The Road is Jericho: Disc 1

The Road is Jericho: Disc 1 Review

It's been quite a while since my last DVD review. I've missed doing them and I'll definitely be doing more in future, and might even do-over some old ones!

This is one I bought quite recently as I'm quite a big fan of Jericho's. So let's get started with this first disc.

The format of this set is mostly just a match compilation with Jericho telling stories in between them which works pretty well. Before I start I would absolutely recommend Jericho's first set as it has an excellent documentary feature and a match list to die for. Here's a link to the review I did for it a while ago; http://prowrestlingtvreviews.blogspot.com/2012/08/breaking-code-behind-walls-of-chris.html


Chris Jericho vs Pitbull #2
From ECW Hardcore Heaven 1996 and the TV Title is on the line. Jericho has only had around twenty matches in ECW, so it's always nice to see one and they're usually good. Jericho says that Pitbull was one of his favourite opponents in ECW. Pitbull looked impressive, and I especially liked the Gorilla Press turned into a Tombstone. Good match, but the outside shenanigans with Shane Douglas and Francine with no explanation was a bit distracting. Still I liked the match as it had a good power vs speed dynamic which always works. The finish was impressive too. ***


Chris Jericho vs Ultimo Dragon
From WCW Bash at the Beach 1997 and the Cruiserweight Title is on the line. I would easily say that Dragon is one of Jericho's best ever opponents. I've only seen a few matches between the two but they were always fantastic. There's one on Jericho's other DVD that takes place in Japan which is worth the price of the disc alone. The agility of both guys here can only be called outstanding. This was one hell of a match as they seemed to counter every move that the other guy had. So many nearfalls and false finishes that made it so exciting to watch with no dull moments at all. The dead crowd didn't help, but this was a crowd conditioned to only care about the nWo. Still an awesome match that was a show stealer. ****


Chris Jericho vs Dean Malenko
From Uncensored 1998 and the Cruiserweight Title is on the line. This storyline was excellent with Malenko taking time off from wrestling and Jericho humiliated him on a weekly basis until Malenko returned in an amazing surprise reveal and beat him for the Title. This is the start of the feud. I loved the '1004' on the back on Jericho's tights. Jericho was hilarious with his heel mannerisms like telling the ref to ask Malenko if he gave up even though he was on the ropes. A good match with Jericho dominating most of it. Malenko fought back when he could but Jericho proved he was the better man here with Malenko tapping to the Liontamer. ***1/2


Chris Jericho vs X-Pac: Steel Cage 
From No Mercy 2000. Jericho and Pac fought quite a lot at the start of Jericho's WWE career. According to Y2J, Vince McMahon hand-picked Pac to work with Jericho and improve his WWE style in the ring. I think it worked out pretty well for him. You can only win this match by escape. This was a pretty entertaining match with the cage used well. Jericho trying to get the Walls of Jericho on top of the cage was a cool visual and his fall looked brutal. The finish was cool with X-Pac landing balls first on the door to give Y2J the win. This was fun but could have been way longer. Still I enjoyed it while it lasted. ***


Chris Jericho vs Kane: Last Man Standing
From Armageddon 2000. Yes this feud started over a cup of coffee spilled over Kane. I think that's the most memorable part of this feud. This one started off straight away with both guys fighting in the entrance-way. Even though Kane was on offense most of the time, this was still a very entertaining match to watch, mostly thanks to Jericho's great 'face-in-peril' routine that made him very sympathetic to the crowd. This wasn't a very brutal match but it was still a lot of fun and Kane's best match in a while. ***1/4


Chris Jericho vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
From Raw June 4th 2001 and the WWE Title is on the line. Mick Foley was the outside referee here. This was at the point where Jericho and Benoit were being elevated towards the main event. Didn't really get the point of Foley being there since he saw Austin hit the low blow and Earl Hebner did nothing about it. It was inevitable that Hebner would be knocked out forcing Foley to take charge. Foley accidentally hit Jericho with a chair, leading to the Stunner and a win for Austin. Fun match with a bit too many shenanigans for my liking. Still it was a good match overall. ***1/4


Chris Jericho vs Booker T
From Raw July 16th 2001 and the WCW World Title is on the line. Of course this took place during the critically acclaimed Invasion angle. Jericho mentions having some nice chemistry with Booker in his WCW days. Damn good, short match here that had the crowd going nuts by the end even though it only lasted about five minutes. Nick Patrick did make me laugh here with the way he avoided handing Jericho the win, even if it didn't make Booker look very good. Still I had fun with it. **3/4


That's the end of the first disc and it was a good way to start with some fun matches from Jericho's early career. The next disc has some rarer matches and what I remember as an excellent match with The Rock. See you next time.

