Lo-Down Wrestling Awards 2019

It's time for the 2019 Lo-Down Wrestling Awards. To be honest, I was not a fan of some of the wrestling, especially by WWE, over the last year. However, there were some good moments. So, let's give out some awards.

Feud of the Year
Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano
A feud that started due to a long term injury to Tommaso Ciampa led to 3 Takeover main events, 2 guys getting their 1st NXT Championship, and (spoiler alert) 2 other Lo-Down Wrestling awards. Solid gold throughout the feud.

PPV of the Year
Survivor Series

Aside a couple of lapses in logic, I thought that Survivor Series was the best show of the year. It had a lot of good matches and an interesting story that developed throughout.

Most Surprising Moment of the Year
NXT Winning Survivor Series

I was convinced that NXT would lose all their matches. Therefore, I was surprised that they won most of them. Shame that it didn't really lead to anything.

Douchebag of the Year
WWE

WWE, once again, wins this mostly due to their continuing blood money relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Video of the Year
Chris Jericho's Promo Video, AEW Dynamite 6th November 2019
This video was made in response to a video by Cody Rhodes in the lead up to their match at AEW Full Gear. Everything about it was perfect. Sammy Guevara saying that Jericho is the youngest AEW Champion always make me laugh.
https://youtu.be/M0WsXcPNZSo

Moment of the Year
Kofi Kingston Winning the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania
A moment that was over 10 years in the making finally happened as KofiMania reached its pinnacle and became the best moment of the year.


Worst Match of the Year
Undertaker vs Goldberg, WWE Super Show-Down
This match was a clusterfuck. They both did moves that threatened the safety of their opponents and was worrying to watch. You would think that they would realise that perhaps they should stop wrestling. However, based on the fact that they are taking part at this year's Wrestlemania, I guess not.

Tag Team of the Year
Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish
A great year for this team. They took part in great matches and regained the NXT Tag Team Championship.

Most Improved Wrestler

Rhea Ripley

Ripley started out as the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion. She went on to take part in the first ever Women's War Games Match, was instrumental in NXT's victory at Survivor Series; and ended the year as NXT Women's Champion.

Match of the Year
Adam Cole vs Johnny Gargano, NXT Takeover: New York
This was a great match that had everything going into it. The crowd was amazing and it led to one of the feel good moments in NXT history.

Honorable Mention
Private Party vs The Young Bucks, AEW Dynamite 9th October 2019
This was the first time that I had seen both teams and this was an amazing match. Private Party winning was a surprise but it got them over and made me a fan.

Female Wrestler of the Year
Becky Lynch
It's been a great year for "The Man", winning the first women's main event in Wrestlemania history. Lynch went to be RAW Women's Champion for the rest of the year.

Male Wrestler of the Year
Chris Jericho
Jericho has helped get AEW on its feet by being its first ever Champion. Along with forming the Inner Circle, he had been the most entertaining part of AEW Dynamite.

Wrestlemania 36 Part 2 Review

The second night of Wrestlemania took place on Sunday 5th April at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The first night wasn't too bad so let's see how the second night goes.

The Kick Off Show featured Natalya taking on Liv Morgan. Natalya uses her experience to get the advantage. However, after a few minutes, Morgan manages to get the win. The match wasn't great.
Winner: Liv Morgan

The first match of the night is one that I was really looking forward to seeing: Charlotte Flair challenging Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women's Championship. Charlotte taunts Ripley early on but Ripley hits the Riptide to get a 2 count. This gives her the chance to get the advantage. However, Charlotte injures the left knee and focuses her offence on it. Ripley gets back into it and almost gets Charlotte to submit with a standing cloverleaf. However, in the end, Charlotte gets Ripley to submit to the Figure 8 and become the new NXT Women's Champion, This was a really good match and I'm interested to see how they handle Charlotte on NXT. As for Ripley, she has been awesome over the last year and I'm confident that she'll bounce back.
Winner: Rhea Ripley

The next match is Aleister Black taking on Bobby Lashley. Lashley avoids a moonsault and hits an overhead belly-to-belly suplex to get the advantage. Lashley hits power moves to keep Black down. On Lana's recommendation, Lashley goes for a pear. However, that turns out to be a bad idea as he runs into a Black Mask, which gives Black the win. The match was pretty good and it looks like it's set the foundations for the break up of Lana and Lashley.
Winner: Aleister Black

We now get Otis taking on Dolph Ziggler. Otis uses his weight against Ziggler but Ziggler's quickness quickly gets him the advantage. Otis catapults Ziggler into the turnbuckle and this gives him the opportunity to make a comeback. Otis goes for the caterpillar but Sonya Deville distracts the referee and Ziggler hits a low blow. This prompts Mandy Rose to come out and bitch slap Deville and roll her into the ring. When the referee tries to get Deville out, Rose hits Ziggler with a low blow. Otis then hits the caterpillar and gets the win and the girl. The match wasn't a masterpiece but it was fun to watch.
Winner: Otis

