WWE NXT Takeover: Fatal 4 Way Preview

One of the 2 main reasons I purchased the WWE Network at its launch was NXT (the other being all WWE PPV). The weekly NXT shows always have top-notch matches and segments with characters like Tyler Breeze and CJ Parker putting it over the top as one of the best things going in Pro Wrestling. Part of NXT appeal is the 2 hour specials they do every few months. Starting with Arrival on 2-27-14 that saw Match of the Year candidate Sami Zayn vs Cesaro. That momentum was carried to Takeover and now Takeover: Fatal 4 Way. Fatal 4 Way is tomorrow night, the card looks to be stellar once again.

NXT Championship Fatal 4 Way
Adrian Neville (c) vs Tyler Breeze vs Sami Zayn vs Tyson Kidd

Were to start with this one? Zayn, Neville, Breeze, and Kidd have all been on fire since being put as the focal points of NXT, but let’s start with the Champ. Adrian Neville has main evented all 3 NXT specials and had match of the night contenders in the first 2 so far. Neville won the title in a ladder match at Arrival off of Bo Dallas and since has showcased why there is nobody in the world who can fly like the Man that Gravity Forgot. There are a few that can keep up with Neville but no one is better. Neville on the microphone however is a different story. Neville has yet to impress with a single promo, churning out mediocre promo after mediocre promo. This has hurt Neville’s reign and may end up being the reason he may drop the belt tomorrow night.

“Olé, Olé, Olé” Sami Zayn is one of the most anticipated main roster call ups of recent memory. From his classic 2 out of 3 falls match with Cesaro to the Match of the Year candidate rematch at Arrival to his Match of the Night with Breeze at the first Takeover, Zayn simply delivers on the big stages. Zayn is the most polished of the yet to debut main roster competitors, having wrestled all over the world from ROH-Japan. Zayn is ready for the jump, had been for a year and I think if it wasn’t for the injury that sidelined him for months, he’d be up. It’s a matter of time so I really don’t see WWE putting the NXT title on a soon to be called up wrestler but with WWE who knows, we may just see Zayn Helluva Kick somebody’s head off to win that title.

Prince Pretty, King of Cuteville, the Definition of Delicious, whatever nickname Tyler Breeze picks for that day doesn’t matter because in my opinion Tyler Breeze is the best thing going in NXT at the moment. Breeze has it all, the gimmick, the promo skills and the in ring work. From the ring announcer randomly informing us that Tyler is in the building to Breeze selfies, Tyler picked the ball up that Bo Dallas left when Bo got called up and ran with it. My favorite to win this whole thing, Breeze has to walk out the champion, he just has to.

The final participant is Tyson Kidd who has had a resurgence since going down to NXT after being out with injury for a year. Kidd was an afterthought, his WWE career wasn’t going anywhere and people started to know him simply as Nattie’s husband. Tyson is the veteran of the 4, with experience all over the world and a very underrated skill set. Kidd is the last graduate of the Hart dungeon and we all know if you graduated from that dungeon then that means you can flat-out go with the best of them. Even though he’s a long shot to win, Kidd has brought the best out of Neville and Zayn in singles competition and no reason to believe he won’t bring out of the other 3 tomorrow night.

NXT Divas Championship: Charlotte vs Bayley

The next generation of Flair is having a hell of a year, Charlotte distanced herself from the BFFs and struck gold at the first Takeover. Charlotte and Nattie had a great divas match for the title and Charlotte pulled off the win. Charlotte’s first big title defense will be against the lovable only wants a hug Bayley. Bayley has really come into her own in recent months and vaulted her way to a title shot. Bayley last week on NXT made the biggest statement of either Diva when she told Charlotte that she better take Bayley seriously because Bayley is seriously taking her title and then Bayley planted Charlotte with a Bayley to Belly suplex. From that moment it has officially been on!

NXT Tag Team Championship : The Ascension (c) vs Kalisto/Sin Cara

The tag team division in NXT has been a joke for the better part of a year and that coincides with the Ascensions title reign, that isn’t the Ascensions fault either. The WWE failed the Ascension by not giving them any practical title contenders. We’ve seen jobber team after jobber team get destroyed by the Champs and we got bored. Kalisto and Sin Cara are the first team that feel, look and act like a team. This match will be power vs speed, and Kalisto’s second time in as many Takeover shows challenging Ascension for the tag titles. I wouldn’t be surprised if the titles change hands here, it will breathe life into the division, free up the Ascension to move to the main roster and revive the Sin Cara character all in one swoop.

Hair vs Hair Match Enzo Amore vs Sylvester LeFort

The title says it all in this match, this rivalry has escalated to the point were either LeFort or Amore will lose their hair if they lose. Amore and Big Cass have been very entertaining since Amore’s return from injury and I expect them to be the next challengers to whoever wins the tag titles. Other than that this will be the comedic relief match even though both LeFort and Amore can wrestle.

MoJo Rawley vs Bull Dempsey

I’m not going to spend too much time on this for one reason, Mojo Rawley is terrible. Mojo is awful in the ring, and his promo’s stink. The jury is still out on Bull however, its young in his NXT career and he has shown promise with his in ring work, the sample size for his promo’s is too small. Bull should win this one rather easily.

KENTA is also being advertised to be at Takeover, but in what capacity is unknown. KENTA needs to be in a NXT ring immediately. KENTA has been signed for some time now and its time NXT fans, WWE fans and North American fans see how special he really is.