NXT Takeover: Brooklyn

NXT Takeover: Brooklyn Review

Here I am with my first review since Money in the Bank earlier this year. It's been a while and I have missed it, so what better way to start than with the latest special offering from NXT?

This Takeover special was way more anticipated than any other edition which is saying a hell of a lot. Does it hold up almost two months later? Let's have a look and see.

Triple H talking to the camera with no mic and all the lights coming on with the crowd going nuts was just the perfect way to start this. The revolution has truly begun.

Tyler Breeze vs Jushin Liger

Breeze's entrance was just awesome. How is this guy not on the main roster yet? Actually scratch that last comment, keep him on NXT so Vince doesn't ruin him. It's also really weird yet cool seeing Liger in a WWE ring. This was a hard one to predict before the event and I would have thought Breeze would have came out on top. I don't mind Liger winning since Breeze still looked good even just being in the ring with him. I did like the story they were telling of Breeze trying too hard to show off against the legend, but Liger's veteran skills put him away. Damn good match that fired the crowd up and gave us a rare match at the same time. Good stuff. ***1/4

The Vaudevillains vs Blake & Murphy

The NXT Tag Titles are on the line. I love the way that NXT got us to the point where we were just dying for anyone to take the Tag Titles from B&M. Those guys were going nowhere until they got Alexa Bliss involved who made them slightly more tolerable. The inclusion of Blue Pants is excellent. Great tag match here that just got better as it went on with some great nearfalls and false finishes towards the end. The stuff with the two girls was well done too. A great effort. ***1/2

Apollo Crews vs Tye Dillinger

I do love Dillinger's new Perfect 10 gimmick. No wonder why it got over so fast. Apollo is just an amazing specimen though. He has the size of a heavyweight and can move around better than most cruiserweights. That gorilla press and standing moonsault combination is just deadly. Impressive debut as Apollo got to totally show off his stuff and that's all you can really ask for. **

Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin

I wasn't looking forward to this one initially, as Corbin had yet to really impress me in a match. This ended up being the biggest surprise of the night and it's easily Corbin's best match yet. Either Corbin's gotten way better or Joe is just a miracle worker. Nice, hard hitting match as Joe gave Corbin a lesson in how to work a longer match with surprisingly good results. All action, no dull moments. Great finish too with Joe countering a pin attempt to lock in the clutch. ***1/4

Sasha Banks vs Bayley

The NXT Women's Title is on the line. I can't remember the last time I was this excited for a Title match. The build up to this was spot on and the video package was just perfection. Bayley is a great character who has been built up as underdog in the same vein as Sami Zayn. She couldn't have had a better opponent than Sasha Banks who was just a mega bitch. The match was amazing and easily the best of the NXT women's matches so far which is saying so much. Sasha was a fantastic heel and managed to turn the crowd against her when she focused on Bayley's injured hand. The drama was built brilliantly and it even looked like Bayley would lose at some points. I said Cena/Owens at MITB was my MOTY. Well this has easily beaten that and is my new MOTY. The best women's match I've ever seen and it'll be hard to beat. THIS is the women's revolution. Take note WWE. *****

Afterwards, the Four Horsewomen of NXT come together for maybe the final time. A total tearjerking moment and it made the match just that bit more special. Just awesome.

