RAW Review: 29th June

Hello! It's another RAW Review, I'm massively running out of witty remarks for this opening gambit- but Yes, it's a RAW Review- which means a lot of crushing disappointment and basic logic being thrown out the window. Yay! Anyway after last weeks RAW that was really flat we were led into this weeks RAW where with no Brock booked and the announcement of the most repetitive Main Event ever it didn't look good heading into the show. But did it surprise anyone?

Seth Rollins does... Something
When I was watching this Last Night I wasn't sure if I really hated or completely loved this segment. Now that I've thought about it and of course slept on it I'm going down on the side of loving this segment. Yes, it was completely stupid- but that was the point. In a weird way it reminded me of the "Hug It Out" segment in that they probably told Seth "You've got 15 Minutes, Go Out there and do it". I fully understand people hating this segment- I'm just not one of those people- End of the Day I was laughing so it was job done.

Big Show v Mark Henry
At least it was short. The only highlight for this was Miz on Commentary his "This is What WWE is all about" line whether it was meant to be ironic or not got a laugh out of me.

Ryback v The Miz
For what it was I liked it- it put over Ryback as the Strong IC Champion and Miz as the cowardly Heel all while protecting to an extent both guys by not having them take a Pin. Also I'm not sure if they planned it as such or the Ref got a voice in his head telling them to "go home" but the Ref calling for the Bell after about 4 when Miz bolted was weird and I don't think I've ever seen that before. Either way it was a mistake because Miz was going to come back and win the Match. #JusticeForMiz.

Paige v Alicia Fox
After my Divas piece last week it was my intention to leave these segments blank until there was a marked change in the Division. However, Last Night was a nice change of pace. For once a Divas Match got the crowd invested into the match- and for about 10 Minutes both Women put on a good match. What do you know, there wasn't a Bella involved in said 10 Minute good match that got the crowd invested. It's almost as if the crowd don't actually care about the Bellas.

Cesaro v John Cena
Cena's Open Challenge was back- and it was as great as ever. I tweeted as Cesaro came out that I was all for this match because Cena/Cesaro was one of my Match of the Year Candidates last year- and while I wouldn't say it was as good as last year's offering this was still straight out of the top draw. There are some pairings that just "click" and Cesaro and Cena is definitely one of those pairings- although in fairness Cesaro "clicks" with literally everyone other than RVD it seems. This was just a great match- and the best thing about it all, they actually felt the need to protect Cesaro for the finish. I'm sure pretty much everyone expected Cena to power through AA Cesaro and then get blind-sided by Owens (who's commentary reminded me quite a lot of Punk's) so for him to take out Cesaro and then Cena did a great job and was the perfect finish. I suppose we can add Cesaro to the list of people Owens is feuding with now as well, I think he's angling for his own Royal Rumble.

Quick Point before I move on- I genuinely am trying to get this Cesaro Post out, but the last two Friday's have been really weird and hectic for me so I hope you understand and I'd rather when I do put it out to be quality rather than rushed.

Bray Wyatt Promo
It's so nice to see Bray has something he can really sink his teeth into again, because even myself as a huge Bray fan wasn't getting into the Ryback stuff. I'll repeat what I've said a few times now- you can say Bray's Promos/Promo Style "isn't for you" but calling his Promos boring or pointless is naive- if you actually listen to what Bray is saying it makes perfect sense.

The Lucha Dragons & The Primetime Players v New Day & Bo Dallas
I'm not sure what to think of this match if I'm honest. On the one hand it was a pretty solid match- and did as good a job as an 8 Man Tag Match can do- but on the other this match was way, way too long for what it was- and that was a throwaway 8 Man Tag just to fit everyone on the card. I don't know if I'm saying that because I wasn't expecting it to go as long as it did and that fact caught me off guard- but I didn't really get into the match until Titus had his little flurry right toward the end.

Ziggler & Lana/Rusev & Summer Rae Segment
I'm not on board with the Ziggler/Lana pairing- and I still say Rusev is coming off as the Babyface in this whole thing. That said, the Crowds Reaction to Lana finally getting physical with someone- combined with them finally giving Summer something to stick her teeth into means I'm not totally against this as I have been. While this may be up in the air with Dolph's rumoured Contract Issues I can see them doing a double-turn with Dolph and Summer eventually being the Heels. But for now I's assume it's going to be a Mixed-Tag at Battleground where it'll be interesting to see if Lana can actually wrestle. As much as I want to get behind Lana (no, not in that way) if she's useless in the ring then she should stay out of the ring.

Ambrose & Reigns Segment
I hope Ambrose is happy with himself- he got Roman all hyped up before it was time for their match, and as a result Stan is now dead.

Sheamus v Neville
For the throwaway filler match that this was it was pretty good. You can say what you want about Sheamus but he does know how to use a crowd to get what he wants out of said crowd and any match involving these two is going to have to go some way in order to be bad. The one question I do want answering is simply, Where the Hell is Orton? They literally started his feud with Sheamus and then a week later he went missing with no explanation.

King Barrett v Jack Swagger
This was fine for what it was as was the previous match- I think we were all surprised Swagger ended up on RAW for the first time in forever. But I think it's more surprising that Barrett has actually strung together 2 Wins on RAW in a row, even if they were against jobbers.

Kane & Seth Rollins v Ambrose & Reigns- No DQ Match
When this match started up I was all for it- it was hectic and all 4 Guys were in the ring which was a must for me, because it was a No DQ Match. Then we came back from the Ad Break and they'd reverted to the rules of a normal Tag Match- Why? It's not that I didn't like the match, because I did- I just wanted it to be more chaotic and have more stuff happening. Bray's interference was actually a nice change of pace because with the exception of Brock, Bray is the first guy to breach that Main Event segment in seemingly forever and it was refreshing for Bray to close the show so for that I do give them credit.

This whole episode was quite strange, nearly everything was pretty solid at a minimum last night but for some reason I went to Bed feeling quite empty- and I can't even really pinpoint why.

Anyway, Thanks for reading as always- Like I said I truly am trying to get the Cesaro Post out ASAP and I'll try my best to get it out this week so hopefully stay tuned for that- also apologies for this being up a bit later than usual but I had a Hospital Appointment so, Yeah I couldn't do anything about it. Thanks again for reading, If you want you can join me Tonight for Tough Enough where the Hunt for the next Silent Rage continues, thanks again and have a good week before we all go into mourning for the death of Kofi Kingston. NEW... DAY DIES, NEW... DAY DIES.

Slammiversary Review

Hello! It's a Slammiversary Review that I really wasn't sure I'd be doing. The only reason I ended up watching Slammiversary last night was because it was Free on TV last night- I wouldn't even have bothered streaming it, so thanks for that one Challenge. Anyway, the one question that you all want the answer to- Do I want a Refund?

Tigre Uno v Manik v DJ Z- X Division Title Match
It's not that I didn't like this match- because I did, but to me the job in Title matches is for the audience to suspend their disbelief to the point that you believe a Title Change may happen even though you know it won't. All of that was completely out of the window knowing for a complete fact that Tigre wasn't dropping the Belt and for me that took any suspense out of the match that a good match needs to have. Like I say though, that's not to say I didn't like the match and it was a fun opener- it was just flawed from the outset.

Quick Point, with TNA seemingly doomed a load of people have been saying how they want Aries, Roode etc. to come down to NXT- While I do want them, I would seriously rank Zema Ion above them in terms of who I want to see down in NXT. You'll know if you've been following me on Twitter for long enough that I really rate Zema- and were it not for the Jesse Sorensen thing I truly believe Zema would be at Aries level in terms of standing within the company- couple that with the fact he's still only 28 get's me quire excited and he's someone who I definitely want them to look at.

Robbie E Backstage Promo
The little thing with Borash before we got onto the Interview felt like a Eulogy- and it wouldn't surprise me if JB is off soon as well. The Robbie E promo was good in selling his "new" motivations so to speak and did a decent(ish) job of hyping the match.

Robbie E v Jessie Godderz
The Jessie Promo was a bit "meh" and his new gimmick seemingly being the exact copy of Chris Masters/Mordetsky isn't exactly helping his cause but I'm actually enjoying Jessie at the moment. In terms of "Most Improved Guys" Jessie has to be one of the guys you talk about- and his facial expressions made him look like a genuine psychopath and like he'd snapped. It's never been disputed that he has "the look" but now he's actually adding to that and his character is seemingly starting to get some depth. That makes the finish even more perplexing- but as long as Jessie gets the Win back on a show that actually matters it should be fine.

Bram v Matt Morgan
At least Bram won. After what happened on Wednesday with Vader I really wasn't confident that Bram would win which was a must- and I've read the Spoilers but I've already forgotten them but I would hope Bram will kick on from this and in a not too dissimilar way to EC3 slowly build up momentum to the point everyone's clamouring for him to get the TNA WHC Belt. I actually liked this match because it didn't go all out. It was somewhat refreshing for a match to not give the crowd the kitchen sink and basically acknowledge that there were other matches they needed the crowd to be invested in more. So for me this was a decent match, but it never wanted to be anything more than that.

Austin Aries v Davey Richards
WRASSLIN!  For a seemingly throwaway match to determine the stipulation of a match that had already happened with one of the participants having one foot out the door this was really good. This was a good ol' Wrestling Match. It didn't have any of the bells and whistles of a stipulation- and they just got in there and showed why they're two of the best Wrestlers in the Company. There honestly isn't much else you can say about the match other than that the 30 Minute Iron Man Stip should be a fun one.

Brooke & Kong v The Dollhouse
This was just quite "meh" to me- and that's pretty much been the feeling of the Knockouts recently in general, and that truly is a shame. It's not that they're doing anything inherently wrong- I just want more from the Knockouts, and when you factor in the Knockouts aren't unique any more in that they're giving Women the spotlight in NXT to an equal- if not more so than the Knockouts at their height does take some of the sheen off of the Knockouts Division. BUT THOSE ROYALTIES FOR CORGAN'S FRIEND!

Magnus Backstage Promo
This was a bit all over the place- but I'm not going to massively dig at him for that because he was probably all over the place mentally what with it being most likely his last night with the Company.

