Wednesday 27 April 2016

WWE Wrestlemania 32 Review

The flasgship event of the WWE, Wrestlemania 32, took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. With over 100,000 people expected to be there, will the event live to the last few Wrestlemanias? Let's take a look.

The first match on the Kick Off Show was for the United States Championship as Ryback challenges Kalisto. Ryback, who is also 120lbs heavier than Kalisto, threw him round like a rag doll for most of the match. Kalisto gets back into it after reversing a Shell Shock into a DDT. In the end, Kalisto hits a drop toe hold, sending Ryback into an exposed turnbuckle. He then hit the Salida Del Sol to get the win. I thought this was a decent match and a good way to begin the event.
Winner: Kalisto (1 for 1)

Next is the Divas Tag Team Match with Team Total Divas (Paige, Eva Marie, Alicia Fox, Natalya and Brie Bella) taking on Team B.A.D. and Blonde (Lana, Emma, Naomi, Tamina and Summer Rae). I was fully expecting this to be a clusterfuck but they got quite a decent amount of time. I was quite surprised that Paige was the one to take the beating from her opponents. However, it makes sense as both teams are a mix of faces and heels and I knew that Brie wasn't going to do it as I believed she would get the win. Anyway, Paige sends Emma into the turnbuckle giving her the chance to give the hot tag to Brie. After some chaos, Brie manages to get Naomi to submit to the Yes Lock to get the win. The match wasn't perfect with some glaring mini botches. However, I thought it was fun to watch and I was quite surprised by Eva Marie, who I think did more wrestling moves than her last 3 NXT matches combined.
Winners: Team Total Divas (2 for 2)

After we get Lita unveil the new Woman's Championship belt (about fucking time, if you ask me), we get The Usos taking on The Dudley Boyz. The Dudleys immediately go after Jimmy Uso and wear him down. Jimmy manages to tag in Jey after hitting Bubba Ray with a super kick. In the end, Jey stops the Dudleys doing a 3D and Jimmy hits a super kick on D-Von to get the win. Afterwards, the Dudleys try to powerbomb them through some tables but The Usos turned the tables and splashed them through the tables instead. I think this match was about 5 minutes, which is far too short for a tag team match. Otherwise, the match wasn't too bad.
Winners: The Usos (2 for 3)

Wrestlemania officially started with the ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship as Kevin Owens  faced the challenges of Stardust, Sin Cara 2.0, Zack Ryder, Sami Zayn, Hollywood Miz and Dolph Ziggler. Highlights of the match include: Sami and Owens fighting it out; Sami doing a suicide dive through a ladder onto his opponents then doing his dive through the turnbuckle into a tornado DDT on Owens;Stardust setting up a polka dotted ladder; Owens hitting a pop up powerbomb on The Miz; and Sami hitting an exploder suplex sending Owens onto a ladder. In the end, Miz climbs up and, thinking he's the only one left, takes decades to go for the belt. This gives Ryder the chance to push Miz off the ladder and grab the belt to win the match...? Wait, what the fuck?! Zack Ryder is the new Intercontinental Champion?! I don't think anyone saw that coming. I thought that Sami would win and feud with Owens over the title. Despite that, I'm happy that Ryder won. Shame he lost it to The Miz the following night.
Winner: Zack Ryder (2 for 4)

Next is Chris Jericho taking on AJ Styles. Like their match at Fastlane, this was another enjoyable contest; especially since we now have Heel Jericho, which is oneof my favourite things to see in wrestling. Jericho almost wins it when he avoids a springboard Superman punch and hits a codebreaker. Styles hits some big moves like the Styles Clash and the springboard 450 splash, but he can't keep Jericho down. In the end, Styles goes for the phenomenal forearm but Jericho countered it into a codebreaker to get the win.
Winner: Chris Jericho (2 for 5)

 Next is a tag team match with The New Day taking on The League of Nations (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and Rusev) . Woods gets beaten down by the League of Nations very early on before hitting Sheamus with a DDT in order to get the hot tag to Kofi. However, in the end, Wade Barrett, who was on the outside, hits Woods with the bull hammer followed by a Brogue Kick by Sheamus to get the win.

