ICYMI – This Week in Skatronixxx

Hey Skatronixxx followers and occasional readers!

You guys are AWESOME, just in case you didn’t already know that. (Occasional readers, we love you and we really, really want you to follow us, lol).

You may have noticed that we are growing…. we are aiming for World Domination! To get us there, in addition to the writers and regular articles you have come to know and love, we have new writers, and new features. My contribution to the newness of it all is going to be a weekly post called ICYMI – This Week in Skatronixxx, which will feature a few of our weekly posts and news,  just in case you missed them. This is the very first article, and since it is the first, I’ve included quite a lot. Read on for details of the past week.  It was a busy one!

Brock Lesnar Responds To Steroid Allegations

Few people have accomplished as much as Brock Lesnar he’s ‘The Beast Incarnate‘ , ‘The Next Big Thing‘, he’s conquered the squared circle otherwise known as the WWE being a four time WWE Champion and also conquered the octagon winning the UFC Championhip on one occasion.

It’s no surprise that controversy follows Brock around, be it his relationship with Sable, his close relationship with Paul Heyman or breaking the Undertaker’s streak at Wrestlemania.

So it’s no surprise that when Brock was asked about the allegation that he takes steroids that was thrown at him by UFC 200 opponent Mark Hunt, he hand the following to say.

“I’ve been dealing with that my entire life,” Lesnar said on today’s UFC 200 media conference call. “I’m a white boy and I’m jacked. Deal with it. What do you want me to say? I’m a white boy and I’m jacked, deal with it.”

Whereas most other fighters would have a filter applied to their mouth, either by the media or their agents, this is what I love about Brock, his speak first and deal with the consequences later attitude.

Not only that but when asked if his fight and a potential loss at UFC 200 would harm his standing in the WWE he reponded by saying.

“I really don’t give a s–t,” Lesnar said during a media conference call Thursday.

I for one will be watching to see what happens at UFC 200 to see if ‘The Beast Incarnate’ can once again become the king of the octagon.

 

RUMOR MILL: Tajiri To Return To The WWE?

According to reports that are surfacing online The Japanese Buzzsaw aka Tajiri is scheduled to make a permanant return to WWE once his involvement in the Cruiserweight series is over.

With the roster split coming soon, WWE top brass will be looking to pad out thier roster, due to thier currently incredibly thin talent pool to chose from and have been reaching out to past stars who featured for the company in the past.

Tajiri is no stranger to WWE, not only is he a 3 time WWE Cruiserweight Champion, 2 time WWE tag champion, and a former WWF Light Heavyweight Champion he also featured in ECW winning the ECW tag team and television championship as well as the WCW United States Championship.

Even if Tajiri does not make an active return to the ring, he still has a lot to offer as a trainer or road agent. I for one would love to see Tajiri return, to quote Star trek, make it so Mr McMahon!

Cody Rhodes To Guest Star On Arrow

Stephen Amell had a big surprise for the Arrow fans at Heroes & Villains fanfest in New Jersey during his panel with Cody Rhodes. Why would he have a panel with Cody Rhodes? That’s a question I asked myself too. But I guess it made sense after his announcement during said panel.  Stephen Amell told the audience that none other than Cody Rhodes will guest star on the show starting in episode 3 of season 5. And from what I could gather it wouldn’t be a one episode stint.

For those of you wondering what the connection is between Stephen Amell and Cody Rhodes, it is Stardust. Stardust is a character that Cody played (he retired the character) on WWE. The character followed a comic book super villain resemblance who had a tiff with Stephen Amell’s character on Arrow. Which ended up with Stephen Amell wrestling with Neville against Stardust and King Barrett at Summerslam in 2015. A great wrestling match to see by the way.

But back to Cody Rhodes. According to his tweet Cody Rhodes will enter Arrow and its fandom with the utmost respect. As he complemented Stephen Amell who did the same when he visited the WWE. Which shows a lot of character if you ask me.