James Storm v Magnus- Unsanctioned Match
As far as matches go when both competitors are pretty much out the door this definitely outranked Brock vs Goldberg. I don't usually like matches where they go "all around the arena" just because for me it stops the match getting a good flow to it and I hate all the conveniently placed items that come into play but I really liked this match. It had enough of a rhythm to it that the "get to different areas to do a spot" didn't feel as blatantly obvious as most of these sort of matches do, so when the spots actually happened it meant something. This match told a near perfect story as well with Magnus refusing to give in- Some people may have not liked the finish and I'd understand that- but to me it was good because it showed that although Storm won there was nothing to separate the two guys.

This was when it all started to go horribly wrong. I remember seeing something in the week that The Harris Twins told the TNA Workers that the pay was delayed and if they wanted to they could shake their hands and leave. Well, it seems like the Audio Guys took the offer. It was hilarious for the first minute or so because all I heard was a massively loud bang that made me jump out of my skin before the audio just completely cut out. If there was ever a way to Celebrate 13 Years of TNA this was it. Well, that and the Main Event.

EC3 & Tyrus v Mr Anderson & Lashley
This was quite "meh" to me- and it was pretty much the definition of a Filler Match. That said I'm still excited to see the Title Match on Wednesday- WHERE LITERALLY ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, WHO'LL WIN- I DON'T KNOW!

King of the Mountain Match
King of the Mountain Matches are a Complete Cluster- Anyone who disagrees with that doesn't know what they're talking about. That said as far as Clusters go this was a fun one. If you put a gun to my head I wouldn't be able to explain the rules for the match- but once you gave up trying to understand what was happening it was quite a fun match with a lot of different dynamics. I'm not going to get annoyed that Jarrett won as some are seemingly doing because I think everyone was braced for said occurrence and if anything I'm less pissed than I thought I'd be because I was convinced Jarrett was going to do the match in a GFW T-Shirt. It had enough moving parts to make this match passable and enough fun spots like the Team Canada reunion, but the one thing that annoyed me was the way in which Jarrett won. Eric Young is someone who's become somewhat of a killer in TNA over the last 6 Months, maybe more- so for him to Piledrive Jarrett onto a Ladder which looked stiff as anything by the logic TNA has used when booking EY should have meant Jarrett was stretchered out. So for him to get up like it was nothing 2 Minutes later and win just killed the match for me, and I had developed some goodwill toward it before that point.

Anyway, I'm sure all the things that happened tonight will be thoroughly addressed in terms of the In-Ring product this coming Wednesday and we of course have the Title Match to look forward to where literally anything could happen- I know I'm going to put my life savings on Angle retaining.

Thanks for reading as always, I genuinely did hope to get the Cesaro Booking Post out Last Friday but a load of really weird stuff happened on Friday that there's no real point of me getting into on this. That said I truly am trying to get it written and up ASAP and hopefully it'll be up in the coming days. Of course you've also got the RAW Review to look forward to tomorrow so stay tuned for that- and feel free to tag along on Twitter tonight for some top notch banter. Thanks again for reading, and after last night I feel like we need to start up the "Don't Fire Eric" stuff again- so remember to chant that on Wednesday guys.

Destination Impact Review: 24th June

Hello! It's another Impact Review- and the Episode last night was Live! So literally anything could happen and it'd all be a surprise, Oh. Them billing this episode as "Live" annoyed me- there's no "well it's as good as..." it's either live or it's not and it wasn't. I just have an issue with that, why go there in the first place and bill it as live when spoilers were all over Twitter and Jeff Jarrett was trending before the show even started which pretty much wrecked the "big surprise"- unless as I thought when I first saw him trending and thought he was dead and left it at that without clicking on it. Anyway, I've got a lot to say about this Episode so why waste any more time.

Angle & EC3 Open to the Show
This was good in a "Hype the Match" way- but not much else, this was pretty much exactly the same as last weeks open to the show, and that annoys me to an extent because both guys are capable of more.

Tigre Uno v Low Ki v Grado- X Division Title
I said it a few weeks ago that it'd be a mistake to put the Belt on Grado so at least where that's concerned they hit the mark. However it didn't do much else, I'm not sure why they felt the need to put the Elimination Stipulation in there for match with such a short time window and the match just felt quite disjointed and as such it didn't really get me invested into the match which really was a shame because they had some good workers in the match- and Grado.

Taryn Terrell Backstage Promo
I'm not sure if this was meant to be so awkward it ended up being funny with "The Dolls" describing how they were going to take out Brooke and Kong- but hey, Billy's gotta get those Royalties to his friend.

Velvet Sky v Angelina Love
For someone who was at the start of the match not under contract it sure was nice of them to give Velvet a brand new Entrance theme. This was, well it was Velvet v Angelina in pretty much the identical feud they've been involved in so many times before- they just get more plastic every time, and I'll repeat- nobody cares about Velvet Sky.

Dirty Heels v The Wolves- Full Metal Mayhem
They really went out there with that finish- I don't think anyone saw The Dirty Heels winning the match let alone winning the match by being Dirty Heels. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the match- but to me a truly great match has to get you emotionally invested into it, and with the outcome being so obvious it didn't make that connection for me and that stopped a good match being taken to the "next level". If anything that fact is more annoying to me than if they'd just completely flopped and turned it into a Botchamania Special because it's harder to critique something that really delivered from an in-ring perspective.

Jeff Jarrett & Karen make a "Shock" Return
This was the point of the show where it went one of two ways for everyone- it either became the best thing ever because of all the Nostalgia and you loved it, or you were like me and just thought it was all stupid and unnecessary. Yes, I was intrigued to see Jarrett back in TNA- but within 30 Seconds it was so obvious Jarrett was using TNA to plug GFW and nothing else. Don't believe me watch the Promo back and take a Shot every time Karen or Jeff said "Global Force Wrestling"- you won't be able to come back because you'll be in A&E needing a new liver. The whole Promo just felt really bizarre and way, way too long. At one point it was like they forgot where they were going and just dropped random names- which was quite hilarious because Sonjay Dutt got the biggest pop of all of them other than AJ Styles. Yes, it was interesting and definitely generated buzz with Jarrett coming back- but that buzz just won't generate long-term interest and giving the amount of time they did to these two especially given how long Karen had the Mic for it was unnecessary.

Vader v Bram
This has made me really angry. Vader is 60 Years Old- why on earth did they feel the need to protect him at the expense of Bram? I said it last week and I've been saying it for a while- if TNA is to have a future Bram is going to be one of the guys who is at the forefront of that future, this was just so ridiculously short-term thinking- and crucially it was a huge missed opportunity to put Bram over someone who has a reputation like Vader. In short this really annoyed me.

Matt Morgan on the other hand is someone who I am reasonably happy to see back because I thought he was doing some of his best work before he left a few years back. But still I just can't get over the fact they felt the need to protect Vader.

Eric Young v Chris Melendez
I don't know what I was expecting from this match to be honest. I know I was expecting something to have a lot more substance considering the way they'd hyped this as somewhat of a Blood Feud. I just don't see why they felt the need to cram this supposed blood feud match into a 5 Minute (if that) segment on an already packed card.

The BDC & The Rising Brawl
The last of the responses to Dixie's Mass Text was Shawn Hernandez- I want to get into this feud, I really do- but The Rising has already beaten the BDC so the addition of at best a Midcarder in Hernandez isn't a big powerplay sort of thing that suddenly legitimises the BDC again after the loss and just screams that they don't have a direction for either faction coming off the back of their feud.

Kurt Angle v Matt Hardy
This was a really weird one, considering Matt Hardy has absolutely no direction and Angle is going into a World Title match it almost seemed like this match was the wrong way around. Hardy was largely dominant and Angle scraped the win- and although that put over Angle's "Never Give Up" sort of thing because of the number of Side-Effect's he kicked out of, him scraping a win against someone like Matt Hardy is hardly the ideal scenario heading into a big title match.

The finish was interesting because they of course had EC3 tapping- and that was sure to get some last minute buys for Slammiv- Oh.

Thanks for reading as always, Like I said with the Jarrett thing- this episode can go one of two ways for everyone; there really isn't a middle ground which is good in a way because it provokes a reaction out of everyone and get's people talking whether it's good or bad. Anyway, the Slammiversary card is doing very little for me but chances are I'll watch it with it being free in England so stay tuned for the Review of that- and also look out for my Cesaro Booking Post tomorrow and if you haven't already I'd recommend reading Yesterday's Post about the Divas Division. Anyway, thanks again for reading and remember- next time you send a Mass Text remember to exclude the bottom of the barrel guys.

The Divas Division Problem

Hello! It's another post- and one that although I haven't been directly planning to do, it's something that I've had in the back of my mind to do at some point for a while. Now it's all seemingly coming to a head with the Divas Division being at a very low ebb and in my opinion it has to be thought of as down there as at the least in the conversation as the worst the Divas Division has been in terms of perception and general booking ever. However, it's a lot deeper than that- because while the #GiveDivasAChance thing prompted approximately two weeks of the Divas getting a decent amount of air time I don't think anyone is buying the Divas are being viewed as legitimate by the powers that be in the back and we're back to 3 Minute Tag Matches that are booked atrociously.

I'm not sure what I'm going to talk about exactly in this Post- I know the frame of what I'm going to say in that I'm going to say where I think it all went wrong for the Divas and then also identify how to improve the Division- and that isn't as simple as calling up the NXT Women and everything will be better. 

The Great Model Debate 
The way I see it, while the Divas Division wasn't perfect before 2006 it still had a core of solid females and crucially the Divas Division was at least in my opinion respected by the people in the back as legitimate with people like Trish and Lita and then Victoria and Mickie to name just a few around how could it not? I don't think anyone was expecting a smooth transition when Trish and Lita retired almost at the exact same time- but as long as they kept a good core and the right philosophy it should have been fine after a rough transition. 

Then John Laurinaitis happened. I don't necessarily have a problem with models coming into WWE, but Big Johnny literally ordering models out of a catalogue to send down to OVW is ludicrous and where the long-term problems for the Divas Division started in my opinion. The models in this case were Alicia Fox and Kelly Kelly. The fact the people in OVW were forbidden to have "carnal relations" with Alicia and Kelly says it all in terms of the circumstance of them hiring and the seeming motivation for it. 

