Matches of the Week 17/09-24/09

The past week has produced some excellent wrestling. A stacked card at ROH All Star Extravaganza VII managed to surpass incredibly high expectations, RevPro UK delivered two stellar shows with a combination of international and British talent, NJPW continued to provide some of the best wrestling in the world at Destruction in Okayama and WWE delivered a largely solid PPV at Night of Champions.

Honourable mentions this week include Kushida vs Kenny Omega, Mark Haskins vs John Morrison, the Four Corner Survival match to determine the number one contender for the ROH World Title between Styles/Elgin/Strong/Cole and the three team tag match between The Addiction/The Kingdom/Young Bucks.

Serious question; have the Young Bucks ever had a bad match? If so, I haven't seen it yet. There is no tag team in the world at the moment who can surpass them in terms of wresting ability and entertainment value.

Anyway, enough filibuster. Here are this week's matches of the week beginning with two title defences in one night.

Jay Lethal (C) vs Bobby Fish (ROH TV Title match)/Kyle O Reilly (ROH World Title match)

ROH All Star Extravaganza VII

At All Star Extravaganza VII, ROH World and TV champion Jay Lethal defended both titles in one night against one of the best tag teams in the world.

With a reign lasting over a year and a series of impressive performances against the likes of Sydall, Kushida, Jushin Thunder Liger and El Patron, it would be Bobby Fish of reDRagon to challenge Lethal's dominance in a match for the TV title.

In the first match of the night, both men went hold for hold early on before Fish temporarily applied the knee bar before Lethal reached the ropes. Fish continued to work on the leg of the first World and TV champion but a distraction from Truth Martini, Lethal's manager and general hero, allowed Lethal to connect with the Lethal Injection. Showing great ring presence, Fish rolled to the outside before Lethal had the opportunity to attempt the pin.

Lethal proceeded to bounce Fish off the barricades in order to secure a count out victory but was thwarted as Fish returned to the ring on a count of 19. After wresting the momentum from Lethal, Fish, following a back breaker, landed a moonsault for a near fall as the crowd chanted that was three. Lethal, after regaining the momentum with the Lethal Combination, attempted a second Lethal Injection before Fish pulled him back by the trunks. After trading kicks, Lethal again attempted the Lethal Injection but Fish to caught him then rolled through into the knee bar before Lethal rolled the challenger up with a handful of tights to secure the pinfall and retain the ROH TV Title in an impressive opener.

In the night's main event, Lethal faced Kyle O Reilly, a man who has tapped him out on numerous occasions for the ROH World Title. After O Reilly emerged to a raucous ovation, Lethal solemnly limped down to the ring.

Following an initial exchange of holds, O Reilly began work on the arm of Lethal as opposed to continuing to work the already injured leg before a dropkick by the champion allowed him to take a breather. An attempted Lethal Injection was blocked as O Reilly applied a rear naked choke hold before O Reilly delivered the three rolling ddts. Sensing the opportunity to win his first ROH singles title, O Reilly applied a guillotine choke- Lethal reversed the hold into the koji clutch before O Reilly reversed into an ankle lock.

Eventually, the champion escaped the hold to deliver a pop up neck breaker before a german suplex that dropped O Reilly on the head. Lethal, looking to end the match, called for the Lethal Injection but O Reilly caught the Champion and locked in the arm bar. Again, Lethal escaped by a roll up with a handful of tights but O Reilly kicked out, transitioning into an arm bar before Lethal reached the ropes.

After trading several fierce kicks, O Reilly delivered the Nigel lariat followed by a brain buster before stomping the chest of Lethal a la Bryan Danielson. Truth Martini, nuisance as ever, pulled the ref out the ring to prevent the stoppage before Nigel McGuinness, ringside on commentary, escorted Martini out to the back.

Using the ropes to assist him to his feet, a weary Lethal received another blow before the referee got in the way of an O Reilly kick whilst checking on the champion thus sending him down. An exhausted Lethal managed to deliver a Lethal Injection from the top rope before attempting to use the championship as a weapon- O Reilly's partner, Fish, returned to ensure Lethal couldn't cheat to win again before Donovan Dijak rushed to the ring to save Lethal from Chasing the Dragon. After striking Fish with the title, Adam Cole, friend and occasional partner of O Reilly, clothselined Dijak to the outside before setting up Chasing the Dragon only for Cole to turn on his partner by delivering a superkick to O Reilly.

Lethal, unaware of most of the events, delivered the Lethal Injection to secure the victory and retain his ROH World Title.

As a huge fan of both Jay Lethal and Seth Rollins, this past weekend was heaven as both men defended both their title on the same night. For me, I think Lethal's matches against reDRagon were well ahead of Rollins' matches. Perhaps that is due to their respective opponents as much as anything but Lethal shone the brightest. Overall, the pacing, psychology and ring work of Lethal's matches made a lot more sense than Rollins'.

Sure, many ROH disliked the "WWE style" finish in the main event but irrespective of the climax of the show, these were a couple of great matches. Personally, I enjoyed the conclusion of the main event; Adam Cole was born to be a heel and, quite frankly, his performances as a face were somewhat underwhelming. In my mind, the reDRagon/Kingdom rivalry will undoubtedly produce a series of excellent matches which will help both teams in the long run and particularly Kyle O Reilly who is evidently being groomed for a top spot in ROH.

Many commentators, including myself, believed Fish would win the TV title but the events throughout the night provided a logical reason for Fish's loss.

Lethal now moves on to face AJ Styles for the ROH World Title after Styles was victorious in a four corner survival match between Strong, Cole and Elgin for the number one contendership. With the announcement that the ROH World Title will be defended at Wrestle Kingdom X, expect AJ to defeat Lethal for the title and elevate the title to unprecedented levels by defending the title in Japan.

As a side note, I will never get tired of reDRagon catching Lethal off the Lethal Injection and applying a submission hold.

Will Ospreay vs Ricochet

RevPro UK: Live in Southampton

Fans in attendence at RevPro's latest show in Southampton, England, were treated to an international dream match between two of the top five high flyers in professional wrestling today. Both men have had immensely impressive years; Ricochet, or Prince Puma, has excelled in matches against the likes of Zack Sabre Jr, Kushida, Morrison, Mil Meurtes, Matt Sydall and various other high profile names. Likewise, Will Ospreay has unquestionably had the best year of his career to date featuring in incredible matches against the likes of AJ Styles, Matt Sydall, Mark Haskins and Jimmy Havoc.

After donning Ospreay's jacket, Ricochet mocked Ospreay by copying his signature pose. The match got under way as both men block german suplex attempts before Ospreay sent Ricochet to the outside. Ricochet attempted to return with a member of the audience's shoe before the referee returns the shoe to its rightful owner. For some unfathomable reason, many members of the audience began to chant for chant for tables at this point. Both men looked underneath the ring to no avail before returning to the ring. Ospreay and Ricochet proceeded to satiate the members of the audience demanding tables with what they do best; high flying. First, Ricochet flipped out of an attempted head scissor take down before Ospreay flipped out of a head scissor take down attempt by Ricochet before both men dodged a series of kicks.

A roly poly into a ddt was followed up by a corkscrew moonsault to the outside by Ricochet before re-entering the ring with delayed springboard knees before channelling his inner Rock by delivering the people's moonsault for a near fall. Ricochet continued to mount a series of offensive manoeuvres as he caught a diving Ospreay, applying a torture rack submission before bashing Ospreay's head on the turnbuckle. Ospreay, after blocking a vertical suplex, connected with a rebound handspring enziguri that sent Ricochet to the outside before Ospreay delivered a beautiful tope con hilo to ground Ricochet.

Back in the ring, after connecting with a swinging ddt, Ospreay delivered a standing shooting star press. Ospreay and Ricochet proceeded to trade chops in the high rent distract before Ricochet attempted a frankenstiener but Ospreay landed on his feet- Ricochet gains the advantage with a rolling fisherman suplex into a vertical suplex. Ospreay blocked the attempted firemans carry into roundhouse kick combination before both men connected with consecutive reverse ranas as both men fell to the mat to chants of this is awesome.

After a standing meteora, Ricochet landed a shooting star press for an incredibly close fall. Again, Ospreay escaped the fireman's carry/roundhouse kick combination before connecting with the Essex Destroyer for a near fall. Sensing the opportunity to pick up one of the biggest victories in his fledgling career, Ospreay headed to the top rope to deliver an inverted 450 splash to secure the victory in, unsurprisingly, the match of the night.

This was an incredible match. It was everything I could have wanted and more. Not much can be said about Ricochet that hasn't already been said, he was fantastic here again. Already with potential match of the year contenders against the likes of AJ Styles, Mark Haskins and Marty Scurrl, not including any of his BOLA matches, Ospreay added another name to an already impressive list of incredible matches. In my opinion, there is no one at his age who is better in the UK or the rest of the world. The boy is going to be a star on both sides of the Atlantic and it was truly a pleasure to witness this match first hand.

It wouldn't surprise me if we get a rematch between these two at a PWG show down the line. I would estimate 75% of the audience in Southampton didn't know who either of these men were but the fact these two got everyone on their feet chanting that was awesome is testament to their ability as performers.

Kevin Owens vs Ryback (C)

Intercontinental Championship Match

The opener of Night of Champions saw Ryback defend his Intercontinental Championship in the state in which he was crowned Intercontinental Champion just four months previously. As both men arrived, the crowd appeared to be divided until a Fight Owens Fight chant broke out.

This was incredibly well put together match in which Kevin Owens delivered a textbook heel performance more commonly seen in the 1980's than present day WWE.

After recovering from being gorilla pressed to the outside, Owens pushed Ryback into the ring post shoulder first before going to work on Ryback's shoulder. Owens told Ryback to shut up after he complained to the ref about his elbow before proceeding to wrench the arm. Ryback regained some momentum when he delivered a spinebuster before attempting the meat hook clothesline which was blocked by a superkick. Owens applied a fujiwara arm bar before Ryback powered out to deliver an impressive deadlift powerslam for a near fall.

After pulling the straps down, Ryback attempted the Shell Shock but Owens reversed with a rake to the eyes into a roll up to secure his first championship on the main roster.

