WWE Extreme Rules 2020 - A Review

Another month has passed us by and it is time for The Horror Show- Extreme Rules 2020 Review. 

The build had been really average for this show and I had forgotten that this Sunday had been Extreme Rules. Because, lets face it, last year's Extreme Rules PPV was anything but 'extreme'. So, it didn't really kindle my interest this year. However, I woke up as early as I could and watched it as it got telecasted here. More than genuine excitement for this show, it was mostly a mild curiosity which made me tune in.

I missed the Kick off match and I heard it was between Kevin Owens and Murphy with the former picking up the win over latter. 

My thoughts on that match is this: God bless Vinnie Mac for booking an insanely talented Kevin Owens in a freaking Kick Off match. 

Let me start with the show.

Match #1: The New Day (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro in a Tables match for Smackdown Tag Team Championships

The New Day gain an early control in this match and try to introduce a table but soon Cesaro and Nakamura take over. Big E spears Cesaro out of the ring but they fall beside the table, meaning that the match continues. Kofi dives from the ring only to get hit face first into a table propped up by their opponents. Soon, we see a couple of tables set up on top of other by The New Day. They try to put Cesaro through it and they fail. The match ends when Cesaro powerbombs Kofi through the double tables for the win.

Now, there is usually a sense of drama in a Tables match. A lot of close calls and near misses, that sort of thing. This match didn't have many of those and it was shorter than I expected. Anyway, Nakamura and Cesaro winning the tag titles is something I am happy about. Lately, I've felt like The New Day have been hogging the title picture for far too long. I hope they move on to other feuds and let the other tag teams hog the spotlight for some time. 

Match #2: Nikki Cross vs Bayley (c) for Smackdown Women's Championship

Asuka and Kairi Sane boost Nikki Cross and Alexa up before this match and they say that they'll be "friends" no matter what. I wonder how they went from being rivals at Wrestlemania to "friends forever" at Extreme Rules. These are some things that WWE never explains. If two wrestlers are faces, they are inherently best friends/allies. That's the logic of the company these days.

Well, the match begins and Nikki hits a neckbreaker early on only for a near fall. She is in complete control in the early moments of the match up until Bayley turns things around. Nikki with a crossface and Bayley counters with a Bayley-to-Belly for a near fall. Nikki delivers a fighting performance, as expected. One can notice Bayley getting frustrated as the match lengthens. The end arrives when Sasha hands Bayley her "Boss" knuckles and distracts the referee. Bayley nails Nikki in her ribs with the knuckles and plants her to retain the title. 

I really liked the match. It was good and showcased Nikki's potential to hang in the ring with someone like Bayley. Yet, I feel like her character has been 'extinguished' (for the lack of a better term). I remember how Nikki was in NXT. Her perfomance on the main roster has been good, but she is capable of doing better. If they could add some more depth to her character, she would really turn out to be a big star, in my opinion. 

We then see a Firefly Fun House segment where Bray shows us some 'scariest footage known to man' and it turns out to be the Karaoke segment from Smackdown a week or two back. That cracked me up. Bray Wyatt is a treasure!!

Match #3: MVP vs Apollo Crews (c) for the United States Championship

Well, Apollo isn't cleared to return to the ring due to Lashley's attack on him. So, by forfeit, MVP declares himself as the new United States Champion. 

Nothing to comment here.

Match #4: Seth Rollins vs Rey Mysterio in an Eye for an Eye match

Rollins comes out with a plier in his hands. The match begins with a lot of back and forth action. Rollins hits a Falcon arrow on the ring apron. Both of them keep targeting each other's eyes in any way possible. Rollins tries to tie Rey to the ring ropes but the effort goes in vain. Moments later, Rey hits a beautiful frog splash on Rollins. The match is quick paced and interesting to watch. Rey breaks the Kendo stick and tries to gouge Rollins's eye out with the splinters but the latter fights back. We see a 619 and a curb stomp on Rollins. Rey tries to push his opponent towards the stairs but gets hit by a low blow and a curb stomp. Rollins presses Rey's eyes into the stairs and bingo! Rey's eye is "extracted". Rollins is disgusted by the sight and pukes.

As I said, this match was really good. Both are stupendous performers and one can't expect anything less from them. However, the ending was outright dumb. I wonder who informed the creative team that if you press someone's eyes into a stairs, their eyes would get extracted. I thought this would be a cinematic match with CGI effects for the extraction of the eye. But it wasn't to be so. 

I still don't understand how this stipulation or the ending, progresses the "Monday Night Messiah" storyline forward. Yet, this match was good. So, I'll try to appreciate the good part rather than talk about the bad part.

                Match #5: Asuka (c) vs Sasha Banks for RAW Women's Championship

Sasha lands a Bank Statement early on. She is in early control. Asuka tries to come back into the game only to be subdued again by Sasha. She works on Asuka's arms. Some back and forth action later, Sasha nails a frog splash followed by another bank statement only for Asuka to get to the ropes. The latter executes some fine german suplexes. Sasha climbs to the top rope but botches a move that tweaks her knee. Asuka locks in her submission move. Bayley distracts the referee while Sasha taps. Asuka kicks Bayley away. Meanwhile, The Boss tries to use her tag title belt but the referee argues with her. Asuka spits the green mist and accidentally hits the referee. Using this situation, Bayley hits Asuka with the belt, puts on the referee's shirt and counts to three as Sasha pins Asuka.

