Sunday 14 June 2015

WWE Money in the Bank 2015 Preview


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WWE Money in the Bank takes place this evening at the Nationwide Arena in Colombus, Ohio. It's the time where we get to crown a WWE World Heavyweight Champion in waiting. So, who will it be? Let's look at the card.

Ryback will defend his Intercontinental Championship against The Big Show. I can't see this being a great match but it's a tough one to call. I can't see Ryback losing the Championship after a few weeks so I'll think he'll win. However, I won't be surprised if he loses.
Predicted Winner: Ryback

The Tag Team Championships are on the line as The Prime Time Players challenge The New Day (Sucks). This should be an interesting contest and it's interesting seeing The New Day as heels. I can see The Prime Time Players winning but I don't think they will.
Predicted Winners: The New Day

Paige will challenge Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship. Nikki has been Champion for over 6 months so I think it's time for a change. I think that Paige will win here.
Predicted Winner: Paige

John Cena will take on NXT Champion Kevin Owens. It was great to see Owens beat Cena clean at Elimination Chamber. However, a rematch was set up almost straight away and I can't see Owens beating Cena twice in a row. I think that Cena will win here.
Predicted Winner: John Cena

Roman Reigns, Corporate Kane, Neville, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton and Sheamus will take part in the 2015 Money in the Bank match. It should be an entertaining contest but I can only see Reigns winning.
Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

The main event will be a ladder match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as Dean Ambrose challenge Seth Rollins.  I'm really looking forward to this match and I can see both guys winning. In the end, I think that Rollins will win.
Predicted Winner: Seth Rollins

I will endeavour to see the event over the week and my Payback review will be up during the week. Also, check out my podcast for my series celebrating 10 years of the Money in the Bank ladder match.

Friday 12 June 2015

Dusty Rhodes (1945-2015)




It was reported by WWE that Virgil Riley Runnels Jr, better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, had passed away yesterday at the age of 69. According to reports, emergency personnel were called to his home in Orlando, Florida and he passed away in hospital.

Rhodes was trained by Joe Blanchard and started his career in 1974 as a member of the Texas Outlaws along with Dick Murdoch. Over his career, he wrestled for the territories in the NWA; Jim Crockett Promotions, which became WCW; Florida Championship Wrestling; AWA: WWE; ECW: TNA and various independent promotions before retiring from wrestling in 2007. He was also an announcer for WCW in the early years of the Monday Night Wars. He was a 3-time NWA Champion, which was part of over 40 Championships in his career; and he is a member of the WCW, WWE and NWA Halls of Fame.

Rhodes has left behind one of the greatest legacies that a professional wrestler could ever leave. As a booker for WCW, he has been credited for creating many of their Pay-Per-Views and gimmicks as well as "The Dusty Finish", in which a match would end in controversy after the referee is knocked out. Dusty was the manager of Ron Simmons when he defeated Vader to become the first African-American man to win the WCW Championship in 1992. His legacy continues today as his two sons wrestle as Goldust and Stardust in the WWE and he was a trainer at NXT.

I don't have many memories of him as a wrestler as he had just left WWE when I first started watching wrestling. I saw videos of him wrestling with a woman named Sapphire in her corner and his theme tune, which I loved as a kid during this time and I thought he was a great wrestler and I was sorry that I didn't see more of him.

Fans of the current product will remember as the General Manager of NXT and in 2013, being in the corners of his sons as they fought The Shield and The Authority to get their jobs back. He was last seen on WWE TV on the February 12th 2015 edition of RAW.

Tributes from people such as Ric Flair, Seth Rollins, Mean Gene Okerlund, and Triple H have come in; and it has shown the level of reverence and respect that people in the wrestling world held for him. I leave you with 2 videos. The first one is the theme tune that he had while he was in the WWE; and The "Hard Times" promo, which is possibly the best babyface promo of all time.



Dusty is survived by his wife, four children and three grand children. Thanks for the memories Dusty and we will miss you.

Monday 8 June 2015

WWE Extreme Rules 2015 Review

WWE Extreme Rules took place at the AllState Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Chicago crowds are one of the best in the country and they tend to have pretty good PPVs. Will this one continue the trend? Let's take a look.

The first match of the PPV was Dean Ambrose facing Luke Harper in a Chicago Street Fight.Harper suplexed Ambrose onto a chair then sent him head first into another chair set up between the ropes. The action goes outside then backstage. They continue fighting then both get into a SUV and drive off...Wait, what? Apparently, the match is continuing and the crowd are not happy with this and neither am I. This is not the way to start the PPV but we will continue this later on.