Afterwards, Barrett does some bragging and we get Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley and Stone Cold Steve Austin come out and destroy the League of Nations. They then briefly dance with The New Day before Stone Cold stuns Woods. They then share some beers in the ring. The match wasn't that great but it was nice to see 3 Hall of Famers in the ring.
Winners: League of Nations (2 for 6)

Next was the street fight between Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose. Lesnar was dominant, hitting 9 German suplexes before receiving a low blow.Ambrose used chairs, kendo sticks and a fire extinguisher. However, it was not enough as Lesnar hit 4 more suplexes followed by a F5 onto a pile of steel chairs to get the win. I thought the match was pretty decent but I felt it ended a bit too abruptly.
Winner: Brock Lesnar (3 for 7)

Next we get to honour the Hall of Fame Class of 2016: The Fabulous Freebirds, The Godfather,  The Big Boss Man, Jacqueline, Stan Hansen, Snoop Dogg, Warrior Award Winner Joan Lunden, and Sting. I thought that it was a good class this year. I was quite surprised that Godfather was inducted but the rest are thoroughly deserved, especially Sting.

Now a match that I was really looking forward to: Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch challenging Charlotte for the Divas Women's Championship. This went at quite a fast pace and Sasha had a good chance when she frog splashed Charlotte while she had Becky in the figure four. There was a great move when Charlotte had Sasha in the Figure 8 and Becky pulled Sasha out of the ring. In the end, Sasha puts Becky in the Banks Statement but Charlotte throws Sasha out of the ring and puts Becky in the Figure 8. Sasha tries to intervene but she's stopped by Ric Flair and Becky taps out, making Charlotte the winner. I really enjoyed the match and I loved the ending. Whilst I'm a fan of Becky, it looks like it will be Charlotte facing Sasha for the foreseeable future and I can't wait to see it.
Winner: Charlotte (3 for 8)

Now, possibly the most interesting match on the show: Shane McMahon taking on The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match. Undertaker was dominant and hit a Last Ride early on for a 2 count. Shane does get back into it for a little bit and hits a coast to coast, sending a dustbin into Tker. He then gets tackled out of the cell and gets put through the Spanish announce table. Shane tries to return the favour but he misses an elbow drop from the top of the cell and crashes through the English announce table. Undertaker then carries Shane back into the cell and hits the Tombstone to get the win.  The match was pretty decent and I would say that it was nice to see Shane do an one off. However, the next night Vince gives him control of RAW anyway. It begs the question: what was the point of the match?
Winner: The Undertaker (4 for 9)

Next is the third annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The competitors were: Adam Rose, Baron Corbin, Big Show, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, Damien Sandow, Darren Young, Diamond Dallas Page, Goldust, Heath Slater, Jack Swagger, Kane, Konnor,  Mark Henry, R-Truth, Shaquille O'Neal, Tatanka, Tyler Breeze and Viktor. After a little while, the final foru were: Baron Corbin, Bo Dallas, Darren Young and Kane. Kane eliminates Dallas and Young but Corbin eliminates Kane to win the match. I was very surprised that Crobin not only was in the match but went on to win it. I have been enjoying his work in NXT and hopefully it leads to a successful time on the main roster.
Winner: Baron Corbin (4 for 10)

We get a segment with The Rock announcing an attendance record gets interrupted by the Wyatt Family. It ends up being an impromptu match between The Rock and Erick Rowan, which Rock wins in 6 seconds after a Rock Bottom. When the Wyatts go to attack Rock, John Cena returns and helps to destroy the Wyatts. It was a decent little segment and whilst I'm not a fan of Cena, it was nice to see him back.
Winner: The Rock (N/A)