Next is Edge's first singles match in 9 years as he takes on Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match. Orton disguised himself as a cameraman and he surprises Edge with a RKO. When Edge recovers and the bell rings, Orton hits another RKO and he goes on to dominate the early going. The match goes all over the Performance Center and ends up on top of a trailer. Orton goes for the one man con-chairto but Edge puts Orton him in a choke hold then hits him with the con-chairto to get the win. Except for the beginning and the end, I found this to be a disappointment. The match is the 2nd longest match in Wrestlemania history and it was far too long. This match had a really good build and I feel like the match didn't live up to it.
Winner: Edge

After Ron Gronkowski pins Mojo Rawley to become the 24/7 Champion, we get the RAW Tag Team Championship as AOP Andrade Austin Theory(?) and Angel Garza challenge The Street Profits. After Theory throws Angelo Dawkins out of the ring, Graza super kicks him while the referee is distracted to give his team the advantage. Dawkins avoids a clothesline by Garza to get the hot tag to Montez Ford. In the end, Theory hits a TKO on Dawkins but Ford breaks up the pin by hitting a frog splash. Dawkins then pins Theory to get the win. Garza, Theory and Zelina Vega don't take the loss well and beat up The Street Profits. This prompts Bianca Belair to come out and make the save.This was a fun match to watch.
Winners: The Street Profits

The next match is a Fatal 5-Way Elimination Match for the Smackdown Women's Championship as Lacey Evans, Naomi, Sasha Banks and Tamina challenge Bayley. The first woman to be eliminayed is Tamina as they all team up to pin her. Banks gets Naomi to submit to the Banks Statement but she gets eliminated thanks to a Women's Right by Evans. In the end, Banks returns and hits Evans with the back stabber. Bayley follows that up with the Rose Plant to get the win. The match was pretty decent.
Winner: Bayley

The penultimate is a Firefly House Match between John Cena and Bray Wyatt. The basic story of the match is Wyatt referencing parts of his and Cena's wrestling history such as his debut against Kurt Angle and Cena being the Doctor of Thuganomics, and Wyatt's gimmick when he debuted on the main roster. We then get a NwO reference as Cena then attacks Wyatt. Wyatt turns into a puppet and The Fiend then hits Sister Abigail and technically pins Cena to get the win...? This was batshit insane and it was fun to watch in a way. It was also quite thought provoking if you really look at it and probablyt the most unique thing that WWE have ever done. I think that this would have been a disaster if Cena wasn't involved. I don't think where both guys go on from here but I'm interested to see what happens.
Winner: Bray Wyatt

The main event is Drew McIntyre challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. McIntyre hits the Claymore Kick almost immediately to get a 2 count. Lesnar goes to hit 3 German suplexes and a F-5 but McIntyre kicks out at 1. Lesnar hits 2 more F-5s but McIntyre kicks out each time. McIntyre goes on to hit 3 Claymore Kicks to get the win. This match wasn't great as it was just finishers and suplexes and it had the same format as the Strowman/Goldberg match from the night before. Having said that, McIntyre is the first Scotsman to become the WWE Champion and, as a fellow Scotsman, I'm really happy for him.
Winner: Drew McIntyre

I thought that Wrestlemania was pretty decent over the two nights. The circumstances surrounding the event did lead to some things that you couldn't do with a live crowd. However, there are some great moments in the event that are hurt because of the lack of crowd reaction. That's quite sad. As for the foreseeable future, Florida have issued a stay-at-home order (finally!) yet WWE have taped some shows and are planning to have their Money in the Bank event in May. I'm quite torn that the WWE are still doing some shows but I don't think they should be building to another PPV. Let's see how they will handle it.

Wrestlemania 36 Part 1 Review

The first night of Wrestlemania 36 took place at the Raymond James...wait, sorry. I meant the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Not only has the Coronavirus pandemic led to the event taking place in an empty arena, but the sickness of some superstars and the fucking stupidity of another has led to some matches having to be changed. To be honest, I can see this being a fucking disaster. Anyway, let's take a look.

During all this, they decided to have a Kick Off Show, which was Cesaro taking on Drew Gulak. Early on, Gulak tries to put on some submission holds and focuses on the right arm. Cesaro tries to hit the Neutraliser but his injured arm prevents him from doing so. Gulak almost runs into the referee and this gives Cesaro to hit an European Uppercut followed by an airplane spin, with no hands, to get the win. I enjoyed the technical side of the match but I generally found the story a bit weird. I'm still getting used to Gulak being a face and it was surprising to see him be so dominant only for Cesaro to seemingly get the win out of the blue. Having said that, I thought the airplane spin with no hands was pretty impressive.
Winner: Cesaro