To me Kelly Kelly was pretty much the living, breathing "What's wrong with the Divas Division" for her entire run. She was sent down to OVW which is fair enough, but she was called up after approximately a Month (if that) to literally be a Stripper. That wouldn't be so bad, if not for the fact that once she did transition into an in-ring performer she was absolutely horrible. I still have nightmares about how she ran the ropes- and the worst thing was she was properly pushed from an in-ring perspective when calling her Green would have been an insult to people who were green. I'm not blaming Kelly Kelly for that- she shouldn't have been there in the first place, and she only really became passable from an in-ring perspective around the time she left in 2012.

To me the whole perception of the Divas changed when they went down the Model route not just from the fans, but in the back- and that is still largely holding the Divas back to this day. You only have to see what happened when the Entourage people showed up and they had Divas lined up to "get on their good side" for them to see what I mean.

Total Divas
Total Divas is a Cancer to the whole Wrestling business- and it is slowly killing the Divas Division without a shadow of a doubt. If you read these regularly you'll know I'm open minded to pretty much everything, and when I saw the announcement of Total Divas I thought it'd be good to get some more exposure for the Divas and would be the garnish if you will to the Divas stories they could put into place in that they could further an angle on Total Divas- because when it comes to "Reality TV" Reality isn't Reality.

Instead they've let Total Divas for the most part control the storylines in the Divas Division since it came into play. The stupid angles they've done with the likes of Nattie and Summer bringing it over to WWE TV when we all know the "drama" with them happened months ago because they date it as such just defies logic and is beyond stupid. Then when you consider Total Divas has led to people like Cameron, Rosa and Eva Marie being featured when they're to be quite frank awful- I'm happy to give Eva a chance now that appears she's actually trying training with Brian Kendrick and what not, but in an almost repeat of Kelly Kelly Eva was on the Main Roster after practically no time in Developmental and it most definitely showed. Then we get onto Rosa and Cameron who both should be on the next lot of Releases WWE does, which if I'm honest I'm surprised hasn't happened yet given the Mass Jobber-Cide had already happened this time last year. I mean anyone who tries to pin someone the wrong way around simply doesn't deserve to be in a Wrestling Ring- and to make matters worse she defended herself on Twitter by saying she was "making her own rules" or words to that effect, NO, YOU WERE BEING DENSE.

The Bellas
Feel free to tweet this to that BriannaNicole or whatever her Twitter handle was who I got into an argument with during that RAW, because she can't disagree with anything I've said. The Bellas are a large part of what is wrong with the Divas Division, and this isn't me Bella Bashing- it's a fact. I think we're all resigned to Nikki beating AJ's title record now- but the thing is nobody gives a damn about her Title run. She's had the Belt for 200+ Days and she hasn't even had one memorable moment in that 200 Days let alone a memorable match/feud. I wish I was doing this when The Bellas were first around because I absolutely hated them- because once again they were literally pimped out to every RAW Guest Host and just everywhere because "Hey, there's two of them". However when they left I thought that was that- and move on, they can go away and be actors or whatever they left for and the Divas Division won't miss them. Nope, A Year Later after they'd completely flopped trying to be actors they came back with their tails between their legs to the WWE with the promise of a Reality show with them as the stars. I don't care what anyone says- it might as well be called Total Bellas, they're so clearly the stars of it.

Then we get onto the complete abortion of a feud they had last year. I wasn't necessarily against them feuding because apart from the bizarre thing when one of them picked Team Teddy and one of them Team Johnny it hadn't really been properly explored and it's an interesting dynamic- because hey, there's two of them. Instead we got what was rightly made the worst feud of the year, and I would argue one of the worst feuds of the Modern Era. It was just horrendous- and what made it worse was they actually got a decent amount of air-time with which to further their pure horrendous feud. The Bella vs Bella and Brie vs Stephanie feud was the first Divas feud to get a really proper amount of exposure in ages- and it was the worst feud imaginable for that exposure, and massively set the Divas Division back, because the Ratings backed up what a lot of people are saying- nobody other than Teenage Girls and Total Divas Fans care about The Bellas.

The "Give Divas a Chance" Era
When I saw the Give Divas a Chance stuff I was in two minds- because on one level I saw the positives in that it was going to get the Divas exposure, but I was also thinking "Well, The Divas Champion is Nikki Bella- so maybe this won't turn out how people think it will". Sure enough we're around 4 Months give or take since it started and we're not any better, if anything we're worse off now because of AJ leaving.

I'm not a massive AJ Fan- but I respect the hell out of her because you know she loves this business and she spent her whole life trying to get to WWE. I also respect her because she was given a crumb of an opportunity in her pairing with Bryan and she played her role so well she ended up in spots with Punk, Bryan, Kane, Cena and Dolph and she was getting Main Event level exposure. She wasn't perfect, but at the same time she was also one half of the last really good Divas match in the AJ vs Kaitlyn match where AJ finally won the Belt- that combined with the fact she was at one point the only Diva with Merch says all that needs to be said about AJ's impact on the Division. Now that AJ's left we're left with this as the Divas Roster;

Nikki
Brie
Paige
Alicia
Summer
Cameron (Ugh)
Emma
Layla
Rosa
Tamina
Naomi
Nattie
Lana

No really, there's 13 current Main Roster Women. I've left out Eva because she seems to be in NXT for the foreseeable future which can only help her.

Let's firstly look at Lana who is now up there with Cesaro and Harper levels in terms of mis-use in my opinion. She was a Strong Independent Woman who was in control of a Beast in Rusev- and that in my opinion is why people gravitated to her. Now she's just another Valet who's inexplicably paired up with Dolph in one of the worst relationship pairings ever- I think Perry Saturn had more chemistry with Moppy. Lana could well have been the next great Woman in the WWE- now she's got to almost start from scratch when I would argue at one point she was one of the hottest (No, not in that way) acts in the company.

Then we move onto the dead-weight. Cameron, Rosa and Layla should be on the next trip to Belize without a doubt and you can also make arguments for Tamina to be on that trip. That would take out nearly a quarter of the current Diva Roster and nobody would even notice.

I'm not going to say call up Charlotte, Becky, Sasha and Bayley and everything will suddenly become great and the Divas will Main Event a PPV- I'm not that naive and it really isn't that simple. I would argue it would take the best part of a year for the Divas to be seen as anywhere near that level. However NXT call-ups are the way to go- not for the necessarily obvious reason of that they're better. The Women down in NXT are pretty much Triple H's project and if one of the dubbed "Four Horsewomen" does get called up I would be very surprised if Triple H didn't "Pick his Hill to Die on" as the saying when it comes to Vince goes in order to protect any of those 4. With that in mind if the NXT Women do come up I think they would be better booked because someone with Vince's ear will actually be fighting for them and fighting to change the perception of the Diva.

Like I said- the Divas Division doesn't have some magic wand where it can be fixed overnight because there's been almost 10 Years of the Division just having completely the wrong mentality- but the Divas Division is now at a crisis point where there either needs to be a marked change just in the whole mentality of the Divas and the way the Divas are booked or just scrap it all together and cut their losses.

I haven't even touched on some of the stuff that's happened with the Divas Division- but to me these were the main bullet points so to speak. This is my breaking point with the Divas- and now I've had my say I'm officially wiping my hands of the Divas Division until we see a marked change- all future Reviews will just have the segment and then a blank space.

Thanks for reading as ever- I'd appreciate feedback on this because at the end of the day it's just an opinion. Anyway, I'll be on Twitter tonight for NXT/ROH and then Impact so if you want feel free to tag along on that 3 Hour journey and come back tomorrow for the Impact Review! Stay tuned for that and then the Cesaro Booking Post on Friday- Thanks again for reading, and remember I truly do want the Divas to succeed- but I'm not sure WWE really does. 

RAW Review: 22nd June

Hello! It's been too long, we're back with the RAW Reviews and back into the swing of things on this Blog- I truly was aiming to get the Cesaro Booking Post out last Friday but some stuff came up and let's just leave it at that. Anyway we're back with the RAW Reviews- and after last weeks RAW I had reasonably high hopes for last night, I said just before it started that with all the ingredients that were there last night it can't be bad. I may well have jinxed that- but let's get started.

Heyman & Brock Open the Show
This truly was a novel concept- an opening promo on RAW that was pretty much guaranteed to be engaging and basically just good. I'm not sure if they planned it to happen like it did or Cole just improv'd but Cole essentially apologising for Brock F5-ing him was hilarious and in a weird way really up-sold Brock. Any segment where Heyman cuts a Promo is money and this was no exception and that is really all that can be said about this segment.

Kane v Dean Ambrose
Ok, I don't mean to alarm anyone- please remain calm through this next statement. KANE HAS WON 3 RAW'S IN A ROW- PANIC, EVERYBODY PANIC, RETREAT TO YOUR BUNKER AND PRAY. For a first match of the night and with two people who at this stage didn't really have any direction to speak of it was pretty good. It wasn't a 5* amazing match- it was solid and sometimes especially early on in the show a solid match is for the best and with the Seth interference it did both a good job of shielding (Wahey!) Ambrose and setting up the main angle of the night.

Backstage Rollins & Kane Promo
I suppose this can be described as functional in that it did the job it needed to do in carrying on the main angle of the night, it wasn't anything other than that- but still.

Primetime Players v The Ascension
Again this was "just" a solid match- I'm still not really into the PTP as Tag Champs, it's not that they're bad but New Day are just so much better at present and I wish the Primetime Players at least had a good build before they dropped the Belts but they literally had 2 weeks. That being said I was surprised the match went as long as it did and it did a really solid job of getting the PTP's over- and Big E got his "Backstage Monitor Watching" gimmick back so it's happy days.

Sheamus v Roman Reigns
Is it implied that Sheamus won this via Countout? Firstly I have to say that this match was surprisingly good. Little things like Sheamus squaring up to Roman as he made his entrance will help his perception long-term provided he doesn't go on a run of getting pinned by Midcarders like most MITB winners have done. These two had the first match that was more than "solid", I was surprised these two got as long as they did for what was such an obvious outcome but they used all of their time well and told a good story I know pretty much everyone isn't a fan of Sheamus at this stage and to a lesser extent but still prevalent Roman- but I have to give credit where credit is due.