This was exemplary heel work; the limb manipulation, trash talking and the rake to the eyes to secure the victory was a delightful throwback and something I would like to see more of in WWE, particularly with WWE WHC, Seth Rollins. Sure, I would have liked to have seen Owens grab a handful of tights to secure the victory but this was an imposing performance.

Don't forget Ryback, though. In my opinion, along with his match vs Bray Wyatt a couple of months ago, this ranks among Ryback's best performances- his selling of the arm was both a rarity and refreshing to see. On the rare occasions in WWE someone consistently works over a limb, the work is often forgotten about (See Charlotte vs Nikki).

Inevitably, larger portions of the fans have an overwhelming desire to cheer the despicable actions of Kevin Owens. WWE's combative tactic of Owens walking out mid-match is ingenious in the sense it deprives the fans of what they want to see thus forcing the boos. Although many would argue that the cheering of heels is indicative of WWE's problems of establishing top babyface draws, WWE clearly want people to boo Owens and this is an interesting way of achieving that goal.

Togi Makabe (C) vs Kota Ibushi 

Destruction in Okayama 

NEVER Openweight Match

The renaissance of NJPW over the past few years has not only stemmed from main eventers Tanahashi, Nakamura, Okada and Styles. For the past two years, NJPW have established a solid under card featuring the likes of Naito, Shibata and Ibushi. These wrestlers have demonstrated the potential to step up to the main event scene in the near future and unquestionably will.

The match began with an initial trading of forearms, Ibushi, surprisingly considering his height and size disadvantage, grounded Makabe with a series of kicks before a brawl on the mat ensued. Unsurprisngly, Makabe emerged victorious and sent Ibushi crashing into the barricade. Makabe continued to work the lower back with a series of vertical suplexes before applying a single leg boston crab. An enziguri shifted the momentum before Ibushi delivered a standing moonsault for a near fall.

Following a lengthy battle on the top rope, Ibushi landed on his feet after a german suplex attempt before connecting with a pele kick to Makabe, still positioned on the top rope. Ibushi delivered a beautiful frankensteiner for another near fall. Makabe regained the momentum following a series of stiff shots heard in the cheap seats before bouncing Ibushi off the barricades once again. After locating a table, Makabe positioned it ring side before an attempted powerbomb is reversed by Ibushi somehow managing to land on his feet. An enziguri followed by a springboard over the barricade into a hurricanrana incapacitated Makabe.

Ibushi positioned Makabe on the table before delivering a double foot stomp from the top rope. I don't know what it is about Japanese tables, but they are almost impossible to break and this one was no different. Back in the ring, Ibushi connected with a bridging german from the second rope for yet another near fall. Ibushi attempted a phoenix splash to no avail as both men lay strewn across the ring. After returning to their feet, Makabe and Ibushi exchanged blows before a lariat turned Ibushi inside out.

Makabe, in control, positioned Ibushi up top. after smashing Ibushi head on the ring post several times, Makabe finally connected with a dragon suplex from the top rope followed by a knee drop from the top rope to secure the victory and retain the NEVER Openweight Championship.

This was a spectacular match and what the NEVER Openweight Championship is about; the combination of Makabe's strength and brutality combined beautifully with the speed and agility of Kota Ibushi.

That's it for this week. See you next time for a roundup of the best wrestling matches worldwide.

Matches of the Week 09/03-09/13

This past week has produced some of the best wrestling in a while; ROH returned to form with two excellent championship matches, Chikara hosted their annual, and final, King of Trios tournament, UK based promotion Progress featured an incredible match between Will Ospreay and Mark Haskins as well as the surprise appearance of indy dream Adam Cole/Roddy Strong teaming up to face the Sumerian Death Squad, The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic started to heat up with two good matches between Bull Dempsey/Breeze vs the team of Johnny Gargano/Tomasso Ciampa along with Samoa Joe/Balor vs The Lucha Dragons and TNA contributed a fantastic tag team match between The Wolves and Trevor Lee/Brian Myers. Even Smackdown played host to fun matches between Reigns/Ambrose/Uninjured Uso vs The New Day as well as another strong performance from Seth Rollins solidifying himself further as one of the best in the world in a 15 minute+ match with Ryback.

Unfortunately, many of these matches, at the time of writing, are not available on demand as of yet thus ruling them out of this week's matches of the week. We begin, though, in ROH with a match that would feature in any week's matches of the week.

Jay Lethal (C) vs Roderick Strong

ROH World Championship Match

Available to watch here. 

After fans chanted for five more minutes after their 60 minute time limit draw at Death Before Dishonour, fans were again treated to an excellent contest between two of the very best in the world. An atmosphere absent from Philadelphia since the heyday of ECW underscored arguably the best TV match of the year as the ROH World Champion, Jay Lethal, defended his title against Roddy Strong.

I wont delve too deep into the particulars of this match as it is well worth a watch- the work rate of these two men is just incredible. Understandably, this match was considerably faster than their previous encounter and perhaps just as good. In my mind, this match solidified these two as the best workers ROH currently posses and will lead to further encounters between these two- hell, I could watch a 90 minute time limit draw between these two such is the quality of these matches.

The match ended when Lethal unwrapped his wrist tape to choke out Strong- referee Todd Sinclair spotted this breach of the rules and tossed it to the outside. Meanwhile, while the ref's back was turned, Lethal laid Strong out with the championship belt before Lethal connected with the Lethal Injection only for Strong to kick out at the latest possible opportunity. Lethal then delivered a second Lethal Injection to pick up the victory and retain his ROH World Championship after retaining his ROH TV Title last week against Hansen.

Lethal will pull double duty against both members of reDRagon at All Star Extravaganza VII- first, Lethal will defend the ROH TV Title against Bobby Fish. Then, in the main event, Lethal will defend his ROH World Title against another man who has taken him to a time limit draw in the recent past, Kyle O Reilly. All is not lost for Roddy Strong as he has the opportunity to redeem himself in a fatal four way match against AJ Styles, Adam Cole and Michael Elgin to crown the new number one contender to the ROH World Championship.

Returning to this match, I would argue this match is up their with Cena/Cesaro, Rollins/Neville and Strong/Nakamura for the best televised match of the year. In the face of the bombasticity of Monday night RAW, this match demonstrates that just a simple story in the ring is enough to satisfy fans.

The Wolves vs Trevor Lee and Brian Myers (C)

TNA World Tag Team Title Match

As ever with TNA, many things with the current product make very little sense. Like why is Drew Galloway, a man recently acquired by TNA, fighting to defend the honour of TNA despite only being there for six months. And do they not have anyone more suitable to be challenging EC3 than Matt Hardy? Peculiar booking decisions aside, the actual wrestling has remained remarkably good-in the context of the shitstorm that currently surrounds the product.

This week was no different.

After cashing in the Feast or Fired contract on last week's TNA, Trevor Lee and Brian Myers, representatives of GFW, defended their TNA Tag Team Titles against the team they defeated for the titles last week, The Wolves.

A frenetic pace in the initial stages really set the tone for this match- a brawl around the impact zone ended when The Wolves delivered a falcon arrow sealed with a kick. After Myers pulled Davey Richards to the outside, Trevor Lee delivered his incredible inside out power slam. Team GFW worked over Eddie Edwards for a while with a series of quick tags before a double foot stomp by Trevor Lee misses granted The Wolves an opportunity to get back into the match with a tag to Davey Richards. After delivering a superplex, Richards attempted creeping death to no avail- Edwards makes the tag and delivers a roundhouse kick into a german suplex. After missing a double foot stomp from the top rope, a jumping knee by Trevor Lee allows Myers to deliver an sto on Edwards. a second jumping knee is dodged by Edwards and connects with Myers instead- Edwards delivered a flapjack into a muay thai kick from Richards before The Wolves delivered a powerbomb into a back stabber. The pin was interrupted by Sonjay Dutt, member of the GFW invasion team, by pulling the ref to the outside. Luckily for team TNA, Earl Hebner was on hand to dispatch Dutt with one swift punch almost hitting Dutt's face before Richards delivered a tombstone piledriver punctuated by a kick by Edwards to pick up the victory and bring the TNA Tag Titles back home to TNA.

It is a very peculiar booking decision to hand the titles back to The Wolves after they lost them just last week and having Sonjay Dutt, someone who will be representing team GFW at Lethal Lockdown next week, dispatched by a 65 year old man. As always with TNA, poor booking decisions aside,
this was an entertaining match. At the young age of 21, Trevor Lee is at least ten years from reaching his prime.

Imagine Trevor Lee in his prime!

The guy is incredible now and has years of success in the wrestling business ahead of him, his dead lift suplexes truly are a thing of beauty. The Wolves, too, were better than they have been for a while in this match- various innovative double team manoeuvres illustrated once again that, on their day, The Wolves are one of the best tag teams in the world. In all likelihood, all four men will meet again at Lethal Lockdown next week when TNA battles GFW for control of the company as the invasion angle appears to be wrapping up prematurely.

Team Attack vs United Nations

King of Trios is available to purchase on Chikara's website.

I'll admit, King of Trios 2015 was the first Chikara event I have ever watched. And I loved it. Just look at the names of some of these guys; Max Smashmaster, Oleg the Usurper, The Proletariat Boar of Moldova, Gavin Loudspeaker, El Hijo del Ice Cream and many many more.

At the time of writing, the final night of the tournament is not yet available so I have only been able to watch night one and two. A match that stood out for me, as a major proponent of British Wrestling, was in fact the first tournament match up. Combining a series of comedy spots, high spots and fun wrestling, Team Attack UK, composed of TNA Boot Camp II winner Mark Andrews, Pete Dunne and Flash Morgan Webster, faced The United Nations, composed of Mister Azerbaijan, Juan Francisco de Coronado (of Ecuadorian descent) and The Proletariat Boar of Moldova.

And if the names of the United Nations do not entice you to watch Chikara, I don't know what will.

I'm not going to go into a great amount of depth about this match as the Lucha Libre rules make the matches incredibly difficult to convey with language, I will just detail some of my personal highlights from the match. Pete Dunne and Juan Francisco de Coronado got things under way with a frenetic exchange of holds- Coronado, after gaining some momentum, tags in his partner Mister Azerbaijan, named sexiest man in Azerbaijan for 12 consecutive years. Mister Azerbaijan gives the ladies in attendance what they want by pulling down the straps of his singlet- Pete Dunne reciprocates by pulling his straps down for a big-man-off. The sexiest man in Azerbaijan, unwilling to be out muscled, pulls Pete Dunne's straps back up before delivering an uppercut to Dunne.

