WWE Battleground 2015 Results and Review

WWE was back in St Louis, Missouri last night for what has become their annual ‘Take The Day Off’ show, Battleground. As the buffer pay-per-view between Money In The Bank and Summerslam last year, and the start of the post-Summerslam/Night of Champions lull in 2013, it almost seems like this young show is cursed to underdeliver and outright disappoint. So, with that in mind, as well as flagging TV ratings, a card was put in place that guaranteed something approaching a watchable show this year: Brock Lesnar in his long-awaited singles bout with Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens finally challenging John Cena for the US Title, and Roman Reigns getting his one-on-one match with Bray Wyatt after the month of “mind games” he has been put through. As well as that, we had the New Day, one of the most high-quality acts in the company, getting their rematch with the Prime Time Players for the Tag Team Titles. With all this, and the anticipated return of a certain legend, surely such a card couldn’t sink to the depths of it’s predecessors, right? Right?

Well, it didn’t. But it sure as hell tried.

It’s not that there were any outright bad matches on the show. In fact, it was pretty solid all round. But the simple fact is that, despite all the pomp and circumstance, this felt like as lazy, uninspired and by-the-numbers show as you can possibly have. How much of this is the lack of star power the WWE has cultivated, the inability to book anybody but John Cena well, or the homogeny of the Universal HD set that has infiltrated shows in the last decade, I don’t know. What I do know is, when you can’t make a show featuring Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, John Cena and so much more interesting, you really need to consider more of a macro re-evaluation.

Pre-Show Match: King Barrett vs R-Truth (or King What’s Up, if you like that sort of thing)

I don’t know what to say about these matches anymore. This match took place on Raw just a week ago. There is nothing on God’s green Earth that these two can do together that is remotely impressive. Barrett is a great talker, and a fine wrestler, so it’s very disappointing to see him waste what should be his prime in stupid gimmicks and dull matches with guys like R-Truth. At the very least, I’m glad to see he got the win here, but this is the second consecutive pay-per-view on which this match took place. It’s legitimately insulting.

Winner: King Barrett

Match Rating: **

Before the show kicked off in earnest we got a little taste of Paul Heyman’s magic in a Twitter question segment hosted by Tom Phillips. While I think Heyman’s schtick as a babyface has been hit-or-miss (oh, the woes of WWE Babyfaces), his mock-frustration with Phillips’ hosting, and Phillips’ own retaliation was quite enjoyable. I want to see a little more of this antagonistic Paul Heyman on TV from now on, please and thanks.

Match 1: Randy Orton vs Sheamus

Hey! Speaking of matches I’ve seen too much of! Here’s Randy Orton and Sheamus! Yes, the match most famous for turning the IZOD Centre into an icon after WrestleMania 29 is tasked with opening in front of a hot crowd, Orton’s hometown, no less!   

I swear to God, this is the absolute best these two could do against one another, and it’s still not very good. Randy Orton works a slow, “methodical” pace to most of his matches, and it works really well with dynamic workers. The Orton pacing does not work with John Cena, it barely works with Roman Reigns, and it absolutely does not work with Sheamus. History proves to us that Sheamus is best when someone takes his slow, brawling offense and fires right back, elevating drama and pacing to a crescendo. It goes without saying that Cesaro (probably the best worker in WWE) brings the best out of Sheamus. But for what we have here, Orton and Sheamus were well aware of their limitations, and they tried to work around them.

It half-worked, but the match could not escape long periods of dullness. In between spots like the RKO (well, exclusively the RKO), there was very little heat to this match, because everyone involved is aware of both the irrelevance of the match in the long-run, and the uninteresting work that will be put in. Even Sheamus hitting a Brogue Kick (a well-protected finish), didn’t stir anything up. The finish was never in doubt, and Orton won after about 16 minutes (at least five too long) with an RKO “out of nowhere”.

Winner: Randy Orton

Match Rating: **3/4

After this match, I went to make myself a cup of tea, so I don’t know if they ran an angle beyond Orton celebrating in the ring, and I don’t care. Do you? Didn’t think so.