I step into this respectfully, humbly, and looking to do it justice for the fandom #HVFF @CW_Arrow pic.twitter.com/UbU0lzG4df

— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) July 2, 2016

I haven’t seen Cody Rhodes acting, besides Stardust (a loud obnoxious person who is in your face a lot), but I am looking forward to see what character he plays and how he does it. I don’t know the character Stardust well, or at all, but to play such a character (I don’t know the right word to describe him), you need to have some skills. I could tell one thing and that is that Cody Rhodes takes it very seriously, so he will do his best. And if he acts as well as he plays Stardust he won’t fail Star City.

So if I did my calculations right Cody Rhodes‘ first episode on Arrow will air on a Wednesday on the CW at the end of October or at the beginning of November depending on the holiday schedule in the US.

The Rock Almost Considered Joining The UFC

So it has come to light from the Matt Serra UFC Unfiltered Podcast that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson almost joined the UFC 10 years ago before Brock Lesnar and CM Punk but the only thing that stopped him was the long, grueling training process that goes hand in hand with being a UFC fighter.

He had this to say in the interview

“There was a time there where I thought, man, I achieved everything I wanted to achieve in WWE, my movie career is floundering a little bit, what do I do? I was relatively still young, I think I was 34. I thought, oh well maybe UFC. Maybe I should do something like that”.

“In my head, I felt like it was at least a two-year process for me to even get in the [Octagon], let alone the UFC. I wasn’t quite too sure what to do or what kind of people to put around me at the time, so the idea kind of fizzled out and I continued to stay on the path of movie making”.

Now granted The Rock is a bit of a legend of mine I’m not quite sure if making the move to UFC would have been the write move for him after he left the WWE and I’m probably guessing that at the moment he is thinking the same thing. After his role in Fast and Furious 5 launched his movie career in the right direction and he is now appeared in  moire of these movies along with movies such GI Joe – Retaliation and Hercules. This also coupled with the fact that The Rock is now the highest grossing actor in Hollywood.

He is also know as a big fan of the UFC and will be be tuning in to watch Brock Lesnar take on Mark Hunt at UFC 200 but is torn on who he wants to win after reading Mark Hunts autobiography.

As always for all your UFC needs stick with @Deadpool_1984 only at skatronixxx.com

The NXT Review – June 22, 2016

Whats Up Wrestling Peeps! After a heck of a showing at Money In The Bank where a Lunatic ascended to highest-highs that the WWE has to offer (you know, other than Hall of Famer, which at this point The Shield seem a shoe in, no?). A Roman Empire fell and an Architect Redesigned, Rebuild and indeed Reclaimed his World Heavyweight Title, however briefly. Its safe to say that the company is in a state of flux.

After last weeks Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura capper to the show, it seems that a similar Lunatic Fringe Phenomena is seeping into the fabric of the Yellow Brand. As the guys and gals of NXT appeared to throw caution to wind and go balls to the wall in order to stand out.

I smell a Brand Extension in air … and I’m loving it!

A man who seemingly should have no problem standing out is The Perfect 10 Tye Dillinger. But as followers of The 10 have come to know, our favourite Heel-Candy has been suffering from a bad case of the Ziggler effect. Symptoms include: stealing shows, getting guys over, exceptional mic skills and – as Derek Zoolander can attest too – being “really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking.” Resulting in a bad case of no push-alite-tus.

And nothing change tonight.

In a match that was slow and showed minimum offence from Oney Lorcan, we did get a ton of intensity from Dillinger, which as Corey Graves and Tom Phillips mentioned, is an aggressive side to the cocky Heel that we rarely see. With Lorcan going over in the match, the only glimmer of hope coming out of Graves & Phillips numerous references to this losing streak that Dillinger has found himself in. Is the possibility of greater things to come.

Could this mean a Babyface turn for the super-over wrestler? Or a peek at a larger redemption story perhaps? Who knows, at this point however, I prescribe a course of bed rest until this sickness is over.