This match was solid. Nothing more, nothing less. The ending was different and could bring in a lot of heat for Bayley and Sasha. So, I would say that I really appreciated this matchup. I'm interested to see how this one moves forward.

Match #6: Drew McIntyre (c) vs Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship

Dolph picks the stipulation and says that it is "Extreme Rules" match for Dolph Ziggler only. If Drew gets counted out or Disqualified, Ziggler becomes the champion. Pretty interesting stipulation.

Drew gets the upperhand and tries to dish-out some punishment to The Show off. Soon, Dolph introduces chairs and tables. He also hits a low blow on Drew, followed by several chair shots. The latter fights back. Moments later, Ziggler hits a Famouser off the announce table. Another important moment is when Dolph hits the zig zag for a near fall, followed by an elbow drop through a table on the floor. However, it fails to keep Drew down. In the end, McIntyre hits a sudden claymore to pick up the win.

This match was very interesting and fast paced. There were some close calls but I was sure that McIntyre was going to win. Because, it was that easy to guess, considering the way Dolph has been booked throughout his career. There was no way he was winning this one. So, basically, it was very predictable. 

Match #7: Bray Wyatt vs Braun Strowman in a Wyatt Swamp Fight

Bray is waiting for Braun in his chair as he arrives and says, 'I'm home!' Bray laughs and disappears. A few masked men attack Braun but he fights them off only to find himself staring at another Braun Strowman in a sheep mask who hits him with a shovel. Braun wakes up in a house, chained to a chair. Bray appears and talks about how he and Braun could rule everything. He says Braun is the weapon and he is the hand that wields it. He taunts Braun some more before bringing a big snake and allowing it to bite him. 

Braun wakes up at a fireplace and fights off masked men again. A vision of Alexa Bliss beckons Strowman, playing on his feelings for her but Bray shows up. Braun chokeslams him onto a boat which carries him away. But another boat shows up and while he goes to inspect it, Wyatt blindsides him again and attempts to drown him. They brawl and Braun kicks Bray into the waters who pulls him along with him.

The Fiend comes out of the river and laughs.

This was awesome, in my opinion. There is nothing else I wish to say about it. AWESOME!

Conclusion

While it had some good matches and moments, this PPV was not what you can call "extreme" or "horror show". Having grown up watching ECW matches and Attitude Era matches, I really can't consider this PPV to be extreme in any manner of speaking. There were no hardcore moments that make our jaws drop. It was just an average PPV with occasional use of foreign objects, although it was to a bare minimum. Except for the Wyatt Swamp fight which was extraordinary, there wasn't anything "must see" about this show. 

Again, let's hope that the next PPV turns out to be better than this one, considering that it is Summerslam time!

WWE Backlash 2020- A Review

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I posted on my blog. I've had some personal issues that had prevented me from posting anything. Although I thoroughly enjoyed NXT Takeover: In your House and Double or Nothing shows, I couldn't post my reviews of them. And before I was ready to post my reviews, a lot of days had already gone by. So I apologize for the delay.

It's Backlash time which means it's time for the self proclaimed "Greatest wrestling match ever".

I'm gonna dive right in!

Match #1: Apollo Crews (c) vs Andrade for the United States Championship

This was the match on the Kick-off show. We have Zelina and Angel Garza hovering at ringside when Kevin Owens joins the commentary.

Andrade took control of the match initially with Apollo slowly gaining dominance later on. There was a spot where Apollo hits an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on Andrade into the turnbuckle. I found that quite impressive. The match ends when Owens stuns Garza as he tried to distract the referee leading upto Apollo pinning Andrade and retaining the title. 

It was a decent bout, although shorter than I expected. But we've seen a lot of Apollo vs Andrade lately. So, I hope this is the last one and both of them move on to other challengers. 

The show then opens with a powerful video package talking about the "Greatest Wrestling Match ever".

Match #2: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs The Iconics vs Bayley and Sasha Banks (c) for the Women's Tag Team Championship

Nikki Cross, Bayley and Billie Kay start off this bout. We see several pinfall attempts and a couple of stand-offs between the two teams. It had a good pace throughout but I felt like there was a bit of sloppiness occasionally with the way the women delivered some of their moves. On the other hand, I also liked some spots in the match. Alexa hitting the Lou Thesz press followed by punches, to almost everyone else was interesting to watch, for me. In the end, Sasha rolls up Bliss and picks up the victory for her team. 

The fake "crowd" chanted "This is awesome" for the match and I don't really know if this match was awesome. It was watchable and occasionally, even entertaining. But, awesome isn't a word I would use to describe this. Just my opinion.

Match #3: Jeff Hardy vs Sheamus

Now, this rivalry has had people talking, be it the slightly controversial use of Jeff Hardy's real life issues into the story or the re-orchestrated segment of Hardy taking a urine test. (For those of you who still don't know, Shawn Michaels took a kayfabe urine test in 2006 which ended the same way this one did on Smackdown!)

I just want to say that, all this shame fans throw at WWE for using Hardy's real life problems into the storyline is not really necessary. I'm sure WWE did it with Jeff Hardy's approval. If the person involved doesn't really care much about his personal problems being used as a story, I don't think we all have any business worrying about it.

Now, to the match. Both of them were a bit aggressive in the early going but it soon turned into a dominating performance by Sheamus. He was punishing Hardy while also trash talking once with the commentators. It was a very physical match-up. Jeff manages to hit the Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb but Sheamus manages to cause a rope break. It is soon followed by a couple of Brogue kicks which leads to Sheamus picking up the victory. 