Finn Balor vs Kevin Owens: Ladder Match

The NXT Championship is on the line. I felt kind of sorry for these guys having to go on after that emotional rollercoaster, but it's Balor and Owens so of course they still put on an awesome match. I've grown kind of tired of ladder matches, but this one proved that they can still be hard-hitting spectacles. There weren't really any high-flying, OMG moments until the end with the Coup de Grace from the top of the ladder, but this match didn't need those at all and it was all the better for it. Some of those ladder moments did look stiff as hell though. Great main event to a fantastic show. ****

9.5/10: This show had just about everything you could want from a wrestling show. Nothing was bad or dragged, and everything was entertaining in it's own way. Easily the best of the Takeover shows so far and I doubt it'll be topped any time soon. Definitely recommended.

Remember to comment on the post and send me a request of a show you would like to see reviewed in the future! Also check out my podcast known as the Crossface Podcast on these links.

https://m.mixcloud.com/edradio/

www.podomatic.com/podcasts/crossfacepodcast

Itunes Crossface podcast

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/crossface-podcast/id1018787548

A New Beginning?

It has been a long time since I reviewed anything here. I only had a look back here recently and saw that the page views were still coming in. I thought I only had an audience with Facebook links, but apparently that's not the case.

I've missed reviewing, so I'm gonna upload a new review either today or tomorrow and see how it does with views. I'll go with TakeOver Brooklyn since I never got a chance to do that one. 

Thanks to everyone who's ever viewed the page and I hope my latest one will be up to scratch.

Money in the Bank 2015

Money in the Bank 2015 Review



To start off the show, the entire roster comes out for ten rings of the bell in honour of Dusty Rhodes. I was tearing up here and you can just see how much respect everyone had for the American Dream, especially the guys and girls from NXT. RIP Dusty.



Time for a ladder match!


Roman Reigns vs Sheamus vs Kane vs Neville vs Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston: Money in the Bank
The MITB match is almost always the perfect way to kick off any show and this one was no exception. Ziggler is one more piece of 80s clothing away from becoming Patrick Swayze. I've heard a lot of people complain that there weren't really any big spots like there usually is, but I'm personally glad they're keeping the wrestlers safe, especially with all the recent injuries we've been hearing about. I think everyone and their dog thought Reigns was winning this, but surprisingly he lost yet another big match, but this one thanks to Bray Wyatt in an upcoming feud I look forward to seeing. Sheamus ended up winning the thing and I look forward to seeing what he does with the case in the future. Overall this was a fun match that kept things simple and it worked out in the end. Great start, ***3/4



Paige vs Nikki Bella
The Divas Title is on the line. It feels like these two have been feuding for ages. I was really surprised by this match, and it's the first time I'll say I agree with some people that Nikki has really improved in the ring. This match got around eleven minutes which is long for a divas match, but this was entertaining all the way through. I even liked the Rampaige nearfall towards the end. Don't get me wrong, the twin magic stuff was still stupid and the referee looked like an idiot because of it, but this was a damn good back and forth match up until that point. Good stuff from the divas. ***



Ryback vs The Big Show
The IC Title is on the line. What the hell happened here? I was looking forward to a fun power match and they ended it like that? The five minutes of action we got was actually pretty damn good and I was enjoying it until they blew it with an awful DQ finish that would even look embarrassing on Raw. Just a total forgettable fail here. *



John Cena vs Kevin Owens
Why isn't Owens World Champion yet? Seriously why isn't he? This match was just amazing and judging by everyone else's reaction, I'm definitely not the only that thinks so. I thought this was going to be an exact carbon copy of their match at the Chamber show, but they changed up almost every aspect of it. Owens going for the five moves of doom was just spectacular and he just looked like a total star the entire time he was in there. I know a lot of people are pissed that Cena won, but it took him everything he had to take out Owens and Owens still got the bigger win in my opinion. The stuff after the match was just the icing on the most delicious cake with Owens being a total dick and taking out Cena with the apron powerbomb and just laughing at him. Amazing stuff and this is my new Match of the Year and I don't see it being beaten anytime soon. Just fantastic pro wrestling. *****



The New Day vs The Prime Time Players
The Tag Titles are on the line. Now this one really confused me. I thought New Day were going to stay the champs up until SummerSlam until the Lucha Dragons take the titles from them. That could still happen as I don't see the PTPs being the champions for long. It was nice they finally achieved a title reign, it's just a shame it happened in a slightly dull and heatless match. Still it wasn't bad and New Day was awesome as usual. **



Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose: Ladder Match
The WWE World Championship is on the line. It feels like this match has been built up for a year and that's awesome. There is a lot I loved about this match. I loved that there was not one single bit of Authority interference which felt so refreshing. I loved how great Ambrose was made to look. He took so many brutal powerbombs at the end and he still managed to get up and attempt to stop Rollins. I didn't like the fact that he sometimes no sold his leg injury but at least he went back to it some of the time. Rollins finally looked like a true champion that could do things on his own without any help which I loved. Just a great match that didn't need to be a spotfest and instead felt like a war. Ambrose said Rollins would have to kill him to beat him and that was almost true. Awesome match and a great main event for the show. ****



8.5/10 Great show here and one of the best of the year so far. I was only looking forward to the three main matches, and all three of those delivered with Owens/Cena going way over my expectations. This show is worth seeing for this match alone and there's still more enjoyment to be had with a good divas match and a decent Tag Title match. Only the IC match lets things down, but that's only about five minutes long anyway. Great show worth checking out.

Ross' NXT Review 10/06/15

NXT Review: 10/06/15 or 06/10/15



It's been almost a month since I've reviewed NXT, so I'm glad to be doing it again especially after a boring Raw episode earlier in the week. Last week Rhyno attacked Finn Balor after their match, and this week Samoa Joe looks set to debut. Let's get going shall we?



Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley vs Mike Rallis & Elias Samson
Finally they're putting Zack somewhere he can actually shine and can do some good things, and it's nice to see Mojo Jo Jo back as well. Their opponents didn't even get an introduction and I had to do some digging around the IWC to find their names. Pretty obvious who's winning then. This was almost a squash match, but Elias got some offense in. Fun, short match though as Ryder and Mojo just work as an entertaining duo and the crowd loved both of them. Good stuff here. *1/2



We get a vignette for Finn Balor arriving at the July 4th Tokyo show. Awesome video and I love the idea of Balor embracing his demonic side only when he needs to.


Evil Emma vs Blue Pants
Holy shit, Blue Pants got one of the biggest pops I've ever heard in NXT for an entrance. That girl is over. Strange what some weird gimmicks will do but it works. Apparently it's her birthday too so, Happy Birthday! Fun match with Blue Pants looking like she had a chance to win, and the crowd was way into it too. Emma looks good with a nice submission win and the NXT women's division is still leagues better than the main roster's. *3/4


Next week we're getting a Six Person Tag Match featuring Enzo, Big Cass & Carmella vs Blake, Murphy & Alexa Bliss.



Bull Dempsey vs Tyler Breeze
Man, Bull quickly went from an undefeated force to a major jobber quickly didn't he? Damn that Baron Corbin. Funny moment during the match as Bull chases Breeze around the ring and he runs out of breath quickly. Very short match, but it was pretty entertaining and Breeze looked clever in the way he defeated Bull by tiring him out and then hitting the Beauty Shot. 1/2*


We have footage from Unstoppable showing the crowd respecting Becky Lynch after her epic match with Sasha Banks. I have that match rated at ****1/2 by the way.



Becky Lynch vs Jesse McKay
Great to see Becky back in action and nice to see that she still has her awesome attire of a leather jacket and steampunk goggles. Also love the new 'Lass Kicker' shirt. Good, short match here that got to showcase Becky and she even got to debut a new signature move that looked pretty cool. I wish this had been longer as these girls had a good rhythm going. Good stuff. **


Backstage, William Regal talks to Bull Dempsey about his cardio and eating problems. Regal is an awesome GM.


I've only seen about 30 seconds of Chad Gable but he may be one of my favourite things already.


Baron Corbin vs Angelo Dawkins
I'm not a big fan of Corbin, but if he was to answer John Cena's US Challenge, I'll admit I'd go apeshit with excitement. This was just like every other Corbin match: he gets some offense then hits End of Days. His pinning towards the hard camera is getting a bit distracting though. SQUASH



Our Hope and Savior Kevin Owens joins us at commentary.