Speaking of sickness. A dose of No Way Jose is enough to ruin anyones day. Lucky for me Austin Aires was there to take out the trash. After a stellar bit of Dad-Dancing of course.

I can hear the Chris Jericho “Stupid Idiot” even as I type.

This was a great swerve by Aries that had me laughing my arse off. Yes harsh, but this is the Aries I’ve been waiting to see. And If anyone can get Jose over for me, it might take the talents of Ol’Sparkle Pants to accomplish it.

Finally! After weeks of waiting we get Deonna Purrazzo back in the ring. Nah, I’m just funning Ya. Of course the star attraction in this match up was the Huggable one herself, Bayley.

After recovering from an injury at the hands of Nia Jax, the Hugster was on top form against Purrazzo who was destined to lose yet again. I would feel bad for the girl but I’ve been wanting to see Bayley have another shot at the NXT Women’s Title before her inevitable call-up that, at this point, seems months overdue. So a win here means that she is on her way to achieving that.

Back to the action though and Deonna was more than a match-up for the former Women’s Champ, with this perpetual loser showing great chemistry and ability to keep up with the pace that Bayley was setting. But as predicted, Purrazzo unwisely angered our Bayley who Hugged-Out and ended the dream of Deonna’s first win on NXT with a Bayley-to-Belly for the pin.

Isn’t it fun that Liv Morgan is so small? Nia Jax could quite literally launch her out of the arena and back to New Jersey with a mere flick of the wrist.

I have yet taken the pulse of the WWE Universe in relation to Jax (future Twitter Poll perhaps) but I enjoy her Beast Mode style so much, which is rare for me. As a Wrestling fan I’m more pre-deposed to fast pace showings but Nia’s ability to destroy a women in a few powerful moves is delicious.

That being said, I want her to get more time to show-off her skills because as yet, a Monster Heel who dominates is all she has shown us. But I reckon she can get fast and creative if given the time.

Lets put a pin in that for the future.

On to the main event and despite Nakamura and one half of my favourite – and currently on hiatus – Tag team. This match-up was so-so.

Nakamura was on fire as ever but Buddy Murphy fails to shine on his own. It’s no bad thing to be a Tag Team wrestler, look at The New Day or even Enzo & Cass. So lets drop this experiment already and give me Blake & Murphy back. Ideally with Alexa Bliss in tow but unlike her boys, she has greater things in store as a solo act. Thats for sure.

So after literally folding Murphy in half, The King of Strong Style picked up another win. Hang on, has he actually lost yet? I don’t think so … wow. An undefeated Nakamura matching up against a harden Champ such as Balor in three weeks time …

I can’t wait!

For all your NXT News & Reviews, stick with @mitch_rated only on Skatronixxx

Was Roman Reigns ‘Suspension’ A Work?

Let’s face it, everyone loves to chip in with their thoughts on WWE. We all do it, we plot returns, turns and swerves and debate the latest episodes, then say ‘I told you!’ if you get it right or moan and threaten to switch off if they get it wrong.

WWE wants us to think they are in a ‘new era’,  gradually the shows are getting more edgy with the lunatic Dean Ambrose as WWE champ, you can hardly call it, the PG-era still can you?

That’s why the recent news about Roman Reigns, drug suspension shocked me. Reigns was Vinnie Mac’s poster boy of the ‘new era’, he liked to remind us by saying

Drug suspensions  within the WWE are usually like a sidenote to its shady reality and past they  hoped to forget. Normally when a ‘superstar’ is suspended they post an article on WWE.COM with the wrestlers name and reason why they won’t be seen  on programming for a while.

I remember the Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio saga a few years back. Half of the roster were suspended for using banned substances, don’t believe me look it up.

Maybe it’s because he was champ and the company wanted to punish him publicly. With him returning just in time for the next WWE pay per view. Conspiracy theorist got thinking and so did I!

So I ask you to think is the Roman Reigns drug suspension actually a work? Consider this?