This should be a good show, NXT always brings it when in the spotlight and this will be no exception. Look for the main event to be a match of the year candidate

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WWE NXT Review 9-4-2014

 

With one week left until Takeover 2 we were kicked off with NXT Diva match between Alexa Bliss and NXT Divas Champion Charlotte

Charlotte vs Alexa Bliss non title

Charlotte gets the headlock and takes Bliss right to the mat to start. Charlotte dominated most of the match with short attempts to come back that didn’t work. Charlotte lands cutter for the win. Afterwards Bayley came out and said she earned her title shot and to take her seriously because she’s seriously taking Charlotte’s title. Bayley tried to shake Charlotte’s hand but Charlotte shoved her down, Bayley then hit the Belly to Bayley on Charlotte
Winner:Charlotte

Sit down interview with Tyler Breeze, he talked about why he’s going to win next week on Takeover 2, and it was gold. Breeze is great, best character on NXT.

Interview with Sin Cara and Kalisto, Cara spoke Spanish and Kalisto translated. Not much here just a generic face interview about wanting the title shot even though they are underdogs.

Tye Dillinger vs Tyler Breeze

Breeze got the advantage off the lock up and both men started picking up the pace quickly. Breeze showed a bit of a serious and intense side. Breeze hits the Beauty Shot out of nowhere to get the win. Good match, Dillinger looks to be a future star.                                         Winner: Tyler Breeze

Tyson Kidd sit down, talked about his opponents and how they perfected their craft. Kidd also said he’s superior because he trained in the dungeon.

Video of Enzo Amore and Big Cass going to pick up hair removal cream from a beauty parlor and they accidentally drop it on a dog. Pretty funny actually.

Tyson Kidd vs Adam Rose

Kidd got the advantage off the ropes. I guess this is clear that Vince really has soured on Adam Rose, he’s a throw in to highlight a competitor in a future NXT Title main event. Kidd controlled pretty much the match until Rose was able to get separation and get a flurry. Kidd drop kicked Rose knee and applied the Sharpshooter, Rose tapped. Best match of the night. This show is just getting the 4 main event competitors over with wins going into next week.                             Winner: Tyson Kidd

Sit down with Sami Zayn. Zayn said that challengers have the advantage because they don’t have to pin the champ but that’s what he wants, he wants to pin his friend Neville.

Interview with the Vaudevillians. They get offended when Devin said they had a chance and it’s not a definite that they will win the tag tournament tonight.

Sami Zayn vs Marcus Louis

Lefort is with Louis, Ole chant rang out in the crowd. Louis got advantage early with physical moves and grounded Zayn with a headlock. Louis held it for a while until Zayn rallied and landed a mic check into the Koji Clutch and got Louis to tap out. Not very good for Zayn standards. Big Cass and Enzo attack Lefort after and try to dump the bucket of hair cream on Lefort chest hair but Lefort broke loose and ran to the back.                                                                                                     Winner: Sami Zayn

Sit down with Adrian Neville, Neville said he understand the disadvantage of a fatal 4 way if you are the champion but he should still be the favorite because he’s already beat Zayn, Breeze and Kidd in singles competition and he will do it again this time all at the same time.

Adrian Neville vs CJ Parker non title

I really like the idea of a heel hippie gimmick, it works if done right. Nobody wants to be told how to live their lives and they naturally hate the people who try to tell them. Neville started the speed and flips early, doing back flips to get out of the corner and hitting a flying forearm. Parker was pretty impressive in the limited offense he got in, very smooth. Neville got the advantage with a series of kicks and running forearms. Neville landed the Red Arrow and got the win. Good match for how quick it was. Parker needs a better push, I enjoy his gimmick and he’s showing his improvements in the ring.                         Winner: Adrian Neville

Main Event: Tag Team Tournament Final Kalisto/Sin Cara vs Vaudevillians

Aiden English and Kalisto started it out to “Lets go Lucha” chants. Kalisto speed got the advantage early and caused English to regroup. Cara and Kalisto had great teamwork pulling off impressive Lucha moves. Maybe the Sin Cara character isn’t dead yet. Gotch was tagged in and got the advantage for Vaudevillians until English came in and gave it right back. Kalisto received the hot tag and the match broke down. Over the top rope plancha by Cara on English. Kalisto hit the Salida del Sol, then tagged in Cara who hit a moonsault on Gotch while Kalisto took out English with a flipping plancha. Cara pins Gotch. Ascension came out after, pointed to the ring and held the title belts in the air.                                                                                                         Winners: Sin Cara/Kalisto

All 4 Main Eventer’s for next week got wins and we got the final card with the Kalisto/Sin Cara win. Takeover 2 looks to be another very solid card for NXT below is the final card.

NXT Title, 4-Way Match:
Adrian Neville (c) vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Sami Zayn

NXT Women’s Title:
Charlotte (c) vs. Bayley

NXT Tag Team Titles:
The Ascension (c’s) vs. Sin Cara & Kalisto

Hair vs. Hair Match:
Enzo Amore vs. Sylvester LeFort

Bull Dempsey vs. Mojo Rawley

Also announced that the debut of international wrestler KENTA

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WWE NXT 8-28-2014 Review

 

The Ascension started us off against a couple of jobbers. Full sail crowd chanting let’s go jobbers is great. Ascension hit fall of man and get the pin. I don’t even remember them saying the names of the Ascension’s opponents. The tag champs cut a very mediocre promo about the winners of the tournament just being more victims. Why are there tag titles in NXT? Ascension have wrestled jobbers since January, it’s August!

JoJo introduces the new GM of NXT and it’s William Regal. This works, I loved when he was Raw commissioner, it just fits him. Regal announces that at NXT Takeover the main event will be Adrian Neville defending his belt but before he announces who, Tyson Kidd interrupts thinking he will be the #1 contender. Then Tyler Breeze comes out and interrupts Kidd, only to be interrupted by Sami Zayn. Neville challenges all 3 contenders to a fatal 4 way NXT Title at Takeover and Regal makes it official. Regal makes tonight’s main event, Zayn/Neville vs Breeze/Kidd

Sasha Banks vs Bayley

“Bayley is going to hug you” chant from the Full Sail crowd to start. Sasha slaps Bayley  to get the advantage and starts working over Bayley. Sasha dominates match, Bayley does one move, the Bayley to Belly and gets the pin. Ok then. Afterwords Bayley is interviewed by Renée Young about being the #1 contender and wrestling Charlotte at Takeover. Charlotte interrupts to tell Bayley she is too nice to be champion and Bayley says she feels Charlotte isn’t taking her as a threat and tries to shake Charlotte’shand but Charlotte walks away.