Samoa Joe vs Scott Dawson
It's amazing to finally see Joe in a WWE ring, and I can't wait until he hits the main roster. Immediately the crowd goes with a 'Please Don't Die' chant. Good luck Scott. Of course this was basically a squash but it was here to show off Joe and he looked awesome. He showed some great intensity in there too, and of course we got to see the musclebuster in action. Cool debut. *1/2


After the match, Joe calls out Owens and they have an awesome talking segment with Owens amazing line of 'You can't just challenge for the NXT Title after only one match'. Owens is the best thing about wrestling today. Regal comes out and announces Samoa Joe vs Kevin Owens for next weeks NXT! Holy shit! Next Wednesday can't come fast enough.



Great episode of NXT as it just absolutely flew by and while there weren't any great matches, it still felt like they were progressing down the right path and next week sounds like an awesome episode.

Ross' Raw Review 08/06/15

Ross' Raw Review 09/06/15 or 06/09/15



I'm gonna be honest and say that this is the first full Raw I've watched in a long time. I think the last time was in October last year. The three hour Raws were just becoming so tiring and since then I've only been watching the highlights on YouTube, but now that I'm reviewing again I'm gonna have to start watching the whole thing again.

I'm not expecting much from the show although it is the go-home show for Money in the Bank so we might get some desperate selling. I'm also hoping to see our Lord and Saviour, Kevin Owens taking someone out, whilst we wait for our other Lord and Saviour, Brock Lesnar to return.


Better get started.



And we're starting off with John Cena. Well it's better than the Authority anyway. Byron Saxton is replacing Booker T tonight. Oh joy. Trading shucky ducky quack quack for a boring bastard. Great.

The hard selling begins quickly with Cena promoting the MITB ladder match on Sunday as well as his rematch with Owens. We get the usual Cena schtick as he says he also fights for those who chant 'Cena sucks' which starts a half-assed chant from the crowd. Thankfully that brings out Owens. Why is Owens even in a rematch? He proved himself against Cena.


Owens says what we're all thinking and says that we're all tired of Cena coming out at the start of Raw. And he also wants to issue an NXT Open Challenge right now instead of a US one. Hell yeah! Cena agrees and tries to accept the challenge. Owens calls him delusional and Cena cuts a promo. Cena starts his US Open Challenge. Owens isn't interested and wants the next wrestler to come down to choose which Title he wants to fight for.

That brings out Neville. Neville's had awesome matches with both of these guys so I'm fine with either. Neville chooses Owens and it looks like the match is happening right now! The promos didn't really go anywhere but this match should be good.



Kevin Owens vs Neville
The NXT Title is on the line. This'll be Owens first official Raw match then. I'm pretty sure Owens was the one that put Neville out of commission in NXT so I don't know why they didn't use that as a small backstory that could have made it a bit more interesting. This was a great match with Owens getting to show his dominance while Neville got to show off his high flying skills. There was some great drama towards the end as it looked like Neville would hit the Red Arrow, but Owens got the better of him and retained the gold. ***1/2


Owens invites Cena into the ring and then leaves the ring holding the NXT belt up high. Great way to kick off the show.


We get a recap of the Ambrose/Rollins match at Elimination Chamber. I know I've not reviewed that show so here's the quick ratings.


Tag Team Chamber: ***1/2
Divas Title Match: *1/2
Cena vs Owens: ****3/4
Bo Dallas vs Neville: **
Intercontinental Chamber: *1/2 (Worst Chamber match ever, so congrats to the ECW Chamber finally being beaten)
Rollins vs Ambrose: ****


Rollins is backstage embarrassed by the fact that Ambrose is parading around with his WWE Title belt. Rollins is looking for help from HHH and Stephanie and they aren't interested in giving it due to what Rollins said last week about not needing anyone's help. Rollins is allowed to pick his own opponent tonight.


We get a recap of last week's Divas Title match with the stupid twin magic move even though Brie barely looks the same as Nikki anymore. Good god just bring in the NXT women already.

We're getting Nikki vs Summer Rae tonight. You can just hear my excitement can't you?