Wrestlers returning normally from a ‘break’ more often than not get a massive boost if they’re a face or heat magnet. Either way all eyes are gunna be waiting for his return. An example of this is the Triple H Royal Rumble return.

Roman was getting stale and stagnant. The crowd was starting to boo him regardless. Returning after a  holiday oops I mean ‘suspension’ would give us a break from Boo-man before he got X-Pac heat. No one want’s X-pac heat SERIOUSLY!

You gotta remember Vinnie Mac is crazy plot wise, I remember the Mae Young hand scenario. If you’re too young to remember this, let me explain, Mae Young (RIP) was one of the greatest and back in the day best female wrestlers in her first run. Flash forward to the ‘Attitude Era‘ and she has sexual relations with ‘Sexual Chocolate’ Mark Henry and they gave birth to a hand. Yes a hand, don’t believe me? Check it out below!

Then you got The Rock and the money WWE invested in him. WWE has spent loads on Roman and how will they recoup it? Plus you gotta be careful you don’t piss off arguably your biggest stat since Hogan!

If I was Vinnie Mac I’d punish him MVP style, make him go on a massive losing steak to see how he rebounds. If he’s the star they think he is,he’ll recover. If not it’s setting an example to fans not to do drugs. To quote Roman again.

After all WWE are idiots if they push a champ so quick after being banned. Then you got Titus, anothy floundering star who got suspended for man handling I mean touching Vinnie’s arm. Really Vinnie you made Droz puke at will.

Then Titus returns BOOM instant US title shot push. Either Vinnie realised he over reacted or gave Titus s sabbatical to recharge, refresh and gain momentum on his return.

You can see how I  came up with this crazy theory. Seriously if it’s legit Vinnie is a douche or creative genius but then again wasn’t he both already?

WWE Raw Review: 20.6.2016

OPENER

Well, it has finally happened guys. Sunday night marked the dawn of a new era, the era of Dean Ambrose. Everything about last night’s main event shined a new light on the future of the company and with Dean walking out as champion the consequences are going to be seen tonight. So to open the show Dean made his way out to the ring as the new champion and cut a promo about how long this day has been coming. Dean celebrates with the crowd but soon enough his brother in arms Roman Reigns comes out to congratulate Deano, though he is still getting booed in the process, (also he can definitely wrestle guys, he just sucks at everything else). Not wanting to be the only Shield member left out of the fun times, Seth Rollins made his way out demanding his rematch saying that he has a better claim than Roman, which he does. Dean is able to take a backseat as he watches the squabbling between both former champions until Shane O Mac makes his way out to put everything in order. We find out that the main event tonight will be Seth vs Roman for the number 1 contendership at Battleground. Already I am extremely excited for the main event as the match the night before wasn’t perfect but very enjoyable.

SAMI ZAYN vs KEVIN OWENS

This is obviously your standard Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn match, meaning it is a good one. The two have fought so much over the years I’d be surprised if they even knew how to put on a bad match with each other at this point. Both men were selling injuries from the hectic Money In The Bank ladder match from the night before, however, that did not stop them from going full speed in the match as they spilled outside with Sami suicide diving over the top rope. It looked like Owens was about to pick up the win after he used a superkick to set up the pop-up powerbomb, but Zayn is able to reverse this into a roll up and his able to steal the victory. The fighting did not stop there however as both men fought at the top of the ramp with officials coming down to separate the pair.

• After the break we see that the refs were not enough to stop Owens and Zayn brawling and we get some awesome parkour action from Sami backstage. On commentary Cole also hints that Owens and Zayn could be split up which wouldn’t surprise me.
• We also get a surprise visit from John Laurinaitis. Now I have all the respect in the world for Laurinaitis, who created the cutter (aka the RKO) back when he was Johnny Ace, but Jesus Christ I hate his voice. As expected, John is the latest former GM to stake claim to running Smackdown but Shane is quick to come out and put a stop to this.