The finish was cool and it got the "Bray's in Roman's head" angle perfectly- I'm still holding out hope that Roman's daughter is going to get involved somewhere down the line in this story because that'll take this angle to the next level and will legitimise to an extent Bray's character and motivations. The creepy room with all of the Roman pictures and the "Anyone But You" thing was cool and I'm really interested to see where they go with it all now.

Rollins meets J&J Backstage
As with the Kane backstage promo this can be described as functional and not much else.

Neville v Kofi Kingston
I understand why they didn't have Neville lose to Kofi especially with the Xavier and Big E expulsion- but why even go there with the expulsion angle, have Kofi win with Shenanigans to play up the numbers game and just for a split second make you think the numbers could get the better of Brock in a couple of weeks. That said New Day reinforced their role as in my opinion the most entertaining part of the current product whether it was Kofi prancing down to the ring clapping or Xavier's ringside shout-outs that had me in hysterics specifically the "IMMA CALL GRAVITY" one which if it isn't acknowledged in my End of Year awards in some way you have permission to shoot me. The one small critique I have with Neville at the minute and it is a small one- he takes too long balancing himself on the Top Rope for the Red Arrow in my opinion, it may be unrealistic to ask him to do it quicker but it get's to the point where the person on the deck in this case Kofi is out for nearly 30 Seconds because of a singular move that doesn't look like it had that sort of impact.

King Barrett v Zack Ryder
This was the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object- who's will to lose was greater than the others. I'm happy Barrett actually won a match, but it's not as if beating Ryder means anything and we've seen the "Top Rope Bullhammer" spot so much now it's lost all meaning- I was hoping we'd see a Mid 450 Bullhammer or something cool like that so once RAW was over people would have been talking about what Barrett did but nope.

Cena and Owens Promos
Voyant que Owens a fait, je pensais que je pourrais aussi bien faire aussi. Google Translate baybay! It may be because of the stupidly high standard these two have set for each other but I was really underwhelmed by this little back and forth last night. This was truly "PG Cena" at his finest with his cutting deep insults including calling Owens a "garbage human being"- I don't know how Owens didn't burst into tears after that one.

Rollins Backstage with Trips & Steph
Functional.

The Bellas v Naomi & Tamina
*deep breath* NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS. I actually do have something to say about the Divas this week because I'm going to put out a Post most likely tomorrow basically looking at the Divas Division as a whole and why it's all so horrible for a while now before I just refuse to acknowledge it until we see a marked change in the Division. Also c'mon, The Bellas are working Face again solely because Paige isn't there because of Tough Enough- surely they could have worked out a way to make it work with them staying heel.

The Roman Terminator video package was just bizarre- but I didn't take against it; until they cut to Brock in the back and Cole said he was WWE's terminator which was just a "Well What was the Point of that then?" moment.

Ryback v Mark Henry
It wasn't quite new gear as I predicted- but they're definitely showing Ryback off more after last week where he appeared without his Singlet and looked even more like a beast than usual. Considering it was Ryback v Mark Henry being, well Ryback v Mark Henry it was good enough and Ryback adding another dimension to his moveset with the Splash is an interesting and good way to go. I wasn't a massive fan of Ryback winning the Belt at the Chamber but at this moment in time I'll happily say I was wrong because he's really come into his own again and the crowd getting on his side is proof of that.

Ryback Backstage Promo
I'm liking the more personal Ryback because he's not letting the stuff he says in these sort of things define his character- but he's still throwing it out there in a "Yeah, I'm Human" way which as a babyface is ideal because the crowd naturally gravitates towards him as a result of this sort of stuff. Also, He Killed Big Show!

Dolph Ziggler v Adam Rose

I only have a few things to say about this. Firstly, Dolph and Lana's chemistry is Nil. I know Rusev got hurt and that would have affected any potential angle they did- but surely they could have written Lana off of TV somehow especially after she got injured as a result of Rusev. Secondly, Adam Rose's Spinebuster is still one of the best I've ever seen. Lastly, Isn't Rusev supposed to be the Heel? I can't speak for everyone- but to me Rusev is coming off as the sympathetic Babyface in all of this. Summer Rae showing up doesn't usually bode well for an angle but I'm willing to give it a go. 

Seth Rollins' Apology/Brock Beatdown

To me they played this segment perfectly. People can say what they will but to me this was a near perfect segment because it humanised Brock and made Rollins look like a threat to Brock in the strength in numbers way that was definitely needed in order to make the match at Battleground have some jeopardy to it. Brock still looked like a beast- and as long as Noble is ok in the long run that side will definitely help Brock's perception if they do bring it up, it's just on this occasion he was overwhelmed by Kane who's still a 7ft Bloke, Rollins who's the WWE Champion and then Mercury who is the Destroyer. 

This RAW just felt really flat to me- and as I said just before it started last night and at the start of this seemed impossible given all of the ingredients they had to make last nights RAW. But it just felt really bare-bones with No Orton, No Paige, No R-Truth other than a Backstage Pre-Tape and just way, way too many Adverts for the second week in a row. 

Anyway, thanks for reading as always- as I've already said there will (or at least should) be a Post tomorrow, Thursday and Friday this week so stay tuned for all of those- unless I drop dead I should be on Twitter later on for Tough Enough so why not tag along for that eh? Anyway, Thanks again for reading, Merci encore pour la Lecture- and I'll leave you with this. https://vine.co/v/e5iPZZAdMZQ.

Destination Impact Review: 17th June

Hello! It's another Impact Review- I'm running out of witty comments to do in these Intro Paragraphs! Anyway, we were coming off the back of Destination X with the main goal now being to sell Slammiversary and the Title Match between Angle and EC3- Wait, The Hyped Title Match isn't at the PPV? GODAMMIT, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COMPANY?! I was actually reasonably excited for Slammiversary in the last few weeks- now as far as I can tell the Title isn't even going to be defended at the PPV I'm not even sure if I'm going to watch it- Oh Wait, there's a King of the Mountain Match, one of the most overbooked messes of a match there's possible to be so all is forgiven.

I saw a lot of people say the reason for them doing the Title match (and hopefully Title Switch) on TV is so more people see it because TNA PPVs never really do good business. Which is stupid because a Hyped Title Match for a PPV will in turn lead to buys- and more money than they would get for airing it for free to more viewers. It reminds me somewhat of the WCW Clashes- and they rightly phased them out because even if less people watched the PPVs they'd make more money from them.

Anyway, that's my piece said on it all- so let's move on to Last Night as opposed to talking about WCW's Clash of the Champions.

EC3 & Angle Contract Signing
This was pretty good in a "Let's Hype the Match" kind of way and it did a good job of setting the whole story up in a "If you haven't watched us before you're up to date" way. It didn't do much else for me though- but the sort of "Pick your Poison" angle they went down for this week and next is interesting, I haven't read the Spoilers but I'd assume it'll be Tyrus v Angle next week and EC3 v Lashley was a guaranteed quality match.

Eddie Edwards v Bobby Roode
Firstly, I know Roode & Aries are Dirty Heels- but did anyone for a second believe the whole "Aries isn't there thing" I just thought they were setting it up for Roode to win so when the Dirty Heels get the win next week it was on their own terms and doesn't make The Wolves look stupid to an extent. The actual match itself was alright- if not anything special, there's still some work to be done for the Wolves to be seen as individual wrestlers as opposed to a Tag Team and Eddie & Davey to become individual draws. It also annoys me to an extent that they picked Full Metal Mayhem- I mean don't get me wrong it'll be a quality match; but they were wrestling for a huge advantage and then they picked a match that doesn't really favour them, I know they're babyfaces but pick a stipulation that means Roode is Blindfolded or something, because that's sure as hell what the Dirty Heels would have done. Maybe I'm thinking too much.

Bram v Joseph Park
I think they took the attitude of "Well it happened over a year ago, there's no way they'll remember that" when it comes to the whole Joseph Park is Abyss angle they did with EY- even if it's just a one off appearance they didn't give any logical explanation as to why he was suddenly Joseph Park again and that annoyed me, he just showed up in the Backstage Promo with JB looking like Penn Jillette.

I am still interested to see where this whole Bram calling out old TNA "favourites" goes- but I'd like to see more logical and/or surprising returns. If they do Abyss next week on the other hand I may need to extend my Clap Therapy to Wednesday Nights. That said the actual match was pretty good and suitably violent given the lack of build and time constraints. I was saying before my Impact Reviews broke off when they moved to Fridays that Bram is one of the guys TNA can move forward long-term with, and while that Long-Term future is in doubt if there is one Bram, EC3 and Magnus will be the 3 Guys.

Taryn Terrell Backstage Promo
I'm blowing hot and cold with Taryn as a Heel- and this week it was sort of in the middle, I don't think she's fully worked out what she wants her character to be yet and that translates across.

Brooke & Kong v The Dollhouse
I said this last night and someone responded that she can actually wrestle- but I've been really underwhelmed by Mia Yim or Jade in her TNA run, the whole Dollhouse thing started off being quite creepy with their vignettes now it just feels quite stupid. I missed the first minute or so of this match because the guy who was hosting the Stream dubbed Taryn's old "Hot Mess" theme over Doll Parts which had me in hysterics. I said it last night as well, to me the whole Doll Parts thing is just Corgan giving one of his friends a Royalty Cheque because it doesn't even fit with the vibe the Dollhouse give off. Anyway, the match was pretty underwhelming as a whole which I think pretty much sums up the Knockouts division as a whole at the minute.

Eric Young and Chris Melendez Promos
I really liked the EY Promo from last night, and I mean really liked it. It had just enough truth in the Promo to the point where you believed and bought into what he saying- but also played up his Heel role and bad intentions perfectly. I'm interested to see the sort of match EY can get out of Melendez because I said right when Melendez debuted I don't really care that he's a Soldier and a War Hero if he can't really wrestle and I've yet to be convinced by Melendez from an In-Ring standpoint yet but if anyone can get a good match out of him it is EY and hopefully the way they've build this feud will mean the onus won't be on Melendez to "wrestle" as opposed to brawl which I think will work in his favour.