Summer Rae vs Nikki Bella
Nikki starts doing press ups in the ring for no reason. I've seen a lot of people praising the Bellas for improving but I don't see much improvement, and while the NXT girls exist, they are always going to look like low level workers in comparison. The match here was about a minute long and not much happened until the finish with Nikki hitting the rack attack. 1/4*


We get a recap of all three of Reigns' matches last week where Bray Wyatt took a completely unnecessary loss.


Roman Reigns is here but not for action, just to talk. Reigns once hated that briefcase but now it doesn't seem so bad and he wants to cash in against Ambrose once he beats Rollins. Yeah Reigns is totally winning this thing. This brings out Kane to explain his place in the MITB match. Why the hell is Kane in there? Wasn't there anyone more entertaining available? Speaking of entertaining, here's Dolph Ziggler. He's here to insult Kane with tool jokes.

After Kane talks back to Ziggler (more tool references) out comes R-Truth even though he's not in the match. Weird comedic moment there. And here comes the New Day. I love these guys. The power of positivity will lead Kingston to the top of the ladder to retrieve the briefcase. Before Kane can comment, out comes Sheamus. He's one Brogue Kick away from winning the briefcase.

Finally we have Randy Orton. And we cut to an ad break. Freaking weird segment. I'm not sure that it accomplished anything except to tell us who's in the MITB match on Sunday.


Randy Orton vs Sheamus
This is a rematch from last week where we got a shitty DQ finish. And in this rematch we yet again get almost the exact same finish except it's Orton hitting Sheamus with the chair. Up until that finish though the match was going good with some nice finisher countering towards the end. **1/4


We get more Instagram pictures from Ambrose going around the town with the belt.


J&J Security want to go back to Rollins but Rollins ain't having it. Jamie goes on a tirade about Seth and even calls the team Shield 2.0. Rollins picks J&J for his opponents tonight.


Kane vs Dolph Ziggler
Neither guy got entrances here. For goodness sake just let Kane have his mask and gear back. He looks ridiculous with work trousers on and I just cannot get used to it. The crowd's more interested in Lana than the match. Ziggler is distracted by Lana falling off the stage thanks to Rusev and takes a chokeslam from Kane to take the loss. Boring match. *1/2


God three hours is just way too long for this show. I'm bored already and next up we have Miz TV. Oh no.


Here's Miz TV with Ryback and Big Show. It has the potential to be a fun power match at MITB. Ryback says if he fought Miz last week he would have taken years off his career. Shoot comments that aren't supposed to be shoot comments everyone! I'm sure CM Punk would've laughed at that. Ryback's actually not too bad on the mic. I'm kinda looking forward to this match now. Miz is an idiot and tries to attack Show which earns him a beating, and Ryback hits an impressive Shell Shock on Show. Not a bad segment at all.


Harper & Rowan vs Los Matadores
Well I wonder who's going to be winning this one? Basically just a squash match here to put Harper & Rowan over here. When did they start using the 3D as a finisher? They need to bring the Dudleys back for a match with them. 1/2*


Kane is backstage with Rollins and tells him that he'll cash in his MITB briefcase on either Ambrose or Rollins to become the new champion. He's also going to be in J&J's corner tonight.


Titus O'Neil vs Big E
I like a good power match. By the way why is Xavier credited as one half of the Tag Champs? Is the Freebird rule a thing now? Pretty fun match while it lasted but it was only two minutes long. Big E hits the Big Ending after a distraction from the rest of New Day for the win. *1/4


No time to celebrate though because here comes Roman Reigns,


Roman Reigns vs Kofi Kingston
It feels like they're just trying to race through these matches tonight. Kofi's a good pinball for a big guy like Reigns. Xavier's reactions outside the ring are just awesome. Good match here as Kofi got in a lot more offense than I was expecting and I liked the finish with Reigns hitting the Superman Punch while Kofi was in the air. Good stuff. ***


Reigns grabs a seat and here comes Dean Ambrose as a member of the audience, with a huge bag of popcorn and a drink in tow.


