• Tag Archives: Lucha Underground

    Wednesday Night Wars: August 5, 2015

    There’s a lot of wrestling on Wednesday nights.

    Every week, @JoeySplashwater will attempt to watch as much of the wrestling programs on Wednesday night as he can. There will be a short recap of each program followed by the pick for Match of the Night, Performer of the Night and who won the Wednesday Night Wars?

    NXT

    NXT

    Basic show. Same as usual. I wish they would get better jobbers if every episode is going to be enhancement matches galore. I miss CJ Parker. Charlotte vs. Bayley was disappointing considering the reputations of both but the road to TakeOver: Brooklyn for Bayley is a great story. Samoa Joe vs. Rhyno was just there.

    Kevin Owens and Finn Balor delivered promos to set up a Ladder Match at TakeOver which has given the show a great feel going into it. The announcement of Jushin Liger facing Tyler Breeze was made and there was a nice video. TakeOver: Brooklyn looks very good but the TV show was lackluster. Same old story.

    Grade: C

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    Wednesday Night Wars: July 29, 2015

    There’s a lot of wrestling on Wednesday nights.

    Every week, @JoeySplashwater will attempt to watch as much of the wrestling programs on Wednesday night as he can. There will be a short recap of each program followed by the pick for Match of the Night, Performer of the Night and who won the Wednesday Night Wars?

    NXT

    NXT

    As always, NXT was full of mostly enhancement matches and filler. The highlight of the show was the tag team of Chad Gable and Jason Jordan getting another win. This may be the first “NXT made” male act that takes off. Gable stands out and looks impressive in these short matches – a feat very rare for most on the roster.

    I like the tag team of Blake and Murphy with Alexa Bliss as their manager. She has raised her value without harming the wrestlers she’s managing which is the key to any person in that spot. The tag match main event itself was adequate. Charlotte vs. Dana Brooke was weak. Kevin Owens destroying Martin Stone was a good time as always. Not a noteworthy show but nothing too bad.

    Grade: C

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    This Or That (7/30/2015)

    Everybody loves binary decisions, especially wrestling fans! In This Or That, we’ve forced ourselves to choose between two options that relate to wrestling.

    Over four questions, @TimWelcomed, @JoeySplashwater and @TomBlargh will have to choose one of two options and give their reasoning on each of their choices. You can then vote on which one you’d choose, giving you the false impression that you’re somehow involved and we care about your opinion chance to join the conversation!

    Before we start, here’s last week‘s results:

    Who do you side with in their podcast wars?

    Steve Austin – 74%, Roddy Piper – 26%

    Better WWE reality show?

    Tough Talk – 61%, Total Divas – 39%

    Better Hulk Hogan Funko Pop? (Well, this is awkward!)

    Hollywood nWo – 71%, Hulkamania – 29%

    Better Fast and the Furious star?

    Vin Diesel – 80%, Tyrese – 20%

    Who has had more great matches in WWE: Undertaker or Brock Lesnar?

    Has ‘Taker’s long run or Brock’s short run produced more great matches?

    brock-taker

    Tim:

    There are way less Undertaker matches that I like than Brock Lesnar matches. The few matches that I think are classics are on a whole other level though and I don’t think Lesnar’s best matches can even be compared to those Undertaker matches. I do think Lesnar has had more high-caliber matches though. A lot of Undertaker’s catalogue is pretty boring. When Brock wrestles it is special and almost always hits a memorable level.

    Brock Lesnar

    Joey:

    Despite Undertaker having literally hundreds of more matches, I strongly believe Brock Lesnar has had more great ones. In his first run, I recall many classics vs. Kurt Angle, The Rock, Undertaker himself, Eddie Guerrero and others. In his recent run, he probably has another 5-7 truly GREAT matches. Sure, it seems like ‘Taker would have more but really remember the style of matches he used to have before the Wrestlemania streak became a big deal in the mid 2000s and how disappointing a lot of his non-WM matches were. Give me Brock’s library over the Deadman’s.

    Brock Lesnar

    Tom:

    When I got back into wrestling, it was probably the worst time to be re-exposed to The Undertaker – it was a few months after Wrestlemania XV and his matches were mostly a chore. Also, to a 14 year old, he just seemed like an older, less interesting Kane (which seems crazy to say now, but back off trolls, Kane was GOOD AS FUCK back then).

    This continued for… god, a solid three or four years, maybe? It was only around 2001/02 that he seemed to get back into the swing of things and started having some memorable matches. Realistically though, I think all his truly great matches were from feuds with Bret and Shawn around ’97 and then the latter half of The Streak – the rest of it is predominantly shuffling around with The Great Khali and that. His great matches could be REALLY fucking great though.

    So, even though Brock is my favourite guy to watch currently and his (admittedly smaller) catalogue of matches is of a much higher overall quality, I still don’t think he’s had as many great ones as ‘Taker. Hopefully he’ll get there though! Never leave, Brock.

    The Undertaker

    [poll id=”207″]

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    Wednesday Night Wars: July 22, 2015

    There’s a lot of wrestling on Wednesday nights.