The next match is a Kiss Me Arse match between Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus. Early on. Ziggler reversed him getting thrown into the steps into a tornado DDT. which was pretty good. Sheamus beats down on Ziggler back in the ring and goes for the Brogue Kick but he gets rolled up for 2. Ziggler gets Sheamus in an inside cradle and gets the win. Afterwards, Sheamus decides to be a dick and low blows Ziggler. He then smothers his bare arse all over Ziggler. Delightful. The match was pretty good. They are both good workers and even though he looks like a fucking idiot, I am quite enjoying Sheamus' heel run.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Predictions: 0 for 1

The Tag Team Championships are on the line as The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E with Xavier Woods) challenge Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. Kidd gets worked over by Kofi and Big E before Cesaro gets tagged in. He goes for the giant swing but catapults Kofi instead. Later on, Kidd puts Kofi in a sharpshooter. The end comes when Xavier Woods distracts the referee and Natalya slaps him then he gets a kick to the head by Kidd. Kofi rolls up Cesaro and has a handful of tights to help them get the win and become the new Tag Team Champions. This was a solid match and I look forward how Kidd and Cesaro go as faces.
Winners: The New Day
Predictions: 0 for 2

We now return to the Chicago Street Fight as Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper return to the arena. Ambrose gets a shitload of chairs from under the ring and Harper hits a powerbomb. In the end, Ambrose throws Harper off the top rope onto the chairs then does dirty deeds onto the chairs to get the win. It was a decent match but I felt that it didn't need them to go off for over 45 minutes.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Predictions: 0 for 3


Next is a Russian Chain Match for the United States Championship as Rusev challenges John Cena. The rules are that you have to get to all the turnbuckles consecutively while connected to a chain...? Wait, what? Ok, this is really fucking stupid. You can't have Rusev destroying people wrapping chains on their faces then have a match like this. As soon as I heard the rules, I completely lost interest. As I expected, Cena wins. Most of the time, I understand the PG era of the WWE. However, I feel that it does hinder things. This is a prime example of this.
Winner: John Cena
Predictions: 1 for 4

We now get the Divas Championship match as Naomi challenges  Nikki Bella. Naomi goes for the rear view early on but Nikki held onto the ropes to avoid it. After trading nearfalls, Naomi gets caught up in the ropes and this gives Brie the opportunity to kick her in the head. Nikki then hits the rack attack to get the win. Afterwards, Naomi complains to the referee. It was a decent match but with both the competitors are heels so it was hard to find someone to cheer. It looks like WWE are planning to make the Bellas as faces, which makes no fucking sense. At the minute, there isn't anyone to cheer in the Divas division who hasn't left or is injured. Anyway, we'll see.
Winner: Nikki Bella
Predictions: 1 for 5

The penultimate match is a Last Man Standing match between Roman Reigns and Big Show. Highlights of the match include: Show punching Reigns as he came off the top rope for a count of 7; Reigns putting Show through a table with a Samoan drop; Reigns hitting 2 Superman punches then getting chokeslammed over the top rope into 2 tables for a 9 count; and Reigns spearing Show through the timekeeper's barricade. In the end, Reigns spears Show through the Spanish announce table. When Show starts to get up, Reigns dumped him under the English announce table. Show couldn't get up is counted to 10, giving Reigns the win. This was a generally good match, although it would have been nice for Reigns to win without resorting to pinning down Show with a table. Hey, at least it wasn't duct tape.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Predictions: 2 for 6

The main event is a steel cage match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as Seth Rollins defends the title against Randy Orton. Rollins early on tries to climb up the cage but Orton pulls him down. J&J Security come down to help out Rollins. They climb up the cage but Orton throws Rollins into the cage, knocking them down. Orton then calls for the RKO but it's banned so he hits a pedigree instead, for a 2 count. Later on, Orton tries to leave through the cage door but Kane bloack it. Rollins goes for a dropkick but he knockes down Kane into the steel steps. When Kane recoers, he comes into the cage, chokeslams Mercury and Noble, then Rollins and Orton. He then drapes Seth's arm over Orton but Orton just kicks out. In the end, Kane tries to tombstone Orton but he gets a RKO instead. Rollins then RKOs Orton and climbs out of the cage to get the win. It was quite an entertaining match but for once, I would like to see a cage match that is not compromised.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Predictions: 3 for 7

I thought that Extreme Rules was ok and a step down from Wrestlemania. I know that every PPV won't be of a high standard but it would be nice to have a good one after Wrestlemania. Ah well, maybe next year.