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air_raid

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  1. After all these years it’s pretty surreal that they’ve become able to make me cheer for Miz.
  2. Ah, memories of the Raw Bowl. Hey…. do you think Tony could get hold of Sid’s number?
  3. FEBRUARY 2019 Some of these cards look rough as fuck. On top of Lesnar nor Cena being around several top stars are hurt or half fit. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN The Man is off - 2nd-4th in Vancouver, Spokane and Yakima its Daniel Bryan vs Samoa Joe vs Mustafa Ali for the WWE title but in Washington Asuka vs Charlotte goes on last. 9th-11th the stars are back - AJ Styles vs Randy Orton goes on last in DeKalb (IL), Fort Wayne and Canton. 16th in Alexandria it's back to Bryan vs Styles for the belt, 18th in Lake Charles AJ & Rey Mysterio vs Bryan & Orton - strange bedfellows. 23rd/24th in Columbia and Greenville Asuka v Charlotte is on last again, 25th in Savannah Rey & Jeff Hardy beat Orton and Joe. THE CARDS Jeff Hardy vs Shelton Benjamin sounds decent, its twice R-Truth vs Shinsuke Nakamura vs Rusev for the US title (which repeats in Savannah), Kairi Sane & Carmella vs The Iiconics and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe on short shows week 1. In week 2 Jeff and The Miz face The Bar, Truth twice defends against Andrade (also repeats in Savannah), Asuka vs Charlotte runs twice more (repeats in Savannah), Carmella & Naomi vs Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville happens in DeKalb and Fort Wayne - Naomi vs Mandy in singles happens before that tag in DeKalb and in lieu of it in Canton (and again in Lake Charles). There's also three rounds of Shelton vs Tye Dillinger, and of Rusev & Nakamura vs New Day vs The Usos and two of Samoa Joe vs Mustafa Ali. New Day vs Bar in Vancouver and Alexandria straddles two loops. In Louisiana we return to Jeff vs Joe, we have EC3 beating Dillinger then talking himself into another match which he loses to Benjamin, Asuka vs Charlotte rolls on. Usos vs New Day vs Rusev & Nakamura kicks off in Lake Charles and runs into the final loop, twice the UST match is Truth vs Andrade vs Rey Mysterio, we get Miz tagging with AJ Styles vs The Bar, the Club now beat EY & Killian Dain and twice Nikki Cross & Lacey Evans beat Billie & Peyton, two more repeats of Hardy vs Joe and three of Asuka vs Charlotte. VARIATIONS Vancouver has one more entry to the Mysterio vs Andrade saga. In Spokane there's Truth vs Nakamura vs Rusev vs Andrade and another of the endless New Dar vs Bar vs Usos matches. In Yakima a swap has New Day vs Young & Wolfe and Usos vs Bar vs Club, in Canton there are missing bodies, it's Truth vs Joe vs Andrade and Asuka vs Sonya. Finally unique to Savannah Shelton puts over Bryan's new goon, Erick Rowan. MAIN EVENTS - RAW 1st/2nd in Saskatoon and Regina its Bobby Lashley vs Finn Balor vs Drew McIntyre vs Dean Ambrose for the ICT. 8th/9th the Braun Strowman vs Baron Corbin no DQ match no goes on last in Ottawa and Oshawa, then again 15th/16th in Edinburg and Laredo and 23rd/24th in Tupelo and Montgomery. THE CARDS Braun Strowman vs Baron Corbin no DQ, Apollo Crews vs Elias, tag title of Bobby Roode & Chad Gable vs The Revival and Bayley & Natalya vs rotating Riott Squad are highlights of week 1 in Saskatchewan, plus Nikki Cross vs Tamina and Titus O'Neil, Heath Slater & Rhino vs Rezar & The Ascension... ouch. In Ontario, Finn Balor vs Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush in a handicap starts up, Elias is now losing to Drew McIntyre, it's Bayley, Nattie & Dana Brooke vs Mickie James, Alicia Fox & Cross, it's The Ascension vs Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins (the Edgeheads reunite!!), Roode/Gable vs Revival go on and.... EC3 vs Dean Ambrose has Deano do jobs he'll be fairly vocal about later, as knowing it's a bit of a "fuck you" for not renewing. In Texas we finally get some star power back with Ronda Rousey vs Ruby Riott, its Lashley vs Ambrose vs Crews for the ICT, all three Lucha House Party vs Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers, Tyler Breeze vs Mojo Rawley, still Elias losing to Drew and Bobby & Chad are now chasing new tag champs Dash & Dawson. Last two shows - Balor defends his newly won ICT against Lashley, Sasha Banks & Bayley defend the brand spanking new Womens tag team titles against Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan, Ambrose is now losing to Drew, Titus/Slater/Rhino beat Jinder/Sunil/Samir, she's finally good to go on the road again but Alexa Bliss loses to Natalya, Revival vs Roode/Gable and Mojo vs Breeze continue. VARIATION - ONE! In Tupelo only Titus goes to a DQ with Jinder before the six-man ; for Montgomery they realize that's overkill and only do the six-man. MAIN EVENTS - NXT 1st in Casselberry its War Raiders vs Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish for the tag belts, next night in Lakeland a mostly different crew is topped by Ricochet & Street Profits vs Steve Cutler, Wesley Blake & Jaxson Ryker. We're off to the North East for another two pairs of matching cards - 8th in Poughkeepsie and 10th in Kingston RI it's Johnny Gargano vs Velveteen Dream for the NAT while 7th in Toms River and 9th in Lowell it's former enemies Dream & Ricochet vs former enemies Johnny Wrestling & Tommaso Ciampa. 