I posted a controversial Facebook rant on Roman Reigns a few days back. I was not a big fan of Monday, but I could see why people would like it. What annoyed me was the massive amount of people that took a 180 and starting claiming that the WWE had gotten him over. I was probably a bit annoyed when I wrote it, but I want to set the record straight.
I don't hate Roman Reigns. I just think he's a guy that's not ready for what WWE wants him to be and further more I don't think he ever will be. The WWE could have made him into a Goldberg like guy and he would have done pretty good for a few years, but instead they have tried to turn him into a new John Cena who talks. Let's face it folks. Roman cannot work the mic. He's also an average worker at best at this point. He works a very limited move set and his sell style is a bit annoying.
I will admit that WWE has not put him in the correct position to succeed. They told the Bryan story before the Rumble and had this guy doing promo's that perhaps even the Rock couldn't get over. They put him in corny ring gear, even Cena looks better, and they kept him coming through the crowd. Someone should do a video of the non-pops this guy got all year while coming through the crowd. This was all working against him and was not his fault.
If WWE wanted to make Roman look good they needed to start having him win feud after feud, since his return in December last year. They should have kept him out of the title picture and the last match at WM31. If they would have kept him off the mic as well that would have helped. Just imagine Roman in the background winning feuds and have solid singles matches. It would have been done wonders for him and right now all the angst might not even be on him.
Through this year he didn't improve greatly on promos. He didn't have any epic match ups. He didn't get better ring gear. He just kept being what he was to start the year and they just kept on pushing and pushing. This after I've been watching years and years of other guys get squashed after the WWE believed their push had failed. This after I saw CM Punk hold the title for over a year, but hardly main event anything. The WWE has never pushed someone that the crowd was dead to for so long like they did Roman and it annoyed me to no end.
In the course of doing this they have ruined their roster. I mean who's left? They had Seth be about the worst title holder in the history of their company for a guy that held the belt as long as he did. I've never seen a Champion lose so many matches. His best feud was with a well past his prime Kane!
Other than Cena being Cena the rest of this roster on both sides of the aisle is dead. I think Lesnar is an answer for them, but if WWE had Roman beat Brock after all Brock has done then it would further be giving a guy opportunity that others have never been given. The guy who finally beats Brock clean the next time has to be way hotter.
What I think happened on Monday was this. The TLC ended with everyone wondering hey what are they going to do with Roman now? Where is the title picture shifting too? That's good story telling. That's what gets fans tuning in. Then WWE went right to VKM with that show open which hooked people. When Vince came out and set the match that hooked people even more. Let's also not forget VKM was back! He's the greatest villain in WWE history and he's been destroyed on every message board from here to China for his booking the last few years. So he's got major heat with the fans. Dare I say epic heat.
So, Monday was all about seeing how the WWE was going to get out of the corner they painted themselves into. Fans naturally got more invested with Vince in the picture and Roman winning was not the worst thing the WWE could do, but....then there was that overreaction. Their was an overreaction by many WWE followers yes, but I'll let them have that if they want it. I'm more focused on the overreaction by WWE.
The WWE posted a video of post Raw when the USO's and Ambrose finally came out to help Roman. Roman got the mic and thanked the Philly crowd and said that it had been a hard road since the Rumble, but thank you for tonight. He talked about how he had improved all year and how it got him to this moment.
That statement was crazy stupid. When did Roman improve??? The WWE degenerated down to it's lowest ratings in history. What was Roman doing when all that was going on? A good portion of pundits, including SCSA, were calling for him to turn heel, which is still probably needed. I think this was the WWE and Roman thinking they had won everybody over and it was because of Reigns. I'll bet almost any money that you could have hotshotted about 10 guys in that spot Monday in the same angle they would have gotten the same, if not greater reaction.
And that is where I want to end this. Roman in the end got hotshotted to the WWE title! That's something usually reserved for someone the company has not been pushing or just signed. In any event only time will tell on this situation. If Roman pulls the ratings the WWE needs for the next few months and fills Dallas up to the brim with Roman on top then god bless them. My money is not on either happening.
Matches of the year
When I look back at matches I don't just look at the in ring work, but I consider and give a ton of credit to story, characters, fun factor, and situation. It's pretty unlikely that I'm ever going to rate a match from Raw very highly no matter how great the technically skill. I always feel the best matches are hyped and built too and often the Raw matches are thrown together that night.