ENZO & CASS vs THE VAUDEVILLAINS

This was basically a squash match, as while they didn’t dominate the Vaudevillains Enzo and Cass did beat them handily in roughly 3 minutes. Enzo is able to pick up the win by pinning Aiden English but once again Cass is the man who looked undeniably dominant in-ring. What this match established is that the Vaudevillains are out of the title chase for now whereas Enzo and Cass are still involved.

APOLOGIES FOR EVERYONE

An angry AJ Styles reveals that he had no part in the Clubs interference in his match on Sunday. He demands an apology from Gallows and Anderson as well as asking them to apologise to John Cena. Big Match John makes his way out to tell us that he doesn’t care about these fake apologies and claims that AJ broke his contract because he isn’t as good as he thinks he is. Well, John I watched Money In The Bank and Styles ran circles around you for most of the match. Styles tells John that he can have a match with anyone from The Club besides Styles himself as he has to do the Stone Cold podcast.

JOHN CENA vs KARL ANDERSON

While it is good to get this match done quickly as it was obvious that Cena was going to get ambushed by the other members of the club and get a DQ victory, Cena did not need to squash Anderson like that. Cena completely took out Karl Anderson in around 3 minutes and it really made Anderson look weak.

• Jojo interviewed Seth Rollins backstage. Seth tells us that he proved that he was better than Roman Reigns last night (which he did). Rollins also claims that Ambrose proved that he was a thief as he snuck up on Seth from behind. They emphasised the question of who is the best in the Shield.
• Renee Young interviewed Becky Lynch about the betrayal from Natalya the previous night. Becky is definitely the ultimate babyface of the Women’s division on the main roster at the moment. Natalya comes from behind Becky and ambushes her, saying she is only looking out for herself from this point onwards.

BARON CORBIN vs ZACK RYDER

Firstly Zack Ryder deserves his own entrance, he’s better than jobber status. Secondly, YAY Baron Corbin isn’t wrestling Ziggler. For a very short match this was quite competitive with Zack being able to land some big moves such as a top rope elbow drop but ultimately he is unable to overcome Corbin who hits the End of days for the win.

• It may have been spoiled by the pre-show but as a Bray Wyatt mark, I am still hype for the Wyatt family return.
• Paige tries to give an interview backstage but is distracted by Charlotte and Dana Brooke. Paige gives Dana the deadly head pat and gave a quite intense speech about how she would win tonight. At least Paige is relevant again

PAIGE vs CHARLOTTE (WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP)

Charlotte immediately goes for the pinfall as soon as the match starts, but she is unable to keep Paige down. The English native dominates the match early on as she is able to hit the Women’s Champion with some strong strikes. Charlotte is able to turn the tide of the match as she throws Paige from the turnbuckle then hits the moon sault to get a near cover. Paige is quickly able to regain control as she hits the Rampaige but due to some help from Dana, Charlotte’s leg gets to the ropes. Shortly after this Charlotte is able to pick up the win to retain her title by hitting Paige with the natural selection. Overall this was a good match, with Paige looking especially fired up for this. Let’s hope she sticks around as she is still one of the most talented Women on the roster. After the match finishes Charlotte and Dana continue to beat down Paige however their celebrations are ruined by Sasha Banks who has been missing for a while now due to injury. Paige and Sasha take the fight to Charlotte and Dana driving them from the ring.

• Roman Reigns is interviewed by Jojo about his match last night and tonight. Reigns claim he is just here to beat Seth despite what happened last night.

HE’S HERE

I am so happy to see Bray Wyatt back in action and clearly I am not the only one as he gets a “Welcome Back” chant from the crowd. Bray claims that the Wyatt family is as strong as ever. Bray is interrupted by The New Day who claims that Bray talks too much (not as much as Cena). It seems that Xavier Woods falls under some cult possession momentarily, which I hope is a sign of Bray’s skills as a cult leader actually being relevant for once. A feud between the Wyatt Family and New Day seems possible, maybe Strowman and Rowan will be the ones to take the tag titles from them?