    Every week, @JoeySplashwater will attempt to watch as much of the wrestling programs on Wednesday night as he can. There will be a short recap of each program followed by the pick for Match of the Night, Performer of the Night and who won the Wednesday Night Wars?

    NXT

    NXT

    Full Sail somehow found a way to become more obnoxious with booing all mentions of the NXT TakeOver show because it’s a part of Summerslam weekend in New York as well as going over the top creating Cena-like “Let’s Go Eva/Eva Sucks” chants for Eva Marie. It’s one thing if those chants happen naturally or was dictated by the show but they obviously planned it out. The Impact Zone 2.0 has been going overboard for a while but this recent set of tapings may be when most realize it.

    The show was pretty lackluster at best with the only noteworthy moments coming from a Finn Balor and Kevin Owens promo. Bayley had a solid return as well and set up her road to the Women’s Title. The rest of the show was pretty basic and it’s becoming more and more difficult to watch in full.

    Grade: C

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    Wednesday Night Wars: July 8, 2015

    There’s a lot of wrestling on Wednesday nights.

    Every week, @JoeySplashwater will attempt to watch as much of the wrestling programs on Wednesday night as he can. There will be a short recap of each program followed by the pick for Match of the Night, Performer of the Night and who won the Wednesday Night Wars?

    NXT

    NXT

    Bad stuff, mates. The only original content I enjoyed on this episode was the Sasha Banks and Charlotte interactions in their tag match vs. Emma and Dana Brooke. Sasha and Charlotte came off like stars with a presence showing they were ready for the next level. Emma and Dana Brooke, not so much.

    Last week, I ranted about ROH recycling content and I feel the same way about NXT airing the Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor match. Based off NXT and the Japan show both being on the Network and the audience being one in the same, it was definitely made to fill time due to not having enough talent to fill TV without Balor or Owens.

    Solomon Crowe looked awful with a goofy promo now referring to himself as “The Resident Little Monster.” Is he mimicking Lady Gaga fans? Is Lady Gaga still a thing? The tag match main event was W-E-A-A-A-A-K WEAAAAK. Unless you want to catch the short build to one final Sasha/Charlotte match, there’s nothing to see here.

    Grade: D

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    Wednesday Night Wars: July 1, 2015

    There’s a lot of wrestling on Wednesday nights.

    Every week, @JoeySplashwater will attempt to watch as much of the wrestling programs on Wednesday night as he can. There will be a short recap of each program followed by the pick for Match of the Night, Performer of the Night and who won the Wednesday Night Wars?

    NXT

    NXT

    The build-up for the Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor match on the WWE Network live special from Japan helped give NXT extra importance. It led to a very cool match featuring ECW, ROH, TNA and NJPW legends all sharing a ring – Rhyno and Kevin Owens vs. Samoa Joe and Finn Balor. The match was entertaining and we were granted another excellent hype video for Finn.

    Once again, nothing else on this show stood out and I already forgot about the other matches just a few days later. The NXT roster depth needs help as its either highly ineffective (anything involving the tag division) or flat out bad (see a terrible interaction backstage between the excellent Sasha Banks and the less excellent tandem of Emma and Dana Brooke).

    As usual, the top tier talent was great and everyone else was just there. I think Bull Dempsey fat jokes was the best thing on the show not involving Finn Balor.

    Grade: C

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    Wednesday Night Wars: June 24, 2015

    There’s a lot of wrestling on Wednesday nights.

    Every week, @JoeySplashwater will attempt to watch as much of the wrestling programs on Wednesday night as he can. There will be a short recap of each program followed by the pick for Match of the Night, Performer of the Night and who won the Wednesday Night Wars?

    NXT

    NXT

    NXT was the perfect example of what their television program is this week. The open was great with Kevin Owens, Hideo Itami, Finn Balor and Rhyno all having fun moments. The main event of Balor vs. Rhyno was solid with great commentary by Owens. There was also a spectacular promo video of Finn playing Legos with Sami Zayn.

    Unfortunately, the rest of the show sucked. Nothing else and no one else on this show felt important or noteworthy and it just seemed like filler in between the opening segment and main event. I can’t even remember who the participants were.

    The good was outstanding, the bad was pointless. I enjoyed the Owens vs. Finn story enough to say I liked NXT this week.

    Grade: C+

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    Around The Wrestling World In 7 Days: April 5, 2015

    Every weekend, Joey will give a glimpse of the things that have entered his mind.

    Hi. I have a lot of thoughts about wrestling. I decided to start a concept where I talk about what’s on my mind every weekend. I hope it’s enjoyable.

    Follow me on Twitter and let me know if you want me to hit on any wrestling topics next week: @JoeySplashwater

    WWE Universe

    rollins

    Wrestlemania

    Wow was I wrong about Wrestlemania 31. I had very low expectations for the show but it completely over-delivered. The entire show entertained me from top to bottom with every match having something that entertained me to some extent. If I were to rank the show after watching it just twice, I’d say it’s only behind 17, 19, 30 and maybe 24 among the best overall Wrestlemania shows of all time.