Match 2: WWE Tag Team Championship – Prime Time Players (Titus O’Neill and Darren Young) (c) vs The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E) (w/Xavier Woods)

This was awesome. This match was half the length of Orton/Sheamus, but it delivered so much richer and enjoyable a bout than those two. The New Day cut a simple but effective promo, highlighting how they “deserve” the titles, and how they must lose to win more. It’s so wonderfully deluded, and all three are so good right now. Xavier the manic hype man, Big E the energetic preacher, and Kofi the disingenuous goof. To watch them become such a well-oiled machine in the ring (replete with incessant trash talker Woods at ringside) is one of the single-most satisfying things in wrestling right now.

Anyway, everybody looked good here. The Prime Time Players got a very strong face reaction (though the New Day’s brilliance could be to thank for that). Darren Young played the plucky face, and Titus the wrecking crew, very well. The New Day were on fire with rapid exchanges of offense and frequent tagging in and out. There was very little to complain about here, only that the match could have gone longer and kept interest. Big E and Titus in particular tear it up really well (Big E’s splash on the apron was a great spot that looked incredible in slow-motion).

The finish is somewhat questionable, as The New Day have absorbed two losses on consecutive pay-per-views now (with a mauling by Brock Lesnar in-between), but I’m glad that the result at least puts over the Prime Time Players as legitimate champions worthy of the accolade. The finish here, with Darren and Titus each hitting their finishes for the win, looked great and continued to put over how smooth and engaging the tag division is right now.

Still, if only New Day had won…

Winners (and still WWE Tag Team Champions): The Prime Time Players

Match Rating: ***1/2

I gotta say, I liked this rematch so much better than I thought. This made up greatly for the clipped match at Money In The Bank. The real question going forward is just what could be planned for the tag titles at Summerslam (knock on wood).

Match 3: Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns

Okay, so this was always going to be a question mark. Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns has never stood out to me as appealing, and as the ‘WWE Guys’ of their respective stables, the chances that they could do something dynamic and engaging weren’t particularly high. Roman has improved as a worker since January this year, and Bray Wyatt has his strengths in brawling matches, but has been a victim of incompetent booking for over a year now. With Roman as a heavy favourite, I had little hope going in here.

And, realistically, these two ended up delivering as much as they possibly could. For this pairing, that’s significantly more entertaining than Orton and Sheamus. In the early stages, Wyatt and Roman brawled like crazy, including some harsh bumps off the guardrail, stairs and apron. The middle segment of the match significantly impacted the whole product, however. Bray put Roman in a headlock for TWO AND A HALF MINUTES! That’s absolutely insane in a modern wrestling match, and really harmed the pacing of the match for a lot of it’s middle period. For a while afterwards, it felt like the two were sleepwalking through spots, and the whole thing started to unravel.

However, kudos to both, they really brought it back at the end. A series of neat Sister Abigail/Superman Punch reversals got the crowd nice and heated, and the brawl on the outside before Bray got some chairs from ringside was quite good. Of course, the finish of the match was what made it a thumbs up from me. A hooded figure (guess who) showed up out of nowhere to superkick Reigns, affording Wyatt the chance to hit Sister Abigail for a pinfall victory. Of course, the hooded man was Luke Harper, indicating the possibility of a full-fledged Wyatt Family reunion when Erick Rowan’s injury heals. I was very pleased that Roman wasn’t booked as unbeatably strong here, merely outmatched by a well-timed interference. If it weren’t for a sluggish middle section, this would have been match of the night.

Winner: Bray Wyatt

Match Rating: ***1/4

With the Intercontinental Championship triple threat thrown out due to Ryback’s injury, we had an unannounced match take place here between three divas from each of the three trios formed by Stephanie McMahon on Monday night. While a great boost for the divas division, this whole move seems to have homogenised the women of NXT so far, blending them into the WWE mold rather than breaking them out as superstars, comparable to the women WWE are piggybacking (Ronda Rousey, to name but one).

Match 4: Charlotte vs Sasha Banks vs Brie Bella

Anyway, each trio came out and put forward it’s champion: Charlotte of Team Paige, Brie of Team Bella and Sasha Banks of Team Bad. This match, while perhaps not the best way of getting the NXT women, and this whole “Divas Revolution” thing over, was a pretty good start. The action was good, if spotty. It was mostly about Brie being thrown out of the ring, so as to facilitate Charlotte and Sasha, who have great chemistry with one another. Brie dragged the quality of the bout down during her segments, not because she’s a bad wrestler (though she’s very mediocre), but because her role felt quite undefined within the match, so she just came in throwing bad kicks and generally looking out of place.