14th in Bartow, Dream & Matt Riddle face Fabian Aichner & Marcel Bathel, 16th in St Augustine the Raiders and Aleister Black beat the Forgotten Sons. 21st in Sebring and 24th in Daytona Beach Dream defends against Luke Menzies, 22nd in Fort Pierce the Raiders defend against former champs Strong & Kyle O'Reilly. Finally 28th in Columbus (OH) Gargano vs Adam Cole is on last. B shows - these are getting steadily better. While the title feud runs the North East its Aleister Black vs Kona Reeves 7th in Ocala, next night Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish vs Street Profits in St Petersburg, 9th in Sanford Aleister vs Riddick Moss. 28th in Tampa while the top guys are in Ohio, Moss loses to Matt Riddle. CARDS The North East has two instances of each of Shayna Baszler vs Candice LeRae for the Womens title and War Raiders vs Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler and two defences vs Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner, two rounds each of Ricochet vs Kassius Ohno and Matt Riddle vs Dominik Dijakovic (repeats in Fort Pierce), and Ohno vs Dijakovic, none of which go well for our "Hero." It's Kairi Sane & Io Shirai vs Marina Shafir & Jessamyn Duke and Bianca Belair vs Deonna Purrazzo or its Candice vs Deonna (repeats in Lakeland) and Kairi/Io/Bianca vs Baszler/Shafir/Duke. Aichner & Barthel have two nights with Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan (repeating in St Augustine) the same nights as Jaxson Ryker vs Mansoor, other nights it's Riddle/Burch/Lorcan vs all 3 Forgotten Sons. Thereafter, Baszler vs Belair for the belt also runs in Casselberry, Fort Pierce and Columbus. It's Keith Lee vs Punishment Martinez in Ocala and Sanford and Martinez vs Brennan WIlliams in Lakeland and St Augustine, otherwise it's Riddle vs Babatunde in St Augustine and Sebring, Rhea Ripley vs Mia Yim recurs in St Petersburg and Bartow, Reina Gonzalez vs Lacey Lane in Sanford and Sebring and Chelsea Green vs Jessie Elaban repeats in Lakeland, Ocala, Fort Pierce, Daytona Beach AND Tampa! VARIATIONS - EXHAUSTING Casselberry - Keith vs Ohno, Dream vs Riddick Moss, Riddle vs Luke Menzies, Io & Taynara Conti vs Vanessa Borne & Aliyah. Lakeland - Johnny Gargano vs Humberto Carrillo, Keith & Mia vs Kona Reeves & Vanessa. Ocala - Adam Cole vs Williams, Carrillo & Xi Li vs Moss & Aliyah, Lane & Mia vs Reina & Rhea. St Petersburg - Cole vs Martinez, Carrillo vs Moss, Lane & MJ Jenkins vs Borne & Aliyah. Sanford - Cole & Bobby Fish vs Street Profits, a Denzel Dejournette & MJ vs Reeves & Borne. Bartow - why so many mixed tags?? Profits & Belair vs Cole, O'Reilly & Shafir, Dejournette & MJ vs Menzies & Deonna, Kavita Devi & Jeet Rama vs Raul Mendoza & Gonzalez, Babatunde & Lane vs Reeves & Borne. St Augustine - Mia & Jessie vs Aliyah & Borne, Ohno vs Dejournette, Deonna vs Chelsea. Sebring - Raiders vs Dejournette & Eric Bugenhagen (Rick Boogs), Lee vs Ryker, MJ vs Aliyah, Kavita & Rama vs Reeves & Borne. Fort Pierce - Profits vs Blake & Ryker. Daytona - Aleister Black vs Dijakovic, Martinez/Burch/Lorcan vs Roderick Strong & reDRagon, Belair/Mia/Xia vs Baszler/Duke/Shafir. Tampa - Mendoza vs Menzies, Montez Ford vs Barthel, Borne & Aliyah vs Lane & Karen Q (Wendy Choo). Finally a loaded Columbus - Raiders vs reDRagon for the tag belts, Dream vs Strong for the NAT, Martinez vs Ohno, Lee vs Dijakovic, Black & Ricochet vs Cutler & Ryker, Candice & Mia vs Rhea & Reina. TVs 4th Raw - Ronda continues her march beating Liv then Logan in back to back matches, Ambrose loses to EC3 on telly, Kurt Angle tags with Braun to go to a non finish with Corbin & McIntyre and having made an appearance in the Rumble last month Jeff Jarrett appears on Raw for the first time in 24 years to lose to Elias. Next night Machinery vs Young & Wolfe and Asuka vs Charlotte bookend the taping. Week after on Raw Kurt/Braun/Balor beat Lashley/McIntyre/Corbin and Revival win the tag belts. Night after its Machinery vs Sanity again but no dark main after 205 - boo. The Champion PPV on the 17th has the Usos beat Shane McMahon & Miz for the other tag belts, Balor beat Lashley & Rush in a handicap for the ICT, Ronda crush Ruby, Sasha & Bayley win an enjoyable Chamber to become the first womens