Jessie Godderz v DJ Z
I know we're still in the relative infancy of this feud, but what reason do we have to cheer Robbie E? He's been an annoying heel for pretty much the entirety of his TNA run- then he gets turned on by Jessie and then he shows up one week gets his revenge and suddenly he's a Babyface? I'm not sure if they're angling for a Triple Threat or a Handicap Match or just a Jessie v Robbie Match but there's still a bit of a way to go before I get on board with it.

Magnus & James Storm
Fair Play to these guys for trying to make this angle work- but in the words someone who I equally despise as much as this angle- I wish this Angle had Died in the Womb. The actual segment in and of itself was pretty good, they told a good story and played up the motivations of each character well0 but in the back of your head you just had that image of Mickie being pushed onto the Train Track and that instantly took the segment down about a 100 Notches. But hey bringing the Baby into it let me make a Snitsky joke so all is forgiven.

EC3 v Lashley
I sort of found this match unintentionally hilarious because of the Tyrus shenanigans. Just the way the 2nd and especially 3rd Refs looked so surprised when Tyrus went after them. The actual match itself was pretty good- but surely they could have thought of a better way to protect Lashley and still have EC3 go over than overbooking the whole thing to the extent they did. But as I say the actual match once you strip back all the shenanigans was pretty good for what is was and role on next week with Angle.

I'm sort of on the fence about this Impact, it had as many positives as it did negatives- so I'm just going to get Splinters and sit on the fence. But hey, EC3 tweeted me last night- he is after all very good.

Thanks for reading as always, as I said I'm not even sure if I can be bothered to watch Slammiversary now- so if you just come here for the TNA posts you may be disappointed, but I'm sure by June 28th I'll have come around to the idea- especially with it being on TV in the UK for once. Anyway, thanks again for reading- I'm half hoping/half aiming to get a booking post out tomorrow but there's a lot of weird stuff going on at the minute so I may have to put that on the Back-Burner for this week. Anyway, at the latest I'll be back with a RAW Review, so stay tuned for that at the least and thanks again for reading.

RAW Review: 15th June

Hello! It's another RAW Review, aren't you lot lucky. With the contentious to say the least Money in the Bank now in the rear-view mirrors we had to move on, and with a lot rumoured for Last Night and them actually having a reasonable amount of time with which to build Battleground I had reasonably high hopes for last nights RAW in which I was hoping to see "the masterplan" that would make all of the stuff at Money in the Bank make sense.

Also, my Ranting days are now behind me- I've become a master in Clap Therapy- and every time something angers me I just clap away that anger. I encourage all of you to embrace the Power of Positivity. NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS.

Seth Rollins Opens the Show
Who'd have thought an Opening Promo that included Rollins could actually be entertaining? It just clicked for Rollins last night Promo wise and you only have to hear the crowd reaction when he started going in on Cleveland and their various sports teams to know it. And Rollins has a very long list of people with which to thank for that fact;
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins
Johnny Idiot-Face
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins
ARMBAR!
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins
The Moss-Covered Three Handled Family Gredenza
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins

I feel like I missed someone, Oh Yeah- Seth Rollins!

The Ambrose thing was interesting and different in that there wasn't an obvious avenue for Ambrose to get the Title Shot he just went down to the ring and demanded one- and him staging a sit-in let me make Snow Angel's jokes so it was all good by me.

Backstage Authority Promo
This was pretty good for what it was, I think we were all just happy they got to the point without a 15 Minute meandering promo for once.

Dean Ambrose v Sheamus
It was the guy who I'm starting to get on board with his Booking at Money in the Bank vs The guy who's booking I thought unnecessary, and not the way round most people would have those two statements. The match was actually pretty good in all honesty- although they booked themselves into a corner because neither guy could really afford a loss last night with the way Money in the Bank went down and that hindered the match to an extent. An Orton v Sheamus feud does very little to excite me- but I think it'll be good for Sheamus because Orton can't necessarily afford to lose- but the loss won't really hurt him so for the position Sheamus is in Orton is the near perfect opposition.

Rollins meets J&J
Rollins was treating J&J like a joke, but behind his eyes was a look of pure fear that Joey Mercury could possibly get a Title shot- because Rollins fear Mercury and one day Mercury is going to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

R-Truth v King Barrett
If they weren't making King Barrett into a Jobber I'd have actually liked this segment- I think it's gotten to the point where Truth isn't playing a character and he's just genuinely crazy but nobody has the heart to stop him going through the Curtain. If I put my very optimistic hat on I'd say this was all leading to Barrett completely snapping and going on a brutal heel run- but we all know it's more likely he's going to be teaming with Bo Dallas soon. King BoRrett. Also, I think some people may have missed it- but Truth saying "What's up Coach?!" to Saxton was a stroke of genius and had me on the floor.

Kevin Owens v Dolph Ziggler
Everything about Owens is perfection at this point at this point Cena and maybe Rollins are the only people who can compete with him for the "Superstar" of the Year and his Promo last night was one in a series of really good ones. He knows his character and as such every single word he says you believe it and that in itself makes any Promo infinitely better.

The actual match was a fun one, them going over 2 Ad Breaks was unnecessary and took away from the match in my opinion- this may sound stupid, but if they'd have had a shorter match it would have made more impact. Actually, this is as good a time as any- why the hell was there so many Ad Breaks last night, it's not like there was a lack of avenues to explore after Money in the Bank- while I didn't time it I'd hazard a guess that there was at least 45 Minutes of Adverts last night. So overall it was good- but in terms of character this was just the Pre-Show for Owens.

Divas Backstage Meeting
This was just so "meh". I know I'm saying this in hindsight, but the whole thing was just pointless- oh wait, the whole Divas Division is pointless so this fit right in.

Kane v Randy Orton
I actually liked this match, I've always thought that Authority Figures who were still active should use their power more- so perhaps that's why I liked this match- or maybe I'm still in shock over the fact Kane's won two RAW matches in a row.

Kane and Rollins Backstage
I've lost interest in the "will Kane snap" type story- and I can't really see a scenario where Kane does snap and he looks at all effective now, however the little tease you got when Seth brought up Taker & Paul Bearer was nice and even if we don't see it fully- having Kane on the edge will hopefully lead to somewhere.

Miz v Big Show
The match, well it wasn't really a match let's be honest- but I actually really liked this as a segment. Whether it was Ryback saying "I've got Miz all over me" which had me in hysterics or Miz celebrating a count-out win against Big Show like he'd won the WWE Title at Mania (Too Soon?) I can safely I was Sports Entertained.

Also, and this may not happen- Ryback looked a lot bigger without his Singlet on and looked like more of a beast, so given some of the stories you hear about Vince I wouldn't be surprised to see him getting some new gear pretty soon.

Roman Reigns & Bray Wyatt Promos
THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO SEE! I don't think anyone has any doubts over who is actually going to win this feud- but sometimes in Wrestling it's not about the outcome it's about the journey; and wow did it kick up a notch last night.

Firstly, and this is something I've seen a lot lately- and it was somewhat true with the Ryback Promos but it's nowhere near to the level some are saying. Bray Wyatt's Promos are not boring- just because they're not "I'm going to fight "X" "Boo Me" Promos doesn't mean they're not as much if not more effective than said Promos. The problem for Bray is more to do with the fact it's hard to believe what Bray says anymore because he's lost nearly every big match he's been in. But last night wasn't an "I'm going to beat you" Promo- and you only had to hear the crowd's "OOOHHHHHH" reaction to Bray bringing Roman's kid into it in the creepy way he did to know that in that one Promo people instantly bought back into Bray as a Creepy Heel.

What with it being Summer Holidays now (It is in America, Right?) I may be too ambitious and/or optimistic to think we're going to get a Raven/Tyler/Sandman dynamic with Bray, Roman and Roman's Kid but whatever way they go with it I'm going to be there every step of the way.

The Bellas v Paige
*deep breath* NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS. You see, Clap Therapy works.

Machine Gun Kelly's thing
This was quite a funny segment because the whole time I was trying to get people to watch Xavier & Kofi playing FIFA on Xavier's new Gaming Channel and then I looked up and it was still going on so I was in Mid-Tweet saying imagine if Owens came out and Powerbombed him, and what do you know Owens came out and Powerbombed him- quickly before I do move on I don't like musicians on RAW in general and the MGK performance was no exception but I do respect him for agreeing to take a Bump that he didn't need to take.

I think Owens is like the IWC Character at this point all of the "Imagine Ifs" that we as fans always do Owens does whether it be feud with Zayn, Beat Cena Clean, Powerbomb MGK etc.

It's funny, well not funny- last summer I was thinking about how I'd book the show different (as we all do I'm sure) and I dreamt up a Faction that would have the Initials I.W.C and it would be the typical "spot monkey" small guys and they would do everything possible with an added flip or somersault or whatever and still lose because well they're the I.W.C and Vince always wins. While it's not like that- it's still quite funny that they're seemingly doing a Self-Aware Internet-y style gimmick for Owens.

Neville & The Primetime Players v The New Day
For me this was one of if not the match of the night- it didn't have a lot going for it in terms of build or anything it was just a really fun little match, it was the pallet cleanser between the two Main Angles- but this proved that the Pallet Cleanser didn't have to be forgettable and I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing the Red Arrow.

Dean Ambrose & Kane Backstage Promo
I didn't really know what to think about this Promo- I don't think they're going to go with the Odd Couple Tag-Team route with Team Hell No still relatively fresh in people's minds but if Ambrose makes it his mission somewhat to unleash Kane only to then become the target of said Unleashed Kane and get destroyed I'd be all for it. (The reason I think he'll be destroyed is because I think he's off filming something soon- I'm not sure but I remember seeing news of a 7 Film Deal with WWE Studios and I'm pretty sure Ambrose is in one of them).