There were a number of nice high spots in the match, particularly Sasha’s tope and Charlotte’s plancha, both of which looked nice (even though Tamina has no ability to sell). The finish was also very well executed, as NXT Women’s Champion Sasha was protected outside the ring, as Brie tapped to the Figure Eight. This put over Charlotte, who will be the most over of the women, and kept Sasha strong, while also forwarding the story of the Bellas’ crumbling empire. Good stuff.

Winner: Charlotte

Match Rating: ***1/2

Everything else felt like filler in the light of our next match, however. John Cena vs Kevin Owens for the United States Championship was the match everyone was waiting for. Would Owens go over Cena again? Would Cena go over Owens again? Who would win the US Title? And most importantly, could this bout live up to their last two match of the year contenders?

The answer to that last question, I’m afraid, is no.

Match 5: United States Championship: John Cena (c) vs Kevin Owens

Look, these two worked magic for the last month and a half, having a blow-away match at Elimination Chamber, and following up with a less-inspired, but ferociously heated one at Money in The Bank. I head lots of talk about these two being able to have one hundred matches, and each one being great. Do you know what else we said that for? Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins. While it’s true that both those matches deliver something worth watching every time, the fact is, it gets lazy. Dean Ambrose was booked like a geek in the months after October last year, and Seth Rollins has been booked like a geek since winning the World Title at WrestleMania. And no matter how many times they reignite a feud that we all like, the only way it can elevate both men is if the content of the rivalry heats up or at least provides a foundation for the matches themselves.

Outside of the matches, and Owens’ stunning main roster debut, nothing on free TV has made me considerably excited for this bout. Sure, the inclusion of Cesaro and Rusev was great for television, but the only hook for Cena/Owens III was the simple fact that we liked their last two encounters. And Battleground’s match proves why we should never give WWE the benefit of the doubt as regards match quality. It was a perfectly fine match, to be sure, but there was just none of the fire or the suspense that elevated the last two. The match had barely begun and these two just threw bombs at each other, with none of the gradual buildup that made Cena’s matches with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan outright classics. Instead, I couldn’t help but find myself fatigued by an overabundance of big moves that never crafted any kind of narrative suspense or progression.

As you may know, it was the finish that really hurt this one. After kicking out of Cena’s Avalanche Attitude Adjustment ( try to copyright that one), Owens kicks out. As far as I know, that’s the only time that’s ever happened. Cesaro has been put away twice with the move, and Randy Orton lost their Hell In A Cell match last year with it. So for Owens to kcik out is a pretty big deal. Of course, when the match is worked in such a way that makes the viewer numb to big spots, that ended up not really meaning very much. The real kicker was moments later, when Cena locked on the STF, and Owens tapped! To run a tapout finish, after a match filled with nothing but large spots, is illogical at best. To do it to a hot star, who has huge pull with WWE’s hardcore fanbase (aka, the only people who will actively subscribe to the Network), is downright stupid.

Again, this wasn’t a bad match, but fatigue, repetition, and the worst finish of the year has this as the black sheep of their trilogy.

Winner (and still United States Champion): John Cena

Match Rating: ****

Between Cena/Owens and the main event, we had what was my favourite non-New Day segment on the show, as The Miz came out to address the lack of an IC Championship match on the show, and basically run down Big Show. In particular, his comment that “Big Show hasn’t been here since the Attitude Era” was just biting enough to make anybody boo. Miz has developed into one of the finest talkers of his time, legitimately talented in gauging fan responses, and working accordingly, few can play a “classic” heel as Miz can, and it’s a shame more can’t overlook his disastrous WWE title run in 2011.

Match 6: WWE World Heavyweight Championship – Seth Rollins (c) vs Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman)

I don’t have a clue what to say about this. It wasn’t good. It was bad. Brock Lesnar’s schtick of great vengeance and furious anger doesn’t work when the guy is someone whom we never once considered in his plane of existence, and that disappoints me, because Brock Lesnar simply hasn’t had a bad match since the end of the Streak. In fact, he has had (with Seth Rollins), what I still very much consider to be the match of the year in WWE at this year’s Royal Rumble. The appeal of Lesnar’s violent destruction of John Cena and Roman Reigns springs from the fact that we believed they stood a chance, and Brock Lesnar proved that they didn’t. There was also the fact that Roman and Cena are people that the crowd desperately wanted to see made mortal, and Brock Lesnar delivered that to us.

