My thoughts on WWE Clash of Champions 2019

Rather than go through the whole event I thought I would state what worked and what didn’t. While there were some nice surprises Clash of Champions fell into the usual trap. It was a standard WWE show, which is mediocre at best. I think it was summed up by the massive plug of Smackdown Live moving to Fox. It’s like everything is on hold until then. WWE are certainly guilty of letting months, even years go by without pushing the envelope so let’s not get too excited about the move to Fox.

Becky Lynch versus Sasha Banks was the match I enjoyed most. I am a fan of both these women so I felt spoilt watching this. The ending was a letdown, I was hoping Bayley would interfere to help Sasha get the win. They then could have gone after the tag titles, which would boost their rivalry with Becky and Charlotte. Still Bayley’s quick win over Charlotte was absolutely brilliant. Women’s wrestling is in an incredibly healthy position.

The saddest moments came with Shinsuke Nakamura. His match with The Miz demonstrated why he should leave WWE. Clearly being one of the best in the world means little. He is simply being wasted. Imagine him back in New Japan or AEW and you’ll get even more frustrated. Having him Intercontinental Champion makes it worse. They could have really elevated him and the title, which would be well overdue. Instead we get this subpar storyline, which doesn’t do anything for anyone involved. Some wrestlers don’t thrive in WWE and Nakamura seems to be in this position. Watching this unfold I simply asked why do they do it to us?

And while I won’t go into it as much detail I had a similar feeling with Robert Roode. As much as I am thankful he is half of the Raw tag team champions, I just know he is better than this. Knowing where he was and seeing where he is now it’s not the same, he deserves better, as does Ziggler. That’s probably a longer story

The Fiend versus Rollins at Hell In A Cell, the return of Luke Harper and Kofi Kingston finally putting Orton in his place were all positives. There is just not enough to say it’s must watch television. This is probably the best way to view WWE these days. Watch it with the realisation it’s not the best wrestling in the world and you won’t be disappointed.

My concerns about the future of NXT

NXT is one of the main assets WWE has these days. I think it’s the best part of WWE network and it provides a genuine option to Raw and Smackdown. You only need to watch the recent TakeOver Toronto to see what I mean. Every match on the card was top-class with the main event being out of 

this world.

Recently though I became concerned about its future. This is because starting September 18 NXT will become a two-hour weekly show airing on the USA Network. My most pressing concern about this is what could this mean for my WWE network subscription. Do I have to resort to other ways to watch NXT again?

That aside my fears are based around why change something that is working so well. Apparently NXT isn’t making money so I guess that has to be taken into account. This is a shame because it really offers something special. And for many of us it’s because it’s driven by Triple H. Vince McMahon apparently has nothing to do with it. Sadly though with the move to USA Vince will have more of a role with NXT. I think this is enough to worry us all.

Vince is an acquired taste. I do think he is a creative genius and if you grew up in the 80s or 90s you should be grateful to him. For me I think of Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart and Steve Austin to name a few of my all-time favourites. Vince brought them into my life and it’s the reason that although I don’t watch as much as I used to, I will always be a fan.

However while I have a soft spot for the Reality era, WWE hasn’t been the same since they bought WCW. The lack of competition means they haven’t had to challenge themselves. Vince is more about putting on a spectacle than quality wrestling matches. Rather than rant about this though I have learnt to accept this and appreciate it for what it is.

These days I basically follow online and watch the Pay Per Views. I thought I would watch Raw and Smackdown forever but I gave them both up about a year ago. I haven’t missed them and just watching the Pay Per Views s you notice not much changes. To keep supporting WWE I found myself watching some Attitude Era episodes of Raw, it’s easy to see why so many want those days back. I actually encourage people to go back and watch it particularly if you are jaded about the current product.

Because I don’t want to be jaded I have found it important to think that the WWE isn’t the pinnacle of wrestling. This is why I defend WWE. A large portion of their fan base would not watch other wrestling promotions. WWE don’t program for people like myself anymore. They answer to sponsors and shareholders as well. Therefore I try to be understanding of their product. And Kofi Kingston is world champion and hopefully will get the job done against Randy Orton. So occasionally I get what I want.

With NXT though it has none of this to contend with. It’s a wrestling show with exceptional talent. It doesn’t need Vince interfering. With their already talk of appearances from the main roster and the return of Enzo Amore and Big Cas I am uneasy. Don’t get me wrong while I would love to see them back what about current talent? Johnny Gargano for instance looks like he’s staying but he has done it all. He could easily be buried if other talent appears. And  while I like to think while why would you leave it is considered a stepping stone. Will Gargano and others like Shayna Baszler now have a longer wait to get to the main roster? Changes now might be kept to a minimum to keep consistency. Potentially this could see the NXT brand become the legitimate third show. This could give exposure to something like the women’s tag team titles. I would probably get behind a couple of women from NXT becoming tag team champions . Then again this might lead to NXT titles being defended on other shows, which would be disappointing.

I also have mixed feelings about the program changing to two hours. I’ll do another blog specifically about it but this is strictly to compete with AEW. Yes we are already getting hype about the Wednesday Night Wars, which will be draining. An hour can be short so I’ll probably come round. Still there is only so many hours that I have to watch wrestling. The major positive is that the extra hour gives underutilised talent more opportunity .

While I will try to be optimistic, I’m having flashbacks to when Hogan and Bischoff took over TNA. Before they arrived it was my favourite wrestling promotion. It was some of the best stuff I have ever witnessed and it’s never been the same since. This is what I’m afraid will happen with NXT

In other words we all enjoy NXT as it is so don’t screw it up Vince.

NXT UK TakeOver Cardiff 2019

Despite missing the last couple of months I do enjoy NXT UK. The main problem I have with it is that I don’t have many favourite wrestlers from it. This makes it difficult to get emotionally involved. Having said that from a wrestling perspective it is well above average.

