Superstars:
- Cesaro vs. Dallas:
It's a shame we didn't get a promo before this match. I wanted Dallas to suggest the two of them team as Cesar-Bo.
Impressive wrestling skills by Cesaro. Not that I'm surprised.
I'd like to see more from Cesaro than European uppercuts. It's becoming his Young Bucks superkick as far as how much it's used.
That was mostly good, just short.
- Stardust vs. Crews:
Stardust is a valuable performer for this level of the card. He's moving into his brother's old role of utility player well. I'm getting flashbacks to the ECW brand.
Nice job working the arm. It's fundamental, but effective.
I really wish Crews had spent more time in NXT in order to become a more fleshed out performer. He's only 28 after all; they have plenty of time for him to progress.
Good match, just pretty basic.
AJ Styles confirmed being off the road this weekend due to a nagging ankle injury. For someone who flies around as much as he does, that's a significant detriment. Hopefully he's back to top shape for his big rematch with Reigns. On a side note, I'm all for a Club/Shield match at Summerslam, although I wonder where Finn Balor fits into all that. As much as I'd love to see Joe join the Shield in that endeavor to counter Balor in an eight-man tag, I don't know if that'd be the right move.
Cedric Alexander finished up with ROH at the finale of their War of the Worlds tour. He's booked for EVOLVE soon, and there's speculation of him entering the WWE Cruiserweight Classic following a tryout a few months back. He could be on his way to NXT in the near future. I understand ROH not using Cedric much with him not signing a new contract and trying to join WWE. I hope this is the right move for him. I'm interested to see what Veda Scott does next, since she was managing him on-screen.
Lilian Garcia disputed reports of her being released from WWE. She has
missed time due to her father battling health issues, and will be back
at Raw. I think people jumped the gun in making an assumption of why
she's been absent from TV.
At an ROH live event in Dearborn, Michigan earlier this week that may or may not be a TV taping (reports are conflicting on that front):
- Adam Page joined the Bullet Club. It looks like the plan is to have an ROH "branch" of the group regularly working there while some of the other names work primarily for NJPW. That's not a bad idea. Page joining is pretty out of nowhere, since he had just turned face to feud with BJ Whitmer in a split of The Decade. I guess ROH is taking a page from the booking of the original nWo: if you don't know what to do with someone, just put them in the big group.
- The Addiction became ROH Tag Team Champions after challenging War Machine immediately following Hanson and Rowe's successful title defense. It looks like an Addiction/MCMG feud will follow for the titles. That was a pretty abrupt end to War Machine's reign, which some speculate means we're in for the duo pulling a reDRagon and focusing on singles matches for now. I'm mostly tepid on the team, and I don't see that changing with them working separately.
Ric Flair was not in Charlotte's corner during a recent WWE live event in North Carolina. We'll see if he's on Raw. It's possible WWE didn't want him getting cheered in Flair Country.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. It's clear they wanted to get right into the new angles with Shane "in charge." Starting the show with 20 minutes of Vince, Taker, and Shane wouldn't exactly say "we're starting a new era!" Time spent on Taker, who very well could have had his last match at WM32, is time they wouldn't be able to spend on AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Enzo Amore, Colin Cassady, Apollo Crews, and Baron Corbin. They made the right move. As far as it being a "gaping plot hole," that's only true if you ignore the several promos explaining why Vince put Shane in charge, including the first promo on the night after WM32!
2. If they don't put him in in 2017, they might try to hold out until Wrestlemania is back in Arizona or Seattle. The only thing that would prevent him form going in would be having a bad falling out with the company or doing something heinous.
3. I was thinking Sandow's evil twin or a Jekyll and Hyde situation (you know they have the skills to pull that off), but that could have worked, too. As for Samson's gimmick, he's one of the most over heels in NXT. He's like a smaller-scale Vickie Guerrero as far as getting legitimate heat.
4. HHH is smart enough to know it's a "worked shoot." The TNA names are the villains in the scenario, with the NXT/CWC names as babyfaces. It's a clever way to further put over the EVOLVE-WWE relationship.
Nothing to add to 5.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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