tag team champions and Bryan retain the WWE title with a closing stretch against Kofi (in for the injured Mustafa Ali) which gets such a great reaction that after already losing Bryan vs Ali for Mania, they hastily scrap plans for Bryan vs Kevin Owens in favour of Bryan vs Kingston. Next nights Raw, Ruby lasts slightly longer with Ronda but loses again. Next night in New Orleans Truth & Rey beating the Colons is a hell of a treat dark, Asuka vs Charlotte on last again. Wednesday 20th at Full Sail Menzies vs Boogs and Cole vs Martinez are the bonus matches, Saturday and Sunday NXT:UK tapes in Coventry with Isla Dawn vs Killer Kelly as Saturday's dark match, highlight being Walter aiding Pete Dunne beat Joe Coffey & Mark Coffey, then Sunday its Ilja Dragunov vs Ashton Smith as the only dark match. 25th Raw in Atlanta Angle beats Jinder, next night in Charlotte Machinery beat the Colons, Matt Hardy returns to tag with Jeff against The Bar, and Asuka beats Charlotte yet again. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Revival (Raw Tag Team Champions) by DIY, AGAIN by Ricochet & Black, Asuka (SmackDown Womens Champion) by Mandy DEPARTURES These are the last house shows for Alicia Fox. She'll do two more TV matches in April then not wrestle for fucking ages, doing the 21 and 22 Rumbles and a handful more TV matches before finally confirming her contract expired in May 23. She says she'll wrestle again somewhere but thus far hasn't. I'm not going to lie, I never thought any of her matches were any good, but she is aesthetically pleasing. From memory, TV doesn't do her justice. Hideo Itami is let go from his deal on 22nd after requesting a release in January - oddly on 4th of the month they'll put a superb "behind the scenes" video up on YouTube about his last week there which made him look far more valuable than he had for years in terms of actually getting used on TV. He'll revert to "KENTA" and immediately get a gig in New Japan and have plenty more bangers, later describing his time in WWE as "the most frustrating days of my life."
  4. The treatment of Ted Jr was really odd. At Elimination Chamber he got a fairly good pop for betraying Orton - in Randy's hometown, no less - and the scene seemed set for Ted to be the babyface and Cody to side with Orton over him. For whatever reason, Simply Priceless stayed together, it was Orton that turned face, then beat them both by himself at Mania. The end of Ted and setting Cody back quite considerably.
  5. It was a one note joke though wasn’t it? Once every arena on the circuit has had a turn singing the tune, you ask “OK, what else is there?” And it turned out, not much.
  6. Was absolutely not his first pro match though, was it?
  7. Which is clearly the biggest fall ever, if you listen to Jericho. “Not everyone gets to beat a Chris Jericho in their first match.” Did you know he was the first Undisputed Champion too?
  8. Was absolutely not his first pro match though, was it?
  9. Lost somewhere in the story of Sable, between the manner of her exit and the lawsuit, the surprise of her return, that she ended up marrying Brock Lesnar and how great her boobs looked at Fully Loaded, was a really rather good debut match at WrestleMania XIV. I wasn’t expecting much for an total non-wrestler opposite a nutter like Luna Vachon, maybe that she’d take a few minutes abuse and catch a sneaky roll up if they wanted a crowd pleasing win. But Boston went crazy when she smashed her with a lovely powerbomb and again with that smooth TKO for the win. To be fair, they had. She was believable in the ring and got good pops, and though she found the road schedule tough she still made house shows and could be relied upon to draw a decent house when they had a lack of star power with Lesnar absent and Reigns battling cancer. They turned her heel for the Mania run in because Becky needed to be the only hero of the story, and Ronda was even better at being a smug bitch. Had she not gone off to make babies we’d probably already be talking about her as one of the best of all time.
  10. That match was absolutely cursed. Christian and Del Rio were both scheduled at different points to be on Team Johnny but Christian got hurt, then they couldn’t be bothered rushing Bertie back from injury for such an inconsequential match (they’d planned for him to wrestle Orton before he got injured). Miz’ fall was pretty rapid too, The Awesome Truth had played a major spoiler role in the Cena vs Punk vs Del Rio title scene of autumn 2011 and of course wrestled Cena & Rock at Survivor Series, so it was unusual to see them lost in the shuffle by Mania time. It was all window dressing for the real story ; Eve betraying Ryder and proving that in the end, like EVERY woman in WWE history to that point, she turned out to be just another Jezebel.