The first match of the weekend was for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship as Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross challenge The Kabuki Warriors. Asuka and Kairi Sane are cocky towards Bliss in the beginning and they go on to get the advantage after Asuksa hits a roundhouse kick to Cross. Eventually, Bliss gets the hot tag but it doesn't last long as The Kabuki Warriors reassert their dominance. Cross gets tagged in and hits the Fisherman's Neckbreaker to Asuka but Sane breaks up the pin with an Insane Elbow. Sane and Asuka come close a couple of times but in the end, Sane gets hit with another Fisherman's Neckbreaker by Cross followed by a Twisted Bliss by Bliss and they go on to regain the Championship. I thought this was a good match and hopefully, WWE will start to give more of a fuck about the Women's Tag Team Championship.
Winners: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross

The next match is supposed to be Elias taking on King Corbin. Corbin is convinced that, after throwing him off a platform the week before, Elias won't be able to take part. However, Elias does turn up and is dominant to begin with before Corbin sends him flying to the floor. Elias sends Crobin into the corner, giving him the chance to make a comeback. Corbin tries to use the ropes while pinning Elias but the referee sees it and admonishes him. While Crobin continues to argue with her, Elias rolls him up and gets the win. I didn't think this was a great match.
Winner: Elias

We get the RAW Women's Championship match as Shayna Baszler challenges "The Man" Becky Lynch. Baszler goes for the Kirifuda Clutch early on but Lynch gets out of it. That doesn't deter Baszler as she is relentless and gets the advantage. In the end, Baszler manages to apply the Kirifuda Clutch but Becky rolls over and manages to pin her and get the win. To be honest, I didn't expect Lynch to win as I was convinced that Baszler would win. However, thy just used the same ending that Baszler had against Kairi Sane. Hopefully, they might be saving her victory for when they can host a Pay-Per-View in front of a crowd. As for the match itself, I thought it was pretty good.
Winner: Becky Lynch


The next match is for the Intercontinental Championship as Daniel Bryan challenge Sami Zayn. Zayn delays wrestling Bryan for as long as possible with help from Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. Drew Gulak takes them out, giving Bryan the chance to wrestle Zayn. In the end, Nakamura and Cesaro attack Gulak and Bryan goes to help him out. Bryan then goes for a move off the turnbuckle but Zayn counters with apparently a Helluva Kick to get the win. The match was ok but I feel that they could have done better.
Winner: Sami Zayn

We now get a triple threat ladder match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship. Thanks to The Miz being sick, it will be Kofi Kingston from The New Day and Jimmy Uso challenging John Morrison. Highlights of the match include: Kingston vaulting through a ladder, only to be caught and thrown out of the ring; Morrison hitting a crokscrew ladder onto Uso; and Kingston hitting a hurracarrana, sending Morrison off a ladder. In the end, they are all on ladder and they manage to get the hook containing the belts, each of them having a hand on it. Kingston and Uso headbutt Morrison off the ladder. However, he had a hand on the belts and he falls to the mat with them, technically making him the winner. I thought this was a really good match and I really liked the ending.
Winner: John Morrison

Next is the Monday Night Messiah Seth Rollins taking on Kevin Owens. The match goes back and forth before Rollins reverse a powerbomb to back body drop Owens onto the apron. Rollins follows up with a falcon arrow onto the apron. Owens gets back into it and Rollins ends up hitting him with the ring bell to get himself disqualified. Owens manage to convince Rollins to return and make the match no disqualification. Owens goes on to hit Rollins with the ring bell then hits a senton from the Wrestlemania sign, sending Rollins through the announce table. Owens then rolls Rollins back into the ring and hits the Stunner to get the win. I thought this was a decent match, although it would made more sense if it started as a no disqualification match.
Winner: Kevin Owens

The penultimate match is for the Universal Championship as Braun Strowman challenges Goldberg. Goldberg hits 4 spears then goes for a Jackhammer. However, Strowman reverses it into a powerslam. He then hits 2 more powerslams then a running powerslam to get the win. Wow. Due to Roman Reigns pulling out, I thought that Goldberg would retain. I'm happy that Strowman won but the match wasn't great and I feel that Strowman will be a transitional Champion.
Winner: Braun Strowman

The main event of the night is a Boneyard Match between AJ Styles and The Undertaker. Some of the highlights include: Styles arriving in a coffin on the back of a hearse; Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows helping Styles out; Styles spearing Undertaker through a fence; and Undertaker using his parlor tricks such as teleportation and shooting columns of fire on top of a barn roof. After Undertaker takes out Gallows and Anderson, he chokeslams Styles off the barn roof. He then drags him to the empty grave prepared earlier and big boots him into it. Undertaker then uses a tractor to bury Styles and technically win...? He then rides off into the night. This was weird but quite fun to watch. Some of it was riduclous but I think that was the point. Hopefully, this will be the last of The Undertaker. As for Styles, I guess he's dead now.
Winner: The Undertaker

I thought that the first night of Wrestlemania was pretty decent. Some matches could have been better but a couple of quite good, especially the ladder match. Let's see how the second night goes.