Bull Dempsey vs Angelo Dawkins

Bull gets advantage out of the lock up and begins to dominate. Dawkins tried to fight back but short-lived and gets hit with the Bull Dozer. Another very one-sided match, tonight.

Backstage interview with the Legionnaires they accept the hair vs hair challenge from Enzo Amore.

Main Event: Tyson Kidd/Tyler Breeze vs Adrian Neville/Sami Zayn

Breeze and Neville started it off and the faces took the advantage early with quick tags and keeping Breeze in their corner. Neville hit a cork screw splash in Kidd while propelling off Zayn. After Breeze and Kidd are able to get advantage and isolate Neville for a while, Neville managed to get the hot tag to Zayn. Finish saw Neville get blasted by a Helluva Kick to Neville in the corner by accident, and Kidd pin Neville when Zayn gets tossed out of ring, after Zayn crushes Kidd with the Helluva Kick. Zayn staring at NXT championship while other 3 are laid out in ring.

Fun entertaining show, got a lot of the Takeover card established. NXT is always fun to watch, the hour time frame is perfect for it.

WWE Monday Night Raw 8-25-2014 Review

After last weeks ending to Raw that saw Seth Rollins curb stomp Dean Ambrose on cinder blocks and effectively putting him on the shelf for a while, I was very excited about this weeks show. I should have known better. The WWE creative team seemed to mail this one in, maybe it was due to it airing on the same night as the Emmys and they didn’t want big stuff to happen on night they wouldn’t have the viewers anyway.

WWE HALL of Fame Forum

We were kicked off by a first ever WWE Hall of Fame forum with Michael Cole hosting and Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Shawn Michaels as the guest. The 3 Hall of Famers discussed the rematch at Night of Champions between John Cena and Brock Lesnar. HBK and Ric where adamant that Cena has no chance and will be dominated by Brock again. There was even talk of retirement between the Nature Boy and HB Shizzle, which is hysterical since Flair never knew when to quit. Hulk seemed to be the only one on John Cena’s side. Right when it was actually getting interesting and a little heated between Hogan and HBK, out comes John Cena.

John Cena gives us a typical super face promo about how he is going to get his title back and proof everyone else. John Cena also tells the forum that he’s not going to NIght of Champions to beat Brock. he’s going there to kick Brock’s but, Cena used a more colorful word than but though. The Forum was actually starting to pick up and Cena promo killed its momentum. If the forum had more time before the Cena interruption than this would’ve been a good opening, instead it felt rushed and just away to get the old timers on Raw.

Jack Swagger vs. Rusev

Swagger without Zeb, battled Rusev again. Swagger and Rusev have another decent match, this one seemed to be the final one however. The finish saw Rusev continuously stomping the rib cage of Swagger along the ropes until Rusev picks Swagger up and hits him with a big kick and then stomps Swagger some more until, Ref stops the match. I like the ref stoppage angle, it’s a nice way to end the program with Swagger still not getting pinned or tapping and yet make Rusev look unstoppable. Curious we didn’t get another Mark Henry and Rusev confrontation. After the match they just cut to commercial and that was the end of it. Ok then.

We come back from commercial and Swagger is in the trainers office being attended to when Bo Dallas comes in to let Swagger know he let his country down again. Dallas also tells Swagger that he needs to BOlieve and everything will be alright.

Cesaro vs Rob Van Dam with Sheamus on commentary.

This was another decent match, rumor is this was RVD last match on Raw for some time as he will be going on another hiatus. Cesaro and RVD served its purpose very well, got Cesaro another win and helped promote the rivalry over the US Championship between Sheamus and Cesaro. Cesaro picked up his win when Cesaro hung RVD on the rope and lands The Neutralizer. After the match Cesaro grabs Sheamus Title belt looks at it a few seconds and throws it in Sheamus’s face, Cesaro leaves before Sheamus could retaliate. Sheamus and Cesaro have put on great matches in the past and the US Championship needs a rivalry like this for people to care about the title.

Paige vs Natalya non title

For the 2nd week in a row we get Nattie vs Paige but this time it isn’t a squash match and 2 of the best women wrestlers in the company get a bit of time to show off (still not enough time). Paige picks up the win when 2 divas rotate countering each others submission finishers until Paige is able to land the Paige Turner on Nattie. Out comes AJ after the match, distracting Paige and Nattie lands a Spinning Lariat, just like her dad The Anvil use to do. On a side note Nattie doing this is unface like so keep an eye out on that, may be the beginning of a heel turn. AJ comes in and helps Paige to her feet. AJ tells Paige that she loves her and gives her a hug. Paige just stands there very cautious of AJ. AJ grabs Paige hand and kisses the back of it and then leaves. Paige looks on confused. admittedly I’m a huge Paige mark but this is now my favorite thing going in WWE with Ambrose vs Rollins over for the time being. Both girls are playing the crazy angle very well and are having good matches too. The Divas division is relevant again and this rivalry is one of the big reasons why.

The Eulogy of Dean Ambrose

Kane makes his way to the ring where we see a memorial picture of Ambrose which looks more like a mug shot, the ring carpeted and a podium. Kane calls out Seth Rollins, a suited Rollins appears and gives a Eulogy for Ambrose. Rollins tells us he created the Shield and he destroyed it. That he handpicked Ambrose for a reason just like and that Ambrose career will be summed up by 2 words “what if” What if Ambrose knew his place, and recognized Rollins’ superiority? What if Ambrose walked away when he had the opportunity? Rollins is interrupted by Roman Reigns and here comes through the crowd.