So whilst I wasn’t jumping out of my skin I was keen to see their recent TakeOver event, which took place in Cardiff.

First up Noam Dar faced Travis Banks. Knowing that Banks is friends with many Australian wrestlers I certainly have a soft spot for him. While he is from New Zealand I think we will claim him as our own. This was a great way to start the show even if Dar ended up getting the win. Banks seems to be stuck in the role of putting over other talent at the moment, hopefully this changes in the future.

Next in what was a surprise to me Cesaro took on Ilja Dragunov. This was a quality match. Cesaro is horribly underused by WWE. If it meant he got more opportunities I wouldn’t mind if he became a regular on NXT UK. It might be the best way to get a title run out of him. Anyway he went on to win the match with a Neutralizer.

Then it was time for the NXT UK Tag Team Championship match. The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake) defending the titles against Gallus (Mark Coffey and Wolfgang) and Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster. This was my favourite match of the show. It was action packed pretty much throughout with every team having a chance to win. The ending was spectacular with the hometown favourites Andrews and Webster getting the three count. This occurred after a Shooting Star Press from Andrews onto Gibson led Webster to get the pinfall. WWE do this as well as anybody and this was no exception. A fine example of how great tag team wrestling can be.

After that it was Joe Coffey versus Dave Mastiff in a Last Man Standing match. These are not my favourite type of matches and I thought this could have been better. Appreciating the work of both these wrestlers I felt it was a shame someone had to lose. Totally dug seeing the turnbuckle break and the use of a cricket bat in this one but Mastiff’s domination got boring. This was made more frustrating with Coffey going on to win the match. Loved the way he did it though by sneakily kicking his feet to stop him making the count. Just felt for Mastiff who seemed to carry the encounter.

In the penultimate match, NXT UK Women's Champion Toni Storm defended the title against Kay Lee Ray. Toni is my favourite on NXT UK so this was sad. I wanted it to be Toni time for a bit longer yet. It wasn’t to be though with Ray getting the win in reasonably convincing style. The future looks good there. They have plenty of capable women that all would make worthy champions. It’s definitely one of the significant parts of the brand.

Finally it was the main event, with Walter defending the WWE United Kingdom Championship against Tyler Bate. For a big man Walter can certainly go. This match went over 40 minutes an impressive effort for both men. My criticism is that you never got the feeling Bate was going to win. For the most part Walter threw him around the ring. At times Bate got in some offence but he was more in survival mode. The match seeming like it was look what a beating I can take rather than a close contest. Seeing as how Pete Dunne showed so much promise I didn’t think it would be so one sided. Obviously I was wrong. The ending too was a little weird. It came when Walter performed a Folding Powerbomb on Bate for a one count. He followed up with a JBL like Clothesline to retain the title. This result didn’t say much for Walter’s move set.

As good as it was it Cardiff didn’t compare to TakeOver: Blackpool. Two title changes was probably one too many for my taste. The problem is we don’t know how far away the next TakeOver is because there wasn’t a stack of stuff to build from. Still there is enough there to keep us all interested and it remains a viable alternative to WWE’s regular shows. We just need some competition for Walter because already there isn’t much left for him to do.

MCW New Horizons 2019 Slex versus Adam Brooks

While I am out of the loop MCW remains one of my homes away from home. They truly have provided some of the best experiences of my life. On Saturday night it will be another memorable occasion at New Horizons and even though I won’t be there I’m still pumped for it.

I am only going to write about the main event but that’s more than enough to get everyone going. This shouldn’t be underestimated because you can rarely say that about a WWE event. MCW though generally make the main event worthwhile. They have certainly elevated the status of the heavyweight title.

Anyway my enthusiasm comes from the fact that this match is Slex versus Adam Brooks. These are 2 of the very best wrestlers this country has to offer. Brooks is my sentimental favourite in this one. I met him once after he and Dowie James won the MCW tag team titles . I joked with him saying I thought he was turning heel and he said “no, that will never happen”. Two months later he turned heel making the photos I have with him priceless. I also received a message from him when I was not feeling well, which I’m eternally grateful for.

And back when I was full on MCW he was must see. Despite being a heel he was way over with the crowd. I may not get the event right but I think it was Clash of the Titans where he and Dowie wrestled for the MCW title a couple of years ago. The reaction Brooks got when he low blowed Dowie was deafening. The disappointment that he didn’t go on and win that night is something I will never forget. Given this while I understand he has been touring internationally I still think it’s criminal that he hasn’t been MCW champion yet.

And unfortunately I’m not convinced Brooks will win the title on Saturday night. Slex is not only a tough opponent he hasn’t held the title for that long. Would they take the belt off him so soon? Difficult to say, I’m just thinking about other factors outside of wrestling ability. Slex for example maybe more willing to stick around and they might be building him to be one of the best ever. Seeing as how he held both titles he is not far away from this already. A win over Brooks would only add to his legacy. This could easily be what they go for. With wrestling particularly independent wrestling you have to try to think about it in a way that makes sense, not what you want to happen.

With this in mind it is a shame Brooks didn’t cash in his title opportunity at a time that was only appropriate for him. I reckon his fans would have loved this. What we don’t know is whether Brooks is planning to stay in Australia. This is why the brain keeps thinking it will be Slex who gets the victory. Analysing it too deeply I would favour Brooks more if it was Final Battle.

What won’t be a mystery is that this will be a classic match. I wish I was going but I’ll have to be patient. The crowd will be right into it and they will get their money’s worth. The most important title in Australian wrestling being contested by two of the best you can’t go wrong.

Now it’s just up to Brooksy to prove me wrong and get that upset win. He deserves it.