Not long after, Mister Azerbaijan found himself in the wrong part of town and on the receiving end some brilliant team work by Attack UK, Mark Andrews applies the bow and arrow submission before catapulting Azerbaijan into a scoop slam by Pete Dunne. A distraction by Prakash Sabar, accomplice of The United Nations, leads to an extended period of punishment for Pete Dunne before a tag to Flash Morgan Webster, the Modfather,  making his Chikara debut. Webster delivered a diving clothesline followed by an inverted senton to Mister Azerbaijan before a misdirected tope con hilo grounds his team mate, Pete Dunne. Mark Andrews lands an incredible tornado ddt on Coronado before missing a shooting star press due to the Proletariat Boar of Moldova pulling Coronado to the outside. Taking advantage of referee's preoccupation with the Proletariat Boar, Prakash Sabar, to the disgust of the crowd, delivers the non-pg bronco buster on Mark Andrews. The Proletariat Boar of Moldova connects with a devastating spear before Mister Azerbaijan spikes mark Andrews with a spinning pump handle piledriver. Mid way through the referee's count, Azerbaijan beckons Coronado over, team captain of the United Nations, to secure the victory which he does.

The unwavering adherence to kayfabe is astonishing and the reason why I enjoyed my introduction to Chikara so much. Sure, the goofy gimmicks aren't for everyone but the commentators really sell the gimmicks of these characters. The world of Chikara is unparalleled in pro wrestling today and completely dismisses any argument that PG wrestling is not entertaining.

In addition to analysis of the Matches of the Week, I will now be including links to other matches in the week that came close to making the list. 

Young Bucks vs The Addiction (ROH 09/09)

Dolph Ziggler vs Kevin Owens (Main Event 09/10)

Ryback vs Seth Rollins (Smackdown 09/10)

Finn Balor/Samoa Joe vs Lucha Dragons (NXT 09/09)

Ciampa/Gargano vs Breeze/Dempsey (NXT 09/09)

Reigns/Ambrose/Uso vs The New Day (Smackdown 09/10)

RAW Review 07/09

Monday Night Raw-llins emanated live from Baltimore, MD, in a show comprised mostly as filler primarily designed to set up next week's Night of Champions big go home show, and "season premier", that features two championship matches. This week's episode featured a solid match between Paige and Sasha Banks, another unapologetic squashing of The Ascension, a TMZ style expose of Lana/Ziggler/Summer Rae's angle, Sting playing a babyface version of the Joker from the Dark Night as well as the 145372nd match between Randy Orton and Sheamus. Jean Paul Sartre once said that Hell is other people. I, however, would have to disagree and say that Hell is Randy Orton vs Sheamus. On repeat. Until the END OF TIME. So, kind of like this.

My personal highlight came when Big E ate a kazoo. That's right. On this wrestling show the most entertaining segment was a 300 pound black man eating a woodwind instrument. I don't know if that is a damming indictment of the state of RAW or testament to how entertaining the New Day are.

Anyway, we begin with a man featured heavily on this week's programme

The Trials and Tribulations of Seth Rollins

This was not a show for fans who dislike Seth Rollins.

On Monday night, Rollins was the most prominent character. And rightly so, Rollins has carried WWE for in excess of 12 months in the absence of major stars and in the process has become one.

As ever, Monday night began with one of Seth's filibustering specials as he implied the premise of this whole Sting rivalry was borne of Sting's jealousy over a statue. Chants of boring broke out before Sting appeared on screen in possession of Rollins' statue. Sting informed Rollins he had the opportunity to come and get it at any point during the night before Sheamus made his way to the ring to tease cashing in his briefcase at Night of Champions.

HHH announced backstage that, in preparation for Night of Champions, Rollins would be pulling double duty tonight in a singles match against Ryback followed by a three on three tag match that saw him team up with the New Day to take on Prime Time Players and John Cena.

Before Rollins first match, Ryback cut one of the most wooden promos in the history of the WWE. You could almost see the cue card's reflection in his eye as he first compared Rollins to a weasel then a thoroughbred before informing everyone of his plans complete with an invisible demonstration.

Anyway, Rollins' match with Ryback turned out to be okay in the end minus the same interchangeable beginning used for all RAW matches. After Sting appeared on the tron, Ryback, or Fly-back because apparently that is a thing now, rolled Rollins up with an inside cradle after the distraction to pick up the victory.

The night was not over for Rollins as he ran into the New Day backstage for one of the best backstage segments in a while which saw  Rollins/Edge have a stare down, the Dudley Boys announce they would be facing the team victorious in next week's Tag Team Championship match between New Day and Prime Time Players at Night of Champions and a musical battle between Xavier Woods' trombone and Christian's Kazoo which resulted in Big E eating the kazoo.

The night ended with the typical three on three tag match that was mitigated by the actions of the New Day and in particular Xavier Woods' trombone. After John Cena received a long ass beating by the heels (it was so long I don't think Darren Young was tagged in at all), Cena made the pin fall to complete the victory after an AA.

And to top off what had been a terrible night for Rollins, the show concluded with Sting tosses Seth's statue into a garbage truck.

Now, I don't really understand how Rollins is the bad guy in any of this. Time and time again Rollins' possessions are sabotaged by his opponents yet he is supposed to be the bad guy (See Ambrose stealing his MitB briefcase, Ambrose stealing his Championship, Brock smashing up his he bought as a gift and now Sting breaking his statue).

No real clues presented themselves as to the outcome of both championship defences at Night of Champions. Still, I maintain Rollins will retain his WWE World Heavyweight Championship. As with all Cena matches, you can never bet against LOLCENAWINS but it would make very little sense for Rollins to drop the championship to the man he defeated for it. Still, logic is often the first thing to be dismissed by WWE and stranger things have happened. Look at Ryback getting over, for example.

The Wyatt Family 2.0 vs The Diluted Shield

After last week's announcement that the Wyatt Family would face the Shie, sorry, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose plus a mystery partner at Night of Champions, the team of Reigns and Ambrose defeated The Ascension, along with my last lingering hope for a competitive tag division, in under two minutes. At this point, the Wyatt Family appeared on screen as Stowman claimed he is the embodiment of destruction before Bray Wyatt promised that the apocalypse awaits Roman and Dean, along with their mystery partner, at Night of Champions.

Later in the night, Randy Orton was seen discussing matters backstage with Reigns and Ambrose apparently suffering a temporary amnesia that so many WWE superstars suffer with. After defeating Sheamus, Randy Orton was flanked by all three members of the Wyatt Family who proceeded to beat him down as a message to any one who would consider aligning with Reigns and Ambrose.

Now, I may well be wrong about this but i don't think there remains any mystery as to who the mystery third member is. Randy Orton ladies and gentleman, the capricious viper, now has motivation for joining forces with Reigns and Ambrose after receiving the beat down by the Wyatt Family. Considering the fractured history between Orton and Reigns/Ambrose, it would make literally no sense to have Orton willing to sacrifice his body for the sake of two men who have beaten the crap out of him for the past 18 months.

I hope I'm wrong and Orton tells them where to stick it next week.

I'm all for the new and improved Wyatt Family, particularly if Eric Rowan realigns with them. As I have mentioned previously, the Wyatt Family has limitless potential and could perhaps challenge The Authority for control of the company at some point. However, as I have been chastened by WWE in the past, I'm really struggling to see this as anything more than odds to overcome for the Big Dog.  Again, I hope I'm wrong as stranger things have happened. Like Ryback getting over, for example.

Diva's Revolution

Thankfully Michael Cole was on hand to remind everyone that the "Diva's Revolution" was continuing on Raw this week and it did so with pretty solid match between Paige and Sasha Banks.

A lot of WWE's Diva division histrionics detracted from what could have potentially been a much better match. The match didn't really get going until the final few minutes but when it did it was pretty good. During the match, a this is awesome broke out. Now, not begrudge anyone having a good time but this wasn't awesome.

It was adequate. Nothing more.

Sure, in the context of all the filler on WWE programming this was very good, maybe even awesome. But in the context of what is going on worldwide this wasn't awesome. Not even close. All the better for you if you thought it was but I believe the average viewer has been conditioned to the poor standard of match quality on RAW that mediocrity disguises itself as awesomeness. The match ended when Sasha banks reversed the PTO submission into a small package to pick up the victory. At the end of the match, both PCB and team BAD stood united as last week's unravelling of the factions is put on hold.

Later in the show, Nikki Bella and team Bella reminded the audience it was only a week until she is officially crowned the longest Diva's Champion in WWE history before team PCB interrupted. Charlotte stated "we all know I love to party" before asking team Bellas why she wasn't invited to their celebration next week- as Charlotte has seemingly inherited her penchant for partying from her father, Ric Flair, it will be interesting to see if Tamina will inherit her father's penchant for murdering loved ones.

Charlotte informed team Bella their celebratory plans may be premature as= the Authority have altered her title opportunity to next week's episode before doing her best owl impression- seriously, Charlotte is not Ric Flair, nor will she ever be. All the wooing, the chops, the figure 8 is just a constant reminder she isn't Ric. Anyway, the segment ended with team PCB standing tall having cleared the ring.

At this stage, there is more chance of Heath Slater defeating Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship than Charlotte defeating Nikki Bella next Monday. I can guarantee that the match will end in a DQ or the match will end with Paige turning on Charlotte.

I'm positive Nikki will enter Night of Champions as the longest reigning Diva's Champion in history. However, the match next week throws into doubt my previous prediction of Nikki walking out of Night of Champions still Diva's Champion. Next week's match suggests their could well be a definitive ending at Night of Champions with Charlotte being crowned the new champion and consequently he face of the "Diva's Revolution". Also, it is astonishing that WWE will be putting the match on free tv whilst concurrently trying to sell it on PPV. Regardless of questionable business decisions, THERE IS NO CHANCE NIKKI IS NOT GOING TO BREAK THE RECORD. Still, stranger things have happened. Like Ryback getting over.