Corey Graves talks about how Jeff Hardy has "let everyone down again". Overall, I feel like this rivalry has had a good story and this match has just accentuated it further. I'm interested to see how things develop from here on. 

Match #4: Asuka (c) vs Nia Jax for the RAW Women's Championship

This is the match I was least excited about. Probably because I'm not a fan of Nia Jax. I find her bland, boring and not to mention, dangerous in ring. 

So, Asuka locks the Octopus hold on the Botch Queen early on but soon Nia overpowers her. There was a good spot where Nia counters a submission move into a jackhammer (or should we call it, "Jaxhammer"?). Both of them end up brawling outside the ring leading to a double count out.

Although I am really happy Asuka is holding the title right now, her rivalries haven't managed to excite me. Nia Jax doesn't really get me to care about the feud. Nor am I interested in seeing Asuka vs Charlotte Flair for the 11009999th time. Let's hope something happens that injects a new energy into the RAW Women's title picture. 

Match #5: Braun Strowman (c) vs The Miz and John Morrison in a handicap match for the Universal Championship

I wasn't too excited for this match as well. The build for this match was cheesy, in my opinion. Although I understand where the story was coming from, it still didn't get me invested into the match anyway. But I'm a huge fan of  The Miz and Morrison. So, I expected them to somehow make this one watchable.

And I wasn't wrong!

The Miz and Morrsion evade Braun early. They worked together and kept the Monster under their control. Their tag team chemistry was pretty good and it was visible in this match. The Miz hits an assisted Skull Crushing Finale on Strowman and Morrison went for the cover, only for The Miz to pull him out of it (because, whoever gets the pinfall gets the title!). The match ended with Strowman managing to fight them both and get the pinfall over Morrison.

There wasn't anything special in this match to comment about. Braun's title reign has been lacklustre till now. Otis being the Money in the Bank winner does nothing to help spice it up, at least for me. I wish WWE does something about it. Although the fanboy in me wants the title to go to Nakamura, I don't think it would help in any way.

Match #6: Drew McIntyre (c) vs Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship

I was looking forward to this. This was the Lashley I had wanted ever since he made his return. MVP being his manager had managed to pique my interest a bit more. 

Lashley locks the Full Nelson hold (*cough* Masterlock *cough*) on Drew before the match even begins. Once it gets officially started, we see Lashley dominating. He was explosive, as always and kept reigning over McIntyre for a good portion of the bout. We then see Drew slowly stepping up his game. He kicks out at 1 following a couple of powerful maneuvers from Bobby Lashley. It only enrages the challenger. They alternate several submission moves on each other and we see some thrilling counters. Lana comes out and acts as a distraction leading upto Drew picking up the victory.

MVP's presence was a plus point for this match. He was being a decent manager. Lashley and Drew, both of them have impressive in-ring acumen, which was also visible in this match. I would say this was the second best match of the night. 

Drew has had a good title reign compared to Strowman and I hope he continues to impress.

Match #7: Street Profits vs Viking Raiders for the RAW Tag Team Championship

Well, this match didn't even happen. We see them fighting backstage. They brawl with each other. Golf Clubs, Shields, Axes and Bowling balls were brought into the fray. Ivar bowls a ball onto Montez Ford's groin. Their brawl spills to the outside where they're confronted by some biker Ninjas led by Akira Tozawa. Street Profits and Viking Raiders unite against them and dub themselves as "Viking Profits". There were some comedy stuff which didn't make me laugh, honestly speaking. But I wasn't bored either. Ivar summoning his turkey leg like Thor summoning Mjolnir was the only part which made me crack up a bit.

They brawl again and end up inside a garbage truck of sorts. Thus, the match doesn't happen.

WWE has turned this rivalry into a comedy skit completely. I don't know if it is a bad idea, but I really haven't got much interested into this until now. It just hasn't got me invested.

Match #8: Edge vs Randy Orton in the "Greatest Wrestling Match Ever"

Alright, I went into this one with a lot of negative thoughts. I mean, "Greatest Wrestling match ever"? How is that even possible? When we've had Ric Flair vs Steamboat, Ric Flair vs Sting, Savage vs Steamboat, Bret vs Owen, Shawn vs Bret, Shawn vs Taker, The Rock vs Austin, Omega vs Okada and so on...how could Edge and Orton even dream of matching upto their level, let alone go above it?

So, I went into this one knowing full well I would be disappointed. 

But WWE did try. I have to give it to the company. Howard Finkel's announcement, Crowd noises, Amplified Audio, Camera angles, Charles Robinson with the Old school referee attire...WWE did what they could and left the rest to the performers! And those two pulled out a magic!

Edge was fired up early on while Orton was calculative. The former made some mistakes early on and The Viper taunted him for that. We soon find Randy Orton busted open as the wheels begin to turn. Edge works on Orton's shoulder. The latter regains control and works on Edge's neck. He slowly methodically dissected Edge and one can notice that Edge took a lot of big bumps in this match compared to his bout at Wrestlemania. We see a lot of epic counters and the performers pay tribute to several other legends by performing their moves. We see the 3 amigos, Olympic Slam, Rock Bottom, Killswitch and Pedigree. There were several near falls. Edge kicks out of RKOs and Orton kicks out of Spears. We then see Orton going low and then catching Edge with the Punt kick for the victory.