  11. Just a thought I had. If Otis is teaming with Tozawa instead of Gable in qualifiers for the tag team clusterfuck, might Gable still get added to the ICT match?
  12. The funny thing is, they did get TV episodes that felt the same as SNME did back in the day for filling that gap between the PPV meetings, during the first round of single brand PPVs - the other show would have a “big” episode of TV the month the other had the PPV. Examples being the week that Raw had Unforgiven 2003, SmackDown put on the Angle vs Lesnar Iron Man match. The month after SmackDown had No Mercy so Raw did Goldberg vs HBK for the belt.
  13. Re : Theory - so, if he’s not part of the tag team title clusterfuck, can I assume he won’t actually wrestle at Mania? If so, he’ll go from beating John Cena last year to being left off the card this year, which surely has got to be the worst drop off from one Mania to the next for someone still on the active roster since King Kong Bundy went from wrestling Hulk Hogan at 2, to wrestling Little Beaver at 3.
  14. Oh I get it, different strokes for different blokes. Like I acknowledge that while after Usos vs Zayn & Owens last year had such a story and commanded such respect on the card, I’d have liked to have seen the story (which has build) of Judgment Day vs Truth & Miz afforded the same treatment, that equally plenty of people don’t mind the tag team championship being the centrepiece of another “throw a load of guys at it” clusterfuck. I know we’re very much removed from the days that the Harts or LOD could go on last and still draw a full house in South Bend Indiana or Red Deer, Alberta, buts it’s nice to see them present the tag belts as worthy of telling a real story when there’s a chance. And this was a chance.
  15. Maybe I should rephrase ; I couldn’t pick any hole in these eloquent words and on paper it absolutely does read like it should get on a Mania card. But I find myself nowhere near as invested in it to merit so. It’s probably because I feel like everything peaked at Money In The Bank after they’d fallen out once over Zayn then reunited, stood up to Reigns and beaten him. I didn’t buy Jey as a challenger to Roman second time round and it felt unnecessary, and Jimmy betraying his brother felt very “Jesus, there’s more of this, is there?” It’s probably a factor but for whatever reason I’ve never latched onto either as a singles wrestler. Supporting players in the overall bigger story though they’ve been, it still feels for me personally a bit like if the Smoking Gunns split had made it to a match at Mania 13. Except in this case, they’re both Bart.
  16. I really liked Test for the first 12 months of his run, he seemed to have all the tools ; he was big, agile, had a couple of big moves that really popped a crowd, and after leaving the Corporation was really popular. I genuinely thought he’d be a main event star and the match with Shane O at SummerSlam remains one of my favourite Attitude soap opera matches to go back and rewatch. When he was not on the card for Survivor Series and scuttlebutt was that Austin was in no condition to wrestle, I was convinced he would take part in the triple threat for hated enemy Triple H’s title.. maybe even win it, would have been perfect revenge. But he didn’t. The death knell for my hopes that he’d ever be allowed to get near that level was when it was Vince rather that him that went into Armageddon seeking revenge on Hunter for the rohypnotisation of Steph, and the notion that turning on her dad (babyface of two months) would make her more of a heel than turning on her fiancé never sat well with me. Rendered a pointless split as it was at Mania 16 in an awful moment of “are we sure Russo isn’t still writing it?” When they threw T&A together they may as well have stamped “DUD” on his forehead. Without going into too much detail, as I’m more than capable of doing, he was then cursed with mishandling in a couple of ways. Worst of all, a couple of subsequent babyface runs it seemed they always turned him heel just as he was finding his groove again. Plus, they could never stick to a finish for him. I thought his pump handle powerslam was fine (though my favourite move of his was that gutwrench falling powerbomb), but they decided that him doing a top rope flying elbow was so visually impressive it had to be his finish. Then they replaced it with the boot, I’m guessing after one of his heel turns because heels can’t do anything that pops a crowd, right? Finally they tried the Test Drive, a move about 10 guys have tried in company history and only Cody has gotten over. I feel knowing what your finish is and sticking with it is vital to getting over as a threat ; it’s no coincidence HBK really stepped up once he started relying on the superkick to win every match and not going home with whatever flying elbow or piledriver he was in the mood for that evening. As for Test… losing to Stevie Richards all those times was the writing on the wall. A shame, he’d have slotted well back into Raw’s busy tag team scene at that exact moment. Replace “Garrison” Cade with him at Mania XX and tell me that clusterfuck wouldn’t have been more interesting? His second run I barely recall except it was a perfect storm of injuries and broken promises. Another of wrestlings tragedies, in a twisted irony considering his “Mötley Crüe bodyguard” fictional backstory, it was heroin that took him in the end, though I don’t imagine the roids helped. A real shame, there were times (rightly or wrongly) I got the impression he was a good lad, the warmth with which he told the “I’ll tell them Test said to cancel the show” story would always come up when my best mate and I would have our fairly regular Owen reminiscence.