Kane was waiting for Reigns by the guard rail and they went to blows with Reigns getting the better of Kane by throwing him into the steps. Reigns and Rollins exchange in the ring. Reigns picks up the podium and throws it at Rollins. Reigns is set up for the superman punch but Kane pulls Rollins out of the ring and they escape to the back. I wasn’t a fan of this angle, you could’ve went about setting Roman vs Rollins without the “Eulogy”. The fact that Ambrose went “missing” goes well with the character and kept it mysterious.

Stardust and Goldust vs. Uso’s WWE Tag Team Title Match

In maybe the most shocking moment of the night, we got a heel turn in the match between the Uso’s and Stardust and Goldust. The match was solid, Uso’s deliver almost nightly and Goldust seems to have found the fountain of youth. The start of the turn happened at finish of the match. Jey Uso hits an over the top rope plancha on Stardust on the outside. Jey stands up and his knee buckled. Stardust and Jey exchange but Stardust gets in the ring before the 10 count, Jey could not.

Goldust gets the mic and says that they had only one chance and Uso’s intentionally got counted out, he demands a rematch. Jey can’t go because of his knee, so the Dust Brothers attack the Uso’s and work on Jey’s knee solidifying the turn. Simply? I like it, not many heel teams left as practical contenders and no one saw a turn coming. Kudos to WWE for this.

We get a backstage segment with Kane and Rollins, Rollins is infuriated and says he is going to do to Roman what he did to Ambrose. Kane makes a handicap match for later in the night, Kane and Rollins vs Roman Reigns.

We are treated to a Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman sit down interview that Cole says was taped right after Lesnar beat Cena but Lesnar and Heyman talk about Cena instituting the rematch clause, which Cena didn’t do until a few days after SummerSlam. Brock and Heyman talk about Brock hitting Cena with a F5 right off the bat, and gave Cena a chance to lay on the mat and stay down but it was Cena’s Never Give Up B.S that got Cena hurt. Heyman also says that the only reason Cena survived is Brock took pity on Cena and that at Night of Champions, Lesnar won’t take pity. Lesnar says at Night of Champions it’s Game Over for Cena. This was actually a good promo from Brock, one of the best he’s ever had, good stuff.

Dolph Ziggler vs The Miz non title

Miz came out not to compete and said when you are a big movie star you get your own stunt double and Miz has just that, out comes Damien Mizdow to take Miz place in the match. I don’t know what Sandow has done or ticked off in the back but this is ridiculous. Damien deserves much more than what he’s getting, to his credit though he’s making this entertaining. Miz stays and does commentary. After a decent back and forth match, Dolph is able to land a Zig Zag to get the pin. During the match Ziggler continued the hurt knee gimmick, expect that to be a factor when Miz and Ziggler have their title match.

Bella Family Reconciliation

I want to start this off by saying, I’m a fan of Nikki Bella, she’s better as a heel than Brie is as a face. Also, WWE has hit pay dirt with sibling rivalries, from the Harts to Kane/Undertaker to the Hardy’s, it’s worked. This wasn’t any of those, this wasn’t even on the same planet. This Bella rivalry is bad, bad, BAD!

First of all the Brie Bella can’t act, she soap opera, Sharknado acting bad. This was clear during her screaming session for the Kane vs Bryan rivalry. Secondly, how is this going to work? They are going to hate each other Sunday-Tuesday but then be besties again rest of the week? Total Divas they are around each other constantly, we should at least pretend to follow some sort of Kayfabe. Lastly, they aren’t exactly Brett vs Owen in the ring either, Bella’s have improved by leaps and bounds but they are still middle of the pack diva wrestlers.

Back to this “Reconciliation” First of all it’s hosted by Jerry Lawler of all people, the biggest pervert in the WWE. Both Bella’s come out to the same theme, this is good already! Note this is going to be very sarcastic review of this. Jerry says nobody wants to see family torn apart and he hopes to see Bella’s reunite. Brie starts off by saying that Nikki and Brie have been together since before they where even born, that’s kind of how being twins works, Brie. Brie says they even have held hands together in the womb. Nikki tells her that this is Brie fault for turning her back on her and trying to be the spotlight their whole lives. Nikki tells the world that Brie even stole her high school boyfriends, seriously. Nikki says Brie should’ve died in the womb and then attacks Brie until Lawler pulls Nikki off of her, it ends with Brie crying in the middle of the ring.

Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins and Kane

Reigns had the advantage for most of the match with Rollins and Kane getting a few moments of offense and tags in. The finish saw Reigns land a spear on Kane but Reigns gets attacked by Rollins with the briefcase ending with Reigns winning by DQ. Rollins and Kane attack Reigns and set him up for the same curb stomp on cinder blocks that Ambrose received, Reigns fights out of it though but lands a Super Man punch to Rollins and tosses Kane aside. Reigns grabs a cinder block and throws it at Rollins but Rollins move and the block explodes off the post, and Rollins escapes again. This all ends with Reigns hitting Kane with a Super Man Punch while Rollins looks on.

Slater Gator vs Los Matadores

Nothing much here, just filler. Matadores win when Diego cradles Slater to get the pin.

Bo Dallas vs Kofi Kingston

Bo Dallas makes quick work of Kofi and lands a BO Dog to get the win. Afterwards Swagger comes down and hits an olympic style slam on Dallas and leaves. Apparently Swagger still doesn’t BOlieve.

John Cena vs Bray Wyatt

Cena handles Bray pretty easily, telling him to stay down and hitting different suplexes on him to send a message to Brock. Bray tries to get some offense in but is taken down by Cena and pounded with punches until the Wyatt’s jump in and they attack Cena. Henry and Show make the save. So Henry is done with Rusev and back to the team with Show? When it comes back from commercial its made into a 6 man tag match, Cena/Big Show/Mark Henry vs Wyatt’s. Cena gets the finish by hitting a German Suplex on Harper, then the STF and Harper taps. End of show is Cena hitting the AA on all members of Wyatt’s. Cena looking strong at the end makes his match with Lesnar look more even.