Now, there were a lot of things I liked about this match. Neither men felt like they had aged. I could see the vintage Edge and Randy Orton wrestling each other. It was as if the men were still in their prime. Samoa Joe and Tom Philips were solid on commentary. The way Edge and Orton incorporated their real life injuries into this was interesting, as Orton focused on Edge's neck while the latter focused on the former's shoulder. The match had a methodical pace to it, slowly building up steam to lead to the ending. It was a fantastic piece of Storytelling.

I don't know if this was the "Greatest Wrestling Match ever" but it certainly is one of the best matches of both of these men's career. So, we've witnessed two AWESOME matches in a span of 2 days. 

Conclusion

Apart from Edge-Orton and Drew-Lashley, the other matches weren't really that great. Overall, this was a barely watchable PPV which will only be remembered in history for Edge-Orton match. 

I enjoyed Money in the Bank more than I enjoyed this one. Let's hope WWE comes out with something better in the future. 

I hope you all had a better time watching this show than I did. 

WWE Money in the Bank 2020- A Review

Wow, Time swooshes past us faster than we can even imagine.

It seemed like yesterday that we had Wrestlemania 36 and before we know it, it's Money in the Bank time. So, that means WWE has dished out another PPV and I'm going to write a review about it, to the best of my ProWrestling knowledge. I know I'm delayed by a few days, to be honest and I'm sorry for that.

Now, again, this is a PPV without any audience, mostly taking place at the Performance Center. It is again going to feel like watching a Christopher Nolan movie without Hans Zimmer's work in the background. But, we've got to learn to live with it.

(Wait, did I just compare a WWE PPV with a Christopher Nolan movie. Yikes, I'm sorry, Nolan.)

Let's jump right into it.

Match #1: Jeff Hardy vs Cesaro

Well, this went exactly as expected. Jeff Hardy vs Cesaro was every bit of "High flyer vs Powerhouse" that we could imagine. Their different wrestling styles made this a very good match to watch. 

Cesaro took control of Jeff early on. The latter managed to get some offense in the match only to be subdued again by The Swiss Superman. Cesaro was in control for a major part of the match and he didn't look weak at all before the 28 year veteran Jeff Hardy. I was really happy about that. At one point, Cesaro hit a Gutwrench Suplex off the top rope, which was an absolute treat to watch. In the end, Hardy manages to overpower his opponent and win with the Swanton Bomb. 

The match was rightly paced and went on for a proper time which is more than I could say for the Wrestlemania 36 kickoff matches. This one held my interest and made me care about the match in a splendid way. I was hoping to see Sheamus get involved in some form in this match, but he didn't.

The show begins and we're right into it.

The introductory video package was better than Wrestlemania 36, in my opinion. It managed to get me interested in what was about to take place next.

Match #2: The New Day (c) vs The Miz & John Morrison vs Lucha House Party vs The Forgotten Sons for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship

Before the match even began, Big E threw his jacket off which flew and knocked Corey Graves's headset off. For some reason, I found that really funny. 

Kofi and Gran Metalik start the match and as expected they trade a bit of athleticism in the beginning. Metalik (Lucha House Party, in general) have started to grow on me and I was very much excited to see how they would fare in this match. And sure enough, Metalik and Morrison hit a spanish fly right on top of other competitors in a worthwhile spot. The former also spikes Steve Cutler of The Forgotten Sons with a tornado DDT as soon as the action returns to the ring. I found that spot worth mentioning too. The in-ring action was explosive during this match and like Michael Cole mentioned, it had a "frantic pace". 

Big E finally hits the Big Ending on Metalik causing The New Day to retain the SmackDown tag team championship.

This match was really good. It set up the PPV off to a good start, giving it a good momentum to move forward. It seems like WWE would continue with a storyline between The New Day and The Forgotten Sons and I'm all for it. As long as they don't flush The Forgotten Sons down the toilet like they did with The Ascension, I'm okay with it.

Match #3: R-Truth vs MVP

This was basically a filler match. Before it begins, Truth tries to teach MVP how to do the Ballin' in what seemed to be a comedy, but it didn't really make me laugh. It made me smile though, I guess that counts. 

Bobby Lashley makes his way out and it seems like he's taking MVP's spot in the match-up. He just tears through Truth and squashes him. Lashley is the winner.

Perhaps, the WWE is eyeing for Lashley to be managed by MVP and that wouldn't be a bad thing, in my opinion. Anything better than a screaming, cringe-worthy Lana by his side. 

Match #4: Bayley (c) vs Tamina for the SmackDown Women's Championship

Tamina begins the match by mowing through Bayley in the beginning. But soon, the latter gets back in the swing of things and manages to work the leg of Tamina. The match is a little slower than the previous matches on the PPV.

I really appreciate how Bayley has managed to cultivate a bad attitude for her heel role. At first, I thought Heel Bayley wasn't a good thing but now I have developed a soft spot for her. Even in this match, her trash talking, asking for a time out and even at one point, pouring water on Tamina's face, were classic heel attitude and she is doing a good job out of it. 

Sasha Banks helps Bayley retain the title. I expected their friendship drama to take the next step but it didn't. WWE is playing these cards slowly, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Match #5: Braun Strowman (c) vs Bray Wyatt for Universal Championship

Thankfully, we got a match between Bray Wyatt and Braun instead of The Fiend vs Braun. It is a good move by the WWE. That way, they have managed to keep both The Fiend and Braun Strowman safe from each other while also managing to go ahead with the wonderful story that these two have in their history.