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    Around The Wrestling World In 7 Days: March 22nd, 2015

    Every weekend, Joey will give a glimpse of the things that have entered his mind.

    Hi. I have a lot of thoughts about wrestling. I decided to start a concept where I talk about what’s on my mind every weekend. I hope it’s enjoyable.

    Follow me on Twitter and let me know if you want me to hit on any wrestling topics next week: @JoeySplashwater

    WWE Universe

    stinger

    Stinger

    I did not watch RAW this week. The only thing I looked for after the show was Sting’s appearance helping Randy Orton take down The Authority. This was by far the best Sting has looked in a WWE setting so far. His past appearances have made me care significantly less about his debut match at Wrestlemania but this added more optimism.

    Ultimate Ladder Spotfest

    A myriad of great in ring performers having a ladder match full of dazzling spots will always be fun but I can’t get myself interested in this the way others are. It reminds me of when TNA would randomly book all the X Division talent they don’t care about in an 8 man Ultimate X spotfest. Sure, it’s fun but it means absolutely nothing no matter how many times you try to tell yourself it will make a division/belt more credible.

    NXT

    This week’s NXT episode was one of my favorite TV episodes they’ve done. I absolutely loved the opening match between Tyler Breeze and Kalisto. It was only about 7 minutes and nothing too special occurred but it was straight up fun wrestling.

    The setting of a new crowd in Cleveland was a bonus as Full Sail is starting to remind me of the Impact Zone during the “Hoytmania” days.

    Kevin Owens kicking Alex Riley in the face was a beautiful moment.

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    This Or That (10/21/2014)

    Everybody loves binary decisions, especially wrestling fans! In This Or That, we’ve forced ourselves to choose between two options that relate to wrestling.

    Over four questions, @TimWelcomed, @JoeySplashwater and @TomBlargh will have to choose one of two options and give their reasoning on each of their choices. You can then vote on which one you’d choose, giving you the false impression that you’re somehow involved and we care about your opinion chance to join the conversation!

    Before we start, here’s last week‘s results:

    Which match would excite you more?

    Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins Hell In A Cell – 51%, Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville Ladder Match – 49%

    More likely to be a future WWE World champ?

    Bray Wyatt – 53%, Rusev – 47%

    Which wrestling related service would you rather get?

    TweetSecret – 89%, Vince Russo’s VIP – 11%

    Better PBS show?

    Sesame Street – 54%, Arthur – 46%

    Which new wrestling program are you more likely to watch: British Bootcamp 2 or Lucha Underground?

    Two new wrestling shows debuting in the same week. Is this 1999?!

    bbc-lucha

    Tim:

    I’m really excited about checking out Lucha Underground. I used to watch AAA when I could but I could never figure out what was going on and it seemed like it was edited weird. This has the possibility of being something pretty fresh and different. That’s something wrestling desperately needs. Hopefully it’s not doomed from the get-go and people go into it with and open mind. I mean… It’ll probably end up being shit. That’s how this usually goes but I’m going to try it.

    As for British Boot Camp 2… The first one was okay. It’s a great idea for a show. This one has the best of TNA involved (outside of Al Snow) but I really have no attachment to the TNA product anymore. The “TNA” name is so damaged that I have trouble caring about anything they do, even this show which should actually be watchable and maybe even highly enjoyable.

    Lucha Underground

    Joey:

    When it comes to TNA, I’m more prone to trust productions by Jeremy Borash so I do believe British Bootcamp 2 will be decent. Samoa Joe, Gail Kim and Rockstar Spud should add some interesting aspects as well but honestly, fuck Al Snow. He’s a less respected version of Jim Ross when it comes to being grumpy and close minded about different styles of wrestling so expect lots of elitist Al comments.

    Lucha Underground is something I’m very hopeful for as I’ve started to read more about it. I want to see how a wrestling show works when structured in the form of a season. This is going to be the first time I watch a lucha-based wrestling show and the American talent provide a nice middle ground to try it out.  I’m also looking forward to seeing Ricochet and John Morrison in a setting completely different than where I’m used to watching them.

    I was slightly on the fence but then I found out Drake Bell is a part of the project AND Brad Ward was told by Big Dick Johnson that it would be good. How can you top that?

    Lucha Underground

    Tom:

    I really enjoyed the first British Bootcamp – there was a pretty heavy dose of the usual reality TV nonsense mixed into it, but it was really well put together and it was fun to see a spotlight put on the British indy scene. Series 2 can only be better, since Gail Kim, Samoa Joe and Jeremy Borash are three of the most likeable personalities in wrestling and should be enough to counterbalance that creepy old fuck with terrible opinions about modern wrestling, Al Snow. Also, with some guaranteed Grado time, it’s sure to have some funny moments.

    I know very little about Lucha Underground aside from the fact that it’ll have John Morrison and Matt Striker involved to some extent. Thanks but no thanks.

    British Bootcamp 2

    [yop_poll id=”93″]

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