With Seth Rollins, he’s such a good heel that he has still crafted a viewerbase that wishes to see Brock dismantle him with extreme prejudice, but as his momentum has been pissed away by the WWE, there is no intrigue or suspense to the match, and the lack of Roman Reigns, and especially John Cena, guarantees this match to be a squash without the same value as before. I can’t believe that WWE knows they must deliver on Seth vs Brock, but do not put the work into making Rollins anything resembling a threat to The Beast. Compared to the gripping and dramatic story of Royal Rumble, this is a huge disappointment. Both men are talented, but the WWE is a snake, and it’s eating it’s tail.

Basically, the finish is the only thing that matters here. Yeah, Brock suplexed Rollins a bunch (with Paul Heyman and the crowd counting along). Yeah, Rollins got in moments of offense that were surprisingly effective, but it all felt moot. It was clear that these were two men feigning a match before the angle happened, and that’s rarely a good thing in wrestling. And it was very much not a good thing here. Right at the nine minute mark, Brock Lesnar hit the F5, and went for the pin (brief note: it’s a good thing that the match built in such a way as to let us know that the F5 would have ended the match, compared to Cena and Owens’ kickout-fest, but I would have preferred we just got to see Rollins show some guts and kickout before the gong hit). As the ref counted, Undertaker’s gong hit, confirming rumours started by popular Reddit insider Falcon Arrow last week.

My problem with this angle is twofold. Part one is simply the execution. The Undertaker’s return, even as a surprise, felt extremely-telegraphed. The Brock/Seth match was worked with the obvious knowledge that there would be no finish, so the match was an absolute afterthought, only made work by a good crowd.

Secondly, the post-match attack itself, was not very heated, or particularly well-executed. The Undertaker will always receive face reactions, but his actions here were those of a heel. He attacked the righteous babyface at his moment of triumph, even kicking him in the dick (not very babyface-esque). Seth Rollins was brushed aside entirely (you’ve probably seen the jokes about Seth transforming into ‘Taker, or some such). That’s not good at all. When a 29 year-old star worker is made disappear for a 50 year-old part-time wrestler to reignite a lackluster feud with another part-timer who always looks best with more athletically-able talent, you’ve got a huge problem. The WWE is sacrificing another generation of stars for those of the past, while thrusting the meaningless label of “the future” onto them. Again, the snake is eating it’s tail.

Winner (?): Brock Lesnar by DQ (?)

Match Rating: *

On the whole, this show suffered from the Battleground curse. Neither a hot crowd or a relatively decent undercard could save some horribly botched finishes and angles. I don’t know what to hope for the future. Lesnar vs ‘Taker will main event Summerslam, but with ‘Taker’s physical appearance, I really don’t know what they can do anymore. It’s all so transparent. There is no love for wrestling, no attempts to push a new generation of stars and future prosperity. It’s all one big ploy, and more fool us for buying it.

Show Grade: C

Monday Night Raw 13/7/15 Results and Review

Monday Night Raw was in Atlanta, Georgia tonight, as wrestlers up and down the card made their final push for this Sunday’s Battleground show in St Louis, Missouri. Go home shows have a tendency to disappoint, and Battleground has been WWE’s worst pay per view for two years running now, so I can’t say my expectations were high for this. However, a very hot Atlanta crowd and a few genuine surprises and delights throughout the show made for a much better than average episode, and honestly got me invested for Sunday’s main event, and a few more storylines going forward.

Without any further ado, let’s move right onto the show.

Opening Segment : Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Seth Rollins (w/ Kane)

This was a very standard opening promo from Heyman and Rollins, very similar to Heyman’s promo from last week. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing, and Paul Heyman absolutely has a certain style and a certain formula, but I think his promo work since turning face with Brock Lesnar has been missing something. This is particularly funny, because Heyman’s promo style has always lent itself to fired up babyface promos, and he had to control himself and put the heat on for most of his promos leading up to WrestleMania this year. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s the nature of turning face, but I think his mic work is a little flat and could use some inspiration. The suplex city buzzline is a little overused when everyone and their mother tries to get it over too.