The first thing that impressed me about this match (and all other Bray Wyatt's matches) was Bray's characterisation. They have made Bray Wyatt different from The Fiend which adds to the creepiness surrounding his gimmick. Even while making him different, they have also managed to book him strongly. That is a good piece of story writing.

Braun gets the upper hand in the match at first and tells Bray that he's not the same boy he used to be. Wyatt, then gains control and even shows a bit of pain while hurting Braun which can be attributed to the characterisation I mentioned before. 

Strowman kicks out of Sister Abigail. He then wears the black sheep mask and seems to reconcile with Bray, causing the latter to cry out in joy. The Firefly fun house puppets cheer them on but Braun throws the mask down and stamps on it. He then hits the powerslam for the win, telling Bray that he did it all on his own.

A good match with good storytelling.

Match #6: Drew McIntyre (c) vs Seth Rollins for WWE Championship

Seth Rollins has debuted a new theme song for his 'Monday Night Messiah' gimmick. It doesn't seem very good but I'm pretty sure all of us will get used to it before this month ends.

Drew McIntyre draws the first blood in the match but Rollins steps up his game later on. He works on Drew's legs, screaming that it is his 'destiny' to be WWE Champion. We see some good execution of moves from both the wrestlers. Drew comes back into the match with his intense, hard-hitting style. He kicks out at 1 from some moves as the announcers hype his 'resiliency' and reminisce about how he kicked out of Brock Lesnar's F5 at 1 at Wrestlemania.

Seth hits a Superplex followed by a Falcon Arrow, which is my favourite move of his. Drew then launches him off the top rope in an impressive throw. It is followed soon by a Claymore which leads to Drew gaining the victory and retaining his championship.

These two have a fantastic in-ring chemistry and they have delivered what could be considered Match of the Night and maybe even a Match of the Year candidate. McIntyre and Rollins shake hands after the match, displaying a good sportsmanship.

Money In The Bank matches

Let me say this. It really was the most unique Money in the Bank match in history!!

With both the Women's and Men's matches happening at the same time, at WWE Headquarters, this match had plenty of action and fun-filled moments.

The men start fighting in the gym while we see Asuka dive onto the women from a higher floor. She then takes the elevator. We see special appearances from Stephanie McMahon, Bruce Prichard (as Brother Love), Doink the clown and John Laurinaitis during the match. Hell, we even got Paul Heyman and the boss, Vince McMahon himself. We get treated to a food war between the competitors of both the Women's and Men's matches with Paul Heyman witnessing it. AJ Styles is haunted by a poster of The Undertaker and even sees a room with his casket in it. Vince McMahon screams "OUT!" at Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles when they brawl inside his office, and later cleans his hands with hand sanitizer as soon as they leave. 

(For those who want to know, yes, there is a Tyrannosaurus Rex Skull in his office.)

Finally we get to the roof where Asuka manages to grab the Women's Money in the Bank briefcase winning the Women's match. 

Corbin then throws Rey Mysterio and Aleister Black off the roof (seemingly) and tries to get the briefcase and gets into a scuffle with AJ. They both end up taking the briefcase but, thanks to AJ's butterfingers and an interference by Elias, the briefcase falls into Otis's hands making him the winner of the Men's match.

A really worthy match with some good moments. Ofcourse, we didn't get to see men crashing from tall heights and smashing into ladders. We didn't get to see much action with the ladders, which is a disappointment. But the match made up for that, in my opinion.

Conclusion

This PPV was on par with Wrestlemania 36, if not better. It was certainly shorter than that and had some better matches. 

I'm glad that WWE is putting good efforts to give us Entertainment during these trying times. I appreciate that. Especially giving us cinematic matches requires a lot more energy and creative process than just letting the performers perform in a ring. The fact that the company is ready to do that is admirable. I just hope that these cinematic matches don't get overdone and lose out their hype. (Frankly speaking, we have seen 4 cinematic matches in the past forty-five days.)

Overall, a really good PPV. Thank you WWE!

Keep giving us such good shit, Vinnie Mac! 

A Jon Moxley tribute

I came across 'The Shield's Final Chapter' in the WWE Network and after watching it, I couldn't help but decide to write about my most favourite member of The Shield: Dean Ambrose!

More popularly known in the Wrestling world today as Jon Moxley!

I'll take you into a journey of how I fell in love with this character. There are 3 important dates in the timeline of me being a fan of Jon Moxley.

18th November  2012. Back then, I was a pure WWE fan who devotedly watched nothing but RAW and Smackdown alone. I had no idea about any of the independent wrestlers or even NXT. So, as I watched the main event of Survivor series 2012 on the said date, I was in for a surprise. Three men debuted on the show and wrecked havoc, causing CM Punk to pin John Cena and retain the title. Those three men were Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. As soon as I saw what they could do, I was instantly captivated.

They called themselves "The Shield" and went on to dish out 'their brand of justice' on the WWE Superstars at that time. Nobody could stop them. John Cena, Randy Orton, The Rock, The Undertaker, Kane, Big Show, Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Triple H, Batista...every single one of them fell prey to this group. They were literally setting WWE on fire.

I started paying attention to each of these three men and I noticed this one guy who got my attention more than the other two. Roman Reigns was the classic WWE guy, the type of wrestler Vince McMahon loves. The dominant powerhouse of the group. Seth Rollins was the best wrestler of them all, with amazing in-ring skills.