Seth Rollins reaches the Final Boss
I really liked this segment, I feel like Facial Expressions are somewhat of a last art in Pro Wrestling- but Roman earlier in the night sold the Wyatt/Daughter thing really well because it wasn't an over the top and caricatured reaction, and that was the same with Rollins' Reaction to Brock. He didn't jump around and freak out- his face told the whole story for him. People can slate Brock's limited schedule- although that has almost completely died now because everyone realises what I (and a lot of others) have been saying, Brock is a Special Attraction- and every time he shows up it's can't miss; and you only have to hear the crowds reaction to Brock when he did absolutely nothing other than square off with Rollins to know that. I'm surprised that Brock is wrestling 3 times in just over a Month seemingly and I would assume that Brock agreed to slightly more dates- or his appearances around Rumble season will be more spaced out and Battleground will be this years Night of Champions in terms of him appearing on a "B" PPV.

I think just with Brock's appearance it instantly get's people more interested- and I'm reasonably excited for Battleground and the July 4th thing, but I'm not going to be 100% satisfied until Brock meets New Day and they try to get Brock to Clap.

Thanks for reading as always, as I said in my MITB Review- the fact we've actually got a solid amount of time with which to build the next PPV I'm reasonably optimistic for Battleground and the build for it and last night was a reasonably good start as far as storyline goes heading into Battleground. As I've already said though the one massive issue last night was the Ad Breaks and it stopped me getting really invested into what was going on last night. Anyway, that's a small issue in the grand scheme of things- and remember if you have any residual anger from Money in the Bank just clap it away NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS, NEW... DAY ROCKS.

Money in the Bank Review

Hello! It's another PPV Review- and there's no time to waste, let's jump head first into the complete cesspit that was Last Night.

Pre-Show: R-Truth v King Barrett
I said a few weeks ago that the only reason they had Barrett win the King of the Ring was to make him drop the Bad News thing that was getting over- and I was wrong, it was also to make him look like a complete idiot week-in week-out. Considering what happened last night I'm semi-convinced Sheamus is on the Creative team and after Barrett made fun of Sheamus for his Antler King of the Ring gimmick he went "I'll show him". It's annoying as well because while I don't watch the Games of the Thrones I sort of know what it's about and they could have made Barrett a really cool, relevant "king" based off of it. The actual match itself was decent for what it was- and Truth is just naturally entertaining so it sort of works going forward, but there's no way Barrett should be in that position in the first place.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Right. I'm not 100% against Sheamus' win last night I'm just going to throw it out there, while I would have preferred Kofi or even Roman the potential for Sheamus vs Brock is in the back of my mind- and depending on style's you love to see that will either be your Match of the Year or one of the contenders, I've said repeatedly since Sheamus came back that I love pure Heel Sheamus who comes in beats the hell out of people and leaves- does that mean I wanted him to win Money in the Bank? No.

I was happy up until it became clear who was going to win because I called the Bray attack on Roman- and while it's obvious who's going to win the feud it's good to see they're giving Bray something to sink his teeth into Promo wise again and the motivations for the feud will be interesting. The actual Match was- well it was interesting, not necessarily to say it was good though. I think these Money in the Bank matches are hurt to no end just because you're comparing them to the matches that preceded them at Mania and these Multi-Man matches just feel like one person at a time does their stuff before getting taken out rinse and repeat, and it takes away the chaotic and unpredictable feel for these Money in the Bank matches. I'm not saying I'd like more spots or anything- just make it more chaotic like a multi-man ladder match should be.

The finish was "interesting"- there was just a palpable switch in the crowd where the finish just sucked the life out of it, which makes putting the match on first even more of a stupid decision. So, it could have gone better in short.

Nikki Bella v Paige- Divas Title
Up until the finish these two had me mildly interested- which by Divas Standard is a feat in and of itself. Paige's promo before hand saying she was going to do it for Dusty had me convinced she was going to win. Babyfaces shouldn't make promises that they can't keep- and when they "Swear to God" or as Paige did say she was doing for it Dusty that's a similar thing, the example that's fresh in my head is when Rock swore to god he'd beat Punk, that confirmed- if it hadn't already that Rock was winning because if a Babyface fails to live up to their promises then they just look awful. But the finish for this match was just awful and well and truly burst the Balloon that was ever so slightly rising as a result of the match. I think I summed it up best last night when I said if there was a way to sum up the standard of the Divas Division at the minute it's that. I'm not even going to give you a rant on the topic because it's simply not worth the energy.

Big Show v Ryback- IC Title
This match had such a limited time-frame of what would already be a slow-paced match there isn't really anything of note to talk about other than the finish. I said in my Predictions that I didn't think there'd be a 1,2,3 finish because we had the Shellshocked on Monday and I was proven right- I don't always mind DQ Finishes- I just think because of people's general mood at this point of the PPV everyone was getting fed up with the Bad Finishes, but now I've slept on it I don't really mind the DQ finish because it creates an interesting dynamic for the Triple Threat that'll inevitable follow and Miz's involvement means we won't get a full painfully slow match.

John Cena v Kevin Owens
This PPV was generally bad bordering on offensive, but wow did this match deliver. I said in my Review a couple of weeks ago that something was missing to make it a 5* match- whatever that was be it the crowd or something just clicking last night's match was the lightning in a bottle all the wrestlers go out there for every night. I make the odd Cena joke but it's always dripping in sarcasm because while I hate his character and his general stale persona he is always putting on at least one MOTY contender every year- and by my reckoning he's been in two this year and we're only half way through. It's getting to the point where Cena really is the Benchmark for all of the young talent coming through in that if they can't have a good match against Cena then maybe they aren't really all that because Cena has great chemistry with such a diverse range of wrestlers. While going into the match I would have obviously preferred Owens won, this match got Owens over as much if not more so than if he'd won. Cena hit Owens with all of his best shots- and even brought out new moves like the Sunset Flip Powerbomb and Owens kicked out of it all, to the point where Good Guy John was arguing with Chioda.

The stuff that happened after the match took this match as a segment to Perfection. I was afraid for a second that Owens was just going to accept the Handshake and go back to NXT knowing he gave it his best. Instead we got Owens Powerbombing Cena onto the edge of the ring which is going to be great for the I believe 5 week build they have between now and Battleground. I think it'll be something along the lines of Cena costing Owens the NXT Title at the July 4th thing before they move Owens fully up to the Main Roster and they hopefully Main Event Battleground for the US Title- because their feud up to this point is deserving of it.

Primetime Players v New Day- Tag Title
This is when I completely lost it with this PPV. The highlights of the last few months have been Cena's Open Challenge/Owens Feud and The New Day- and not really much else. So of course they had New Day drop the Belts to the PTP who have only looked good for approximately two and a half weeks. It's not that I don't like the PTP- but the New Day are streets ahead of the PTP and should have kept the belts for a little while longer at least.

Seth Rollins v Dean Ambrose- WWEWHC
This whole thing including entrances and post match went for pretty much 50 Minutes and I was engaged the whole time. Ladder Matches have a tendency to become Spot-Fests and lose the storytelling aspect, Spot-Fests are fine but you'll never get a truly great match that is a Spot-Fest. This on the other hand had great ring psychology to it from the start- and aside from the Finish Rollins looked great- and for the first time really since he won the Belt he looked like a legitimate champion- and guess who Predicted that would happen, Yup. Wrestling God. The finish was a good way to go in terms of protecting Ambrose- but I don't think it would have necessarily been a bad move to have Ambrose end the match buried under the Ladders and Chairs because he'd been killed for the best part of 30 Minutes of the Match so I don't think it would have hurt Ambrose for Rollins to simply get the Belt. I understand the Never Give Up story they told with Ambrose- but there's a point when Never Giving Up just turns to completely no-selling the brutality with which Rollins had approached the match and Ambrose with. I'm not saying it crossed that line- but it got really close.

The little interview they did after had Cash-In written all over it, and as I've been saying for a while I think they're angling for Trips against Seth- but I'm interested to see how a returning Brock fits into that equation.

Thanks for reading as always, this whole PPV just felt really sterilised and clean which just isn't good enough- despite the PPV having one- arguably two Match of the Year contenders the PPV left me completely cold- but hey, the next PPV is in a week so hopefully they address it all. No, but seriously we have five weeks until Battleground with the only real detour being the July 4th special so hopefully we get answers to a lot, and I mean a lot of unanswered questions posed from Last Night. Anyway, thanks again for reading- stay tuned for the RAW Review tomorrow and beyond if everything goes to plan I'll have something to announce soon as well, and I hope you join me on Twitter for RAW tonight- if we all ignore what happened maybe New Day will get the Belts back- Yes, I'm very SOOOOOOOWWWWWAAAAAAAHHHHH.

Money in the Bank Predictions

Hello! It's another one of these Predictions Blogs- it's almost as if WWE insanely decided to do a "PPV" every two weeks in a desperate attempt to get subscribers to the Network- but that'd never happen, right? Time just goes by quicker when you're having fun! Anyway, this PPV is an interesting one with a few exceptions in my opinion nearly every match doesn't have an obvious winner which makes it a nightmare for people like myself doing Accumulators- but it gives the PPV an interesting dynamic, and while the PPV hasn't necessarily been built well the actual matches should be quite good. There's so many possibilities that could come around tonight that I'm actually interested in how tonight's going to play out in spite of the build- or rather lack thereof for the PPV. Anyway- enough Rambling; DON'T BE SOWWWWAAAAAHHHHHH, sit back, relax and FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL DAAAAA POOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.

Pre-Show: King Barrett v R-Truth

We're starting early with the matches I have absolutely no clue over- that's not because of the amazing build that'll have everyone questioning their whole perception of the business, it's just both guys have absolutely zero momentum heading into this match. Well, unless you count the R-Truth thing on RAW as him building some momentum. Barrett has looked so bad since he won the King of the Ring it's unreal as such you can never say with any sort of certainty that he will win tonight, then when you factor in the "Babyface Wins on Pre-Show" standard booking decision it would seem as though Truth has the more likely chance of winning. However, considering the current track record of having an unannounced match on the Pre-Show- although I doubt Stardust will take part in said match combined with what you could call stupidity I do think Barrett will win. 

Winner: King Barrett

New Day v The Primetime Players- Tag Title

This match isn't here by coincidence (more later) and it's also one of the more straightforward matches on the card from the outcome perspective. While the PTP have put a bit of a run together there's no way New Day should be dropping the Belts because they're arguably the best part of the current Product and just generally great. 