Seth Rollins’ retorts are similarly played out. The story of this match should be so simple: Brock is angry after WrestleMania, he wants Rollins real bad, Rollins has to stand up for himself. The coward act tends to frustrate me more than anything else. And I’d have to say it’s more than merely getting worked. Seth Rollins showed flashes of transcendent greatness during the buildup to Royal Rumble this year (still the best match of 2015 in WWE), and I don’t want that sacrificed for a heel title run that devalues him and the belt.

On the whole, this stuff is still better than opening the show with Authority segments, but let’s try to do something a little more original, maybe? Seth vs Brock is a great match on paper, but so many factors look like they’ll impede that, and nobody wants that scenario.

Match 1: Ryback and Randy Orton vs Big Show and Sheamus (feat. Miz on commentary)

This match wasn’t as painful or headache-inducing as I thought it would be, and the finish was in fact booked pretty well. All four men seemed on their game here, and The Miz is always a gem on commentary (or around a mic in general). His bizarre “method acting” logic was very funny. The match itself rarely felt hot though. The only two of the four that have generated any really surprising or watchable work together are Sheamus and Big Show, so none of the in-ring action really clicked. However, everyone brought it well enough, and I think that’s worthy of a pass. Ryback’s surprisingly graceful top-rope dive was a sight to behold.

The finish certainly made me ease up on the match, however. I feared that Sheamus would get the pin on Ryback, devaluing the little work that has been done on the Intercontinental title, but Big Show was distracted chasing The Miz, and Orton took out Sheamus, allowing Ryback the pinfall victory. Nothing revolutionary, but it was nice to see the match follow a  certain logic in it’s finish.

Backstage, we see Kane and Rollins plotting as to how they will deal with Brock Lesnar. We’ve seen this passive-aggressive hostility a hundred times.

Match 2: Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt

Okay, this pissed me off. The only chance we get to see Dean Ambrose (the face with the highest ceiling in the WWE right now) is taking a backseat to a Bray Wyatt/Roman Reigns brawl. I suppose Ambrose stepping out of Reigns’ way has been the goal since his title programme started. That doesn’t excuse this atrocious decision at all.

Look, I understand that Roman attacking Bray needed to happen to get some much-needed heat on this feud, and that it was a better outcome than Dean sustaining his eighth (yes, eighth) loss to Wyatt, but this is the worst kind of Raw-ism. The match never gets finished, Dean disappears after the brawl starts, and we just decide to go to break, forgetting about everything. If Ambrose doesn’t have at least some mic time at Battleground, I swear to God…

Segment 2: Nikki Bella Promo

I never thought I’d say a Nikki Bella promo was the segment where a Raw really took off, but that’s exactly what happened here. The moment Nikki started on about being a great champion, being fearless, and so on, the result was inevitable. There’ve been rumblings of Sasha Banks and Charlotte coming up to the main roster as Paige’s backup in this tepid-at-best feud for a few weeks now, but try as I might, I could never envision a scenario where that was a satisfying moment (never mid one that the crowd went oh-balls for).

However, this was that. Stephanie McMahon came out to plug herself as the owner of the WWE, and blah blah blah. I don’t like Stephanie as a performer, but once she started on about women taking over in sports, I started to perk up. I was eagerly awaiting her announcement of Banks or Charlotte. Instead, we got Becky Lynch! This was something I never guessed would happen, as Lynch has only just come into her own on NXT, despite being one of the best female wrestlers on the planet. Becky getting a huge entrance was such a surprising and satisfying moment, and immediately changed the whole tone of the segment.

Next, Stephanie introduced Charlotte, who got a huge pop from the Atlanta crowd. With Paige’s team now rivalling the Bellas’, it was Naomi and Tamina that got The Boss, Sasha Banks on their team. Once all nine women were in the ring, everyone started going ham on each other (to heart “This is awesome” chants), leading to a great spot where all three NXT women put their submission finishers on the Team Bella members. Absolutely fantastic moment.

This segment was bonkers. This is as good a debut as one could hope for with women in 2015 WWE. Each woman got a huge rub from Stephanie, and the Atlanta crowd was on fire. Hopefully, this momentum can be kept up through matches at Summerslam and perhaps Battleground. Whatever happens, this moment will remain, and with Triple H and Stephanie pushing for better treatment of women, I like to believe it will be an important moment for main roster women’s wrestling.