And then there was Dean Ambrose, a guy who didn't fit either bill.

But there was something in him that held my gaze. He had a fire and passion in his eyes that enchanted me. Every time, The Shield cut a promo, I was excited to hear what Ambrose had to say because he was basically the best talker among the three. And inside the ring, he was this unorthodox, rabid lunatic of sorts. He wrestled each move as if his life depended on it. While he didn't have Roman's power or Seth's technique, Ambrose still gave his heart and soul into what he did in the ring. It earned my respect.

I considered him the most dangerous member of The Shield. I'll tell you why.

Imagine being locked up in a fight with three hounds. One of them is the biggest. One of them is the fastest and most athletic. The third one is a rabid, mad dog with foam frothing in its mouth. Which dog would you worry about the most? If you ask me, I would be worried about the rabid dog because it was unpredictable. It could cause more damage than the other two combined.

That was the case here. Dean Ambrose was the rabid hound of The Shield. Unpredictable and unhinged.

With that said, I started liking Ambrose during his tenure with The Shield. He was growing on me.

Then came the next phase...

9th June 2014. The previous week, The Shield had imploded. Seth Rollins stabbed his brothers in the back and joined with Triple H and Randy Orton in what could be considered as one of the most heartbreaking moments in recent history.

On June 9th, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose arrived on RAW to address the situation. In that moment, Dean delivered a promo that I consider to be his best in his WWE tenure. The way he casually threatened to "rearrange Seth's face", his expressions and that intense look in his eyes...it was stunning to see him talk like that. As he finished with "...we're going to listen to every word of it and then we're going to beat the hell out of you" and slammed his microphone down, I found myself gripping the edge of my seat.

Because that was not an ordinary promo that you saw on a daily basis. It was one of those killer promos that grip your heart. It didn't sound like a ProWrestler talking at all. Dean Ambrose sounded like a psychopath who had done such stuff before in his life.

Seeing this, I became a big fan of this man. If there's one thing I absolutely love about ProWrestling, it's the characters. Call me 'Old School' but I love the characters a bit more than what they could do in the ring. Of course, in-ring work excites me. But that isn't the only aspect of ProWrestling, in my opinion. That is where Ambrose won my heart!

He was this raving, loyal, lunatic who would go to any lengths to get what he wanted. Dean Ambrose was a guy who loved getting beaten up. He embraced pain and in some cases, he wanted it so badly. Well, this is the guy who walked up to Brock Lesnar and said "Take me to Suplex City, Baby"! There was a level of heart to his character that utterly charmed me. In a way, he reminded me of the hardcore legend Mick Foley.

So, Ambrose became my favourite and I tuned into RAW every week to see what was up with him. I enjoyed his rivalries with Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens and Bray Wyatt. His performance at Royal Rumble 2016 is still one of my favourites. After the hellacious battle with Kevin Owens, he walked into the Rumble match like a man possessed and fought with so much valor until the end where he was eliminated by Triple H.

At this point, I looked into some of his pre-WWE work. Hailing from a really rough childhood with a lot of bullying, lack of parental care and drug issues, this man had been through a lot. Wrestling was a means of an escape for him. He idolized Bret Hart and bought VHS tapes of old WWF shows and watched them for hours. As he said in one of his interviews, ProWrestling saved his life! In many ways, I was able to relate with him on all of these. 

Plus, I realized that he had wrestled really hardcore matches. He had been slammed into tables, glass panes, light tubes and thumbtacks. He had even had his head sawed by a chainsaw of sorts. Jon Moxley had voluntarily been living a life of pain and suffering before he had come to WWE. Not to mention, a huge amount of drug abuse problems that caused him to lose a lot of weight, thereby reducing his chance of entering into WWE earlier than 2011. 

I also came across several of his promos as Jon Moxley. They were jaw dropping. The man talked like a seriously deranged person and many of his hardcore fans actually compared him to the legendary Heath Ledger's version of the Joker. And in some of his promos, I really did see a shade of that!

That's when I realized that the WWE was underutilizing him. Dean Ambrose was just a kid-friendly, watered down version of Jon Moxley. I dearly wanted to see Jon Moxley as a character on live TV.

Because Dean Ambrose's character was spiralling downwards. Dean was being portrayed as a clown. WWE probably didn't know what they had in their hands and decided to play with it like a little kid. But, then again, this is the company that ruined Kane and Big Show on multiple occassions in a similar way.

They made him dress up like teddy bears, cameramen, spoil fellow wrestler's jackets and worry about some plant named "Mitch". Although I found some of those to be entertaining and funny, it just wasn't befitting someone as talented as Jon Moxley. While Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins were living their careers with flying colours, Jon Moxley who was as much talented as those two men was being underutilized.

Soon, he was turned into a villain. At least, they could have made him into a psychopathic villain, a role he could pull off with perfection. But they didn't. He was made to look like a clown again. He was forced to do things by Vince McMahon that he didn't want to do.

All this led to his departure from the company. He was booked to lose a lot of matches and they tried to embarrass him on his way out.

And then...

25th May 2019. At All Elite Wrestling's first PPV Double or Nothing, Jon Moxley was reborn! I marked out when I saw him walk through the crowd, the arena erupting in cheers. The character I wanted to see in ProWrestling was brought back, thanks to Cody and all the other AEW guys. I still can't forget the sight of Jon Moxley beating up Kenny Omega that night and standing on top of the set, as if he owned ProWrestling in its entirety.