Winner: It's a New Day, Yes it is. 

Ryback v Big Show- IC Title

The Shellshocked to Show on Monday did put a bit of doubt in my mind for the outcome of this- because as I said in my RAW Review the Shellshocked to Show should have been the money spot for the match tonight, it's for that reason that there is a tiny bit of doubt in my mind with the outcome of this- but at the same time I have to believe they put the Belt on Ryback for a reason. One possible outcome is The Miz doing a run-in and causing a DQ- however I can't really see it and I'll just attribute the Shellshocked on Monday to them being horrendously short-term in their thinking and moving on. 

Winner: Ryback

MITB Ladder Match

This is an interesting match- also me positioning the match here isn't by coincidence. By all right you'd just say Roman will win it and move on- and while I do think that is the most likely outcome as I've been saying for a bit of time now you honestly can't rule Kofi out, which is something I definitely didn't think I'd be saying a couple of months ago. There's a few things to look out for in this match- for instance the other two members of New Day coming and and screaming to the Refs "FREEBIRD RULE" before they try and get the Briefcase and both go on the Ladder for some reason before the Ladder gets pushed off and they both go through a Table- If you're reading this Creative, you can have that one for free. Then we get onto the obvious spots from the likes of Neville etc. and I'd expect there to be some sort of Lana shenanigans as well to stop Dolph from winning whether that's Lana costing Dolph the match and realigning with Rusev or Rusev costing Dolph the match much to the chagrin of Lana. Anyway, conditioning this on I'm not ruling Kofi out...

Winner: Roman Reigns

Kevin Owens v John Cena

This may be when these Predictions fall apart because of my blind optimism. The way Owens won at the Elimination Chamber gives me a lot of hope with regard to the value they see in Owens, so the standard response of Cena getting his win back may not apply to Owens- or rather I hope it doesn't. That said I also can't see Owens winning Clean again so I can see this going either way. I think the most likely outcome from this match is also what I predicted from the match two weeks ago in that Owens will win with Shenanigans as Brock did at Night of Champions or Cena will win by DQ/Count Out or some other way with which to protect Owens.

Nikki Bella v Paige- Divas Title

Nikki's going to beat AJ's record- I think that's pretty much established now, and the fact there isn't any legitimate contenders to Nikki's belt pretty much makes the record a moot point anyway. So I'm going to make a really bold prediction for this match. This match will be completely forgettable- I've gone out there with that one.

Winner: Nikki Bella

Seth Rollins v Dean Ambrose

I may be in the minority here- but I don't think we'll be seeing a Cash-In today, which of course rules out the Ambrose Win & Roman cash-in/Heel Turn. I know the way Rollins has been booked thus far as Champion directly contradicts what I think will happen tonight, but with Brock's Return just around the Corner I think WWE will make a real effort between now and Summerslam to legitimise Rollins, as such I genuinely think Rollins will beat Ambrose clean tonight to prove he can do it on his own. I'm going to put my stake in the ground early for when I do think Roman will Cash-In and I'm going to say in a Deja Vu way at Summerslam Reigns will Cash-In during the Rollins v Lesnar rematch and win the Belt by Pinning Rollins. Either way I can only see Rollins winning tonight, and in arguably a bigger swerve than the Roman Cash-In on Ambrose that seemingly everyone is talking about Rollins will win Clean. 

Winner: Seth Rollins

As always with these Predictions feel free to tell me where you think I've gone wrong and let's all come back here at 4:01 to see just how wrong I was!

Thanks for reading as always, these Predictions are always fun to do so I hope you enjoyed them. As always feedback is appreciated on any of these blogs- and if you haven't already I'd recommend going back and reading my booking blog "Finn Balor: The Demon Inside". Anyway, thanks again for reading, I hope you'll be tagging along on Twitter tonight- but if you're not stay tuned for the Review tomorrow and then the RAW Review on Tuesday. 

Finn Balor: The Demon Inside

Hello! It's another Booking Blog- and this one is somewhat different in that I'm picking someone who's successful relatively within where he is in the WWE system. The kernel of the idea for this is going to be Hit & Miss with you guys I'll freely admit that but I promised another Booking Post and here we are and just from my standpoint I think if handled right it'd be quality stuff and get Finn to that next level. I'm doing this within the NXT system because I initially had the idea after Itami "got attacked" to write him off for his Shoulder Surgery- but given the magnitude and production values this would require it may be better placed on the Main Roster- but here we are. With the current Tapings running out this coming Wednesday as far as I'm aware and Finn getting ready for his July 4th Match this is the perfect time to do it.

NXT- 24th June
I have to admit it's a lot easier doing this when I can just say the dates rather than the Week Commencing and go through multiple days.

I haven't read the Spoilers for next week so I'm not sure if this is a Spoiler Alert- but it's pretty much a given that Joe v Owens next week won't have a definitive finish, whether it's a Double DQ, Double Countout, No Contest etc. I can't see it being a clean finish. With that in mind I'd have Joe cut a Promo saying his business with Owens has only just begun before Balor comes out and says Owens has to face the Demon at the Sumo Hall in 2 Weeks time and after it Joe won't need to go after Owens for the Title before they square up which'll no doubt pop the crowd. We then get Regal coming out and because He's a Man (Such a Man) he'll book Joe & Finn in a Tag Match "and it's next". This is where the seed will be sewn for the angle. Joe & Finn will win pretty comfortably- it'll most likely be a Jobber team maybe furthering along the Chad Gable storyline with Jason Jordan in the process. Joe will get the win with the Muscle Buster which has been renamed the Canadian Destroyer but Finn will stay on the Apron looking really zoned out for a second before he joins Joe for the Celebrations.

NXT- 1st July
Nothing special this week on NXT- just a Replay of this.

July 4th Special

I think it's fairly safe to assume that with Balor's track record with "Special Events" and the Vignette they released on this weeks NXT that Finn will be bringing out the Paint for the Supercard in Sumo Hall. Usually my Booking Posts end with a Title win- but given the way Owens is feuding with Cena I think it's safe to assume he's going to be in the thoughts of the Main Roster- as such and to give these "Special Events" some jeopardy, and unless I'm mistaken Cena's on the Card I'd have Finn win with help from Cena. You'll see it in my Predictions in a couple of days but I think or rather hope Cena isn't going to get his win back (yet) and Owens will win, but this time with Shenanigans- which'll in turn further their feud and also be the fuel for this match. After this and Owens has rolled out I'd have Itami show up and raise his arm to close the show, because after all he's the one who brought him to NXT so he's happy for one of his best mates. REMEMBER THIS. 

From a Finn perspective in terms of the Paint I'd have him in even more than he was at the last special- maybe add more detail to the "Eye of Balor" or something the purpose of this being that the Paint or in other terms the "Demon" is taking him over even more so every time he puts it on- in a sort of Venom way and the Black Suited Spiderman. 

NXT- July 8th

The money feud for the next Takeover is Balor v Joe- I haven't forgotten about Joe and Owens, but it's too early in both their respective runs for either of them to lose so I'd let that simmer for a while. But for this episode it'd just be a Replay from the July 4th Special, I can't imagine they'd tape beyond the July 4th Special until after it to at the very least keep the suspense that a Title change may happen up so I doubt Finn will feature much if at all in the next month or so's worth of tapings. So I'd have Replays of the July 4th Title Switch and then have Regal set-up a Tournament to be contested over the next few weeks which'll have Joe, Breeze, Corbin, Dempsey, Adam Rose, Rhyno, Crowe and Scott Dawson with these Brackets expertly drawn up by yours truly. 

I'd have these matches come at 2 a week for what is in essence the Quarter Finals- and then one a week before we get the Final in approximately 5 weeks which is roughly the number of weeks they tape in one go. With the first two matches being Joe v Bull Dempsey and Baron Corbin v Scott Dawson. I'd essentially have these as two long(ish) matches either side of a Middle Segment it almost goes without saying who'll win these two- but here's my expert attempt at highlighting who's progressed from the Brackets. 

NXT- July 15th

We're in week two of the Tournament and we've got two more interesting matches with regard to both dynamic and outcome in Adam Rose v Rhyno and Solomon Crowe v Tyler Breeze. For the purposes of the story being told I'd definitely have Rhyno go over because you've got the tangent of the Rhyno and Balor feud from the last couple of NXTs and then I'd have Solomon Crowe go over on Tyler Breeze because Crowe needs the win a lot more than Breeze does and Breeze has proven from previous tournaments that the odd loss won't harm him. MORE COLOURING IN OF BRACKETS! AREN'T YOU LUCKY! 

Once again these matches will be either side of a Middle Segment whether that be The Dubsteppers v Enzo & Big Cass, The NXT Women furthering their stories or whatever it may be. 

NXT- July 22nd

The Tournament is now in it's 3rd Week and that means Semi-Final time and just one match a week- which'll of course Main Event both of the coming weeks. Joe v Corbin is an interesting dynamic and depending on how long Joe is down in NXT is one I would like and can see them exploring, but this match is just a means to an end and Joe would go over in a really competitive match. MORE BIRO COLOURING IN!

NXT- July 29th

Into the 4th Week of the Tournament and it's the second Semi-Final of the week with another interesting dynamic of Rhyno and Crowe. This doesn't really matter because as I've said the money match is Balor v Joe and that's what I'd be going with. However purely from a "who needs the win more" perspective I'd have Crowe going over- because it's a good win for Crowe to get and it'd have Rhyno completing his intended purpose. MORE BIRO COLOURING IN! (It was at this point I lost my Black Biro). 

NXT- August 5th

Hey, It's my Birthday tomorrow! Buy me Stuff! I've made that joke in every one so far and I'm not stopping now. This is the week of the Final and it's Samoe Joe v Solomon Crowe- place your bets. Two Men Enter, and after a very competitive match that I'd have take up 20mins if not more Solomone Crowe is getting the dreaded Biro colouring in and Samoa Joe is #1 Contender. 