• Another Make Darren Young Great Again segment. Still don’t care
• Rusev is set to fight Titus in a MITB rematch after Titus demanded it due to Rusev disrespecting his kids. The match never starts as the two brawl and what a brawl it was. Titus especially displayed intensity that we have never seen from him before.
• WWE Brand Split draft hype in the form of a video package.

• The commentators question whether Miz and Maryse will be split up (WHY IS THAT YOUR QUESTION), we then get Miz being an asshole to one of the movie crew. Textbook heel
• From one great heel to another Jericho goes to Shane in order to demand a title shot against Dean Ambrose.

SETH ROLLINS vs ROMAN REIGNS

As with last night’s match, this was a great main event between Seth and Roman who gave each other their beast and did their best to make sure they walked out with the contender spot. We didn’t see any crazy moves or finishers like we did last night which is understandable but what we did get was action packed and well worked. Once again the face and heel dynamic was the opposite of what you would expect as Roman played the role of dominant monster and Seth as the underdog competitor. Roman was using heavy hitting strikes in order to bully Seth around the ring whereas Rollins was wrestling with a technical style, trying to wear down Reigns. Seth’s quickness came in handy when he was successfully able to avoid being put through one of the announce tables and eventually the shenanigans outside the ring cause a double count out making this match a draw. Shane O Mac comes out to make a decision regarding Battleground. We learn that at Battleground we will finally get the Shield Triple Threat match (wait what? At Battleground? Really?). The show ends with Ambrose taking out both Roman then Rollins, standing tall once again.

FINAL NOTES & SCORE

• Tonight’s MVP: Of course, it is going to be Dean Ambrose
• Match of the Night: Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns
• Moment of the Night: Bray Wyatt return
• Was the New Day possession a joke or a hint at some Bray character development?
• Enzo and Shane bonding over sneakers was awesome

So this was a great episode to start of the Ambrose era. Unfortunately, this will be overshadowed by the shocking news of the Roman Reigns suspension that was revealed barely 2 hours ago. In fact, I only discovered this 1 hour after writing this review. Anyway, I am going to give this week’s episode a 7.5/10.

Roman Reigns suspended

WWE has just announced that Joe Anoa`i (Roman Reigns) has failed the company’s talent wellness policy and will be suspended for 30 days. Reigns has issued a statement.

I apologize to my family, friends and fans for my mistake in violating WWE’s wellness policy. No excuses. I own it.

— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) June 21, 2016

Although the suspension ends before Battlegound, leaving the triple threat match active, Reigns will be missing the WWE draft on July 19th. Could this have been why Roman lost at MITB? Likely but we can only guess. What this means and how the WWE will present it can only be found out as the story progresses.

 

WWE Money in the Bank Review

Well that was awesome, with a new champion crowned, we finally have some plot progression in the WWE, and it couldn’t go to anyone more deserving. Dean Ambrose is the World Heavyweight Champion!

Money in the Bank was great, but something needs to be talked about. Cards on the table, if MITB seemed a bit filler filled, that’s because it was, it had to be. The WWE had a lot to contend with this Sunday, while MITB was on, so was game 7 of the NBA Finals, one of the tensest finals in years and The Battle of the Bastards, an episode that has received an entire season of build up. Whoever booked the card, knew that people would switch from MITB at times to watch one of those, that’s why we had filler matches. That’s why Corbin vs Ziggler, Crews vs Sheamus and Rusev vs O’Neil (Also arguably the Women’s match) were so spread out over the card rather than all at the start. Imagine how bad the WWE would have looked if people turned off Cena vs Styles to watch the end of the NBA Finals? That’s why the US Title match was so far down the card, during the end of the game (Which was tied with a minute to go). The WWE needed the filler. 