It should be noted that we didn’t see the Authority or Randy Orton tonight. This was a mailed in show in every since of the way.

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Arrival of the Prince

The King of Kings has finally reeled in the Prince, after months of trying Triple H and the rest of the WWE Brass was able to get the hottest free agent in the business Fergal “Prince” Devitt to put pen to a WWE contract. As the story goes, Devitt has been on the WWE radar ever since Triple H saw a Best of the Super Juniors match between Devitt and Pac (Adrian Neville) in 2012. Pac signed with WWE shortly after and made his debut in NXT as Adrian Neville. The Prince has eluded WWE until now. Beyond The 3 Count is going dive into how Fergal Devitt could not of picked a better time to sign with the biggest wrestling promotion in the world.

Devitt always showed that he can go in the Junior Heavyweight division, winning the IWGP Jr Heavyweight and IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on multiple occasion, but what Devitt has done the past year has shown he can go with the heavyweights and be a top guy in a big promotion. Devitt left his space suit and tag team partner from Apollo 55 behind and formed Bullet Club and instantly became the top heel in the company, putting on great matches with the stars of NJPW and much bigger wrestlers like Tanahashi and Okada.

Just to put in perspective how huge the summer of 2013 was let’s compare Prince Devitt and another huge wrestling star Daniel Bryan’s summers of 2013. Devitt who did everything for NJPW that Bryan did in WWE, one as the face and one as the heel. Let’s take a look at a side by side comparison of the 2

While Bryan was taking the Professional Wrestling industry by storm in the WWE, Devitt was doing exactly the same thing in NJPW. This is reason 1 of why continuously turning WWE away worked out better for Devitt in the long run. WWE knew they where getting one of the best Junior Heavyweights in the world if they signed Devitt but last summer they found out that Devitt can carry a top spot in a company. Devitt stocked soared higher proving he wasnt only a Junior Heavyweight.

The hottest stable outside of WWE was Bullet Club, and Devitt was the reason. As the leader of Bullet Club, Devitt was able to do the almost impossible and get Japanese fans to get behind a Heel Gaijin stable. Lead by Devitt’s take no crap and say what you want attitude Bullet Club interfered in matches when they wanted and attacked who they wanted, going against everything about the Japanese wrestling culture, the fans ate it up. Matches against NJPW favorites Okada and Ten Cozy saw more and more fans cheering for the Prince. This is reason 2, Devitt’s timing couldn’t be any better. Fergal sells merchandise as a heel or face and can play both better than most of the people in the WWE. 

At Wrestle Kingdom 8 Devitt began to show his creativity and character innovation, debuting the infamous Devitt paint scheme’s. Devitt showed up with a combination Zombie/Carnage body paint and played the part all the way to the ring before putting on a classic match with Kota Ibushi. The paint scheme really got Devitt noticed around the world, painting himself in different comic book characters for his European Independent matches. Painted as the likes of Venom, Spawn, Punisher and the Joker. Devitt also created his own character for his Invasion Attack match with Ryusuke Taguchi. Devitt took it further by dressing up as these characters as well, including Bane, Freddy Krueger and Darth Maul.

Devitt has developed his character from an Irish kid who can fly around the ring with the best of the Junior Heavyweights, to a space man in Apollo 55, to the Real Rock n Rolla with Bullet Club, to the paint schemes and characters. Nobody knew who Devitt was going to be for his next match and enjoyed one character after the other. In Pro Wrestling variety is the spice of life and Devitt keeps it fresh from one match to the other.

Devitt’s stock hasn’t been any higher with wrestling fans all over the world knowing who he is. Had Devitt signed with WWE when he was first rumored to be wanted by the WWE he would’ve only been seen as the high-flying Junior Heavyweight that he was. However Devitt showed the WWE that he is a lot more than that and he has to be considered as a future main eventer. With the run of the “smaller” wrestlers getting runs at the top spot, Devitt should be the next in line after Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins.

It’s extremely important that Devitt be used right instantly in NXT, I would put him in a program with Adrian Neville. That is the match that got both men noticed by the WWE and should be the rivalry that gets Devitt started. The match possibilities in NXT and WWE main roster for Devitt are endless, here’s a few I would like to see

• Devitt vs KENTA
• Devitt vs Sami Zayn
• Devitt vs Adrian Neville
• Devitt vs Tyler Breeze
• Devitt vs Daniel Bryan
• Devitt vs Seth Rollins
• Devitt vs Dean Ambrose
• Devitt vs Dolph Ziggler

Once Devitt gets to Full Sail and starts in the NXT, the WWE Universe is going to fall in love with the Prince and it wont take very long for his majesty to get to the main roster. Devitt belongs in the WWE, period. It’s up to the WWE and Devitt to do it the right way by giving Devitt a suitable gimmick/character and Devitt has to take it and run with it. I have all the faith in the world that down the road we will be seeing Fergal competing and winning titles at all the big WWE shows. Fergal Devitt is a can’t miss talent and we need to sit back and enjoy his ride in the WWE.

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WWE Battleground 2014 Review

Tonight was WWE Battleground and Beyond The 3 Count reviewed all the madness for you, so lets jump right into it.

In a change of the usual format we got 2 pre show matches, Naomi vs. Cameron and Adam Rose vs. Fandango

Battleground preview show match: Fandango vs. Adam Rose

This just seemed like a quick thrown together match to continue the Fandango, Summer, Layla story and to get Rose another win. The finish saw Layla and Summer taking turns slapping Fandango at ring side, until Rose throws Fandango in the ring and lands his finisher to get the win.

Battleground preview show match: Cameron vs. Naomi

Not much of a match here, just a terribly worked brawl. Wasn’t expecting much out of this and we didn’t get much. Cameron pulled the heel move and grabbed tights on a roll up to get the pin.

