometown. They're on board with that plan.
- AAA's Faby Apache defeated Alisha Edwards. Um, it existed. It wasn't terrible, but it didn't exactly wow me either.
- Rich Swann teamed up with his originally scheduled opponent Matt Sydal to take on The Lucha Bros. Fenix and Pentagon Jr. Pentagon and Fenix are treated like the hometown boys they are (Note: this took place in the Mexico City tapings in the last couple weeks). Please God. Keep Pentagon and Fenix out of WWE for another couple years. Rich Swann continues to impress me more in Impact than he ever did in WWE. Good, fun match between the four men. (There seemed to be a rough cut for some reason after the pinfall happened. The referee held his hand out like "What?" to Fenix. Something tells me that wasn't the intended finishing sequence.) After the match, oVe attacked the Lucha Bros, but Brian Cage made the save. Good match overall and worth the time if you have it.
- Abyss gets announced as the latest inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame. As much as TNA having a Hall of Fame may seem like a joke, it wouldn't be a Hall of Fame without Abyss. The guy was there from Day One, and he was a part of some classic hardcore matches and moments in TNA history. So, yes. Undoubtedly, Abyss should be in this institution.
- Austin Aries defeated El Texano Jr. in the main event to retain his Impact World Championship. I'll give Impact this: their World Champion actually defends the title often. The match was boring though. And nothing worth going out of your way to see. The fact that Texano was an outside talent being brought in to face the Impact World Champion telegraphed the ending to the point where trying to stay invested in the finish was near impossible.
Afterwards, Johnny Impact cuts a promo on the video screen from Los Angeles, CA going off on all three of the heels in Aries' camp for jumping him and putting him out of action. Aries says that he knows Johnny Impact is in the arena to jump him. Aries has Moose and Kross look out in the crowd, but Impact simply walks down the ramp and attacks Aries behind his back. Eddie Edwards comes out and attacks the heels with a kendo stick as well. The faces stand tall to end the show.
Overall, another decent episode of Impact. The best match was definitely the Lucha Bros. vs. Swann/Sydal. But the opening tag match had its moments as well.
For the week, the winning show of the week, for me, is SmackDown Live. While NXT had the overall best match of the week, SmackDown was the more solid show from beginning to end. NXT would be next. Then, I'd go with Raw. Then, I'd go with Impact Wrestling. Then, I'd go with ROH.
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Podcast Recommendation for the Week
This week's recommendation goes to 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff for the episode that you go out of your way to listen to: Eric Bischoff vs. Ric Flair. Bischoff gives an honest account of the situation, including the pressures he was facing, the problems with Flair's arguments and story, and the mistakes Bischoff made that exacerbated the issue. It was a great 2 hour discussion on the real life drama that happened between the two men before and during the actual beef between the two men. It's a great listen about the inner workings of WCW, and how Bischoff was really powerless to do anything about the situation once Flair decided to walk out.
**As a side note, I've recently decided to spend a few bucks this month to join the What Happened When Patreon to listen to some of the bonus episodes on there. If you have the extra money and the time, check it out. I listened to the first Patreon episode focusing on NXT Takeover War Games, and it was definitely worth it.**
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<<Rewind<< Match of the Week
Twas the Night After Wrestle Kingdom, and All Throughout New Japan, Four People Were Leaving, Including Their Intercontinental Champion. Gallows and Anderson were abandoning the Bullet Club aura, and AJ Styles was leaving as was Shinsuke Nakamura.
Ok, enough bad attempts at Christmas humor at the situation. But the story remained: New Japan was at a bit of a crossroads when Wrestle Kingdom X came around. Four of their biggest stars decided to cut loose and head to WWE en masse. AJ and Shinsuke had a classic match the night before (one that puts all their WWE matches this year to shame, by the way). Nakamura still had the Intercontinental Championship as of this match, and AJ was still the leader of the Bullet Club. Enter the former Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Kenny Omega. This match was set up on the post-Wrestle Kingdom show New Year's Dash. Bullet Club leader AJ Styles teamed with Bullet Club stablemate Kenny Omega to take on CHAOS leader Shinsuke Nakamura and his stablemate, Yoshi-Hashi. The match was very good itself. It's what happened afterwards that won this for the match of the week. Check this out...
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3qpauk
Why is this important? 1) It sets up Kenny Omega as the new leader of the Bullet Club, and it sets up The Elite. Whether you like it or not, this is huge for the wrestling industry especially in 2018. So, where does it all start? This night. 2) From what I've read, Nakamura actually told management that he wanted to take the fall to put over Omega on his way out. So, Omega just jumped from Jr. Heavyweight to Heavyweight. He just pinned the Intercontinental Champion, who just happens to be a NJPW legend and former IWGP World Champion (and one of the most over acts in the company). And finally, Omega just became leader of the biggest heel faction in wrestling. His stock SKYROCKETS on this one night. Classic, classic moment for NJPW and for the wrestling world. going forward.
