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Cubed Circle Newsletter – 125 Road to WrestleMania XXX Runs Through Chicago

We have another fun issue for everybody this week covering one of the best and most newsworthy RAWs of the year, another tremendous Shield/Wyatts match, Bryan Rose looks at the current state of TNA, Ben Carass reviews SmackDown and NXT, plus the ratings and much more! And with the lacklustre (that's being gracious) as usual preview out of the way I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys this week's newsletter!

– Ryan Clingman, Cubed Circle Newsletter Editor

Bryan Rose on the Current State of TNA

TNA is in a funk right now, in case you've been living under a rock. numbers are down, people are leaving left and right and overall there’s just a sense of nothing going on in the promotion. After years of trying to be the top promotion in the United States, their new goal for 2014 is simply to survive. Haemorrhaging money for years, the move to live weekly impact taping proved to be too much of a burden as attendance numbers dwindled. Is there anything that can be done to turn things around? After 12 years of doing everything possible to oppose the WWE, what else can they do to gain momentum?

Being sold back to Jarrett I think would have helped. At this point, is probably the biggest nuisance to exist in TNA right now. She never learns from her mistakes. Ever. This goes back to , who was hired in 2007 to turn things around. Forgetting that Vince Russo had the worst pro wrestling television show of all time with Nitro back in 1999-2000, TNA’s storylines promptly went down the toilet. People who couldn't work a lick were hired, talented people were cut, and so many storylines and gimmicks were thrown around no one could keep up with what the hell was going on. “Fire Russo” chants were becoming increasingly common on TNA events. Dixie’s response?

It wasn’t his problem. It was someone else's.

This would be a continuing trend until Vince Russo left TNA in 2012. He wasn't fired or let go. He chose to leave. After years of horrific storylines and gimmicks, TNA started to sort of make sense again. The wrestling was kinda better, the storylines were less silly and more emphasis was put on, shockingly, wrestling. But in recent months, now we’re seeing Dixie Carter, who has turned heel, dominate the television with so many segments and silliness that it’s become incredibly grating. The assumption can be since TNA has let all the big stars go back to the WWE, she’s the main star now

1 and thus demands all the television time. That’s incredibly sad when you think about it. Also mind the fact that they’re doing the same thing WWE is doing right now (heel authority figures making a less than over star their world champion) and it’s even more sad. They just can’t do anything original- they have to keep seeing what WWE is doing, copy that and do an even worse job of building it up because they don’t have the right characters for the roles they are ;looking to fill. It’s pretty sad.

So Dixie Carter remains a problem in TNA’s road to survival. She’s not helping in the least bit and seems as clueless as ever as to how to get people over or just knowing that something isn’t working. She’s a hindrance to the growth of the promotion and if she continues down this route, there probably won’t be a TNA pretty soon.

Hold back, though. Jarrett was in talks to buy TNA, but those fell apart when Bob Carter demanded that Dixie Carter remained in the company with power and a role on television. Would things have been better with Jarrett at the helm? I don’t know, but think about this. Who was the one that brought Russo to TNA in the first place? It wasn't Dixie- it was Jarrett, because it was with Russo that Jarrett got his first big push in the WWF, then was pushed as a top star in WCW when they jumped ship together in 1999. So of course he was going to have an affinity for him, even if evidence suggested he couldn't get anything over. Even when Jerry Jarrett protested, Jeff chose Russo over his own father, which is pretty damn amazing.

What are the chances that Russo would come working for Jarrett if they bought TNA, or if this new promotion they’re talking about comes fruition? Maybe he’s not even available. Rumors have been rampant the past few weeks that based on TNA’s recent product, littered with Russoisms that can be seen a mile away (less emphasis on wrestling, stupid segments, misogyny, etc.) It’s kind of amazing that the moral of the story in pro wrestling these last two decades is that no one learns from their mistakes. They repeat them over and over and over and over and over and over again because...hell if I know! Maybe they just feel that this time it’s gonna work out. But the problem with that thought process is that if it’s never worked out before, what are the chances it’s going to work this time? Zero, probably.

Russo isn't the biggest threat, however- it’s WWE, and not for the reasons you think. At this point, WWE doesn’t see TNA as much of a threat at all, probably because their popularity is at an all time low and frankly, no one cares about TNA. But NXT is due to start taping even more in the future in , where TNA plans to do most of their taping, plus their time slot is around the same time as Impact's Thursday night on Spike TV. Could this be a factor in a TNA ratings decline? Possibly- the largely hyped NXT ArRival show was a two hour special, competing with Impact on Spike, and Impacts numbers didn't come back that hot despite there being not much competition that night on television. It’s too early to tell if NXT will be a factor in TNA’s ratings, but how embarrassing is it that WWE’s developmental promotion is a big threat to TNA’s ratings at this point? Tells you how little TNA matters on the large scale.