I think for a match to be great it has to have a big fight feel on a big show, but you will see with my match of the year that's not always the case. Again I weight all the factors. First let's start with some honorable mentions.
Okada vs. Styles.
Okada wins the title back from Styles with a finish that needs to be seen to be believed.
Bayley Vs. Sasha Iron Man Match
A great in ring match, but the air of knowing that Bayley was winning no matter what kept this off my list. That matters people. Great match otherwise.
Owens and Zayn's 2 matches
If they would have had better endings they make the cut, but very few matches this year inspired as much passion.
Becky Vs. Sasha May Takeover Special
This match was great because it just seemed like it would be Sasha going over Becky and ended up making you believe that Becky could win. Stole the show that night.
Pretty much every Lucha Underground main event this year!
So here's the list in no order other than my favorite being the last match.
Nakamura vs. Ibushi for the IC Belt at WK9
When you combine great story with great in ring work with great characters with great commentating you get this. Ibushi had challenged Nakamura for the belt on NJPW's biggest show as the the second from the last match. The story being told was that Ibushi held a win over Nakamuri and could possibly dethrone him as IC Champ. Jim Ross called this match for NJPW and put Nakamura over as one of the greatest of all time and Ibushi as a guy for the future looking to make a name for himself. I felt like you had to favor Nakamura huge here the way it was all laid out.
What happened in the match was the performers told that story as well, but suddenly out of nowhere they seemed to turn the tide into this being about Ibushi breaking through right down to the very end. That rollercoaster was hard to get off of. It was excellent booking and I thought impossible to top.
Okada vs. Tanahashi for the IWGP Title WK9
The story was again well laid out here. Okada was going to finally dethrone the John Cena of NJPW on their biggest stage. It was clearly Okada's time. He had lost in a similar spot two years ago and Jim Ross put this match over as a passing of the torch. It felt like that. Instead Tanahashi pulled off the win and cemented himself as an all time great.
Jim Ross also put over the Okada drop kick and when Okada hit it the magnitude of it was off the charts. He also put over the Rainmaker clothesline and when Tananashi kicked out of it the drama was only further enhanced.
What made this match so great was that it followed a match of the year candidate on the same show, dispelling the belief that you can't have two great matches back to back. This was all created by HHH as a myth following his WM25 match with Randy Orton where WWE got the booking all wrong.
Brock vs. Cena vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble
Nobody was really excited about seeing Brock and Cena yet again so WWE added in Seth. Many though this was just so that Seth could eat the pin. He did eat the pin, but on the way to doing that Seth stamped himself as a legit main event-er. He arrived that night and all three men contributed to what was an awesome match.
The WWE did not follow this up well with Seth. They really botched his run into WM31. His cash in would have been so much more memorable if he had been protected him off this performance. They were just too focused on Reigns to do that.
Cena vs. Kevin Owens at Elimination Chamber
For a minute there the WWE had put on a major push for Kevin Owens. He was a red hot heel and he was getting the booking WWE rarely gave anyone. This match was the first hot match the WWE had had in quite some time. If Owens went over Cena it was going to mean something and could setup a feud that could last a long time.
Owens did go over Cena and beat him clean. He then delivered an awesome in ring promo. You can't get much better than that! A star was born, but the WWE ran to toss cold water on it all as quickly as possible. They had Cena get his win back only 2 weeks later. Owens then had to drop the NXT title and was turned into a whiner leading up to their 3rd match in 45 days, which he lost.
This could have been huge if WWE would have kept Owens in NXT a little longer. Had him lose the title at Brooklyn and then built to a John Cena rematch for later in the year. Owens has slowly recovered, but isn't regarded nearly as well as he should be at this time.
Still this was a great match.
Pentagon Jr. vs. Vampiro Ultimo Lucha
Ultimo Lucha was a pretaped show. Vampiro was retired, and when he was wrestling was never considered all that great. Pentagon was a Mexican star that no one had ever heard of before this show debuted and held no really major wins and during his push lost clean to a woman. So, you ask how did this match make my list? Story people story!
They put Vampiro over as legend. They made Pentagon into a bad ass. Despite his loss to Sexy Star he was pretty well protected. They cut cool vignettes that built the story and added a mystery around who was Pentagon's master and why did he want the head of Vampiro? It didn't even seem likely that Vampiro who had not wrestled on the show at all would actually go back and compete.