Next Week: One of Mick Foley's greatest matches, which thankfully happened before his opponent lost his smile.
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Who Takes Kenny's Spot?
MY SPOT!
Sorry. I had to get that out of my system.
But seriously, IF Kenny Omega and the rest of the Elite take the money and go to WWE, who is New Japan going to go to from outside Japan to try to maintain the momentum they've had? Well, my theory on this is that if you are going to try to follow up Kenny Omega, you need someone that can amaze you with their athletic ability. You need someone whose not afraid to push the limits of what is wrestling and create art from what he does in the ring. And you need someone that will engage enough people outside of Japan to keep their NJPW World subscriptions due to their elevation into the main event.
Therefore, with all that being considered, I do believe that Death Before Dishonor is the test for NJPW. Why Death Before Dishonor? Because it's an ROH show, and I do believe that this could be a test to see if a talent involved in the main event could be seen as a main event level wrestler to put the company's focus behind. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. My pick to elevate to the main event of New Japan Pro Wrestling if all hell breaks loose and The Elite jump ship is...
WILL OSPREAY.
Ospreay has the athletic ability to go into the main event level of NJPW as a heavyweight competitor. Also, he can be a star in a greater focus of the Jr. Heavyweight Division should they decide to do that. Maybe NJPW decides that Tanahashi, Naito, Okada, and Sabre Jr. are going to be the new focus of the company's heavyweight division. (They've pushed Sabre enough to get that elevated status as he's beaten all three of the other men over the last year.) But Ospreay can continue to be a focal point of the recently hot NJPW Jr. Heavyweight Division. Before Hiromu was injured, the division was on FIRE with a lot of great wrestling action. Ospreay can help lead the division in Hiromu's absence and help position the Jrs. into a greater seat of importance in NJPW's global outreach. (It's not like 205 Live is satiating anyone's need for high-flying action in America.) And when Hiromu hopefully comes back next year, you have a HUGE storyline for his eventual feud with Ospreay.
And while Ospreay isn't exactly the greatest orator in the entire world, he can still cut a decent enough promo to get the story across. But what do you remember an Ospreay match for: the promos leading up to it or the insane moves he pulls off during the match? Is that even a question that needs pondering?!
But, in this thought, I do have a Plan B. Because every genius and business needs a Plan B. If NJPW decides "Ok. We've lost The Elite. But we like Ospreay where he's at, and we don't feel like elevating him at this time," there's one guy who NJPW can make an immediate impact with by signing to an exclusive contract to work with the promotion. He's a mega star in wrestling. He's had arguably his biggest year ever in 2018, continuing to evolve even in the latter stages of his career. He's the Judas in your mind. He's the Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah. And if NJPW is smart, signing this guy should be on their list. That's right. Option B should be CHRIS JERICHO.
I know. Chris Jericho is nearing 50. He's a rock and roll musician touring all over the world with his kickass band Fozzy. You know what else I know? He's made just as big of an impact for NJPW in limited appearances than 99% of that roster this year. Jericho has brought instant global credibilty to that brand. Need evidence? Look at what Jericho did at All In, the reaction that he got, and the attention he received in the press (look it up folks) by attacking Kenny Omega JUST TO PROMOTE HIS FRIGGING CRUISE! His feud with Kenny was so hot that in January, they had to make that the co-main event at Wrestle Kingdom.
If Plan B is a reality, it's going to be a limited contract. We're talking 4-5 shows a year at most, and that doesn't include any of Jericho's famed "surprise" appearances he's made. This gives Jericho a chance to work his rock and roll schedule, continue to be a force in NJPW with a Brock Lesnar-type schedule, and still be a key factor in a wrestling promotion. Plus... creative freedom. NJPW will cater to Jericho. Jericho = Attention in the global wrestling community. And they will allow Jericho to continue to be as creative as he has been since leaving WWE's full-time rotation.
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What do you think? Who could ever take over Kenny's massive position should he jump ship? Are these good options? If not them, then who?
Thank you all for reading this week's UnWrest. Coming up this weekend, I will be posting the 1st of 3 posts focusing on the Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair feud (Post 1 will be their match at Chi-Town Rumble 1989). I will also be trying to catch up on last Monday's Destruction show and will cover Sunday's Destruction show as well.
Until next time, take care of yourselves and spread some awesomeness.
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