Ever since, this man has shot up to success. His matches in AEW and NJPW were testament to the fact that WWE severely limited his capabilities. He was giving performances that many of us haven't seen him give before. Before long, he successfully captured AEW World Championship and has been the reigning champion ever since.

I find Jon Moxley's story and his onscreen persona to be inspiring. From a very rough childhood to substance abuse problems to an almost fatal staph infection to several downfalls in his career, this man has faced it all. On screen, he is literally one of the toughest performers in AEW today. He doesn't fear anybody, welcomes pain and loves to bust his butt on a day to day basis for the love of ProWrestling. The most endearing aspect about Jon Moxley is that he isn't the best wrestler in the world today. He isn't perfect. In many ways, he is flawed. But he has made it so far in the industry purely based on his passion and heart.

In many ways, he is a kind of modern day Mick Foley!

I would even say Jon Moxley is my spirit animal sometimes. The fact that he has grown accustomed to pain and is willing to endure it absolutely fascinates me and I wish to embody that element in my life.

You know how much I like to quote people. So, I'll end this with a quote by Jon Moxley. It is from one of his best promos ever and it paints a perfect picture of his entire onscreen character.

"I like it when I feel blood pouring out of my head and I hear it hit the canvas with the sound blood makes when it hits the canvas. I like to feel my fingernails digging into the forehead of somebody else. I like to feel when it hurts a little bit. I like to go to bars and bang really ugly girls. I'm just a sick guy...a really dirty guy!"

Wrestlemania 36 Night Two- A Review

So, Night Two of Wrestlemania 36 took place several hours ago and here's the review of it.

As I said, I watched this show with very less expectations, after suffering some disappointments the previous night.

Let's dive in.

Match #1: Natalya vs Liv Morgan

This was the match on the kick off show. Like the kick off match between Cesaro and Gulak the previous night, this match was a bit short. They trade holds and exchange some near falls early on in the match. Nattie dominates Liv for sometime, displaying her veteran experience. Some near falls later, Liv picks up the victory by a roll up, upsetting Natalya.

Again, a good short match which could have been better, given the talents of these two competitors.

Wrestlemania 36 Night Two officially starts and we're shown the same intro video package we were shown yesterday. My opinion on it still remains the same. 

We proceed to the next match.

Match #2: Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley (c) for the NXT Women's championship

Both are my favourite wrestlers on the roster today and they didn't disappoint. Charlotte and Rhea engaged in a very physical match-up that easily outshone the performance of Becky-Shayna the previous night. They were both evenly matched in some ways. At no point did I get the feeling that Rhea was just a rookie facing off against a top star like Charlotte. She gave an impressive showing and this will be remembered as one the best matches in her career on the Grandest Stage. It is a good thing for Ripley.

Charlotte, as usual, showed shades of her daddy in her performance and put up a good match. Although I found the execution of some moves to be sloppy, this was really good. In the end, they executed some submission moves on each other with Charlotte picking up the win with the Figure 8 and becoming the new NXT Women's champion.

Charlotte seems to be building a career where she's drowning in gold. I agree with people when they say she's being over-pushed. But, I still can't find it in myself to hate her because I'm a huge fan of what she can do in the ring. Hopefully, Charlotte being back in NXT is just the thing the division needs.

Anyway, this match really satisfied me and put a smile on my face. 

 Match #3: Aleister Black vs Bobby Lashley

As I expected, Bobby tried to dominate Black with his power but the latter tried his best to fight back with his admirable striking abilities. Lashley gets the early advantage in the match and Black retaliates later on. What I liked about this match was the fine execution of the moves. It was really gratifying to watch.

As Lashley for going to put Black away for good, Lana screams at him to hit a spear on Black. Lashley listens to his on-screen wife and goes for a spear, only to run into a Black Mass. Aleister Black picks up the victory.

There was nothing special or "Wrestlemania worthy" about this match but it was a quality one.  

Match #4: Dolph Ziggler vs Otis

After a long time, WWE has managed to carve up a romantic storyline that is actually enjoyable. Otis and Ziggler have been entertaining us on Smackdown with this storyline. The recent reveal on Smackdown by the unknown "Truth stranger" as I call him (bad name, bear with me!) made this pretty interesting. The match was a decent one too.

Otis showed a bit of aggression on Dolph but the latter tries to wear him down with his skill. We reach the point where Sonya distracts the referee allowing Ziggler to go low on Otis. This leads to Mandy Rose interfering (obviously!) who slaps Sonya and low blows Ziggler when the referee wasn't watching. Otis hits the caterpillar and wins this one. 

Otis and Mandy unite and they share a kiss. I'm sure the crowd would have loved it, had they been there!

I'm interested to see where this one goes from here...

Match #5 Edge vs Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match

This rivalry has been carrying RAW on its shoulders since Royal Rumble. Edge and Orton have dished out a phenomenal feud that would be remembered for ages. And this match was a testimonial to how wonderful storytellers these two performers are.

Orton, disguised as a cameraman, hits an RKO before the match even starts. They then begin brawling in the gym, backstage area, office area and even a storage facility of sorts. They're both aggressive and this was a very physical match. Their supposed on-screen hatred for each other and the personal nature of their rivalry bled into this match and made it worth watching. 