  17. I wish they’d gone with Paul vs Knight vs Styles vs Owens and Orton & Jey vs Jimmy & Solo, rather than Styles vs Knight, Jey vs Jimmy and whatever they’re doing with the others. Knight winning the US title would have been nice recognition for how popular he’s become and a bit of actual success after failing to win the big belt in two cracks, four feels like a good number for a “constant action” midcard title match when plenty of other matches on the cards will be fairly deliberately paced. There will be plenty plenty of “meat on the bones” singles matches in Roman vs Cody, Rollins vs McIntyre, Gunther vs Zayn, Io vs Bayley and Ripley vs Lynch.* Plus Orton would finally get some of that revenge on the Bloodline on the big stage which he’s talked about on TV but thus far not really extracted. I know there’s a nice long build established between Uso and Uso, since SummerSlam Jimmys actually cost his brother the whole Triple Crown in separate title matches, but just like I never really bought Reigns vs Jey as a World title match, I don’t really buy Uso vs Uso as a singles match worthy of getting on the Mania card when lots of guys will end up in padded out multi-people clusterfucks. If anything I’d rather, as I said previously, the card be swelled by separating those other teams out from the straightforward story of Judgment Day vs Awesome Truth. Then you’d still have four matches for the card but… well, they’d be closer to achieving what I want. As it is there’s going to be less shine on guys like Miz, Truth and potentially Knight (unless he’s going over) than there could have been. * I retract this sentiment if they add Belair vs Cargill.
  18. I heard it was because of Jack Perry?
  19. Not to be arsed quoting my own posts again because I don’t want to give Bacon an embolism, but… nor should you. Never believe anything Tokyo Sports prints beyond who won what match. Especially not finances. Well, or attendances. Well, or matches that are signed but not been announced on telly yet. Or anything. I’m still waiting for Kurt Angle vs Kenta Kobashi for Noah’s belt.
  20. This is what I’ve been getting at when I’ve said I’d do Reigns vs Rock at SummerSlam then potentially Cody vs Rock (if that’s on the cards) at Mania 41. We still end up with Rock vs Reigns on last and overshadowing Cody, we just get it next year instead of this year. That said… at least it looks like we’ll get Cody winning THE title at the landmark Mania and getting his run, so I’ll live with it. Even John Cena had to make do with just being on the card rather than on last at a few Manias (3 in a row in fact) during his peak title-winning years, once he’s made it to the top. Once he’d made it…. As long as Cody still makes it.
  21. Good times, great memories. I’d be lying if I said TWC was solely responsible for my shifting tastes because inspired by reading PS I’d already bought tapes from SiMania when I started getting bored of WWE and was becoming more and more inclined towards New Japan, classic All Japan and ROH. But it was a God send considering there’s only so much you want to spend on your wrestling and in those days committing to downloading a single match on 56kps dial up was a difficult decision when you didn’t know if the match was any good yet. I still remember the excitement watching the Friendly TV previews, James Tighe vs Paul London from Frontiers Of Honor is a match I haven’t thought about for many years but at the time it was the best I match I’d seen for ages. A particularly strong memory was of the airing of Xplosion that came straight after AJ losing the NWA title back to Double J, and the double turn - a furious Styles absolutely crushed JR Ryder with a handful of dynamic moves and went home with a springboard 450. AJ was well on the way to becoming my favourite wrestler. When the channel started proper, it was awesome. Between terms at uni and with irregular sleep patterns it was great to know there was often something watching on in the small hours, even if it was a repeat. After a few tapes got filled of any matches I wanted to keep, soon I had dedicated tapes on the go for Noah, New Japan, New Japan Classics, GAEA and “misc.” While my horizons were already broadened beyond just “the Big 3” as was, my eyes were open further still to promotions I wouldn’t have watched before - TNA and ROH were the obvious sources of the exciting new names and/or former WCW/ECW talent you’d lost track of, CZW had some of that mix of exciting cruiserweight style and ECW style violence which while not my favourite, I still enjoyed from time to time. MLW and 3PW featured plenty of the same names and also occasionally threw up a fascinating match you’d never have thought of or that otherwise you were glad you’d had chance to see, the FWA kept you fairly up to date with Doug, Jonny and Jody and a gave a glimpse into who was coming through over here… I could go on. GAEA may have been the biggest eye opener for me as someone who’d only seen a few