2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

My wife and I finally caught up on RAW tonight. Man, the slammys this year were shit. Very few of the awards actually went to the people they should have. Awful.

My biggest gripes:
1.) WWE Diva of the Year-> Went to AJ, should have gone to Paige. I don't have as big a problem with this as I do other awards but Paige made a crazy big impact on the division and, arguably was just as good as AJ if not better from her debut to now. Weird that they've cooled her down but I hope she gets back in the title picture very soon.
2.) Match of the Year-> Went to Team Cena vs. Team Authority. Should have gone to Daniel Bryan vs. Orton vs. Batista. While the SS match was good, the finish was crap. I liked Sting debuting but it ruined what was otherwise a great match with a great finish. Should have been Ziggler's moment. They built it up so well and then, boom, he's second fiddle. The Bryan WM match, meanwhile, was the culmination of a great storyline and a phenomneal WrestleMania, perhaps the best pound-for-pound WrestleMania in 12 years. Great match, great moment, match of the year without question.
3.) Superstar of the Year-> Went to Roman Reigns, should have gone to Seth Rollins. See the explanation above for a better wording than I'll give here. Rollins had a fantastic year and with Bryan out due to injury, he's the clear winner of that award.

 

I honestly think they had Reigns pegged as Superstar of the Year well before his injury, and weren't going to deviate from those plans even as he missed three months.

Which is stupid, because Rollins has carried a lot of weight recently and put on good matches every time he's been in the ring. I'll admit to having the pecking order of the Shield as Ambrose, Reigns and then Rollins, but Seth has been the better of the three -- and I don't think it's been close.

Rollins should have been Superstar of the Year and Match of the Year probably should have been the triple threat at Mania or Ambrose vs. Rollins, or even Shield vs. Wyatts.

 

If you're into NXT and/or are watching the Takeover R Evolution show tonight, here's a preview: http://wp.me/p56ZFr-xv

The gist of it: Zayn needs to win to have any sort of mentionable stock when he moves up; Charlotte needs to lose, move up and probably wrestle Natalya on a weekly basis; the Vaudevillains rule; and I'm not impressed with The Ascension. Or Hideo Itami, who just unleashed two more kicks as I typed this.

 

Not impressed with the Ascension? That's a first.

 

They've got a cool look, cool music and they're good in the ring but god help them if they're given a mic. Brutal.

 

I don't think I've ever heard them speak, to be honest.

 

I haven't watched a whole lot of NXT, but I was able to catch most of the Neville-Zayn match on the Network tonight and was very impressed. Zayn had a pretty wild spot where he was able to leap through two sets of ropes in the corner and catch Neville with a hurricarana (I think it was) on the floor. The match is worth watching just for that.

 

The match was awesome. Wasn't too enthralled with Steen turning on Zayn, which they could have saved for the next show.

 

Zayn's jump through the turnbuckle was awesome

 

Re: Ascension, basically this. Their entire mystique was built on invincibility, and they really don't have that anymore after last night. And both men are SO bad on the mic, which is probably why they're linked to Bray Wyatt on the rumor mill if/when they move up.

 

I had to work late last night but I stayed up anyway to watch NXT and, man, that was one of the best wrestling shows I've seen in a long, long time.
First off, I LOVE the NXT crowd. I know it's a tiny place but those guys elevate the NXT shows like no one's business. Save for PPV crowds at Ring of Honor and the post-Mania RAW crowd, they might be the best crowd to watch in all of wrestling (Admittedly, I don't watch any non ROH/WWE stuff so perhaps there's a better indy crowd but I doubt it.)
As I knew he would, Kevin Owens killed it last night. Absolutely killed it. The crowd was hot for him the second his titan tron hit and for a debuting wrestler, you really can't ask for more. He showed a lot of personality early, showed like he belonged and made an immediate impact. Of the three big NXT debuts recently (Hideo, Balor, Owens) I'd say he had the best debut and really looks like he's going to be a big player for a long time.
A little disappointed with the Lucha Dragons/Vaudevillains match. Was hoping for a title change there as the Luchas do nothing for me whatsoever.
The Baron Corbon angle is getting on my nerves a little bit. He's got a great look but he's definitely suffering from Goldberg syndrome in that because I know how every one of his matches are going to end, there's really no point in watching. And god, Bull Dempsey is no better. Putting those two together is just asking for the audience to take a piss break.
Loved that Balor brought out the war paint. That was freaking awesome. The match wasn't bad either. This was the first chance I really felt we saw Balor show what he can do. Hideo still hasn't interested me much, though he almost did with the GTS attempt. Sad that the Ascension were booked that way but I'm guessing this means they show up on Sunday in the Wyatt/Ambrose match.
As for my personal favorite match of the night, I really couldn't have asked for much more out of Charlotte and Sasha Banks. That was some seriously awesome shit right there. Coming into the show, the storyline was kind of meh but Sasha really showed me something last night. She's a boss and I hope she gets a run with the gold when Charlotte moves up, which I'm guessing is coming sooner than later with her showing up at RAW last week.
Zayn-Neville was every bit as good as advertised and they did a great job with their in-ring storytelling. The only thing I would have changed would have been to have Owens hit Zayn with a piledriver in the middle of the ring with the rest of the roster looking on in shock but, otherwise, fantastic main event.
Overall, great show. To me, this was second only to WrestleMania in terms of overall booking and development. Looking forward to seeing what Owens and Zayn will do this time around.

 

Stupid me -- I logged out in the middle of the celebration, figuring that was it. Completely missed the Owens turn.