Seth Rollins vs J&J Security 
I was kind of hoping that J&J would have found some ring gear, but their stuck looking silly in their suits just like Kane. Joey Mercury still has some moves! A weird match but it was kind of fun with J&J trying everything to beat Rollins, but it took the distraction of Ambrose to roll up Rollins for the upset win. **



This Raw started off amazingly well with Cena, Owens and Neville, but it took a major nosedive after that and didn't really become good until the Reigns/Kingston match and a surprisingly fun main event. Not a good Raw as there was just way too much crap and filler, and not enough good stuff.

NXT 13/05/15

NXT Review: 13/05/15 or 05/13/15



It's been a while since I last reviewed NXT, and it was at a point where I wasn't paying too much attention to it, whilst now I can never miss an episode and Raw's the one I'm not paying attention to.
All I do with Raw now is watch the highlights on YouTube the morning after. You guys should try it too. Only takes about twenty minutes to get the main points across.

Anyway let's see what's going on in NXT this week as we head towards Unstoppable.


We start off with a video package which shows us John Cena's US Open Challenge on Raw as it led to Zayn's injury which will keep him out for a while, unfortunately. Looks like he may still be facing Owens at Unstoppable though.



Solomon Crowe vs Baron Corbin
Holy shit. I have no idea who's winning this one. That's awesome! Crowe has a new hairdo and it sounds like he has new music too. Rhyming. I'm still waiting for him to really impress me, but I've only seen him a couple of times so I can be patient. I thought the fans were chanting 'boring' but it sounds more like 'Corbin'. This was really short but it was high impact and stiff while it lasted. I liked it. Corbin hits End of Days for the win. *

Here comes Rhyno. By the way I totally marked out when he came back. Definitely an underrated worker. Corbin accepts his challenge for Unstoppable and a brawl breaks out. Security comes to break it up and Rhyno gores a couple of them. Looking forward to that match.



Sasha Banks vs Black Shorts
I call her Black Shorts because that's what it sounded like the crowd was chanting, plus she didn't get an intro. Black Shorts and Blue Pants immediately need to become a team. It's really hard to boo Sasha because she's just so amazing at what she does. They better use her well when she eventually heads to the main roster. Just a squash match for Sasha here but it was fun to watch. 1/2*


Sounds like we're getting a women's tag match at Unstoppable featuring Charlotte & Bayley vs Dana Brooke & Emma. The more divas the better.



Carmella vs Alexa Bliss
Yeah I'm really not a big fan of Carmella. They need to get her away from Enzo & Big Cass as soon as possible. During the match, Blake & Murphy come down to watch Carmella. This was a bit longer than the last women's match, but this one was much sloppier. I think that was mostly due to Carmella and you could tell that Bliss was walking her through the match. 1/4*



I'll admit that I liked Carmella talking after the match as she sounds more natural when she's doing the Sawft spelling. Loved the crowd's 'Creepers' and 'No means no' chants towards B&M.



Finn Balor & Hideo Itami vs Tyler Breeze & Adam Rose
I believe this is tonight's main event. Great to see Balor in action again for what seems like the first time in a while. He's definitely my favourite talent at the moment and I can see him being a huge star in the future, as long as they don't fuck him up on the main roster. The triple threat match at Unstoppable should be awesome and if we don't see a GTS I'm gonna punch someone. Entertaining match with a nice finish as Hideo and Balor fight over the chance to win the match and show the other up and it cost them the victory. **1/4

Breeze takes out everyone afterwards, including Rose.


We get some comments from Sami Zayn after his match with Cena on Raw.



Sami Zayn comes down to the ring for a Face to Face confrontation with Kevin Owens. I think there was a little editing work done here as the camera totally focused on Owens while Zayn was talking about injuring his shoulder against Cena. I forgot that these shows are taped in advance. Zayn wants to know why Owens attacked him. Zayn mentions Owens' son and he looks very annoyed at that mention. He says his son would rather wear a Zayn shirt to school than an Owens' shirt. Ouch low blow. Owens' walks away and says that after Takeover, Zayn won't come back again.



Good show and the build up to Takeover has been awesome and I cannot wait for it. NXT is the place to be.