To top it all off, WWE’s television deals for all their programming ends this year, and they’re looking for big money since most of their revenue comes from television rights deals (that’s why there is so much WWE programming per week, and why Raw isn’t going back to 2 hours anytime soon, if ever). They are now openly negotiating with other conglomerates, and Viacom is totally a possible avenue that they may come across once more. Viacom, as we know, are the owners of Spike TV, who airs TNA Impact. Imagine if WWE were to sign with Spike once again. Do you think WWE would want to have Impact on the air? Nope. If WWE were to jump ship, they’d be in big trouble. Hell, if Smackdown were to move back to Thursdays, TNA would be in big trouble.

2 The only reason Imapact gets the same number every week is because WWE airs nothing on Thursdays. But that might change soon, and if so, TNA’s future won’t look so bright.

Not that it does now- TNA’s future looks bleak no matter what side of you look at, whether it be creative or financially. Not that I want TNA to die like many seem to want - wrestling needs to be on wherever it can, because there aren't as many choices as there were back in 2001. Soon the only company with a major cable television deal in North America is going to be WWE, and does anyone really want that? I want TNA to succeed. I want people to have jobs, as well as for fans to have an alternative to WWE. But the direction TNA has been going for so long now isn't going to help matters. The one person left that’s hindering TNA’s progression is still there, and that’s going to be the hardest person to get rid of just because of the politics and nepotism involved. TNA will continue to decline in popularity over the next year as long as she is involved, but I am hoping for the best. Who knows what the future may bring six months from now- maybe something will change that will be a big benefit for TNA. Maybe something will come that will threaten its existence. But whatever the case might be, we need something like TNA, believe it or not, because without it WWE will have monopolized pro-wrestling in the United States. It might have already been for years now, but regardless it’s a dire situation for competition in the pro-wrestling business either way.

WWE Monday Night RAW March 3rd 2014 Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois

Overall Thoughts:

This week's edition of RAW from the Allstate Arena, a building that has housed some of the best events in company history, once again delivered what will undoubtedly place as one of the best RAW shows of 2014. It was a heavily built show for many weeks, not so by the company, but rather due to the possibility of Punk making his return. The ratings do show that this possibility, whilst important in the eyes of many fans on the internet and certainly those in Chicago on March 3rd, was in fact not very influential on the general viewing audience, or at least those who tune out in the third and second hours (it did have an effect on the 18-49 demo though, which we will get into later on in the issue). Regardless of who exactly was watching the show on TV however, we had the privilege of seeing the very best WWE TV match since Cena/Punk in the build to Mania last year. Wyatts/Shield II was a match smothered thick with drama and subtle intricacies akin to the 2012 BOSJ heavyweight tags with Naito and Tanahashi. And as long-time readers of the newsletter will know, this is heavy praise. In addition to the passionate storytelling seen in the six-man tag, WWE also made another calculated decision in its handling of the CM Punk situation. Instead of drudging through the show hoping to minimize its incitement of the crowd in chanting for a man that the company knew wouldn't be there from the start of the show. What they resorted to instead was build the show in a manner that seemingly built toward the CM Punk return at the end of the show. Not only did this pacify the crowd somewhat, but when they did break out in heavy "CM Punk" chants, as they did for the majority of the show, it came across as a crowd into the product, and not a crowd interested in chanting the name of someone they “weren't supposed to”. The same goes for the way in which they were able to focus the crowd's intent of being out of control and disorderly when chanting for into something very constructive. This was sound pro-wrestling psychology in a modern context. As a whole, what needed to get over during this show largely got OVER and everything that didn't was of little consequence for the most part anyway. All in all, they made more progress in this one step on the road to Mania than during the entire rest of the journey so far.

3 Seconds in and there were chants for Punk. They hit his music to an enormous pop, milked it for a few seconds and out came Heyman who was in fact, for the first time in twenty years, not sporting a pony tail. The music had me fooled for a good couple of seconds, and my fingers were at the ready to type up a rant of epic proportions on how they knew not how to build to key segments. This just led to even louder Punk chants for which Heyman held out the microphone saying "I believe he deserves louder than that". Heyman sat down, cross-legged, mimicking Punk's promo stance. Heyman spoke of Punk not having the right look, having too many tattoos and being too small to main event Mania. This was the story he wanted to tell, the story of a man who was born, raised and born in Chicago. Heyman pointed the finger of blame at the fans, they were the ones to take Punk away from him. He also blamed because they couldn't end the streak last year. But, Lesnar was the one man that could do it - and out he came. More Punk chants. A replay of last week's closing angle with Taker choke-slamming Lesnar through the table aired. The mic was given to Lesnar who got the "what" treatment, and spoke for too long. He did Heyman's gimmick of yelling his own name, voice breaking. Lesnar walked up the ramp when Henry made it down. Brock was all for a fight walking back towards the ring. Lesnar shot off of the stares and was clotheslined out of the air. However, moments later Henry was whipped over the steps and had them rammed into his face and was F5'ed through the announce table to Punk chants. Poor . Heyman was absolutely fantastic in this segment, as was it's placement on the card, as it put this crowd in a position, content to wait until the end of the show for Punk's return.