TheRealDills – Tag Team Fatal 4-Way (Tag Team Championship)

The opening match tonight was rough, to say the least. All 4 teams were pretty good tonight, however, this match type just breeds botches. On the positive side of things, we saw some good old-fashioned entertainment as all teams looked as if they were enjoying themselves when things went smoothly. If I take anything away from this match it will be how bad I feel for referees when the in-ring action is this chaotic. This match was just all over the place. We had a dodgy 3 count that the fans screwed up on leading everyone to think Enzo had picked up the win and more illegal men in the ring than I could count. The low point was when Luke Gallows decided he wasn’t a wrestler for a while and just stared down Big E while he held Anderson. The icing on the cake was that when The New Day got the pin it wasn’t even on the legal man. As for New Day winning, it was obviously going to happen. No way WWE wants to keep the record with Paul London and Brian Kendrick. I do think we are definitely going to get new champions soon but just like Nikki Bella and the divas title they just want to cement that legacy first.

TheRealDills’ Rating: 6/10

Parzy’s Rating 6/10

Parzy – Baron Corbin vs Dolph Ziggler

All that being said about filler being needed, this was rough. What was even rougher was that it wasn’t pre show material.Instead, the pre show saw the Lucha Dragons vs The Dudleys and the grossest most humiliating match I’ve ever seen in The Golden Truth vs Sunburnt Breezango (Their skin was made up to look like it was peeling off of them). Having barely made the main show, this match was exactly what we’ve seen in the already, Dolph overselling, Corbin’s hairline visibly receding and Corbin showing little to no emotion throughout the entire affair. At this point, I enjoy ‘Make Darren Young great again’ segments more than this match up, at least we don’t see as many of those as we do Corbin vs Ziggler. I hope this is the final match of the feud but I won’t get my hopes up.

TheRealDills’ Rating: 4/10

Parzy’s Rating 3/10

Parzy – Becky Lynch and Natalya vs Charlotte and Dana Brooke

Boy oh boy, I hope that Dana Brooke stops tagging around Charlotte soon because I am fucking sick of her. I had my reservations when she first came up to the main roster, I gave her a shot when they kept pushing her after Emma’s injury, but enough is enough. She came up to the main roster far too early, it’s even worse that she’s now always in our faces since she’s partnered up with Charlotte. Let her develop on house shows until she finds her character then give her a solo run. Her complete lack of talent meant that Natty and Lynch’s loss was completely unbelievable. They were dominating, then Brooke and Charlotte get a leg up and run off. There was then an uncharacteristic betrayal by Natty as she beat into Lynch after their loss even though Lynch saved her from Charlotte in the first place. With the seeds of a Lynch/Natty feud in place, there looks to be two women’s matches at Battleground, giving the women’s division the push it’s been needing.

TheRealDills’ Rating: 5/10

Parzy’s Rating 4/10

TheRealDills – Apollo Crews vs Sheamus

Now I am a big fan of Apollo Crews who may lack some character and personality but in the ring, he is the complete package. However this placing of this match couldn’t have been worse for a feud with this little build, after 2 matches that were either filler or just simply uninteresting this match capped off a very boring middle of the show, and as someone who lives in the UK watching 3 back to back boring matches at 2am in the morning is bloody torture. The match was pretty standard and didn’t feel like a match worthy for the “greatest MITB of all time”, with both Crews and Sheamus doing nothing in particularly special. It seems obvious to me that they are going to do the exact same thing to this feud they have done to Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler. They are going to trade wins until the newer guy, in this case, Apollo, comes out on top.

Rating: 4/10

Parzy’s Rating 5/10

Parzy – AJ Styles vs John Cena

This match was incredible, while this is expected of the two long time veterans, their performance was still noteworthy. Every spot was impressive and showed off both competitors talent, making predicting the winner during the match almost impossible. However, the end definitely has to be brought into question. After a ref bump costs Cena the count out, The Club run out and delivered a Magic Killer to Cena, before depositing Styles’ corpse on top of him for the count out. This should have voided the match since it went against AJ’s contract but it didn’t. AJ gets the hollow win. The only consolation to this is that it looks like AJ gets away without being buried for now, and we may see the two duke it out again at Battleground, if this match is anything to go by, they’ll put on another incredible bout.

