Wrestling shows (AEW/IMPACT/NWA/ROH and others)

[Malleustein]

At least it hasn't reached the same levels the UWF did

Tony Khan only looks like he's out of his mind on cocaine these. I doubt he's actually getting to enjoy the Herb Abrams lifestyle.

 

[E-Rocker]

Just saw that as of this week, Impact is moving to Thursday nights. This makes me happy. I don't have the AXS TV channel, which means if I want to watch Impact, I have to do it on their Twitch channel, which I couldn't do on Tuesdays because I work until 9 pm. But I only work until 5 pm on Thursdays, so now I can watch. Yay!

 

[urbwar]

So I started to watch night one of NXT Takeover. So far I saw the pre-show match (A good bout between Toni Storm and Zoey Stark), and the opening match between Kushida and Pete Dunne (which was great, as you'd expect given the two of them). Going to try and catch some more at work when the boss leaves

 

[Tulpa Girl]

More than a little disappointed with last night's Dynamite. There was some good matches - I haven't been watching Dark, so JD Drake's match against Darby Allin was a pleasant surprise - but there were also several bits that annoyed me. Too many outside interference spots, for one thing, which drug down an otherwise solid match between Bunny and Tay Conti.

Chris Jericho's promo was, unsurprisingly, gold, but I wish the Inner Circle hadn't been turned face. I guess I'm in the minority, but I'm perfectly okay with heel vs heel matches. I wish Dynamite was willing to let at least some wrestlers walk the Tweener path.

Probably the worst part was was the 'conflicted' heel turn of the Young Bucks. I guess it contradicts what I just wrote, but it comes across less as them being morally gray, and more that they can't fully commit to being heels because they still want to face pops. But the real killer was the two of them trying to come across as being torn over their actions. 'Acting' and 'the Young Bucks' would in a better world never, ever be heard in the same sentence.

 

[urbwar]

Continuing Takeover night one. The gauntlet match for the #1 contender for the North American title was good, but I'm really not digging how the former Eli Drake is being booked.

Ciampa and Walter beat the living hell out of each other. At one point, Ciampa hit at least 20 clothesline in a row coming off the ropes! Just insane!

The triple threat for the tag titles was almost non-stop the entire time. The crowd showed support for all 3 teams at different times.

Io vs Raquel was aa real good contrast of styles. Shirai showed no fear in during the match; she had that cocky smile of hers a few times during the match. And of course, there was this:

 

[urbwar]

So after getting some sleep after work, I wanted to watch Takeover Night 2, but missed the start time by over an hour. So, I'm watching NXT UK Prelude, which was pretaped. The main event is Walter defending against Rampage Brown. I like Brown, but I don't know if they can put on a match like Walter had with Ciampa yesterday.

I'm on the first match (Heritage Cup rules) between Noam Dar and Tyler Bate. Good match between the two. I'm honestly surprised Bate hasn't gone on to being part of the regular WWE Roster. He's talented enough, and has the charisma. Then again, I'd love to see Mustache Mountain get a run with either tag belts on the main rosters

 

[urbwar]

Finished Prelude. The other two matches were Satomura & McKenzie vs Ray & Dawn. Honestly, I wasn't that impressed by it. I've been clear I'm not that into Ray (or Dawn). McKenzie wasn't too bad, but Satomura is a class above them all. Of course that just means they should all get better since she's also a a trainer there now. Eoife Valkyrie showed up after the match and left a feather on the ramp as she stated at Satomura. I guess that's her next feud (since it looks like McKenzie is being groomed to be Ray's next challenger).

They also kept building up continuing storylines. Amir Jordan got stabbed in the back by Kenny Williams during their tag title match, so now they get to face off. Piper Niven continues to motivate and train Jack Starz. Jordan Devlin can't wait to come back to NXT UK. They showed a video package of Ilya Dragunov's descent into madness lately. Gallus will be on Noam Dar's talk segment next week, and Nathan Frazier (fka Ben Carter) takes on Saxon Huxley.

Rampage Brown tried to wrest the UK title off Walter. This was a good brawl that tended to be slower paced at times, but would get into great sequences of fast paced action. It was close, but it ended just like his match with Ciampa did.

The one thing that NXT UK does better than the other brands imho is that titles reigns are not short. Champions hold the belts for awhile before someone else becomes champion. However, in some cases, those reigns are too long. Ray & Walter need to pass the belts on, because honestly, seeing someone as champion for 2 years gets old these days. This isn't like when Bruno would be champion for years, because there are way more people who can be set up as challengers.

That's one thing I like about AEW; most title reigns seem to last longer than many WWE title reigns.

Now to start the replay of Takeover Night two.

 

[urbwar]

Takeover Night 2 has been good so far.

Santos Escobar and Jordan Devlin opened the show with a really good ladder match to unify their cruiserweight titles. These two put it all on the line, and I'm sure they are both hurting after that one!

Johnny Gargao once again showed why he is Johnny Takeover with a better than expect match with Bronson Reed. Reed proved he could hang though, and even tried a moonsault!

Ember & Shotzi defended the Women's tag titles against Candace & Indi. Loved it when Ember did the X "Suck It" crotch chop before blasting Candace with a forearm to the side of the head.

I'm holding off on the two main events until after I get my vaccine shot later today. But I expect both to be excellent matches