The New Age Outlaws were down in Mania XXX shirts. Finally, the Outlaws delivered a heel promo with refusing to do his usual gimmick citing Chicago as an unworthy crowd. were out for their tag title rematch against an actual heel team. Despite their want for CM Punk, this Chicago crowd was very much into this match and content with getting behind the Usos. Jimmy landed his tag tope on Road Dogg allowing for Jey to land the splash in the ring for the win, tag titles and a great pop. There was a graphic for Aaron Paul later on the show later, so a Need for

Speed trailer aired. And there were the Bellas, Natalya, and Fox standing backstage staring at the screen like no real person would stand, speaking of Aaron Paul as no real person would speak. . was out for a match with . Seconds in Cesaro pulled off an amazing feat of strength, plucking E out of the air off of a leap frog and into a side slam. What followed was a ten rep giant swing! Swagger moments later shot in with a Swagger bomb for the DQ, some arguing ensued

4 leading to E landing the Big Ending on Cesaro. This played into another Big. E match later on in the show. The Shield's music hit and they got a top-tier ovation. And the Wyatts came out to a similar ovation, with Wyatt's "we're here" gimmick changing to "Chicago, we're here" - a good touch. Once again there were "this is awesome" chants before the Wyatts were even in the ring. Ambrose and Rollins shot out with topes before the Wyatts could slide in as Reigns landed a Samoan drop on Wyatt in the ring. Rollins landed on his feet off of a top rope German landing two tope con giros in the span of tem seconds on Harper and Rowan. Harper went for a tope, but was caught with an enzuigiri. Ambrose ran in when Rollins was sent out to the floor, which resulted in a build in tension. After the break Harper had the heat on Rollins. Ambrose looked to go after Wyatt on the floor, Reigns went after him, as a result Rollins had no one to tag back in. Regardless, he made the tag seconds later to Ambrose who went after the legs of Rowan; locking in a figure four. Harper shot in with a double stomp and was taken out to the floor by Reigns. Bray made the tag and unloaded on Ambrose. Brief CM Punk chants broke out. Rowan was using the old Sgt Slaughter knuckles on the skull gimmick, but Ambrose continued to trash-talk Wyatt before pulling on the beard of Rowan. chants ensued. Ambrose then landed the Nigel McGuinness pendulum lariat! Wyatt knocked Reigns down to the floor, Ambrose landed a spike DDT, but Rollins stepped off of the apron and walked off. He yelled at Ambrose and Reigns to “figure it out” and that he wasn't prepared to be the glue that held the team together. Ambrose was distracted staring at the argument between Reigns & Rollins. Reigns wasn't the legal man, but ran wild regardless. This led to Ambrose and Reigns teaming back up! Reigns speared Rowan over the announce table! Harper sent Reigns over the table and Ambrose launched himself off the steps going after Harper. Ambrose was thrown into the post and Wyatt signalled for Sister Abigail while Rollins stood on the ramp with tears in his eyes for the win. This may have been as good as their match on pay-per-view. The Reigns/Ambrose team-word dynamic made sense, Rollins' turn was unexpected, but was tremendously consistent. **** 1/2.

Renee Young was backstage with Batista in a Gracie jiu-jitsu hoodie; he heavily booed of course. He talked about fans reading too many comics, and people like Bryan couldn't simply turn into super heroes. We got the first promotion of the live edition of Main Event with the Usos versus Outlaws in a title rematch, which is essential in order to work out the live programming bugs on the Network in preparation for Mania. Santino & Emma were out for a mixed tag against & . They had the gigantic bubble machine gimmick from NXT out too. Santino and Emma high fived a couple of times not realizing that they were making tags. Of course, “We want Punk” chants were too much to ask for; so there were loud "We Want Ziggler" chants. Emma submitted Rae with the cattle mutilation. was down for a match with Christian. Christian landed a slap which led to a beat down on the outside. Christian missed a splash on the floor splatting onto his face busting it open a bit. Cole sold the Christian heel turn as some kind of grand transformation, even though he has probably been a heel for a larger portion of his career than babyface. This crowd did not care one bit about this match. In fact near falls would only reignite CM Punk chants. “This is awful” and “boring” chants ensued before Sheamus brogue kicked Christian, who was standing in the ring, from the apron for the win. They worked a good match, but it was placed in a spot following a string of very hot segments - it was going to die.

Renee Young was in the back with Sheamus before he was bludgeoned with a radio by Christian. The Bellas were down for a match with Aksana & . It was so bad I began to play the botpoet Turing test quiz instead. Nikki won with the torure rack bomb on Fox for the win. There was a trailer for a bad cop movie, 'Sirens'. More computer poetry was read. Bryan then made it down with the building exploding with "yes" chants. Bryan said that they were going to hijack RAW, which made this Chicago crowd very happy. Silly Chicago crowd, that doesn't constitute hijacking. Bryan said that he wouldn't leave the ring before one of two things happened. This led to