They took their time and build this feud over weeks and it paid off in a big way. Vampiro's entrance as an evil Bishop was off the charts. This was not a classic wrestling match, but a violent war. They did a flaming table, spots off the top rope, and light tubes. In the end Pentagon went over and Vampiro revealed to him that he was his master all along and this was all a test. This turned Vampiro into a major heel and elevated Pentagon to new heights.
Great stuff!
Bayley vs. Becky at Brooklyn Takeover for the NXT Women's Title
Many point out that the build up to this match was great selling Bayley as this major underdog who was being left behind by her friends. I didn't see it that way. I thought NXT had waited too long with Bayley and had not really done enough with her to make her feel like the one, but instead it was like she was getting the push by default since the other girls were leaving.
Where I was won over here was the fact that everything that was done here was right, if you can look past the unnecessary Stephanie McMahon promo. Bayley had a great intro and this was the first time she got one on a big stage. That really helped her. She was outdone, by Sasha's Esclade entrance. That was probably the best female entrance of all time. It was also a massive heel entrance. It made Bayley seem like a bigger underdog.
They then went to task telling just an amazing in ring story. You never felt like for a second this was a women's match on par with the garbage Raw had been putting out for years. It felt like a real wrestling match. They had to top Sasha and Becky from the May PPV and they did it. Bayley really upped her game and Sasha delivered as classic heel. This was great stuff. It didn't elevate Women's wrestling, but instead elevated the NXT brand.
Again the follow up match was great, but it was too obvious of a finish. I wouldn't have been surprised if Sasha had won here, but clearly this was Bayley's time to go over. This worked on many levels.
Great match!
Sleeper Match. Emma Vs. Asuka at NXT London
So sometimes expectations can be low, but great things can happen and this was case here. The story for this was just ok. Emma and Dana Brooke are being used to get Asuka over, which is fine. Dana got run over by Asuka in their previous match and this looked like it would be no different, but instead Emma held her own for most of the match. Asuka did not take the entire match and we were treated to some great back and fourth action.
It wasn't technically perfect by any means as their were some botches, but the well thought out ending had me believing that Emma was going to actually win. Emma tried to Eddie Guerrero Asuka by pretending she had been hit with a foreign object, which was great. Dana Brooke was able to cause the ref to not see Emma tapping which lead to Asuka thinking she had won, which in the moment made me think oh wow Emma's going to steal this, but then Asuka still won.
It is so rare these days in the WWE for a performer to lose, but get elevated off it. This was one of those cases. Asuka won, but Emma really established herself here. If NXT decides to push Emma from here I think it's justified. This match stole the entire London show.
Grave Consequences. Fenix Vs. Mil Muertes on a regular episode of Lucha Underground
My match of the year.
This match was not part of the LU finale show. This match was not live. This match was not between two wrestling legends. So, how in the world does it top all the other matches on my list???
The story for this was not the reason. The story did setup of the match, but it wasn't that great of a story. Mil was portrayed as an evil force flanked by his manager Katrina who played a black widow like character. When Katrina got a bit out of line Mil got violent with her. Katrina reacted to this by romancing Fenix. Katrina went to Fenix's side and told him that he must defeat Mil in a casket match in order to truly win her over, or avoid Mil basically killing him, which yes did happen once on this show.
This was yet another example of a match that other company's do that LU did better. They took the casket match concept to an entirely different level. They had a bunch of actors come out with the casket to open the match, which gave the impression that it was really bad to end up in that casket.
This seemed like a setup where Katrina was going to turn on Fenix, but in the end that did not happen. The two these men instead engaged in a war. There was some wrestling, and some really cool moves, but what it will most be remembered for is the violent spots they executed. The casket, which did not look light was actually used a weapon in the ring. The funny part was they used it more than once.
Mil beat Fenix all over the arena. He tore his mask and bloodied him as well. They fought through the crowd more than once as well. In the end Fenix was able to turn the tides and put Mil into the coffin. The action here was what made this so great. Rarely do you see a match that stays a solid pace without going to fast and keeps you engaged. I never expected Fenix to win.
Grave consequences was an amazing effort and kept me watching LU all summer long.
So that's my list.
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