TheRealDills’ Rating: 9/10

Parzy’s Rating 10/10

Parzy – Money in The Bank Ladder Match

The fantasy booking came through guys! Ambrose won! Then he cashed in! Now they’ve set up a Shield triple threat! Yay! I’m getting ahead of myself. This match was the tits. Every participant landed some excellent spots, especially Cesaro and Del Rio, with Cesaro’s flying uppercut off the ropes taking the throne as the most impressive maneuver of the night. The match was brutal in every way that a ladder match should be, Zayn slamming Owens onto the ladder being the primary evidence of that. That part definitely brought up some worries from their last ladder slam at WM which made me think Kev had died as well. The match was great but although every participant was great, Ambrose really took a back seat until the end, making some of us question whether he was deserving of the contract. Having fought the least, it seemed like it, we thought he had to save his energy for the end of the night, but all he did then was one Dirty Deeds? I think he had more in him for the match, but his win was still important.

TheRealDills’ Rating: 8/10

Parzy’s Rating 9/10

TheRealDills – Rusev vs Titus O’Neil (US Championship)

There are two things that I need to say/ask, firstly Rusev is the heel to top all other heels. It takes a special sort of man to beat a father on father’s day then to go up to said father’s kids and berate him and them about how much of a loser he is. Monster Rusev is coming back guys. The other thing I wanted to ask is do Dads kiss their children on the lips? Is that a thing in America or something? Anyway, it goes without saying that this match was a squash match and ultimately just a way to get Rusev over as a heel as Titus is the latest victim of the accolade.

TheRealDills’ Rating: 6/10

Parzy’s Rating 4/10

TheRealDills – Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns (World Heavyweight Championship)

So we finally get to out Wrestlemania calibre main event as we see two of the three members of the Shield collide, and as we all found out earlier the possibility for that third man to get involved is very likely. Now despite the fact that Roman gets hit with the “you can’t wrestle” chants we have come to see that Reigns is very capable of putting on a match of the year candidate as long as he has someone world class to work with as seen with Bryan, Lesnar and most recently AJ Styles. Now as Seth is one of those world-class wrestlers I expected one of those matches, but what we got was quite different. Firstly unlike the matches I mentioned this one saw Roman take the lead rather than Seth, which unfortunately did make the match suffer as Reigns just isn’t as good as Rollins in the ring. However, this was done for a very specific reason as it allowed Roman to play the role of monster heel all match with Seth fitting into the role of babyface underdog. The match wasn’t a classic like the Styles one at Payback but it was still great and we saw some great offense from both guys (please make the Razor’s Edge powerbomb Roman’s finisher). To everyone’s surprise, Seth actually ended up picking up a clean victory which only strengthens this heel-face dynamic possibly hinting at a double turn. Seth beating Roman clean was absolutely huge but it only got bigger when good ole Dean Ambrose made his way down to the ring in order to cash in on Rollins but hitting him from behind then laying him out for the pin. All 3 Shield guys were world champion in the same night and Ambrose finally has his deserved title run. That Shield triple threat is coming and it’s coming soon.

TheRealDills’ Rating: 8/10

Parzy’s Rating 9/10

Overall

The Real Dills Rating: 8/10

Parzy’s Rating 9/10

The matter of the bet from the preview must be brought up. For our predictions, I got 5 correct predictions, Harry got 6. That means that Harry got rights to name my first born child [REDACTED] Wood. Huh, guess I’m not really allowed to say his name due to the WWE’s removal of the name as a whole. Oh well, luckily I got a picture of the kid in the future. Here he is. 

So that’s it for our MITB Review, come back next month for our joint Battleground review and as always, follow our Twitters @oliverwoodster and @therealdills.