5 CM Punk chants - now you've got it! He wanted Batista or Hunter to come down, He attempted to theorize why Hunter refused to face him at Mania when Hunter and Stephanie made it down. Cacophonous CM Punk and boos ensued whenever Stephanie began to speak. This reaction was so loud that those in the building reported that her promo was rendered inaudible live. Bryan challenged Hunter to a match at Mania 30. Hunter said that it wasn't going to happen and Bryan's generation didn't know when to accept their inadequacies. Anyone who failed in the company simply wasn't good enough. Hunter called Bryan B+, a better spot than that of the people. The people chanted "ass****". Bryan got fired up and basically said that he would make him see the light at Mania. Stephanie retorted that Bryan would be nothing if it wasn't for her family. He wouldn't even have his "underdog persona". Bryan challenged Stephanie and Hunter spoke to him like a 5 year old, telling Bryan to get out of "his ring". Bryan said it was “the people's ring”, Stephanie looked at him as if to say "it is literally our ring". Hunter interjected telling Bryan that everything in the arena, including the people was theirs. Bryan wanted Hunter to make him leave the ring, which brought down. Bryan went right after Kane with a tope and laid into him until security tore him off – of course he was back later on in the show.

Josh Mathews was in the booth with Booker, Jim Duggan and , who I doubt most people knew was still employed. Del Rio was in the ring when a Mustang pulled up with Aaron Paul at the wheel and Dolf Ziggler in the driver's seat. As expected Ziggler got a great ovation. In the middle of the match Paul stood up on the announced table providing Ziggler with the victory. What a heelish move this was. You know you've done something wrong when you're losing to Dolf Ziggler. And you know that you are booking something wrong when Del Rio beats the winner of the Rumble, no mention of it is made, and then he is beaten by Ziggler. Paul Bearer was announced as the 4th Hall of Fame inductee in the class of 2014. Big E was out for a match with Jack Swagger as a consequence of the run-in earlier on. This time however Cesaro ran in landing the neutralizer on Big E – E came off as a beatable after thought in these segments. Swagger pushed Cesaro, which led to Cesaro getting ready for the giant swing, Colter urged him not to do it and then got Cesaro to help Swagger up. Colter called for them to hug it out and they did their we the people gimmick. It's probably best for this to burn a little more slowly than it has, and this was an angle in the correct direction. However, it was pretty goofy having Swagger lie there for the giant swing for a good 30 seconds unable to do anything. Bryan/Kane was announced for the live Main Event. Cena made it

6 down with the Wyatt transition video airing briefly, most likely due to a mistake in the video queue. As expected Cena was booed heavily. He was still selling the worked knee injury that somehow morphed into a groin injury then back into a knee injury. He spoke of his special moments in the All State Arena, Mania 22, 2012, 2011. All change would have to go through him. The lights went out and the Wyatts were on the tron. Wyatt likened Cena to a championship race horse slowing down until eventually ending up on a slab - he would put Cena down. He called Cena the loneliest man on Earth sitting a top of his castle, and Bray would take it all away.

Batista was walking through the back when Orton came by to wish him luck. Alexander Rusev made it out on an Olympic style podium cut a promo in Bulgarian and it ended. It was an exact repeat of the SmackDown segment; completely pointless. A clip was shown of Hogan on the Today Show. Orton made it down to ringside for the Batista/Bryan match. Bryan went after Batista's leg - "Boo-tista" and "you can't wrestle" chants followed. Bryan landed his tope. The authority made it down, which distracted Bryan. giving Batista the advantage. Orton went after Bryan for the DQ. He looked for the RKO on Batista, but was pushed into a busaiku knee from Bryan. Kane was knocked down to the floor, but Batista landed a spear. Hunter pulled Kane away, said to a downed Bryn that he was getting tired of his fantasies, Bryan kicked him from a grounded position, but then took the pedigree. Stephanie yelled "yes" in the face of Bryan to close off the show. Surprisingly, not even Bryan could get one of the hottest crowds in the country into the main body of a Batista match – that should tell you something.

RAW Ratings for March 3rd 2014

RAW this week from Chicago was down negligibly from last week with the possible return of CM Punk drawing a 3.25 rating and 4.55 million viewers. However, the more important metric here was the break down of viewership across the three hours. Unlike the return of Batista or Hogan, the tease of CM Punk was continued throughout the show, naturally, because of course he wasn't going to be there anyway. They also had a great deal of key segments distributed well throughout the three hours. In spite of these positives, they still showcased a negative pattern in overall viewership dropping slightly from 4.67 million in the first to 4.62 in the second and 4.44 in the third. The interesting point to make here is that whilst they did lose viewers overall throughout the three hours, the key 18-49 demo, did grow from the second to third hours, which is very unusual, especially considering the patterns over the last few months. The first hour drew 1.978 million viewers (1.56 rating), the second dropped slightly to 1.895 (1.49 rating) and the third and final hour from 10:00 – 10:16 (Batista and Bryan started their match after 10:00, which is amazing for a three hour show) rose to 2.013 million viewers (1.59 rating). However, it is very difficult to say with a great deal of certainty that this was in fact due to the quality of the show, as it could just as easily be attributed to

7 the growth in viewers for the next show, considering that they had a 16 minute long overrun. Still, if this was the case there should have been a large rise in the overall viewership for that hour too, and of course there wasn't.

Once again credit goes to @StD_85 for the weekly 18-49 data.