Current Night of Champions Card

WWE Championship Match: Sting vs Seth Rollins (C)
US Championship Match: John Cena vs Seth Rollins (C)
WWE Tag Team Championship: winner of the New Day/Prime Time Players vs The Dudley Boys
Rusev vs Ziggler
The Wyatt Family vs Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose & ??? (Randy Orton)

Matches of the Week 29/08-05/09

Outside the ring, this past week has not been a good one for wrestling; Jimmy Snuka was suspended from his WWE Legends contract after being implicated in the death of his 1983 girlfriend, Bram was released from TNA due to charges of domestic assault and false imprisonment along with the non-fatal shooting outside WWE's Performance Centre in Orlando, Florida. Inside the ring, wrestling hasn't faired much better. An insipid RAW was followed by a tepid Smackdown and TNA continued to fight off their annual invading foe, GFW.

In better wrestling news, PWG held their annual Battle of Los Angles, or Bola, at Reseda, California. As I don't live in California I have absolutely no idea what happened and have to wait for the release of the DVDs in a few weeks time. I anticipate 90% of the matches at BOLA to be better than those named on this week's list but they will have to wait until another time. Instead, this week's matches of the week begin with the rejuvenation of a formerly floundering weekly NXT television show. This week's NXT marked the beginning of the Dusty Rhodes tag team classic; a tournament assembling NXT's finest tag teams to compete in the honour of Dusty Rhodes' name.

Chad Gable & Jason Jordan vs Neville & Solomon Crowe

Earlier in the night, a returning Descension were defeated by the team of Rhyno and Baron Corbin in the first match of the Dusty Rhodes classic. Ready, willing, and Gable, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable make their way to the ring to compete in the Dusty Rhodes tag team classic and main event of the evening. The makeshift team of Solomon Crowe and first time WWE Network NXT Champion Neville make their way to the ring next- a small point of anguish here; I may be wrong but I have not heard of what the winners of the tournament will receive as a prize. At times like this, it is clear what Dario Cueto would do: the winning team competes in a one on one match to determine the number one contender for the NXT Championship. Anyways, unlikely scenarios aside Crowe and Gable get things under way.

After trading various holds, Solomon Crowe gains the upper hand after delivering a flapjack to the former amateur wrester, Gable, before tagging in Neville. Chants of Neville ring around Full Sail before Gable, too, tags in his partner. Jordan immediately attempts a suplex but Neville lands on his feet before cartwheeling across the ring. Again, Jordan attempts a german suplex but Neville lands on his feet. After several forearm blows, Jordan connects with a belly to belly suplex this time as Gable and Jordan work over Neville in the corner. Jason Jordan takes the opportunity to cool down Gable by waving his towel in his direction before Neville makes the tag to Crowe. Solomon Crowe doesn't fair much better as Jordan immediately applies a chin lock- after Crowe escapes thanks to the ropes, Jordan tags in Gable, who applies a bow and arrow submission hold before Crowe reverses into a pinning predicament. Neville, coming in off the hot tag, dodges the offence of Gable before delivering a series of kicks followed by a cross body. An enziguri in the corner places Jordan in position for the Red Arrow but Gable pulls Jordan to the safety of the outside- Neville, meanwhile still positioned on the top rope, redirects a moonsault to the outside that grounds Jordan as a tope con hilo by Crowe grounds Gable. Neville rolls Jordan back into the ring before attempting a springboard elbow- Jordan, impressively, catches Neville before delivering a beautiful belly to belly suplex that sends Neville halfway across the ring back to his corner.

Crowe tags himself in before connecting with several knees in the corner- after rebounding off the ropes for a cross body, Jordan catches Crowe this time before delivering a beautiful belly to belly. Jordan tags in his partner as Gable and Jordan perform an assisted bridging saito suplex for the three count.

This was a really excellent match. Gable and Jordan, as a team, have potential to really make an impact not just in NXT but on the main roster,too. In the mould of Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, Gable and Jordan will have a great deal of success in WWE, particularly Jason Jordan. Jordan's suplexes were excellent all match and, combined with his look, he has the potential to be one of the few NXT success stories on the main roster.

Chris Mordetzky vs Lashley

Available to watch here. 

Eight years ago, Bobby Lashley was the first man to break out of Chris Masters' Master Lock. Now, under completely different circumstances, Lashley met Chris Mordetzky, formerly Chris Masters, in a match pitting TNA's most muscular mound of flesh against GFW's most muscular mound of flesh.

As the bell rings, both competitors lock up in a stalemate. A shoulder block take down barely makes an impression on Lashley before a clothesline doesn't make an impression on Mordetzky. After a failed "Mordetzky Lock", Mordetzky begins work on Lashley's lower back before applying a chin lock. Powering out the hold, Lashley sends Mordetzky to the outside on a collision course with the barricade. Both men trade blows around the outside before Mordetzky sends Lashley into the ring post- Mordetzky, after rolling the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion back in the ring, delivers a butterfly suplex for a near fall.

A series of forearm blows by Lashley allow him to regain some control before a double clothesline grounds both men. Lashley is the first to his feet and connects with a german suplex before delivering a spear into the turnbuckle. After a beautiful delayed vertical suplex, Lashley attempts a spear but misses- Mordetzky looks to lock in the Mordetzky Lock but Lashley powers out before delivering The Dominator. Lashley successfully connects with the spear this time before members of the GFW locker room come rushing to the aid of Mordetzky resulting in the match ending in a no contest.

This was an enjoyable match between two of the most jacked men in the industry. Insufferable commentary by Josh Matthews and Pope detracted from a good match here, though. According to Pope, "GFW is piggy backing off TNA"- an interesting assessment of the invasion angle considering TNA has barely been able to carry its own weight for in excess of two years now. Anyway, TNA rant aside, this was a perfectly good match that put over Mordetzky as a legitimate threat to Lashley and sets up a bigger mathc between the two in the near future.

Jay Lethal vs Hanson 

Available to watch here.

Few have had a better 2015 than ROH World & Television Champion, Jay Lethal. After defending the ROH Television Championship the most times in ROH, Jay Lethal earned the right to compete against Jay Briscoe at Best in the World in a winner takes both the TV Championship and the World Championship- a match he won and in doing so became the first person to pin Briscoe in over two years. After defeating Lethal in a non title match up several weeks ago, Hanson was granted an opportunity to face Lethal for the ROH Television championship on this week's ROH TV.

Accompanied to the ring, as ever, by Truth Martini, Jay Lethal arrives after Hanson. Surprisingly, Jay Lethal adheres to the code of honour as the match gets under way. After an initial exchange, Hanson tosses Lethal into the corner. Hanson's size advantage allows him to stay on top with several strikes to the back of Lethal's head followed by multiple knees to the gut. An attempted power slam is escaped by Lethal as an enziguri sends Hanson reeling to the outside.

Lethal, after connecting with q trifecta of tope suicidas to the outside, rags Hanson's beard before spiking it on the ropes. A big back body drop allows Hanson to mount some offence- a body slam is followed by multiple stomps to the chest before Lethal escapes a dead lift vertical suplex only to run into a clothesline. An attempted Bronco Buster is blocked by a knee to the groin by Lethal- referee Todd Sinclair determines the blow was unintentional as the match rolls on. Lethal, taking advantage, heads up to the top rope and connects with a diving elbow for a near fall. Lethal, whilst setting up the Lethal Injection, is distracted by Bobby Fish on commentary before Hanson connects with a variation of the Lethal Injection culminating in an elbow. Hanson misses with a lariat before a superkick unbalances the 300+ pound man- Lethal connects with the Lethal Injection but Hanson bounces straight back up. A second Lethal Injection allows Jay Lethal to pick up the victory.

Sure, Lethal has had many matches better than this one this year and so too has Hanson but this was a solid match that was very obviously edited to conform to time constraints. Still, what was shown was very entertaining and one of the better matches from this week.

Genichiro Tenryu & Katsuyori Shibata vs Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Lizuka

Available to watch here

After several years absence, the legendary Genichiro Tenryu returned to NJPW this past week as he prepares for his official retirement match against Kazuchika Okada on the 15th November. Tenryu, on his return, teamed up with Shibata, fresh off a break out performance at the G1 Climax. The team of Tenryu and Shibata teamed up to face Minoru Suzuki and Takashi Lizuka in a good encounter worked around Tenryu's age.

Shibata and Suzuki begin the match and immediately Suzuki taunts Tenryu. After exchanging various holds, Shibata misses with the penalty kick attempted before Suzuki delivers a big boot to Tenryu. Tenryu, angered by the disrespect, tags himself in to a huge roar from the crowd. Suzuki and Tenryu trade chops in the centre of the ring before Suzuki drives the veteran into the corner where Lizuka uses a rope to strangle Tenryu. Suzuki and Lizuka put Tenryu's head in a vice grip between both of their feet before Lizuka is officially tagged in the match for the first time. At this point, the match descends into a brawl across the arena- Lizuka grounds Tenryu with several chair shots before driving a chair into his opponents throat. Meanwhile, Suzuki applies an arm breaker to Shibata whist his arm is placed between a chair.

On returning to the ring, Lizuka strangles Shibata whilst Suzuki distracts the referee. Suzuki, after being tagged in, delivers a series of forearms shots that only appear to galvanise Shibata. Suzuki and Shibata trade multiple fierce forearms strikes whilst somehow managing to stay on their feet-Shibata lands a drop kick allowing him to make the tag to Tenryu. After a series of rapid fire chops in the corner, Tenryu tags Shibata back in as the referee is knocked over. Lizuka takes advantage of the referee's incapacitation by delivering a chair shot to Shibata's back as he rebounded off the ropes. After several forearms and an atomic drop delivered to Shibata, Tenryu comes to his aid with a big lariat to knock Lizuka down. Shibata, after applying the sleeper hold, successfully connects with the Penalty Kick to secure the victory.

After the initial euphoria of seeing Tenryu back in a NJPW ring had worn off, the cold light of day revealed a frail, old man that could not keep up to the pace. Sure, this was the first match in a long time for the former AJPW Triple Crown Champion and it is only natural for a certain amount of ring rust. I do expect him to improve over the coming weeks with more matches. It is going to be interesting to see how Tenryu goes against Okada, a man who wasn't born when Tenryu debuted, on 15th November. I still believe it will be a good match but it will be a test for Okada as much as Tenryu to deliver a worth match up.