That's the Tournament over- I know I promised a Finn Balor blog and I've gone off on somewhat of a tangent- but Balor is kept relevant throughout by proxy of him holding the Belt and all these stars wanting said belt and the commentators would put over them wanting to win the Tournament to face Balor. Anyway, this is when we get to the really good stuff... 

NXT- August 12th

As I said before this I'm working under the assumption that there'll be 5 weeks worth of tapings at a time- however I'm also going to work on the assumption of when the next Takeover is going to be from the Dates last year (to the nearest Wednesday) in this case the 9th of September so I'm going to work to that as the date for the next Takeover and the "big match". So we've got 4 weeks to build the Joe match- so there's no time to waste. 

The first of the 4 week build is going to be pretty simple, Balor comes out for a Promo "boy, is it good to be back" summarising what's happened over "the last five weeks" and saying that he is a fighting champion and he welcomes all comers. Samoa Joe comes out and does the usual thing when it's babyface v babyface of "I Respect You, But I'll Beat You". Regal comes out and says in weeks time you two will be opponents but tonight you'll be Tag Partners- and they're facing The Dubsteppers for the Main Event. 

The actual Main Event would be as you'd expect it to go up until the crescendo where Joe is feeling the Hot Tag on the Apron- Finn is crawling over for said Hot Tag, when his whole Body locks up and he has the zoned out look he had in the Previous tag match featuring these two which enables The Dubsteppers to get the Win. We then end the show with Joe checking on Finn asking What Happened. 

NXT- August 19th

For this we'll simply get a Replay of what happened the prior week and then a commentary discussion over what happened as well- before they trail that next week is the Contract Signing for these two. 

NXT- August 26th

The contract signing for these two will be interesting. Balor will come out in a suit and they'll do the usual back and forth before Balor says to Joe "On September the 9th, you're not facing Finn Balor you're facing the Demon" (Quick Side Point: I can't remember where, But I heard somewhere from Finn that because it's an Alcohol based paint it doesn't smudge or something like that so this should work). Before in the Spiderman way pulling his Shirt to either side to Reveal the "Eye of Balor" on his Chest before Jumping Joe and ending the show by using the Coup de Grace. 

NXT- September 2nd

Samoa Joe will come out for a Promo and say he doesn't care if he's facing Finn Balor or the Demon next week he's leaving with the Title. Then the lights will go out and we'll get a Replay of what I've dubbed the Transformation Vignette for Finn in preparation for the July 4th Vignette but obviously with the July 4th bit- and it ends with Finn with the Paint on as opposed to in his "normal" state- and it ends with the words "The Demon is Awake". 

NXT Takeover: ???

Similar to the Itami thing we'll find Samoa Joe beaten up in the Parking Lot "earlier in the day"- but because Joe isn't "actually" injured there'll simply be a debate over his physical state and whether he'll be physically able to compete, and it'll be sort of implied that it was Kevin Owens because of their history and his seeming form for doing such a thing. 

The match will come around- Joe will enter first, but he's clearly hurt from the attack and not at 100%- Balor will enter 2nd and he'll be completely decked out in the Paint. You may have noticed the scratch marks he had on his Legs for Unstoppable- and he'll have kept those for the July 4th Special but they'd have added more scratches and they'll be a lot bigger and have more definition. However the Paint for Takeover won't have any of the scratches or anything like that it'll just be Demon Paint across his whole body. 

After a valiant effort Joe will succumb to his previous attack and Finn will win. This is the best way to protect Joe but at the same time progress the story and keep the Belt on Balor for the main payoff of the story. 

NXT- September 16th

Finn won't have a massive presence at this next set of tapings- the next set of Tapings will be somewhat of a whodunnit with the blame seemingly being at Kevin Owens' door despite him not being a presence on NXT TV for a couple of months. Joe will cut a Promo where he's irate that someone attacked him but he'll also go on to say that Balor still beat one of the best wrestlers in the world "last week" and for that he respects him. But Balor won't come out and that's the end of the segment. 

NXT- September 23rd

This is when we'll start to get right to the business end of the angle because I'm aiming for the Takeover in early December to be when we get the big pay-off, and with just one slot a week it's not easy to pack everything in.

We're going to start running Vignettes when Balor is effectively talking to himself to sell a Split-Personality he won't be in any of the Paint or anything but the end of the first vignette will be a zoom in on Balor's eyes and he'll open them and he'll have the Demon Contact Lenses in when he opens them. 

NXT- September 30th

Second of the vignettes and it'll start with the camera placed on his eyes with the Contact Lenses in and then it'll zoom out with Balor going over to a mirror and pulling his collar down to see for want of a better word veins appearing on his neck that'll be a Black and very pronounced. Looking something like this in terms of design.

Running alongside this story we'll get a story of Samoa Joe wanting to fight but him not being cleared by Regal with which to do so- just bare that in mind for now. 

NXT- October 7th

Another vignette starting when the last one ended and Balor will open his shirt up to see all the Black Veins all over his torso before looking back into the mirror to see a "normal" Balor looking back at him. 

NXT- October 14th

Another vignette starting when the last one ended with Balor now with his shirt open and veins all over him with a "normal" Balor looking back and unless I'm mistaken Balor hasn't spoken with his Demon Persona yet so I'd use some sort of voice modifier to get Finn's voice a lot deeper and he'll simply say "You can't get the Job Done, It's my Title- and it's not going anywhere", before he smashes the mirror and leaves. With the "normal" Balor all distorted and stuff in the cracked mirror. With the vignette ending with the words "Finn Balor is Dead, He is Here, He Can't be Stopped".

NXT- October 21st

Samoa Joe's return match and Regal's promised that it'll be a #1 Contender Match, it doesn't really matter who it'll be against because he'll win it of course and the proposition of a 100% Joe is a lot different. Balor will come out with all the veins and stuff over him like he's just left the "vignette world"- he'll look conflicted for a second and put his arm out to shake Joe's hand, but when Joe reaches out to shake his hand Balor will take his arm away then completely brutalise Joe with the end shot of the Episode being a close up on Balor's eyes where he'll have the contact lenses in and one of the commentators saying "He is Awake". 

NXT- October 28th

There won't be much in the way of in-ring action, just speculation over Samoa Joe's condition and announcing that the match for Joe will be on December the 9th. 

Later on in the Night we'll get a "Demon Vignette" where he's simply cutting a Promo saying nothing can take "my" title away from me in front of a Blacked Out Background, but his hand will be bandaged it'll be a nuance but a noticeable one and the words "HELP ME" will be written in "Blood" behind him. 

NXT- November 4th

Another Promo with the "Help Me" on the background and Balor will still have the veins all over him etc. but they'll have gone all over his neck and starting to rise up over his cheeks near to his eyes. This is the "Everything Makes Sense Now" bit because Balor will explain how he was the one who took out Itami and he was the one who took out Joe before their match in September- but he isn't Balor he's the "alter-ego" saying how "Balor couldn't get the Job done" referencing his Title match with Owens at the Arnold Classic (?) and how Balor needed him in order to get this far. 

NXT- November 11th

Another Promo from Balor but the Veins will have reached his eyes now he'll be looking up for the whole Promo basically hyping the Match at the Takeover on December 9th and the whole time the camera will be slowly zooming in on his face so when he finishes he looks square at the camera and he'll have Black Contact Lenses in so it looks like the Black Veins have somewhat taken over his eyes and infected them so it's continuing the transformation. 

NXT- November 18th

We've got 3 Weeks to get the Takeover Match with Joe hyped and ready- and crucially at least from where I'm standing they won't touch once in the build for this. This'll make it mean more when Joe does get his hands on Balor and help to hype the Balor character. For this episode we'll just get a Samoa Joe sit-down interview with Maggle asking him out Balor's transformation and what he can expect from Balor in a few weeks time and of course his physical condition after the two Brutal Balor attacks which took him out for as long as he did. To which you'll get the usual babyface answers of "I don't know what to expect but I'm ready, I'm not 100% but I'll come out swinging" that sort of stuff.

NXT- November 25th

The Balor transformation is nearly complete now- with them simply doing a vignette for Balor where it pans over different parts of his new (or is it new?) Paint Design which is with no words spoken and it ending with "December 9th, NXT ???, He Arrives". 

NXT- December 2nd

Aside from Commentary references and general hyping for Takeover neither guy will have a presence on the Episode. 

NXT Takeover: ???

This is when we get the Payoff- it's been a Long Ol' Build but I hope you've stuck with it and I hope it's worth it. Joe comes out first- I hope by this point he has new music. Then we get it- the Arena Lights go out- We hear somewhat of a hissing noise instead of the Heartbeat and the way the use the audio it makes it sound like he's all over the Arena, Get Surround Sound folks. Then Balor comes out with this design- but maxed out all over him. 

That's right Venom Balor is here. I've tried my best to sell the Transformation of Balor bit by bit and we're here now and it's Venom Balor as his new persona (I don't think using Venom is an issue- I think they're cool with the Marvel guys) and I'd use this as his Heel persona so you have a defined boundary between the two sides of Balor "fighting for control"- and after a well fought match Balor will win by choking Joe out- HE WON'T TAP but the Ref will rule him unable to continue. 

We'll have Venom Balor in the ring with the Title when Hideo Itami makes his grand return unloads on Balor- and to end the show (do you know what's coming, I think you know what's coming) Hits the GTS on Balor and ends the show posing with the Belt. I remember seeing Itami's injury update was 6-8 Months at the End of May and usually with Wrestlers it's the former rather than the latter with time-frames sometimes to their own detriment as such I don't think it's a stretch to say Itami will be back by Early December.

I always like to try and leave my Booking Posts with an obvious direction to go after- and I've done that here with the Itami v Balor feud and it's at this stage I'd also be looking at bringing Joe to the Main Roster if as the rumours suggest when he signed his Full-Time deal he was going to be Fast-Tracked, so it works for everyone. 

Thanks for reading as always, I know these Booking Posts are long ones so I hope you enjoy them and feel like they're worth the read. I've tried my best to describe the transformation of Balor but it being obviously a visual thing I accept some of you may not have liked this- and some of you may just think the idea is stupid. Either way feedback is appreciated- we're heading into Money in the Bank Weekend now so stay tuned for the Predictions/Review and have a Good Weekend.