WWE NXT – March 6th 2014. : Winter Park, FL. Ben Carass

A compelling video recapped the big three matches from the Arrival show; it also showed putting over and raising Adrian Neville’s hand. The new NXT Champion was out at the top of the show for a non-title match with Camacho. Interestingly this was this first episode taped on February 28th, which could mean they are airing things out of order or they have simply disregarded the remaining two shows from the January 30th tapings.

Non-Title Match: Adrian Neville (NXT Champion) vs. Camacho

Neville took pretty much the whole match. He landed a springboard crossbody early; Camacho got some shots and one powerslam in then Neville made a short comeback and won with the Red Arrow. – Adrian Neville defeated Camacho via pinfall, at 2:51. Renee Young interviewed Neville afterwards and he said last week was the biggest moment of his career and winning the belt proof that anything is possible. Neville did the questionable WWE tactic of pointing out a babyfaces flaws, his own no less, and said he looked like a “crazy elf man”, came from a small town in England that nobody has heard of and had an accent that is impossible to understand. He followed up by saying that while you could question his look, the one thing that nobody could question was his in ring ability. Neville stated that the best thing about last week was that there would be “no more Bo” and he led the fans in a chant. showed up and congratulated Neville, but noted that he never pinned him and merely climbed a ladder “like a dad cleaning out the gutters”. Bo told Neville he was cashing in his rematch clause soon then declared, “it’s Bo time” and gave Neville a thumbs up. – Match was a good showcase for the new champ. Neville’s promo afterwards seemed to get over with the people in the building, however I still firmly believe that calling yourself a “crazy elf man” is not a productive way to get over as a babyface champion; whatever works, I guess. There was a lot of editing going on and it made the segment feel a little disjointed; it can’t be good news if they had to edit Neville four or five times during his first speech as champion.

An interview with Emma for after her match with last week aired. She said Paige was way tougher than anyone she had ever faced and she deserved to be champion. Emma claimed she didn’t care because she had her title match and was moving on, but knew one day she would be a champion. appeared and put his arm around Emma; Naitch explained that the next Women’s champ would be his lovely daughter, Charlotte, who also turned up. Charlotte insincerely offered Emma a shoulder to cry on, however Emma kept smiling like a goof then did her wacky dance in Charlotte’s face. Flair said Emma had cracked and was pleased with his daughter’s head games. Whooooo! – Flair going subtle heel was unexpected, but NXT seems to exist in a different universe so anything that gets him on TV is fine with me and this was a decent little deal to set up their match.

Emma vs. Charlotte w/

No Flair or Summer Rae, however Sasha carried a likeness of Summer’s head on a stick which was

8 pretty funny. Charlotte got the heat with some HOLDS, the crowd entertained themselves by chanting, “better than Batista”. For the finish, Charlotte feigned an ankle injury and Sasha got on the apron which distracted Emma then Charlotte hit her front flip cutter. – Charlotte defeated Emma via pinfall, at 3:17. Nothing to this one. Charlotte needs a new finish, as I can’t recall a single time that she has hit it smoothly. They seem to want to make Charlotte into a female version of a heel Ric Flair, which sounds good but in practise may not be the smartest of decisions considering how green she is. Perhaps a trip to the wrestling academy would help her out, as she needs to work on her fundamentals before being put in any more TV matches.

Corey Graves vs. Yoshi Tatsu

Graves cut a promo beforehand and was frustrated about not being on the Arrival show. He talked about all the adulation heaped on then asked when the last time Sami won a match. Graves claimed he would only need one shot to beat Cesaro, but had to make do with the irrelevant Yoshi Tatsu. The bell rang and Graves said he had changed his mind. They teased a walkout finish, but Yoshi slid out to the floor and Graves threw him into the steps. – defeated Yoshi Tatsu via count-out, at 1:31. Graves put Yoshi in the Fuller-lock afterwards; Sami ran down for the save and Graves hit the bricks. Sami challenged Graves to a match later on, however Corey walked out with giving an answer.

Footage of the launch party rolled. entered a room that was decked out like a bougie nightclub, where Solomon Crowe was behind the DJ table and a bunch of geeks that have not been on TV yet were shown partying. Braun Stowman was dressed like a Roman gladiator and was swinging a giant glow stick around. Rose was sat with two women on a leather sofa; Devin asked him to talk about his debut and he said everything we knew was about to change. He then told Devin to stop asking boring questions at his party then started dancing like a tool and shouted, “that’s my song”. – Rose is the former Leo Kruger and he still had his long hair, although he was clean shaven and spoke in a campy manner similar to . The idea is that he’s an annoying preppy douche, think Jared Leto only not quite as emaciated.

Rose made his entrance with his parade of geeks; he stage dived off the apron and was bodysurfed around ringside by his crew. Rose’s posse danced back up the ramp and the people chanted, “that was awesome”.

Adam Rose vs.