RAW Three Point Review 31/08

WWE resurrected various relics of the late 90's in an episode of RAW more closely resembling a high school drama than a wrestling show. A lacklustre Tampa, Florida crowd witnessed The Dudleys wrestle a match on RAW for the first time in ten years, Sting cut a promo on how he was going to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Big Show wrestle in a title match and the Summer Rae/Lana angle descended into a cat fight because of boys.

My personal highlight was spotting a "Ryback for President" sign. What drives a man to think this never mind write this type of thing fascinates me. I would love to meet this man for a brief moment before scampering in the other direction. Oh, and the new Wyatt Family is awesome. Apart from those two points this was a really terrible show, one of the worst for a while, and WWE would be wise to never reference this in any way ever again. Ever.

Sting/Rollins/Cena

The powerful image of John Cena and Sting standing together on top of the ramp concluded last night's RAW. The show opened, though, with Sting delivering one of the better babyface promos in a while before he proceeded to stroke HHH's ego. Sting, after being cheated out a debut WrestleMania victory by HHH and his sledge hammer, claimed to have respect for HHH which he can not say about Rollins. Sting went on to claim Rollins isn't half the man HHH is proving that HHH is still going over despite no longer wrestling on the show. Impressive.

What has been a bad week for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and US Champion was further exacerbated by Stephanie McMahon, inexplicably, allowing Cena to 'cash in' his rematch clause for the US Championship at Night of Champions because apparently rematch clasues are to be 'cashed in' these days. The show closed with no conclusion as to the whereabouts of the WWE WHC and US Champion's statue. Maybe it is where the Hulk Hogan one they continually forget exists.

So, at Night of Champions, Seth Rollins is pulling double duty; first, Rollins will defend his US Championship against John Cena. Then, in the main event, Rollins will defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Sting. Personally, I am a big fan of Rollins pulling double duty as he has consistently proven over the last 18 months he is capable of putting on the best match on the card. The teased dissension between Stephanie and Rollins, as well as Sting's comments comparing HHH to Rollins, suggest a break away from the authority in the near future.

How will this effect both Rollins' championships? Considering WWE's booking pattern with Cena (heel gets first win, Cena gets the second), I wouldn't be surprised if Cena was somehow involved in Rollins dropping the title. I think, this time, the Cena booking rule won't apply to this match and Cena won't get the return win; I'm guessing Cena's "he had the match won" narrative continues at Night of Champions with a funky finish allowing Rollins to retain. Again, I really can't see Rollins dropping the WWE WHC to Sting unless it marks the beginning of a rivalry with HHH. If RAW made one thing abundantly clear, Seth will lose the title, just like he won the title, because of the authority.

The Diva's Revolution

It was Char-my dad is Ric Flair-lotte who beat the clock to earn the right to challenge Nikki Bella at Night of Champions for the Diva's Championship. Members of the P.C.B. faction earned the right to enter a beat the clock sprint tournament to determine the number one contender to the Diva's Championship after emerging victorious in the triple threat elimination tag match at SummerSlam.

Becky Lynch was the first to compete and successfully defeated Alicia Fox in 3:21 seconds.

Charlotte promised to defeat Brie Mode with flair before their match. After a minute of running away, Charlotte pinned Brie after Natural Selection in 1:40 concurrently setting a new time to beat and eliminating Becky Lynch from the competition. The final match saw the final member of  team P.C.B, Paige, face Sasha Banks. After a series of roll ups, Paige connected with the Ram-Paige but Naomi and Tamina pulled Sasha to the safety of the outside. Paige couldn't pin Sasha before the time limit expired as she failed to conceal her disappointment at the end of the match.

So, we all know how things go down at Night of Champions, right? After a gruelling match, Charlotte will have Nikki in the figure 8 ready to make her submit before Paige interferes to cost Charlotte the match.

And Nikki Bella's grasp on the Diva's Championship only tightens.

Anyway, the 'Diva's Revolution' continues to ignore the principle reasons the women got so well over in NXT. As opposed to the arbitrary faction wars occurring at the moment, WWE, on the night of introducing the diva's revolution,  would have done better to put Sasha/Charlotte/Nikki in a 20 minute match to tear the house down by demonstrating their wrestling prowess. Instead, these women are randomly assigned factions and have random tag matches that last a looooooooooong time under the pretence of revolution. As i have mentioned before, this "revolution" is no more than circle jerkery and an ego massage for Stephanie McMahon. Seriously, if the Russians stood around congratulating each other about their revolution as opposed to actually doing something Communism may never have happened- which, admittedly, may not have been a bad thing. Just like this revolution.

The sooner Sasha Banks wins the title the better. But who knows if that will ever happened after they made her look about as dangerous as King Barrett last night.

Rusev/Ziggler/Lana/Summer Rae: a rejected Hollyoakes script

Wow. Just wow. This just keeps getting worse every week and must be a serious contender for the worst angle of the year.

A solid match between Ziggler and Rusev predictably concluded with Summer Rae interfering before Ziggler could make the pin after connecting with the Zig-Zag. Sure, fair enough, that gets things heading in the right direction for that mixed gender tag match at Night of Champions they seemed so insistent on.

Things got a lot worse from here.

Post a backstage segment with Renee Young, Dolph Ziggler proceeded to head into his changing room before being closely followed by Summer Rae.

Then, ten minutes later, a screaming Summer Rae emerged from Ziggler's changing room followed by a scantily clad Ziggler with the implication being Summer was spying on Ziggler in the shower. Later on in the show, Lana confronted Ziggler regarding the incident and, despite Ziggler's best efforts to reason with her, Lana took umbrage and seemingly blamed Ziggler for having his privacy violated. Lana's character appears unsaveable as with each week that passes she becomes further removed from the strong, independent manager of Rusev and closer to a histrionic thirteen year old girl.

This angle got more time than Seth Rollins. And it is Monday night Ra-llins! Why this story got so much on screen time at this point is beyond my comprehension as it is doing absolutely nothing for all involved except maybe Summer Rae- and that is only because she wasn't on tv at all before this. Last night's developments throw the proposed mixed gender tag match into jeopardy and quite frankly that is a good thing. Hopefully last night was the beginning of the end of this angle. The sooner WWE realise that no one wants to see this high school bullshit the better.

Matches of the Week: 22/08-28/08

Wrestling fans were treated  to a mouthwatering weekend of action this past week. ROH, NXT and WWE all presented strong cards and didn't disappoint; ROH, with the addition of some of the finest Japanese talent, put on two excellent shows in Philadelphia and New York, NXT, for the first time in their history, outgrew their Full Sail roots and headed to the Barclays Centre, NYC and ,despite low expectations, Summerslam delivered one of their better PPV's this year.

This week's matches of the week begins with the biggest event of the summer, Summerslam.

Seth Rollins vs John Cena 

Title for title match

Available to watch here.

Since being crowned WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania XXXI, Seth Rollins has proven exactly why he is the future of the business. Rollins' weasely, cowardly antics have generated considerable heat thus making him the perfect antagonist to carrythe show. Since being crowned US Champion at WrestleMania XXXI, John Cena has been putting on some of the best matches of his career against the likes of Ambrose, Stardust, Kevin Owens, Neville and Cesaro regardless of the remarkably similar match formula. Seemingly, Cena and Rollins were on a collision course and after Cena submitted the WWE World Heavyweight Champion post a broken nose, the match was booked for Summerslam; if Rollins won he wins Cena's US Championship, If Cena won he wins Rollins' WWE WHC.

The initial exchange of holds is broken as Cena successfully lands a side headlock take down which is greeted with vociferous boos. After being encouraged by the crowd, Rollins escapes and connects with a drop kick before mocking Cena's trademark U CNT C ME. Again, Cena applies a headlock after a belly to belly suplex grounds Rollins and again, with the encouragement of the crowd, escapes before Rollins delivers a knee to the spine that sends Cena reeling to the outside. Rollins harkens back to his Shield days as he connects with consecutive tope suicidas followed by a tope con hilo as a "lets go, Rollins" chant breaks out. Rollins, after returning Cena to the ring, attempts a running cross body- Cena reverses but can't apply the STF before Rollins reaches the ropes. A sloppy springboard stunner inevitably "barely caught" results in Cena successfully connecting with the 5 knuckle shuffle. Cena, with a growing advantage, positions Rollins up top before Rollins lands several blows that temporarily halt Cena- Rollins connects with a meteora followed by a beautiful standing shooting star press for a near fall.

After positioning Cena in the tree of woe, Rollins delivers a fierce double foot stomp from the top rope for another close fall. Rollins, frustrated by a perceived slow count by the referee, trash talks Cena before Cena pops up and delivers an AA- Rollins kicks out at 2. Both men return to their feet before rading blows- an attempted Pedigree is reversed by Cena into a slingshot but Rollins lands on the ropes. Cena, the wily veteran, follows Rollins before connecting with an electric chair drop/face buster combination. After Cena connects with a leg drop from the top rope, Rollins reverses the Super AA into a buckle bomb. Rollins, in homage to Eddie Guerrero, heads up to the top rope to soar through the sky to deliver a frog splash- Cena rolls through and attempts a second AA- Rollins lands on his feet before connecting with an enziguri. A rebounding Cena attempts a cross body but it is Rollins this time that rolls through before delivering an AA...1...2... Cena kicks out to avoid the humiliation of being pinned by his own shitty finisher. Rollins, again, heads up top- John Cena avoids a Phoenix Splash, Rollins lands on his feet but Cena grounds Rollins temporarily with a drop toe hold- Rollins connects with an enziguri before Cena attempts another AA- Rollins reverses, looks for the pedigree but that too is reversed this time into a Figure 4 Leg Lock in dedication of Ric Flair. Cheers once again encourage Rollins to reverse the hold- which he does before Cena reaches the ropes.

A huge forearm knocks Rollins down as Cena heads up top again- Rollins, returning to his feet, incapacitates Cena who remains on the top rope. Rollins connects with the superplex/falcon arrow combination...1...2... Cena kicks out again. Rollins, with increased urgency, positions Cena for the Phoenix Splash but eats a face full of canvas- Cena, on his feet, delivers a second AA but concurrently knocks down the referee. Cena, unaware of the referee's demise, hooks the leg....1....2...3...4...5...6...7.. but no one makes the count. Cena, realising this, calls for another referee to emerge but Rollins delivers a knee to the face of Cena that sends him crashing to the mat. Jon Stewart, host of SummerSlam, heads down to the ring accompanied by a steel chair. Caught between a man who has tormented him since prior to WrestleMania and a man who could equal his idol, Ric Flair's, number of title reigns, Stewart drives the chair into the stomach of Cena before sliding the chair to Rollins. Ever the opportunist, Rollins delivers a pedigree on the steel chair before the referee slides back into the ring to make the three count as the Brooklyn crowd comes unglued.