However, there weren't many jaw opening spots during most of the match-up. They were just brawling. But as we reach the end, Edge dived off from a height onto Orton on a table. The latter then DDTed Edge on top of a pickup truck. Then, things got even more riveting as Orton goes for the punt kick but Edge spears him. He goes for another spear but this time, it's countered by an RKO. Orton then goes for the Con-Chair-To on Edge but gets stopped. Edge, then tearfully, with so much emotion in his eyes, hits Con-Chair-To on Randy Orton which earns him the victory.

The final moments were just magic! 

Match #6 Street Profits (c) vs Angel Garza and Austin Theory for RAW Tag Team Championships

Profits get the first bite and get fired up but then the heels manage to gain control. This was a very energetic match from the start to the end. Garza hit a beautiful moonsault that I absolutely loved watching. 

Street Profits secured the victory and retained their titles. But they get beat down by the heels following the match. Vega gets involved too. And in response, guess who shows up? The EST of NXT, Bianca Belair! She makes the save and Street Profits stand tall with Belair on their shoulders.

The crowd would probably have popped big for Belair's entry. We missed that. Hopefully, this is Bianca's debut on the main roster. More importantly, I hope they don't screw her booking like they did with many of the previous NXT call ups because I love Bianca Belair a lot!

Match #7: Sasha Banks vs Bayley (c) vs Naomi vs Lacey Evans vs Tamina in a Fatal 5 way elimination match for Smackdown Women's championship

I wasn't much interested in this anyway. I didn't enjoy Bayley's heel run till now and that made me lose interest in her matches. But I watched this match, hoping to see a rift between Sasha and Bayley.

As the match starts, everyone goes for Tamina but she powers out. She dominates for sometime but everyone joins forces to eliminate her first. Soon after that, Naomi gets eliminated. Banks and Bayley team up on Lacey for sometime and then Lacey manages to put away Banks, following a miscommunication/disagreement between Bayley and Sasha. Lacey and Bayley wrestle and put up a good show before Banks comes back and helps Bayley retain the title.

Bayley celebrates as Sasha looks on, with a questionable expression on her face.  

The subtle drama between Sasha and Bayley along with Lacey's admirable performance makes this match worth watching.

Match #8: John Cena vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt in a Firefly Fun House match

This is probably one of the most unique things that has happened in Wrestlemania history. You can't even call this a match. It was just a pure psychological manipulation of John Cena by Bray Wyatt.

As soon as Cena walks through the door of Firefly fun house, Bray Wyatt takes Cena in a journey into the past where he has to fight with his own demons, with his own former self. We see revisits (or parodies) of John Cena's debut, his Dr. of Thuganomics shtick and so on. In each of them, Cena tries to gain an upper hand but Wyatt simply disappears. Then comes the best part. Wyatt, channeling Eric Bischoff, introduces "Hollywood Hulk Hogan" who turns out to be Cena in NWO shirt playing guitar with the title. (At this point, Vince on commentary goes, "This is such good shit" and that made me laugh my butt off.) Wyatt thus, compares Cena to Hogan who turned into a bad guy when he joined New World Order. Then, we see a revisit of Cena and Wyatt from Wrestlemania 30 and this time Wyatt manages to get Cena to swing at him with a chair, something the latter refused to do six years ago. 

Thus, Cena successfully falls prey to his own demons and swings the chair at Wyatt, hinting a heel turn. At this point, The Fiend appears and squashes John Cena for the victory.

I'm really confused about a lot of things in this match. I don't know if I even understand it completely. Hell, I don't think any of us do. But, the storytelling in this match is way off the charts. Bray Wyatt psychologically manipulated John Cena into fighting his demons and made him lose the fight. That is some kind of psychological mind games I've never seen in WWE in recent memory. 

Although, I wish there had been more wrestling to this, I still appreciate the match. Those who don't understand 'The Fiend' gimmick are hating on this match but a vast majority of hardcore fans are loving this. I'm very eager to see how this goes from here. I'm literally praying John Cena turns heel following this...Please, Vince, make it come true!

Match #9: Drew McIntyre vs Brock Lesnar (c) for WWE Championship

This was a disappointment. This was a bit of a mirror image of Goldberg vs Braun Strowman from the previous night. Brock hits 3 F5s on Drew but couldn't get the job done. McIntyre retaliates with four Claymore kicks and wins this match.

I hate such matches. With Goldberg and Strowman, I didn't care much. Goldberg's career has many matches like that. That's how the guy works! But for Drew and Brock, I expected something better. Remember Brock Lesnar vs Daniel Bryan? Remember Brock vs AJ Styles? That was the type of match I was expecting and instead I was given a Goldberg-esque matchup.

Fine. Atleast, I'm happy we have full time Wrestlers as champions in Drew and Braun! Congratulations to both of them. Again, I wish there had been an audience to make this moment more special for them.

Conclusion

First, I respect the fact that WWE gave us Wrestlemania. They could have postponed it or cancelled it like many sporting events. But they decided to go forward. By doing so, they were taking a risk. A big one. So, I respect their courage to go ahead, do something like this and give the fans a show. Thank You WWE!

And, the show turned out to be pretty good. 

This wasn't one of the best Wrestlemanias ever. It certainly doesn't deserve that honor. But it is definitely the most unique Wrestlemania I've watched. Putting on a show without people, last minute changes to the line-up, cinematic match of AJ-Taker and pyschological exhibition of Cena-Fiend have made this Wrestlemania unique to me.

I agree, some matches could have been better. Some endings could have been better. But the other matches made up for those flaws.