Rose looked to have dropped about 20/30lbs and goofed around at the start of the match by doing some summersaults and doing the Terry Funk rope swing gimmick. He landed a Leo Kruger spinebuster and even worse, a clothesline for the finish. – Adam Rose defeated Wesley Blake via pinfall, at 2:30. Rose’s nauseously happy music played again and he danced up the ramp to his party of clowns. – I was a fan of the Leo Kruger gimmick, so I am sad to say the least about this change in direction. The worse thing is that they didn’t even bother giving Rose a new finish, as the spinebuster and clothesline routine is what he used as Leo Kruger. The entrance is fun and the people got into it, however it is just another example of a heel getting over with the smart fans as a “cool” act, rather than someone to be detested. I have encountered many preppy party types in my time and believe me it takes very little effort to loath them, but this act is so completely goofy that Rose was always going to get cheered. When the match actually started there was no heat at all, so it looks like we have another gimmick that is hot during their entrance then absolutely dies when the bell rings.

9 Sami Zayn vs. Corey Graves

Tom Phillips said JBL had booked the match, we of course didn’t see the elusive GM make the announcement. They should just bring Dusty back and forget that he had the experience not to stand in the ring like an idiot and get buried by Stephanie. Graves got the heat with some shots and a side headlock. Sami went for a dive, but Graves moved out of the way then after a break Sami was in full comeback mode and got some near-falls with a high cross and a blue thunder bomb. Graves delivered a chopblock and tried for the Fuller-lock; Sami countered into a roll-up for two then he tried for his lucha tornado DDT. Graved countered and went for a fireman’s carry , but Sami caught him with a rollup for the finish. – Sami Zayn defeated Corey Graves via pinfall, at 5:31 (TV Time). – Match didn’t really have enough time to be anything more than a basic affair. Over the past month it seemed like Graves was being set up as the first challenger for Adrian Neville, it looks like that has been annexed for now and Graves will feud with Sami. I expect a decent program, however I can’t see Graves moving upward after he’s done with Sami, who needs to come out on top of a program himself after losing out in his runs with and Cesaro.

Not a bad follow up to the stellar Arrival show. Neville got a solid win and they began the first stages of a Zayn/Graves feud, however the thing that stuck out as most memorable was the Adam Rose debut. It was a wacky, fun deal that is probably worth checking out before it becomes passé, which could happen at any time since Rose’s in ring wasn’t much different from his Leo Kruger persona. I still believe he is meant to be a heel, however the act is so damn wacky that I can see people falling in love the first time they see the thing. If you’re looking for matches that are a similar calibre to what we got on Arrival then you will most likely be disappointed; Zayn/Graves was ok, however with more time they are capable of much better and everything else was by the numbers stuff. My advice would be just to check out the Adam Rose deal, it really was something else.

WWE SmackDown – March 7th 2014. Joe Louis Arena: Detroit, MI Ben Carass.

A recap of the Bryan/Authority angle from Raw started the show then Batista hit the ring for the opening segment. He talked about destroying last week then claimed he did the same to the “sawn-off little troll”, Daniel Bryan on Raw. Batista said he was the real superhero and the person fans paid to see, however he explained that he was humble enough to not need their support or cheers. Bryan came out and asked the people if Dave was their hero, to which they responded, “No”. Dave told Bryan that the business went to hell when they started letting “fans” in the locker- room and instructed Bryan to go buy a ticket for the box office to watch him main event WrestleMania. Bryan made fun of Batista’s skinny jeans (rightfully so) and said he should be embarrassed that a “fan” nearly took him out on Raw. Big Dave stated he was bigger, stronger, faster and better looking than Bryan and said the WWE Universe was now his Universe and Bryan was lucky to exist in it. Bryan made fun of Dave’s ridiculous dress sense, his bellybutton tattoo and his nose ring, which made Batista go after him. Bryan ducked and took Dave out with a dropkick. Kane showed up and Batista jumped Bryan from behind; Kane and Big Dave stomped Bryan until the ran down to make the save. showed up and booked a tag match, holla playa! – So last week I was unsure if Batista’s promo was meant to be a heel promo or not, which tells me they did a pretty damn poor job of turning him if that was the case. This week was much better and there was no ambiguity here; Dave was all out heel. Anybody in their right mind can see that Orton/Batista is not going to work, so you have to think they will put Bryan in there too right? They can’t possibly be that stupid not to have him beat Triple H as a way into the title match.

10 Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler

Alberto Del Rio was on commentary and they showed Christian jumping Sheamus on Raw. Dolph took a slingshot into the steps for the heat spot; Christian got a near-fall with a dropkick from the second rope and beat up Ziggler some more. Dolph caught Christian with a dropkick and started his comeback then delivered a DDT and a top rope X-factor for his near-falls. Finish saw Del Rio jump on the announce desk and he started yelling at Dolph in Spanish, Christian capitalised on the distraction with the killswitch for the pin. – Christian defeated Dolph Ziggler via pinfall, at 5:49 (TV Time). Renee Young tried to interview Christian afterwards, however Sheamus hit the ring and landed some shots. Christian avoided the brogue-kick and escaped up the ramp. – Ziggler/Del Rio and Sheamus/Christian can’t possibly be undercard feuds for Mania. We’ve seen them wrestle each other a thousand times and while the matches are usually very good, two rehashed singles matches will do nothing to lift the excitement for a WrestleMania that is already looking incredibly average. Match was nothing special; Christian took pretty much the whole thing, which you can’t really complain about given how Zigger has been booked recently.