Rollins wins the US States Championship for the first time.

Many will suggest that this brilliant match was marred by a questionable finish. Whilst that may be true, the match should not be discarded like a Jack Swagger vs Heath Slater match from Main Event. This was one of the best WWE matches of the year that marked Rollins arrival as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Encouraged by the crowd throughout, Rollins unquestionably played the face for the majority of the match. For fans who haven't seen his independent work as Tyler Black, many would be surprised as to some of the athletic/high flying moves he performed. Rollins worked a move set closer to his ROH as he had the crowd in the palm of his hand; if the match proves one thing, Seth Rollins is the future of the WWE.

Sasha Banks vs Bayley

NXT Women's Championship

Available to watch here.

This Saturday's NXT: Takeover Brooklyn boasted two main events. Both Balor/Owens and Banks/Bayley co main evented the Brooklyn special but there is no question which match stole the show. Over the past year, NXT has been the host of a legitimate, competitive women's division for the first time in WWE history. After Stephanie McMahon reminded all the audience it was her that orchestrated the "diva's revolution", McMahon introduced both Sasha and Bayley to raucous ovations.

Before the match begins, Sasha calls Bayley pathetic before Bayley connects with several forearm strikes. Sasha reverses a clothesline attempt before sending Bayley crashing into the turn buckle. Bayley dodges a vicious chop in the corner before connecting with a springboard elbow drop for a close fall. Sasha  grounds Bayley upon returning to her feet- Sasha lifts Bayley to the top rope but an attempted superplex is blocked. Sasha rags Bayley down from the top before talking a little more trash- after slapping Bayley, Sasha applies a japanese choke hold as the crowd wills Bayley on. After escaping the hold, Bayley is sent into the turnbuckle- Sasha positions Bayley on the top rope before connecting with a double knee drop- only two.

Again, Sasha informs Bayley how much better she is than her- this time Bayley puts a stop to the trash talking with a kick to the face followed by a drop toe hold that sends Sasha crashing into the turnbuckle. Sasha reverses a second drop toe hold attempt before wrenching the injured left arm of Bayley on the rope.  Sasha Sabre Jr. goes to work on the left wrist of Bayley outside of the ring after removing the protective brace- as the referee approaches the ten count, Sasha rolls Bayley back into the ring before rolling her back out again to continue working over the left wrist. After completely exposing Bayley's wrist, Sasha Banks begins to stomp on it- once again, the referee approaches ten before Sasha returns to the ring before a tope con hilo sends her crashing into Bayley.

Back in the ring, Sasha slaps Bayley to her feet once again. Sasha and Bayley trade blows in the centre of the ring before several double axe handles allow Bayley to gain some control- a suplex into the corner is followed by a Bayley splash. An attempted Bayley to Belly is reversed as Sasha Banks as she expertly locks in the Bank Statement submission. Bayley desperately scrambles towards the ropes but Sasha stomps her hand further- eventually, Bayley successfully claws her way to the ropes. After the referee breaks the hold, Bayley delivers a Bayley to Belly to surprise Sasha. Sensing her opportunity to finally win the big one, Bayley positions Sasha for the Bayley-canrana but Sasha blocks and sends Bayley crashing to the mat. From the second rope, Sasha connects with a meteora..1...2... Bayley kicks out. Sasha, perhaps looking for the superplex, lifts Bayley to the top but it is Bayley that temporarily incapacitates Sasha- Bayley spikes Sasha with the Bayley-canrana before connecting with a second Bayley to Belly...1...2...3! Bayley is the next NXT Women's Champion.

After the match, the "four horse women" of NXT hugged it out in a fitting ending to their time in NXT.

Straight up, this was the best women's wrestling match in the history of WWE. Sasha Banks is a consummate in ring technician and is closer to a Daniel Bryan than a Nikki Bella. Banks transcends the often derogatory term 'diva'. She is a wrestler first and foremost. Bayley, too, played her part and has the innate ability to connect with fans both young and old, male or female. Inconsistent selling by Bayley limits this match to a **** 1/2 stars. Regardless of minor quibbles, this match told a fantastic story although remarkably similar to Sami Zayn's road to redemption. However, sometimes the simplest stories in wrestling are often the best and this match testifies to that.

Kazuchika Okada vs Roderick Strong

Non Title Match

Available to watch here.

Few can argue Roderick Strong is not having the best year of his career so far. Over the past year, Roddy Strong has transferred seamlessly between heel PWG World Champion and the face of ROH. Excellent matches against Trevor Lee, 'Speedball' Mike Bailey, Moose, Michael Elgin, Chris Hero and Cage alongside match of the year contenders against the likes of Zack Sabre Jr, Jay Lethal and Shinsuke Nakamura have firmly established Roddy as a strong contender for wrestler of the year. Over in Japan, Kazuchika Okada has featured in some match of the year contenders himself; at WK9, Okada excelled in a losing effort against Tanahashi. More recently, at Dominion 7.5., Okada defeated AJ Styles for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in one of the finest matches of 2015 before an excellent showing in the G1 Climax tournament as IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

Roderick Strong receives a warm welcome from the ROH fans. Okada dollars and streamers fall from the sky as Okada makes his way to the ring. After an initial exchange of holds, Okada delivers a dropkick to Strong before applying an abdominal stretch. Strong breaks the hold before Strong delivers a dropkick of his own in a game of one-upmanship- Strong follows up with a series of devastating chops in the corner underscored by the woos of the crowd. After a vertical suplex, Strong applies a rear chin lock as he begins work on the neck and back of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Okada momentarily escapes before Strong once again corners him with several chops before reapplying the rear chin lock. Okada, after reaching the ropes, trades blows with Mr ROH  before Roddy sends him to the outside. Sensing his opportunity, Strong takes advantage by suplexing Okada into the crowd followed by two more on the barriers.

Unwisely, Strong allows Okada to return to the ring on his own accord before the twenty count.A slip behind neck breaker followed by a ddt allows Okada to build some momentum before Strong pulls him down from the rope. Strong, uncharacteristically, heads to the top rope but a beautifully executed dropkick sends Strong to the outside. Roddy Strong regains the advantage with a back suplex on the apron but quickly loses it as they return to the ring as Okada hits the neck breaker to the knee. Both men return to their feet at the same time before trading vicious blows in the centre- Strong with the chops, Okada with the uppercuts. Strong emerges victorious from the battle after an olympic slam- Strong lifts Okada up looking for the superplex before Okada pushes him off only for Strong to connect with an enziguri to unbalance Okada. Strong finally delivers a superplex before applying the Strong hold- Okada successfully claws his way to the ropes. Strong looks to drive home his advantage- attempted End of Heartache blocked by Okada, attempted Rainmaker blocked by Strong with three consecutive jumping knees. Strong connects with the double knees to the gut before delivering a thunderous sick kick...1...2... Okada kicks out. Somehow, upon both men returning to their feet, Okada delivers a Tombstone piledriver- Strong kicks out at 2. Okada plants Strong again with a Tombstone before lifting him up for the Rainmaker- again Strong blocks before attempting a jumping knee but this time Okada catches him to deliver a german suplex- Okada keeps hold before delivering the Rainmaker to pick up the victory.

This is exactly the type of match you would expect from these two. Arguably, both are enjoying the best run of their careers so far and that was reflected in this encounter. Roddy Strong and Okada continue to perform in some of the best matches in the world of wrestling today with an excellent match here.

Hirooki Goto vs Michael Elgin

None Title Match

Available to watch here.

Fresh off a career defining G1 Climax tournament in which he proved many of his critics wrong, Michael Elgin returned to ROH duty this past weekend at Field of Honour 2015. His opponent, also fresh off an impressive G1 Climax tournament, made not only his ROH debut but his U.S debut. Hirooki Goto, IWGP Intercontinental Champion, once again comes up against Elgin, a man he defeated in the G1 Climax tournament.

Both competitors adhere to the code of honour before proceedings get under way. As expected, the match begins with Elgin and Goto trading fierce blows before Elgin grounds the taller but lighter Goto with a shoulder block take down. Goto, returning to his feet, attempts a clothesline but it doesn't make an impression on Big Mike. A second clothesline successfully grounds Elgin as both men lock up once again- Elgin delivers a big lariat to send Goto to the outside. Elgin, in control, delivers several chops around the baseball field before connecting with a huge lariat that sends Goto into the crowd. After returning Goto to the ring, Elgin performed a 33 second long suspended vertical suplex- a suplex which wowed the Japanese crowds.

Elgin, going up top, lands a corkscrew senton before Goto connects with a lariat to halt Elgin's momentum. Returning to their feet, Goto and Elgin trade blows in the centre of the ring before a standing enziguri by Elgin allows him to capitalise with successive german suplexes- Goto blocks the third but an okada roll enables Elgin to land a third. Again, Elgin returned to a move that brought him a lot of success in Japan- Elgin lands the falcon arrow...1...2... kick out by Goto. Elgin, looking to stake his claim for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, attempts a buckle bomb but it is blocked by Goto- Goto lifts Elgin to the top, after incapacitating Big Mike with several headbutts, before delivering a canadian destroyer from the top rope....1...2... Unbreakable Michael Elgin kicks out. After a neck breaker on the knee, Goto looks to finish the match with the Ura Shouten but Elgin blocks. An attempted sunset flip is blocked by Goto before Goto successfully lifts Elgin for the Ura Shouten to pick up the victory in his ROH debut.