We went to the panel afterwards, and Riley picked Heath Slater to win the Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal, no he seriously did.

Just like Money in the Bank, the show is kicked off with the Tag Team Championship match, Uso’s vs. Wyatt’s best 2 of 3.

Rowan and Jey started us off. Crowd was hot for this one, 50/50 cheering for Uso’s and Wyatt’s. Harper got the first fall with a high impact boot on Jimmy Uso. This one started off slow, most likely due to the 2 out of 3 falls stipulation.

Jey Uso rolled Harper up for the 2nd fall, it was pretty sloppily done, next fall wins the titles. The match really picked up after the tieing fall and we started seeing what makes these 4 have such great matches. Jimmy ran along the guard rail and hammered Luke with a forearm. Side note, the looping on the WWE Network needs to be fixed, its been long enough. Jimmy and Luke Harper have great chemistry, I’d love seeing a singles series between the 2.

This is awesome chants rang out through the Forum, and I agree! Usos and Wyatt’s really picked it up after the 2nd fall, the sequences where unbelievable, including a super kick to Luke Harper who was attempting his dive to outside. Rowan superplexed both Uso at same time. All 4 members got their moments. The Uso hit the double splash on Luke Harper and got the 3rd fall to keep the titles.  These 4 delivered again.

Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins was advertised as next match but Ambrose attacked Rollins during pre match interview and Triple H kicked Ambrose out of the building. So instead we got the Divas Championship match next.

Divas Championship: AJ Lee vs. Paige

AJ and Paige shook hands to start the match. Paige dominated the match to start, these 2 are showing Vince and rest of the world that the Divas can go when given time. All during Paige title run she was made to look weak and all of a sudden she dominated and  loss, makes sense. AJ planted Paige with the Shining Wizard to get the pin and retains. We also didn’t get the heel turn by Paige that we all expected.

Back to the panel again, and we got the same predictions they gave us during the pre show. The panel showed us the video of Rusev vs. Swagger.

Rusev with Lana vs. Jack Swagger with Zeb Coulter

Lana gave us the usual pro-Russian promo and slaps Zeb to get us started. Crowd is all for Swagger, say what you want about Lana and Rusev but the fact that a rookie combination got a pop for a world champion that we’ve never heard before, speaks volumes. You got what you expected from these 2 brutes, high impact slams and strikes. Swagger in particular was impressive, this angle and program is definitely working for him. We saw Swagger again reverse the side kick into the Patriot Lock but Rusev got to the ropes. Rusev won by count out after Rusev launched Swagger into the post on the outside to counter the Patriot Lock. This had to be the set up to Swagger vs. Rusev at Summer Slam. Rusev put the accolade on Swagger after the match.

We got another promo from Stardust and Golddust, this new gimmick for Cody is fun to watch. Then here comes Rollins.

Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins

Dean Ambrose has been kicked out of the building and Rollins wants to be announced as the winner due to forfeit and Justin Roberts obliged. That was it, that was the match a lot of people where looking forward to the most. Troll hard, WWE. Ambrose attacked Rollins on his way to the back and they fought through the crowd and back to ringside. They continue to brawl until security carries Ambrose to the back. Entertaining brawl but we where cheated out of a possible match of the year.

Video package of Bray Wyatt and Chris Jericho is shown and that was our next match up.

Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho

Bray still sporting the black eye, that thing is taking forever to heal. Crazy how Jericho doesn’t miss a beat even though he takes months off at a time. Luke Harper stopped Jericho from getting back into the ring and got he and Rowan ejected from ringside for their troubles. We got the one v one match with no one at ringside. Bray with his very physical attack, you can just see the Puroresu influence in his attack. Jericho did a lot more top rope offense, we havent seen that from him in years.

This was pretty decent match with the exception of the few botches. Jericho landed the Code Breaker and got the pin. Bray loses a big Special Event match, again. The WWE was building something huge with Bray, the next big heel and it all has been wiped away with the continue losses on these Special Events. Everything they built is going away. Bray has to win at Summer Slam.

They Cut to the parking lot where security was escorting Rollins to his car. Rollins makes them leave and Ambrose jumps out of Rollins trunk and they brawl  again until Rollins is able to drive away

Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal

The best way to review a Battle Royal in my opinion is to tell the order of elimination and any big spots, that’s what I’m going to do. Bad News relaying the Bad News that he has Bad News for the winner and that’s a bull hammer. Xavier Woods first to be eliminated and then Zack Ryder, Khali was next. Sin Cara went next. R Truth followed Sin Cara and Axel followed Truth. Miz hid outside during all of this. Sandow was the next to go, followed by Diego. Ryback got Broughe Kicked out of the ring. Miz came in the ring, just to leave it again. Titus O’Neil was eliminated next, Alberto Del Rio soon followed. Big E had to go to the back next but not before catching Kofi on his shoulders so he didn’t get eliminated. Cesaro finally manages to get Kofi out and Heath Slater eliminates Cesaro, seriously. Sheamus followed up by eliminating Slater and Dolph eliminated Bo. We where down to Sheamus, Dolph and Miz who was still hiding outside. Dolph eliminated Sheamus and in came Miz to eliminate Dolph. Miz wins the Intercontinental Championship.

Main Event: Fatal 4 Way WWE World Heavyweight Championship John Cena vs. Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton vs. Kane

Unfortunately for us all, we are still doing the 2 titles for 1 championship thing, can somebody please tell the WWE that the 2 belts look ridiculous. Orton sported new blue trunks, was a nice change from his usual bland black ones. Crowd was about 50/50 for Cena, doing the let’s go cena/cena sucks chant battle. Roman was clearly the crowd favorite being the Florida boy. Crowd started a Daniel Bryan and Yes chant. The real champ is missed by us all.