Non-Title Match: The Usos (WWE Champions) vs. &

Axel low-bridged Jimmy and the heels got the heat. Jey ran wild off the hot tag and nailed Ryback with a full-nelson bomb then a Samoan-drop. For the finish, the Usos drilled Ryback with a double super-kick then Jimmy took out Axel with a plancha and Jey pinned Ryback with a superfly splash. – The Usos defeated Curtis Axel & Ryback via pinfall, at 4:21. – The first two matches for the Usos as champions have been against complete geek teams. Let’s hope with all the tag teams splitting up there are plans to make some more strong contenders, as it would be a shame if the titles revert back to the irrelevance of a couple of years ago.

Kane was backstage with ; he said Bryan got lucky on Main Event and claimed the constant challenges to Triple H were a result of Bryan’s anger problems. Kane stated he would cure Bryan by ripping his beard off his face.

Natalya & vs. AJ Lee (WWE Diva’s Champion) & Tamina

Eva did the selling, it was atrocious and nobody cared at all. Nattie tried to pick things up with her comeback and hit a modified Michinoku driver. Nattie countered the black widow and tapped AJ out with the sharpshooter. – Natalya & Eva Marie defeated AJ Lee & Tamina via submission, at 3:55. – Eva oozes so much anti-charisma, she makes Rory McDonald look like Randy Savage. It’s not her fault that she is being put in the ring, however I’m here to comment on her performance, which was terrible. Nattie tapping out AJ maybe a contingency plan if isn’t ready to go at Mania or they may have just decided to go with Nattie regardless, either way it is probably time for a new Diva’s champ.

The Paul Bearer Hall of Fame video rolled then Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns came through the crowd for, as Cole put it, “a Shield summit”. They showed Rollins walking out during the match on Raw. Ambrose talked about Rollins not having their backs and feeling betrayed then he called out Rollins, who appeared from the side of the stage. Reigns told Seth his explanation had better be good and Rollins explained that the war was within the Shield, not with the Wyatts, however he still sacrificed himself for the greater good. Ambrose blew up and declared that he fought off the Wyatts, while Seth just walked off; Rollins replied that his walk-out united Ambrose and Reigns for the first time in months, which proved his point. Rollins said they could go their separate ways and be fine,

11 but if they united as a group they could do what they have done since day one and take back the entire WWE. Ambrose was not impressed and he shoved Rollins to the mat; Reigns then shoved over Ambrose and Seth slapped Dean in the face. Rollins said that made him feel better and started to offer Ambrose the same opportunity, however Dean slapped Seth before he could finish talking. Rollins asked if they were done and extended his fist; Reigns joined him first then Ambrose finally put his fist in to make up the Shield’s signature pose. – It was clear that even though they stood united, there was still tension in the Shield; it felt like a similar deal to when you try kid yourself into staying in a relationship that you know is doomed yet you try make it work because of the all the history that went into it. They delivered their lines well, however some of the logic was a little flimsy.

Sheamus vs.

Sheamus had his elbow taped up and he took it outside early, where he delivered a Finlay-roll on the floor; Del Rio dropkicked the bad arm into the steps then continued to work over the arm during the heat. Sheamus went through his comeback routine, however Del Rio cut him off and landed a superkick for a near-fall. Sheamus countered the armbreaker and delivered the Irish curse for a two count. Del Rio came back with a double-knee armbreaker and slapped on the armbar; Sheamus powered his way out of the hold, but Del Rio applied it again and Sheamus got to the ropes. The finish saw the referee admonishing Del Rio for using the ropes to work over Sheamus’ arm then Sheamus caught Del Rio with the brogue-kick. – Sheamus defeated Alberto Del Rio via pinfall, at 6:46 (TV Time). – More of the same for these two; not bad, but far from remarkable. Maybe there will be a multi-man match at Mania featuring Del Rio, Sheamus, Christian and Ziggler; I would do Money in the Bank, however I highly doubt that will happen so we’ll have to wait and see what they do with these four guys, if anything.

A backstage promo from the Wyatts aired. Harper said that Cena needed to realise that everything he worked for was a big load of nothing then Bray took over with his usual routine of rambling. Bray said Cena’ legacy was a huge burden on his shoulders and he would warm his hands as he watched that legacy burn.

Saxton interviewed Big Dave in the back. Batista stated that he would run through Bryan and Show then start to concentrate on what he should have been all along, beating at WrestleMania and becoming the WWE World Champion.

Lana introduced Alexander Rusev, who came out and stood on his podium to speak in Bulgarian. It was a whole lot of nothing. They hyped Undertaker for Raw then showed Triple H claiming he was

12 not scared of facing Daniel Bryan at Mania from his weekly dotcom interview with Cole.