The match, whilst lacking the intensity of their G1 Climax meeting, still delivered one of the best matches on a stacked Field of Honour card. Throughout the match, both Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino, in my eyes the best commentary team in the business, did a good job of highlighting Big Mike's achievements in Japan whilst suggesting he will be returning in the near future. Details of ROH's partnership with NJPW surfaced this past week detailing plans for ROH stars to head to Japan in a similar manner to how NJPW stars often wrestle with ROH. Initial rumours indicate a potential ROH World Championship match between Jay Lethal and Michael Elgin at the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 10. Regardless of rumours, if Elgin continues to perform how he has been doing for both ROH and NJPW he will cement himself as one of the best hoss gaijins in Japanese wrestling history with the likes of Stan Hansen and Vader.

IRN JEW vs The GZRS

The team of Sebastian and Tom Irvine,  or The GZRS as they prefer to be known, have been making quite a name for themselves as of late. Consistently hilarious performances in Progress, PCW and IPW have helped The GZRS quickly gain a reputation as a must see act in professional wrestling. Tonight, they meet the international dream team of Colt Cabana and Grado, IRN JEW, in a dream match up for fans of comedy wrestling. 

The GZRS arrive to the ring first; Sebastian in his faux Real Madrid kit, Tom Irvine in his trunks, both with a can of beer in their hand, make their way to the ring for their ICW debut. Next, IRN JEW make their way to the ring, matching jackets and all, to a huge ovation before American indie wrestling icon Colt Cabana chases Grado around the ring with a towel. Tom Irvine grabs the mic whilst Grado catches his breath. Before the match has chance to get under way, Tom Irvine challenges IRN JEW for their number one contendership- Colt Cabana agrees. As the match gets under way, Grado, much to the annoyance of Colt Cabana, tries to get a sip of Sebastian's beer. Cabana tries to stop Grado but evidently underestimated the Scotsman's need for alcoholic refreshment.

It is Irvine and Cabana that get things under way whilst Grado and Sebastian share a couple of beers in the corner. Confusion ensues as Grado tags Tom Irvine to enter the match- Grado and Colt Cabana square off in the centre of the ring- but what's this... Grado points the finger at Colt Cabana who goes crashing down to the mat. Grado hits the finger poke of doom! Tom Irvine sneaks in to try and pin Cabana but Grado pulls him off before connecting with a devastating belly bump as chants of belly echo around the arena. Grado, driving home the advantage, connects with a sunset flip whilst concurrently pulling down the trunks of Diamond Geezer, Tom Irvine, before driving him shoulder first into the ring post after a short bdsm session with IRN JEW. Sebastian rushes into save his fellow GEEZR- Grado reverses with a drop toe hold as Sebastian precariously hangs mere centimetres away from Irvine's marmite motorway before Cabana pushes his face into Irvine's back passage. 

Colt Cabana, distracted by Grado's antics, receives an arm wrench by Sebastian- Cabana demonstrates his technical acumen with an impressive roll up before Grado informs Cabana he has a new move. Cabana, curious as everyone in the building, tags in Grado. In one of the more impressive sights in wrestling, Grado performs a cartwheel into a head scissor take down that sends Sebastian reeling to the outside. Aided by Colt Cabana, Grado heads up to the top rope, perhaps looking for the best moonsault ever- Irvine spots the attempt before delivering a hugely traumatic thumb up the bum! Sebastian joins in the debauchery as a drop toe hold positions Grado in-between the second and top rope- Sebastian delivers a ferocious kick to the ass to ensure Grado will not be sitting down any time soon.

Tom Irvine returns to a tactic that has brought The GZRS a lot of success in the match- once again, Irvine attempts the thumb up the bum but this time Grado reverses by sending Irvine's thumb into his mouth. Grado, after severe punishment to the ass, tags in Cabana who connects with the flying ass on Sebastian before Sebastian reverses with an S.T.O. Irvine heads up to the top rope before delivering a head butt to the groin of Cabana a la Dudley Boys. The two GZRS stand facing each other in the ring- they know what time it is. Sebastian calls for the slip n slide! 

Professional wrestling has seen it all; an immortal necromancer that works as an undertaker, a midget confused about his species orientation, an insensitive portrayal of the mentally handicapped, hell that doesn't even begin to cover Big Dick Johnson. Never before have I seen a slip n side. 

The GZRS attempt to send Colt Cabana down the slip n slide and crashing into the ring post but Sebastian slips in the process resulting in him being sent down the treacherous slip n slide. Cabana and Grado send Irvine crashing head first into the nether regions of Sebastian who must be lamenting the decision to bring the slip n slide out. Grado connects with the Roll n Slice before Sebastian attempts to get to his feet but keeps slipping over- Cabana picks him up to deliver the Get Tae Bed/Wee Boot combination to pick up the win and remain number one contenders to Polo Promotions ICW Tag Team Championship.

This match is an absolute must see for fans of comedy wrestling. Hell, everyone should see this match. Anyone who gets a slip n slide out mid match is 

SummerSlam Preview

SummerSlam 2015

Oh, boy, NJPW really spoiled this one. Coming live from Brooklyn, NYC, it is the most 'epic' SummerSlam in the history of history. Due to excessive levels of epicness, for the first time in history, the biggest party of the summer will run for four hours in a show that features the resurrection of the undead deadman, a nose more discussed than the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, a bromance that appears to have run its course and a romance that is enough to make even the most ardent romantic feel nauseous.

WWE has pulled out all the stops to bill the 28th annual SummerSlam as the biggest in the company's history. Will SummerSlam live up to the immense hype of WWE's marketing machine? That remains to be seen. But for now, here is my preview of the biggest biggest event of the summer.

Sheamus vs Randy Orton

Straight from bottom of the barrel, with more side headlocks than fans paying attention it is Randy Orton vs Sheamus. Again. In a rivalry no one realised they wanted to see continue, Mr Money in the Bank, Sheamus, faces Randy Orton for what seems like the 4647252 time. Sheamus will be looking to exact his revenge after Orton denied the Celtic Warrior the opportunity to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on RAW a couple of weeks back.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of both Sheamus and Randy Orton but the continuation of this rivalry does neither man any favours. So many opportunities lay wasted whilst this rivalry chugs along in second gear with no end in sight. Why has Orton, who was nowhere to be seen when Sheamus unhooked the case, taken umbrage with Sheamus? It was Neville who Sheamus unceremoniously dispatched before unhooking the case. A Neville/Sheamus rivalry would have surely been more logical but logic, like wrestling, is a dirty word around WWE.

Sure, these two will probably have a solid match but I really feel Sheamus and Orton need to move on from this rivalry in order to inject a new lease of life into their currently stale characters. A return to hoss Sheamus tossing smaller men around (Ziggler in particular), please.

Hopefully a stipulation is attached to this match before SummerSlam starts to save the match from heading towards Groundhog Day territory- maybe a street fight, maybe Sheamus' case will be on the line or maybe even a Kiss me Arse match. Just something... anything to distinguish this match from the previous ones they have had.

Prediction: Sheamus

Rusev (w/ Hot Summer) vs Dolph Ziggler (w/ Lana)

The hypocritical fallacy that is the diva's "revolution" will once again be exposed by Lana who will play the damsel in distress in this despicable morality play. This is a perfect example of WWE's retrospectively rewriting their own history to suit current story lines. Twelve months ago, Lana instructed Rusev when to crush his opponents even encouraging Rusev to adopt her home country of Russia. Now, WWE has rewritten Lana's narrative so she is the object of sympathy in her, allegedly, tortuous relationship with Rusev. What was one of the few powerful, strong female characters in WWE is now a doughy eyed sap every time Dog sorry Dolph Ziggler looks at her. After receiving the kayfabe injury to film WWE's latest straight to the bargain bucket DVD, Ziggler returned last Monday on RAW to a thunderous ovation to make the run in and save his damsel in distress.

During his absence, Ziggler kayfabed his twitter account by sending various emetic tweets to Lana who returned the favour with her own stomach turning responses. If this feud is supposed to make me dislike Ziggler, it is certainly succeeding; at this stage, there is nothing more I want to see than Rusev superkicking that shit eating grin off Ziggler's face back to Hollywood.

Since finishing with Lana, Rusev has taken up with Summer Rae. Inevitably, this rivalry appears to be heading in the direction of a mixed gender tag match at Night of Champions in September. Rusev deserves  the victory here purely based on the fact that he has consistently turned this shit into gold (see Rusev's gifts to Hot Summer , Rusev throws a fish at Lana). 

Without the women present, this has the potential to be one of the matches of the night. However, the women will be a major part of this match.Women, can't love 'em, can't crush 'em, ammirite Rusev?

Prediction: Rusev

King Barrett & Stardust vs Neville & Stephen Amell

I'm not even going to pretend I know who or what a StephenAmellGreenArrow is or even begin to try and comprehend why he is scheduled in a wrestling match at SummerSlam. That being said, a couple of weeks ago on RAW, Amell navigated the ropes with the expertise of a ten year veteran. Sure, the match will be constructed around Amell's limited wrestling ability to ensure he spends as little time as possible in the ring. Much of the in ring duties, I imagine, will be performed by Neville. As of late, random title match with Rollins aside, Neville has been languishing in the black hole that is WWE's mid-card. This match provides Neville with the opportunity to impress a casual audience. In this comic book world of heroes and villains, Neville will be a hero in possession of a flippyshit super power to combat the villains. 

The villains, on the other hand, well they are not doing so well at the moment. Well, one of them isn't.

Has anyone received worse booking since winning King of the Ring than King Barrett? First, the interminable feud with R Truth consigned to the pre-show now this thinly veiled attempted to appeal to the greater populace.  Barrett really must have pissed someone off as he has been doing more jobs than a Polish immigrant. It is a damn shame, too. Barrett is in possession of all the attributes required to take him to the top but WWE seem to have placed him in the midcard 4 life club with Ziggler, Swagger and a man he will be teaming up with.

WWE achieved new levels of meta a couple of weeks ago with Stardust, Barrett's partner and instigator of the feud, when Michael Cole spoke extensively on how Stardust can not distinguish between Stephen Amell the actor and Green Arrow the fictional character before drawing the parallel with Stardust, who can't distinguish that he is Cody Rhodes and not the fictional character Stardust. Stardust's quest for identity could be one of the more highbrow angles WWE has ran for a while. If handled correctly, there is big potential for a Cody Rhodes face return after all this. 

The way things have gone for King Barrett since winning the King of the Ring tournament, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Amell pinned Barrett.