This match was decent but it really never hit that next level. Kane and Randy tandem didn’t last very long until they went to blows with each other. Once Reigns got going so did the match, he landed a superman punch and spear on Cena but Kane broke up the pin. Reigns speared Orton through the time-keeper barricade as well. We then got the finishers then near falls from everyone. Cena hit’s the Attitude Adjustment and gets the pin on Kane to retain. The match was good because of Roman, I don’t see it being as good if he wasn’t in it.

Overall a decent Special Event from the WWE. Battle Ground wasn’t as good as the last few shows which is disappointing because the card on paper looked very good. Match of the Night went to the Uso’s vs. Wyatt’s. The Dud of the Night was Cameron vs. Naomi. Up next we get Summer Slam on August 17th, that should be a fun card.

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Beyond The 3 Count MITB 2014 Review

 

Cenation has risen again! John Cena won his 15th World Championship at Money in the Bank, when he climbed the ladder and unhooked the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Even with the obvious winner in the main event the show did not disappoint and was one of the best events the company has put on all year. From the opening tag match to the moment Cena captured the titles, the roster delivered.

 

The Uso’s defeated the Wyatt’s to keep the WWE Tag Team Championship

 

This match set the bar for the rest of the show, all 4 men brought there A game. Luke Harper is more impressive every time he is in the ring, and he is showing good mic skills recently, Luke is going to be a threat. Some of the spots in this match where Luke doing a suicide dive through the ropes twice, once on each Uso. Jimmy and Jey where able to keep their titles when they landed a double super plex on Rowan and followed that up with consecutive top rope splashes followed by the pin.

Once the pace picked up this match was very entertaining and had a little of everything. The Uso’s and Luke Harper were doing the aerial stuff and Rowan doing the power moves. A title change in this one would’ve been nice to see but it ended up not being needed to put this match over the top. WWE should look to book this match again either on a raw or at Battle Ground.
4/5

 

Dean Ambrose delivers another good promo from the back. Dean tells everyone he has a dilemma, does he go for the case or destroy Seth Rollins face. Dean decides he’s going to destroy Rollins face and with the case.

 

Paige defeated Naomi to keep the Divas Championship

 

Naomi and Paige showed that given time the Divas could put on good matches. This was a very competitive match that continued to plant the seeds of a Funkadactyl split. Cameron looked bored when Naomi was on the offense, while laughing and smiling when Paige was on the offense. Paige eventually got the win landing impressive impactful DDT for the pin. Afterwards Cameron goes into the ring to console Naomi on the loss. Expect the Cameron reactions to the match to be addressed on Raw and the break up to happen then.
3/5

 

Adam Rose defeated Paul Revere

 

Damien Sandow came out dressed as Paul Revere and cut a typical heel promo about Boston just being in the shadow of New York. Out came Adam Rose he cut a promo about Sandow being a lemon and not a rose bud. They have a match, which is basically just time filler. Sandow tried his best to get the crowd into the match but it fell flat. Rose has not been very impressive in the ring since his debut and the gimmick in general doesn’t seem to be working. The finish was Rose hitting Sandow with the Party Foul after Sandow missed a moonsault. I don’t know who Sandow upset in the WWE but this constant burying is getting ridiculous.
2/5

 

Seth Rollins wins the Money in the Bank Ladder Match

 

It was chaos in the match as soon as Dean Ambrose hit the ring and attacked Rollins. This ladder match was better than its main event counterpart and Match of the Night. First spot was from Kofi who was on top of a ladder, when Ambrose pushed the ladder Kofi jumped off the ladder on the ropes and used the ropes as a spring-board to land a splash on Swagger and RVD who were outside the ring. Dean Ambrose then suplexed Rollins on to a ladder, this was only the beginning of the match.

 

Rollins took big bumps all match, including an Ambrose super plex off a giant ladder, and a back body drop from Kofi on a ladder. After a DDT off the ladder, Ambrose plays up a shoulder injury and the ref sends Ambrose to the back with the doctor. It wasn’t all Rollins and Ambrose taking the bumps, Ziggler hit Kofi with a nasty Zig Zag on a ladder. Ambrose came back out and beat down Rollins with a chair but when Ambrose went to grab the case, Kane came down to the ring, choke slammed and tombstoned Ambrose. Then Kane held the ladder for Rollins who climbed up it and grabbed the briefcase to get the win. Fantastic MITB match, one of the very best in the matches history.
4.5/5

 

Golddust & Star Dust defeated RyBaxel

 

This match was pretty flat, with nothing on the line and it following the Money in the Bank match, it was fighting an uphill battle. Axel wore a singlet that reminded every one of his father, Mr Perfect, that was cool to see. The finish saw Stardust rolling up RyBack after Axel inadvertently hit his partner with a forearm. Cody seems to be really enjoying playing this Stardust role, and Golddust is having a lot of fun with it too. I hope the Rhodes continue this team for a little longer.
3/5

 

Rusev defeats Big E

 

This was a quietly entertaining match, everyone is going to talk about the ladder matches and the tag title matches but Rusev and Big E delivered too. Big E got a lot more offense in than what we usually see from Rusev opponents. The running spear to the outside in their Payback match was duplicated in this one. Rusev eventually was able to get Big E in the Accolade, Big E fought it and almost broke out of it before Rusev was able to tighten the grip and Big E had to tap. I would like to see these 2 go at it in a stipulation match of some sort, they both work well together in my opinion.
3.5/5

 

Layla defeated Summer Rae

 

There’s nothing to really say here, this was crap all the way around, it maybe lasted 5 minutes. Layla hit Summer with side kick to get the pin. Utterly pointless match
1/5

 

John Cena wins the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

 

This one wasn’t nearly as good as the first ladder match, but it had its moments. Have to give credit to Orton who accidentally got a deep cut on the top of his head from a ladder. Orton face was covered in blood by the end of it. Later found out that Randy had to get 12 staples on the top of his head. Kane and Orton worked together throughout the match, at one point Kane even held the ladder for Orton to climb just like he did for Rollins.