The main event is for the World Heavyweight Championship as Roman Reigns challenges Triple H. Triple H gets the advantage after hitting a low blow and he does a sweet move when Reigns is on top of the GErman announce table and Triple HHH hits a swinging neckbreaker.Reigns goes get back into it and hits a spear but Stephanie McMahon pulls out the referee (which is apparently, not a disqualification). Stephanie then goes into the ring to argue with the referee and gets accidentally speared by Reigns. In the end, Triple H decides to blatantly cheat and tries to use a sledgehammer. However, Reigns hits 2 Superman punches and a spear to win the match. I thought the match was ok but it was too long for my liking.
Winner: Roman Reigns (5 for 11)

I thought that Wrestlemania was a decent event. It had a few good matches and a few pleasant surprises. However, WWE seem determined to force Reigns down our throats and a lot of fans, who feel that they are more deserving wrestlers out there, are not happy about it. Hopefully, they will find a way to get Reigns over. 

Sunday 3 April 2016

WWE Wrestlemania 32 Preview


The Showcase of the Immortals, Wrestlemania 32, will be taking this evening at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. With over 100,000 people watching, it hopes to be an amazing event. Let's look at the card and foind out.

There will be 3 matches on the Kick Off Show and the first will be The Usos taking on The Dudley Boyz.  This is a tough one to call but I'm going for the Dudleys to win here.
Predicted Winners: The Dudley Boyz

 The second match will be for the United States Championship as Ryback challenges Kalisto. This match depends on whether they want Kalisto to return to tag team wrestling. I don't think they will do that yet so I'm going for Kalisto to win here.
Predicted Winner: Kalisto

The third match will be a ten Divas tag team match will The Total Divas (Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Eva Marie, Natalya and Paige) taking on B.A.D. and Blonde (Emma, Lana, Naomi, Tamina and Summer Rae). Due to the fact that they have some wrestlers, like Emma and Paige, and bad ones, like Naomi and Alicia Fox; I can imagine this being a two minute clusterfuck. I hope not and I'm going for Total Divas to win here.
Predicted Winners: Total Divas

 We have the 3rd Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The announced participants are: Heath Slter, Adam Rose, Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, Kane, Big Show, Mark Henry, Tyler Breeze, Jack Swaghger, Fandango, Konnor, Viktor, Goldust, R-Truth, Darren Young and Damien Sandow. I can see a lot of these guys but I'm going completely left field and going for Damien Sandow to win.
Predicted Winner: Damien Sandow

We will be getting a 3-on-4 handicap match as The New Day will take on The League of Nations. I feel that The New Day will win here.
Predicted Winners: The New Day

Now, in one of several matches that I'm looking forward to, we have AJ Styles taking on Chris Jericho. While I feel that Jericho could in it, I feel that Styles will do instead.
Predicted Winner: AJ Styles

Another one that I'm looking forward is a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship with Sami Zayn, Stardust, Dolph Ziggler, Zack Ryder, The Miz, Sin Cara challenging Kevin Owens. I can see either Zayn or Owens winning but I'm going for Zayn to win here.
Predicted Winner: Sami Zayn

The Divas Championship will be a triple threat match with Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks challenge Charlotte. I'm looking forward to this one and I think that Sasha will win here.
Predicted Winner: Sasha Banks

Dean Ambrose will face Brock Lesnar in a street fight. This match has the potential to be an insane match and I can see Ambrose having a chance. However, I think that Lesnar will win here.
Predicted Winner: Brock Lesnar

Now, a match I'm interested in watching: Shane McMahon facing The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match. I can't see Shane although it would be interesting to see. I feel that Undertaker will win this.
Predicted Winner: The Undertaker

The main event will be for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship with Roman Reigns challenging Triple H. Despite WWE's best efforts, the fans can't get into Roman Reigns. I would love Triple H to win here, I think that Reigns will win here to possibly 100,000 fans booing.
Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns

I won't get to see the event til later the week. Until then, I hope you guys enjoy the show.