Prediction: Neville & Amell

Los Matadores vs Lucha Dragons vs New Day vs Prime Time Players (C)

For the WWE Tag Team Championships

Wow. I don't even know where to start with this one. At this stage, the WWE Tag Team Titles have as much value as a victory over Zack Ryder on Superstars.

Teams such as reDRagon, The Young Bucks, RPG Vice, The Addiction, Sumerian Death Squad, The Hunter Brothers and the Wolves have revitalised the concept of tag team wrestling over the past few years with fun, entertaining matches. Don't expect anything like that here, though. The New Day are sooooooooo far ahead of anyone else in the division it is unfair to put all these teams in the ring together as it only serves to highlight the incompetence of the other teams:

Lucha Dragons: haven't said a word apart from "Lucha" since arriving on the roster (unsure whether they can speak at all never mind speak English)

Los Matadores: laughing stock of the division since 2013, don't say anything apart from "ole" (again, unsure if they have a deaf mute gimmick)

Prime Time Players: Titus O' Neill is the Danny Welbeck of professional wrestling- every time he gets in the ring, he looks as though he will fuck up. Darren Young is okay, I guess.

New Day: the Paul Heyman of the division.

It was a mistake to take the titles from the New Day at Money in the Bank and WWE will surely rectify their mistake this Sunday. The best we can hope for is a giant clusterfuck spotfest.

Prediction: New Day

The Wyatt Family vs Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose

Some night clubs water down their alcohol. WWE water down their rivalries. In The Wyatt Family vs Shield redux, Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper team up to face Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose- who are best friends, in fact like brothers if you missed it. After Wyatt reconciled with Luke Harper at Battleground, Roman recruited the help of long time friend and part time cheer leader, Dean Ambrose, to over come The Wyatt Family because apparently one versus all isn't a thing any more. 

Since reuniting with Luke Harper, Bray Wyatt has quietly gone about his business. I say this every week but the fans are ready to get behind The Wyatt Family; it is an exciting concept that could carry WWE in a fascinating direction. Thus far, The Wyatt Family haven't had the requisite support from creative to help them reach the next level. But that will come with time, beginning here.

Unfortunately for the ever noble Roman, I think that Dean Ambrose, Roman's brother and only friend wink wink, will do the dirty on him at SummerSlam to finally dissolve the Shield once and for all. WWE's penchant for pegging 6 ft 4'+, 270 pound athletes as underdogs will continue here as the odds will be firmly stacked against Roman in the coming months. Additionally, Dean Ambrose turning his back on Roman gives credence to The Wyatt Family mystique and psychological warfare they so often indulge in. Although Reigns turning his back on his brother would make more sense and re-legitimise the Wyatt's as a psychological threat, WWE is intent on Roman being the next top babyface and I don't expect that to change any time soon.

Prediction: The Wyatt Family

PCB vs Team B.A.D. vs Team Bella

Many fans have suggested this match is scheduled in order to protect Nikki Bella's title thus ensuring she will beat AJ Lee's longest ever reign with the Diva's title. I, too, agree with the theory as with each week that passes the Diva's Revolution is shown to be a distraction, albeit a poor one, from the fact Nikki will pass AJ's longest reign a week before Night of Champions.

At SummerSlam, we have the three diva's factions face off; Pakistan Cricket Board face Team Ethnic and Team Confused Motivations in an elimination tag match because apparently women like to hang around in groups for no particular reason. Seriously, why are these teams together? They share no common purpose, goals or motivations other than the fact Stephanie arbitrarily grouped them all together. 

Anyway, it is what it is and Paige, Charlotte, Becky Lynch team up to face the teams of Sasha Banks, Tamina, Naomi and Nikki, Brie and Alicia Fox. Hopefully this match begins the dissolution of these "factions" thus giving the women a platform to showcase their skills on an individual basis and increase competition for Nikki's title. This probably wont be the case as a couple of weeks ago rumours surfaced that WWE was planning on introducing a Diva's Tag Team Championship. Clearly, someone backstage believes the endless stream of bullshit propaganda spewing from Michael Cole's mouth.

The "Diva's Revolution" is nothing more than savvy branding and a marketing slogan. If you need evidence of this statement, listen to what Jerry "The King" Lawler has to say about the match.

Winner: PCB

Ryback (C) vs The Miz vs Big Show

For the Intercontinental Championship

Sometimes I forget who he Intercontinental Champion is before realising that it is not important anyway. True story: I had to ask Google just exactly who the Intercontinental Champion is. The answer, apparently, is Ryback whose championship reign has been less than memorable.

But, the people seem to like Ryback for some reason as he returned to a good reaction as the camera panned to various fully grown men in the audience wearing Ryback shirts- a fact that is astounding in itself. Ryback's injury has significantly halted his momentum after winning the title at Elimination Chamber (again, I had to Google that). The Big Guy makes his first Intercontinental Championship defence The Miz and Big Show in what seems like an active attempt by WWE to encourage viewers to change the channel.

People often talk of their dream matches in wrestling that never happened; The Undertaker vs Sting, The Rock vs Shawn Michaels, CM Punk vs Stone Cold Steve Austin but this is a nightmare match that is happening. I would be hard pressed to pick three wrestlers I would rather see in a match less than these three. I hope this match receives the ol' diva's division treatment- a two minute match conveniently placed in the middle of the show to coincide with my bladder. 

Prediction: Ryback

Kevin Owens vs Cesaro

After a barrage of fat jokes over the past few weeks, Kevin Owens heads into the SummerSlam weekend with arguably the two most anticipated matches. On Saturday, Owens invokes his rematch clause for the NXT Championship in a ladder match against Finn Balor. On Sunday, Owens meets another man who has been on a role as of late, the Swiss Superman Cesaro. 

In spite of some questionable booking and underhanded comments regarding Owen's weight, this match has the potential, if given ample time, combined with the Brooklyn crowd, to be match of the night and possibly even a match of the year contender. Unfortunately, this match should be for the US Championship- instead, Cena will pointlessly be defending the title in a match that will, in all likelihood, end in a no contest.

Minor quibbles aside, this is the match that i'm looking forward to most on the card. Given enough time, these two, as evidenced by their previous matches in the indies, will tear the house down in a match that will showcase both men's ability and help get them both over in the long run.

This is a tough one to call but I believe Cesaro will pick up the victory in what is hopefully the first match of an extended rivalry.

Prediction: Cesaro

John Cena (US Champ) vs Seth Rollins (WWE WHC)

Winner Takes Both Championships

Over the past few weeks, in big match John's absence, WWE have pushed his broken nose harder than the exceptionally low price of the network. Of course, who could forget, it was Seth Rollins, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, that delivered the infamous strike that i have seen more times than Randy Orton vs Sheamus and goddamn i have seen that match a lot. The following week, Rollins emerged wearing one of the more creative parodies of John Cena's t shirts. 

Enough preamble. This match has serious potential to be a match of the year contender. As previously demonstrated, Seth Rollins and John Cena have excellent chemistry together and have proven in the past that they are capable of putting on high quality matches. However, my opinion of this match, and I'm sure many others will echo similar sentiments, will be determined by the result. WWE consider that being in the ring with John Cena raises the profile of who ever his opponent may be. There are certain exceptions, mainly CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, but as a general rule, Cena has dispatched many of his opponents back into the midcard after defeating them. 

John Cena really has an opportunity to inject impetuous into Rollins' WWE World Heavyweight Championship which, quite frankly, has been a mere after thought over the past couple of months. John Cena can achieve this with an excellent match followed by him taking the loss. Clean, dirty, whatever, it doesn't matter. Sure, Rollins doesn't need the US Title as well as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship but a John Cena victory sends a resounding message to talent; no matter how well you perform, no matter the reaction you solicit from the crowd, no matter how much you improve you are not immune to Mr Make a Wish coming to steal your thunder. 

No one gets the divisive reaction like Cena- as Cena pointed out on RAW, the crowd chants "lets go Cena/Cena sucks"- nothing to do with Rollins. Being in a high profile feud with Cena does elevate his opponent but losing to Cena and then floundering in the midcard does not. For the first time in Rollins' WWE World Heavyweight Championship run I am doubting Rollins will walk out as champion. I guess that is a good thing.

However, my faith in WWE has not completely dissipated despite the constant flow of bullshit and dissatisfaction. I can't see Cena being victorious here. In fact, I can't see anyone being victorious here and leaving with both the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and the US Championship. Rollins has been far too good to just get LOLCENAWINS'd and I don't think he will be.

Prediction: No Contest/Double Pin/Everything remains the same

Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker

You know you're in trouble when Heyman can't sell you on a match when the guy could sell you a holiday to Tunisia.

Admittedly, WWE is not always about the wrestling. Sometimes, the spectacle and the story triumphs over athletic feats or mat wrestling. But what if the story tells of an embittered 50 something year old man constantly blindisding the sympathetic would be champion with low blows because he can't beat him fair and square? 

Despite the years and years of entertainment, memories and thrills the Undertaker has provided this match should not be happening. Either Lesnar loses his mystique or Undertaker does and it must be Undertaker considering his age.

As with any match, there are three options.

1. Lesnar defeats Undertaker- What was the point of Undertaker returning?
2. Undertaker defeats Lesnar- What was the point of Lesnar defeating the streak? In fact, what would be the point of the last 15 months?
3. The match ends in a no contest- What was the point of any of this? Please, not another bullshit ending to avoid Lesnar losing or beating anyone. Surely they can't keep using Lesnar this way.

All three options are less than appealing and no amount of Paul Heyman's genius, brawls across the arena, smoke and mirrors will change that. The concept of this rematch being "too big for WrestleMania" is astounding and only confirms that if you lock WWE creative in a room they won't produce the works of Shakespeare but instead this type of non-statement that concurrently undermines the biggest event in wrestling as well as diminishing the importance of WrestleMania 30. 

What route WWE goes remains to be seen but either Brock Lesnar conquered the streak for nothing or Undertaker started something he couldn't finish to borrow a line from Morrissey. This match seems to be a desperate attempt to attract former fans to a currently stale product- this match was headlining PPV's in 2002!

As painful as it is to say, Brock Lesnar must retire Undertaker by not only defeating him but brutally victimising him. Will this happen? I think that that outcome is the least likely of three. I feel like Undertaker gets the win here before things finish where the legacy of Undertaker began, WrestleMania.

Prediction: Undertaker