 

Every man in the match had their moments. We got a spider walk from Bray that really creeped out Heyman. Cesaro hit Sheamus with a huge super European Uppercut. Roman ran under a ladder to hit a spear on Kane. Cesaro built a bridge between one ladder and picked up the other ladder with Cesaro and Sheamus a top the 2nd ladder, can’t remember ever seeing anything like that. Roman also was able to land a superman punch on Orton. Roman looked really strong in this. My favorite spot was when Randy hit Cesaro with a RKO when Cesaro was falling off the ladder.

 

The finish of the match saw Kane holding the ladder for Orton again but Cena comes in and delivers the Attitude Adjustment on both Kane and Orton. Cena then climbed the ladder and got the titles. Overall a good ladder match but the briefcase match was better. I really enjoyed this Special Event. Most of the card delivered and had the crowd into it the entire night, with the exception of Summer vs Layla.
4/5

 

Show rating: 4/5
Match of the Night: MITB Briefcase
Worst Match: Summer Rae vs Layla with Fandango Special Referee

 

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A Traitor Amongst Us

 

 

A Traitor Amongst Us

“Though those that are betray’d Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor Stands in worse case of woe” -William Shakespeare

 

Last Monday WWE pulled the trigger on what a lot of people have wondered for some time. When are they going break the Shield up, how will they do it and who will it be that turns? Seth Rollins was the who, the architect of the Shield shocked everyone in the live audience and watching at home when he took a chair across the back of Roman Reigns and to the gut and back of Dean Ambrose. Seth aligned himself with Evolution. The questions remain of why was it Seth, why was it now, and what happens from here? 

 

First the Why was it Seth Rollins? I think with them turning Rollins heel it helps with the idea that the Authority can get whatever they want and whoever they want. Of the 3 members of the Shield Rollins was the least likely candidate to turn being he was the one that worked his behind off to bring them together after the Royal Rumble. Dean Ambrose, the person a lot of people thought would turn, wouldn’t have had that shock and awe effect that Rollins had because Ambrose was the expected one to turn. The seeming inevitable big Roman Reigns face push wasn’t going to be sacrificed for anything, which led us to the obvious Rollins heel turn. 

 

So why did they make the move and break the hottest stable in North American Professional Wrestling up, now? Simple they had nothing left for the Shield to accomplish as a unit. The Shield has come off 2 straight wins over Evolution, on top of the many huge wins that the Shield has had since their debut at Survivor Series 2012. on top of the tag titles won by Reigns and Rollins, and the US Title win by Ambrose. Listed are just some of the 3 man teams that the Shield have defeated.

 

– Ryback, Kane, Daniel Bryan

– Sheamus, Randy Orton, Big Show

– Cena, Ryback, Sheamus

– Kane, Undertaker, Daniel Bryan

– Daniel Bryan, Orton, John Cena

 

So you see there is really nothing left for them. It’s time to see what the 3 men have in them in a solo run. Rollins began this path with his turn. I don’t see Rollins being a member of Evolution for very long, Triple H doesn’t want a full-time wrestling schedule and Randy Orton is being wasted in a group dynamic, when there is a lack of depth on the main roster for main eventer’s. Rollins has distanced himself as the top guy in the group when it comes to in ring ability. I agree with the break up but I would’ve done things a little differently, but I’ll get into that later.

 

Where to go from here? Well you have the obvious one on one match with Ambrose and Reigns, but what else? I would start with putting Rollins in the Money in the Bank match. Rollins can shine in the match and he doesn’t have to win it. They can use Rollins for spots in the match and then have Roman and Ambrose keep him from winning the briefcase/title, thus setting up big single matches for Rollins with both Ambrose and Reigns at the next 2 Special Events, Battleground and Summer Slam. Afterwards I would put a singles title on Rollins to see how he carries it, preferably the Intercontinental Championship

 

I agree completely with breaking up the Shield, but this seems like a turn just to have a turn. I would’ve booked it differently by having the Shield split amicably. The one member of a stable turning on the others has been done to death.  It would’ve been a refreshing change if Rollins, Ambrose and Reigns went their separate ways under the guise as having nothing left to prove as a group, they have already beaten some of the all time greats and hall of famers of the company. Making the split amicable would’ve made for a very emotional and intense promo at the end of Raw.

 

The Shield can retaliate by adding a new third member, but who? The general consensus is that it will be someone from the NXT roster. Corey Graves is a name brought up that I think can work. WWE is looking for a way to bring him to main roster and Graves’s mentality definitely fits the mold, but is Corey ready to jump from NXT to the WWE top angle, in a week? Sami Zayn is another candidate. Sami definitely has the in ring ability to hang with anybody involved in the story line and the main roster. Sami has also proven in other companies that he can main event shows and be a believable character in multiple roles. Sami however is one of the most anticipated call-ups since the WWE started the NXT system, would they really want to use a surprise debut on him? It seems to me that the WWE would want to milk the anticipation of a Zayn debut.

 

The Beatles song titled Let it Be comes to mind for me. I wouldn’t add anybody to the Shield or anybody else to Evolution. Triple H can take himself out of most of the matches to play the Ric Flair role and have Rollins and Orton continue the war with Reigns and Ambrose. All this culminating with matches at Summer Slam, Triple H vs Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins. Adding someone new to the Shield ruins what the 3 guys did the last 2 years. When people start replacing a person in factions that is when the impact begins to fade. People stop believing in that faction. Let it be with the Shields WWE run ending with singles matches at the companies’ second biggest show of the year Summer Slam. 

 

Only time will tell what is really in the cards, but Seth Rollins was given the proverbial ball and now he has to run with it. Rollins can become the next big heel for the WWE for years, ala Randy Orton. WWE clearly believes they have something there with Rollins and I do too. It’s now up to you, Seth, what are you going to do?