Daniel Bryan & Big Show vs. Batista & Kane

The babyfaces shone for pretty much the entire match; Show took Kane and Batista over with a double and Bryan landed a tope on both of them. JBL compared Show to Giant Haystacks/Loch Ness, which I thought was a little harsh; Show is at least capable of having a *** match after all. Bryan drilled Batista with some kicks then Dave landed a spinebuster for a near-fall. Bryan countered a superplex and nailed Kane with a dropkick; Big Dave hit Bryan with a spear and called for the Batista bomb. Bryan countered with a head-kick and Show ran wild on Kane off the hot tag then sent Batista into the ring post. They played off the finish from Main Event, as Bryan countered a and tried for a roll-up but Kane held onto the ropes. Show hit Kane with the KO punch from the floor and Bryan got the pin. – Daniel Bryan & Big Show defeated Batista &

Kane via pinfall at 7:08 (TV Time). Show put Bryan on his shoulder for some “Yes” chants as the show closed. – Bryan and Show looked very strong here; there was a tiny heat segment, however this was a dominant win for the babyface team. With only 4 weeks of TV to go until WrestleMania, they really should have Triple H accept Bryan’s challenge this coming Monday; watching Bryan wrestle Kane is getting pretty tiresome, and they need to kick the build to the Hunter match into high gear quickly. Although, after the closing segment of Raw it certainly seemed like they were setting Bryan up to feud with Batista and Orton as well. They may be holding off the announcement of Bryan getting a spot in the title match if he beats Hunter as a surprise for down the line, which I suppose doesn’t really matter anymore as the concept of building to a PPV is quickly becoming obsolete. All that really matters is Bryan getting into the title match somehow, I cannot fathom what will happen if they stubbornly stick with Orton and Big Dave.

Typical mediocre SmackDown, things happened that appeared important but in reality they weren’t. The Shield segment was good and probably most noteworthy, however there will likely be a similar/more significant deal on Raw anyway. Apparently they set up some mid-card Mania matches with Sheamus/Christian/Del Rio/Ziggler, yee-haw, and Bryan pinned Kane for the second time in a week, so you would think it is time for him to “move up” to Hunter. It may be WrestleMania season but I am still yet to catch the buzz, although a few more shows the calibre of

13 last Monday’s Raw will certainly go a long way to help. The best we can hope for out of SmackDown over the next month is probably some good wrestling matches and maybe an angle or two for some undercard feuds.

Bits & Pieces

There was a relatively mistake in last week's issue. In the NJPW piece I made reference to a “1989 UWFi/NJPW” match, in actual fact it was supposed to read “1988 UWF/NJPW”.

I watched the NXT Arrival special this week, and the Cesaro/Zayn match was up there with some of the best TV matches of the year so far, which is high praise. Around the **** ¼ level.

Enthusiasm over the WWE Network launch and a potential spike in television rights fees later this year has led to a surge in the WWE stock prise. Up until Friday the price was soaring higher day by day, but once the price began to tend towards $32.00 per share, many long time holders decide to take their earnings and sold a good 6.4% of the total shares. Still, at this time the stock price is lying at around $29.6 per share, which is a considerable increase from the $23 or so it sat at before the Network launch, and even the $26 earlier this week.

It is expected that AJ Styles will be booked on a New Japan tour some time within the next few months. Chances are strong that he will take part in the April tour. The addition of Styles in, what I hope will be, a semi-regular gaijin role will be a tremendous step up from the Michael Tarvers and Big Daddy Yum Yums of . Even if he is booked in the mid-card, which I don't see being the case, his presence should make a difference to the overall quality of the cards he is booked on.

In one of the more surprising WWE signings since 2012, Drake Younger has signed a developmental deal this week. What may be even more surprising still is that Drake Younger is only 29 years of age. He debuted at the age of 17. Still, over the past couple of years Younger has established himself amongst the general independent audience, as not only a death match wrestler, but also a very good overall performer. He has been working very hard for a long time, so hopefully he gets somewhere in the WWE.

Beloved Japanese indie promotion Osaka Pro, announced this week that it would be closing its doors after running a final show on April 20th . In addition, Diamond Ring will be taking an indefinite hiatus after their March 9th show. The Japanese indie scene is a little crowded at the moment, but it is most certainly a negative sign when Osaka Pro, a promotion established in 1998, was sent out of business. They fill a niche in the indie puro market that few other promotions apart from DDT really have. Diamond Ring is a company that mainly ran shows using outside talent in the past, but hopefully they get back up and running giving talent some other avenues. I have spoken of the over-saturation in pure before, but that was in reference to promotions like AJPW and Wrestle-1, and not the indies. Hopefully Diamond Ring makes it back soon.

Next week we will be looking at the NJPW Anniversary show together with what is, at least for now, the final Diamond Ring main event in Kensuke Sasaki vs. Nakajima in Sasaki's retirement match. We were going to look at some of the most recent NOAH shows today too, but ended up running out of time – so expect those next week.

Next Week's Issue

Next week we will be covering the NJPW 42nd Anniversary iPPV headlined by Kazuchika

14 Okada/Kota Ibushi, more on the CM Punk situation if anything surfaces, RAW on the Road to Mania, Mania plans, a bit of NOAH and Diamond Ring, ratings, SmackDown, NXT and more!

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