of mpegs of classic Joshi (old AJW mostly), it quickly became one of my favourite broadcasts and I credit TWC with why Meiko Satomura got and remained so over with British fans, after seeing her matches. And possibly in part because of the music video. While many individual matches stand out from getting to see them on TWC - several of Kobashi’s defences including the big Departure one against Akiyama, Trent Acid vs Teddy Hart in front of a rabid Viking Hall crowd, Meiko vs Akira Hokuto with the KO finish where they battered each other to exhaustion, the unforgettable first Styles & Red vs Briscoes ROH tag title match - a bigger impact (Impact?) on my fandom was to come. When the channel started showing the monthly TNA PPV on (IIRC) a one week delay, it actually changed my viewing habits. Between studying and getting a full time job as I was, I’d swap shifts at the pub to avoid working the Sunday that Destination X etc was going to be on, sometimes get a pizza delivered, and enjoy. Wrestling was scheduled viewing again for me, for the first time really since mid 2000. Finally, we can’t overlook International Showdown. Getting to see Musawa in person, getting to see Styles vs Daniels AND Joe vs Punk at or near the peak of their rivalries then meeting several talents including Mick Foley (stories I’ve told dozens of times), was all in all an unforgettable experience and I wore my TWC beanie for years afterwards until sadly misplacing it. Plus I got to buy ROH DVDs at intermission, choosing Generation Next (so I could see that groups genesis), Testing The Limit (for Aries vs Danielson) and Final Battle 2004 (for Joe vs Aries) - having only seen clips of Austin Aries in music videos, he was fast on his way to pushing AJ for my favourite wrestler. Seeing my gormless face actually on the telly chanting Mitsy’s name during his intro when they aired it was the peak of TWC for me personally, or at least up there with Blake Norton reading out my email on The Bagpipe Report - even if he did miss the point of my question somewhat. ROCK YOUR LIFE AWAY!
  22. That's OK, Hartford felt the same way. "He's a babyface, God damn it! Why didn't anyone tell me??"
  23. I think we may have collectively forgotten that Booker did 19 months in prison. I imagine he can handle himself.
  24. JANUARY 2019 I can't believe how settled these cards are. NXT aside, obviously. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 5th-7th in Greensboro, Fayetteville and North Charleston, 12th/13th in Johnson City and Lexington and 19th-21st in Sioux Falls, Omaha and Topeka it's still Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles for the WWE title but on all but Greensboro our consistent Womens title match of Asuka vs Becky Lynch vs Charlotte is going on last, as it did for three of the post-Christmas shows ; The Man is the main event. THE CARDS Much of week 1 is as you were - it's still Jeff Hardy vs Samoa Joe, US title rematches of Rusev vs Shinsuke Nakamura, (both repeat in Johnson City) the seemingly never-ending The Bar vs New Day for the tag straps, The Fabulous Truth vs Andrade & Zelina Vega and Mustafa Ali vs The Miz, with an addition of Lana & Nikki Cross vs Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville. Week 2 Lana partners Naomi instead, we're back to Shelton Benjamin, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs Aiden English, Primo & Epico, the tag title match has The Usos added (repeats in Topeka), still Miz beating Ali. In both Lexington and Topeka there's added Rey Mysterio vs English when losing the six-man isn't enough for Aiden ; in Sioux Falls and Omaha it's Jey Uso. Said six-man now has English tagging with a rotating two of Sanity, Truth vs Andrade is now one on one, it's twice Bar vs New Day, still Rusev/Nakamura, Hardy/Joe and Naomi & Lana vs Fire & Desire. VARIATION - ONE! Joe misses Lexington where it's Rusev vs Nakamura vs Hardy. MAIN EVENTS - RAW 4th-6th in Columbus (6000 is OK, they get 7000 for TVs), Tallahassee and Estero, 11 match bumper cards have Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins for the ICT on last with Big Match John underneath. 11th in Charleston and 13th in Huntsville John Cena vs Baron Corbin no DQ goes on last, 18th-20th in San Antonio, Abilene and Wichita Falls Rollins gets revenge on Ambrose in lumberjack matches. THE CARDS Consistency! Week 1 John Cena vs Baron Corbin goes on before intermission after Corbin upsets Braun Strowman by count-out (which in isolation repeats in San Antonio), Finn Balor vs Dolph Ziggler vs Drew McIntyre is our opener, Bobby Lashley vs Elias rolls on as does Bobby Roode & Chad Gable vs Authors of Pain for the tag belts. Sasha Banks vs Mickie James is followed by a six-woman where The Boss, Bayley and Ember Moon beat Mickie, Alicia Fox and Dana Brooke, plus there's Apollo Crews vs Jinder Mahal, a six man of Heath Slater, Rhino & Titus O'Neil vs Mojo Rawley, Curt Hawkins & Viktor, and a rotating two of Lucha House Party vs The Revival which sounds very much like The Rockers vs Tully & Arn for a new generation. Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins continues mid month as pre-intermission on Cena's shows, Elias is now losing to McIntyre, womens jiggery-fuckery has Natalya beat Ruby Riott by DQ then Nattie, Sasha and Bayley beat Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan, Buddy Murphy vs Cedric Alexander is back on for the CWT, we add Tyler Breeze, No Way Jose, Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas vs Jinder, Mojo, either Viktor or Konnor and one or the other of the Singh Brothers, House Party vs FTR continues. In Texas we get Ronda Rousey vs Nia Jax for the belt, Roode and Gable now with Dash & Dawson, Lashley vs Elias returns but now Bobby has the Intercontinental title, so is Balor vs Drew vs Dolph back on, it's Sasha/Bayley/Ember/Nattie vs Mickie/Riott Squad, and two nights or Corbin losing to Crews. VARIATION - ONE! Unique to San Antonio after Corbin beats Strowman by count-out, he's forced to wrestle Kurt Angle - but sadly, he beats him. MAIN EVENTS - NXT 4th in Atlanta and 6th in Durham NC its Aleister Black & Velveteen Dream vs Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano ; inbetween its Dream & Ricochet tagging in Spartanburg with Aly vs Adam Cole underneath. 10th in Largo it’s Ochet, Matt Riddle & Keith Lee vs Gargano, Kassius Ohno & Shane Thorne, 11th in Fort Pierce it's EC3 & Heavy Machinery vs Steve Cutler, Wesley Blake & Jaxson Ryker, 12th in Casselberry it’s a tag team gauntlet with a mix of teams you might care about (Machinery, Burch & Lorcan, Mendoza & Carrillo) and some you definitely don’t, won by Cole & Bobby Fish. 17th in Venice Ric, Keith and the Dream down Fish, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong, next night in Tampa (Freebird rule, ugh) Bob and Rod defend the tag belts against Raul Mendoza & Humberto Carrillo, 19th in Citrus Springs 7 out of 9 matches are something called the Unleash The Universe tournament - it has an international flavour and features mostly guys you haven’t heard of or don’t care about, with a Stacey Ervin Jr vs Mansoor final. We get to California for the Rumble weekend, Thursday 24th in San Diego its Black vs Gargano, Friday in Riverside it's Dream vs Cole. B shows - 4th in Jacksonville its Street Profits vs Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs Adrian Jaoude & Cezar Bononi vs Rinku Singh & Saurav Gurjar, next night in Crystal River Io Shirai & Candice LeRae vs Shayna Baszler & Jessamyn Duke. 25th in Phoenix we might as well call the first Axxess show a house show as only two matches get used for NXT:UK - Heavy Machinery vs Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel on first is likely the biggest match, it's damn sure not what went on last. THE CARDS Twice in week 1 it's Ricochet vs Shane Thorne for the NAT, EC3 & War Raiders vs Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong, (oof) Matt Riddle vs Adam Cole, (oosh) Bianca Belair vs Rhea Ripley, another Progress wet dream in Keith Lee vs Dominik Dijakovic and Kairi Sane & Xia Li vs Lacey Evans & Aliyah plus Brennan Williams vs Kona Reeves three nights in a row. Shayna Baszler vs Belair for the belt has a DQ win for Bianca in Venice, but Shayna beats her in San Diego. Riddle vs Kassius Ohno comes round again on both Cali shows. It’s Punishment Martinez vs Reeves in Largo and Casselberry and Dijakovic vs Reeves in Tampa and Riverside, Lacey Lane & Kacy Catanzaro vs Vanessa Borne & Aliyah in Fort Pierce and Casselberry and Taynara Conti vs Reina Gonzalez in Crystal River and Venice. VARIATIONS, HIGHLIGHTS Spartanburg is loaded with EC3/Keith/Riddle vs Strong & reDRagon, Ripley vs Kairi vs Belair vs Aliyah for the UK belt, Evans vs Li and Dijakovic vs Thorne. In Jacksonville it's Heavy Machinery vs Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake for the millionth time, Candice LeRae vs Jessamyn Duke, Marcel Barthel vs Riddick Moss and Mia Yim vs Deonna Purrazzo. Crystal River get Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs Raul Mendoza & Humberto Carrillo, Martinez vs Fabian Aichner and Chelsea Green vs Jessie Elaban. Largo see Candice vs Deonna and Jessie & Kacy vs Borne & Aliyah. In Fort Pierce there's Riddle vs Martinez, Deonna vs Xia and a mixed tag of Lee & Mia vs Moss & Green. Casselberry, Stacey Ervin Jr & Street Profits vs all Forgotten Sons of Cutler, Blake and Jaxson Ryker, Chelsea vs Reina and Riddle vs Thorne. In Venice it's Riddle vs Moss and Williams vs Thorne. Tampa get Ricochet & Kacy vs Aussies Thorne & Ripley, Cole vs Mansoor, Dream vs Ric Boog, Martinez vs Williams and an elimination tag of Kairi & Io Shirai (winners) vs Borne & Aliyah vs Mia & Xia vs Baszler & Marina Shafir. Citrus Springs only additions to that tournament are Dream vs Barthel and a modicum of revenge for Bianca - her and Kairi beat Shayna & Marina. In San Diego O'Reilly & Strong vs Raiders has a DQ win for the challengers, Cole actually loses to Tyler Bate, plus Dream vs Dijakoivc, Kairi & Io vs Shafir & Duke and Profits vs Cutler & Ryker. At the Phoenix Convention Center on the Friday the rest of the matches not used are a mix of domestic and UK guys - Burch & Lorcan vs Joe Coffey & Mark Coffey, Moss vs Dave Mastiff, Catanzaro vs Gonzalez, Travis Banks vs Aichner (I bet that was good), Tony Nese vs Mark Andrews and, oddly, the last match is Chelsea losing to Kavita Devi. Sounds like punishment for those who stayed to the end instead of doing something else with their afternoon. Finally Riverside get Johnny Gargano vs Bate, Ricochet & Raiders vs Roddy & reDRagon, Profits vs Blake & Cutler and Candice/Kairi/Io vs Baszler/Shafir/Duke. TVs 4th at Full Sail Ervin beats Thorne before the tapings, interestingly Kairi & Io beat Amber Nova and Tanea Brooks (you may remember her as Rebel in TNA), and the dark main has Black, Ricochet and War Raiders beat all four of the Era. 7th in Orlando they have a look at Lacey Evans losing to Nattie and EC3 beating Curt Hawkins before Raw, next night in Jacksonville Heavy Machinery beat the Colons and then AJ beats Danny Bry by DQ in two dark matches. 12th at Empress Ballroom in Blackpool... well, I had a ticket to this but sold it to one time keffer iamtheman because cancelled trains on the way back to Manc made it feel more ballache than it would be worth to get home.... and I regretted it. Grizzled Young Veterans beat Moustache Mountain to become first UK tag champs, Toni Storm (remember her???) wins her rematch with Ripley for the UK Womens belt and much to my dismay Balor shows up unadvertised to beat "Poundland Balor" Jordan Devlin. Sunday 13th there are more NXT:UK TV tapings, still in Blackpool, including unused matches in Luke Menzies vs Flash Morgan Webster and Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams vs Saxon Huxley & Tyson T-Bone (beige alert) plus they film matches for some new names on top of the usual suspects including Lana Austin, Candyfloss and Jason Melrose (Primate). 14th Raw Ronda tags with Rumble challenger Sasha to beat Jax & Tamina, Lashley wins the ICT in a three way with the feuding Shield lads and (deja vu) Balor wins a four way to go to the Rumble for a title shot with what might have been a stature-enhancing pinfall on Cena under different circumstances. Next night in Birmingham before SmackDown EC3 beats English and Machinery beat the Colons again and its Bryan vs Styles again at the end of the night. 21st Raw Machinery get themselves on Raw beating the Ascension and Sasha & Bayley beat Ronda & Nattie. Next night in Wichita Machinery beat the Colons yet again, Rey beats Andrade in their latest superb match (2 out of 3 falls) and dark THE MAN is on last again with another round of Asuka vs Charlotte vs Becky. Saturday in Phoenix the first Worlds Collide taping has Webster vs James Drake before it and Walter vs Burch as a dark main, the second has nothing dark, that evening a belting TakeOver has the Raiders beat Roddy and Kyle for the tag straps and Gargano win the NAT from Ricochet. Sunday afternoons tapings have the Dream vs Bate final of the tournament and just for those in attendance, LeRae vs Li, Aichner vs El Ligero, Yim & Conti vs Borne & Green, Bate vs Jack Gallagher and Walter vs Ohno. The Rumble has Nakamura win the UST back from Rusev on the pre-show, Ronda vs Sasha is a remarkably good match despite the inexperience of champion and inconsistency of challenger, Miz & Shane McMahon win the tag belts from The Bar for no good reason, Brock Lesnar retains the U title in an excellent sub 10 minute match with Balor that everyone seems to have forgotten, and in a fantastic piece of business all round, Becky loses to Asuka clean, which short term is both confusing and deflating, but then inserts herself into the Rumble to replace the "injured" Lana. Bonus points to Dave Finlay for his performance in Lynch persuading him to let her enter, and even Nia did a good job portraying shock and anxiety in seeing Becky march down. Naturally The Man wins, as you probably already know. Next night on Raw Angle loses to Corbin, sadly not for the last time, next night in their fifth day of shows in Phoenix Naomi beats Evans before the shows, Truth beats Nakamura to win the UST and revives the open challenge gimmick that Cena used to use (hmm) and pins ex champ Rusev, which is the catalyst for Rusev turning back heel. Dark, Asuka beats Charlotte. Finally Wednesday back at Full Sail Martinez beats Moss and Keith pins Ohno in bonus matches and Dream beats Gargano to win the NAT title Johnny's had for less than a week. DEPARTURE OK, he was missing from the road for a huge chunk of 2018 anyway, but this is the last month we'll talk about John Cena wrestling any kind of match until the Firefly Fun House cinematic match at Mania 36, and as a factor for house shows until the summer of 2021. Here's his match with Corbin from Estero ;
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