Match 3: Prime Time Players and Mark Henry vs The New Day

Before the match got started, The New Day cut a typically great promo on Atlanta (Xavier’s home town), like only they can. These three have mastered the art of disingenuity to an incomprehensible degree. It’s a shame the tag titles were ever taken off them, but I hope they continue to anchor the tag division until some new blood steps up.

The match itself was your average Raw tag. Everybody hit their spots well enough. I’m glad the Tag Champions weren’t on the losing side here, but neither do I want to see The New Day taking losses that make them look weak, when cheating to win has made them look so good in the past. Again, this was a well-booked finish, with Xavier (the most incompetent of the three, in-ring) taking a pin from Henry. It might have looked better if the champs got the pin, but for what it was, this was an inoffensive Raw match.

Afterwards, Henry did the ‘Millions of Dollars’ dance with the champs, so there’s that.

Match 4: R-Truth vs King Barrett

This week, the magic 8-Ball said Truth goes over, so that happened.

Also, he was only a king after the match happened.

Make it stop.

Match 5: Cesaro vs Rusev vs Kevin Owens

This was a great triple threat, set up when Rusev answered John Cena’s US Title Open challenge. Kevin Owens came out and went back and forth with Rusev in an entertaining mic battle, each arguing as to why they deserved a match with Cena tonight. Finally, Cesaro came out to a great pop to enter his name into the running. We went to commercial break, and returned to find a three-way match in place for the right to fight Cena right after. This was a strong move to make, as it raises the stakes for each man, none of whom look like they should absorb a loss on TV, and adds to the drama a great deal.

While not on the level of Cena and Cesaro’s last two encounters, I’d say this was one of the best Raw matches of the year. Each man got a great amount of offence in, particularly Cesaro, who stole the show throughout the match. After being beat on to start off (putting him over as the most athletically dangerous man of the three), Cesaro hit numerous flying European uppercuts, hit a giant delayed vertical suplex on Rusev, another beautiful springboard spinning uppercut, and a gorgeous dive to the outside. The man was so incredible over against the two heels, and it goes to show just why is probably the most under-utilised wrestler in the world right now. This is the guy I want to see winning world titles, Royal Rumbles, facing Brock Lesnar. He can do it all. Rusev and Owens are similarly excellent, particularly on a sequence where they trade cannonballs in the corner, but this was the Cesaro show all the way. Probably his most impressive feat was hoisting Owens up for a German suplex, as Owens hit one on Rusev. That’s not to mention the crazy tower of doom spot featuring Cesaro throwing both men from the top turnbuckle.

Man, this match was insane.

Eventually, Owens bailed after Rusev threw him from the ring (I really want to see Owens vs Rusev now), leaving Cesaro and Rusev together. I was somewhat surprised by the decision, but Rusev’s win with a kick to the chest was the logical decision, so as to keep Cesaro/Cena special, and keep Rusev strong in his return.

Match 6: United States Title – John Cena (c) vs Rusev

After that crazy triple threat, Cena was back to take up Rusev’s challenge. Cena had been doing a pretty good job on commentary prior to this match, putting over all three guys as excellent performers (which they are). In the ring however, Cena worked mostly heel, dancing around the fatigued Rusev. This was a fairly standard match from an in-ring perspective (Cena and Rusev don’t have the best chemistry ever), but it put over Rusev really well. I was really worried that Rusev wouldn’t be as creatively fulfilled as he was in the months before his injury, but he’s come back better than ever. He appears to have great chemistry on the mic and in the ring with Kevin Owens, and a feud with him or Cesaro would be great.

Anyway, Cena played conniving champ really well here (his shrug before the Five Knuckle Shuffle was great), but as in his better matches this year, he ended it looking like he would lose. After failing to break the Accolade, Cena began to fade. This is where Kevin Owens made his return, breaking up the match and costing Rusev the title. Owens reiterated that only he will take the title from Cena, and Rusev will have to wait his turn. Owens got great heat from the crowd (which was fantastic all night). This sets up so much possibilities for the four men currently embroiled in this programme, and I’m super psyched to see where it goes.

Segment 3: Lita/Tough Enough Promo

Look, I don’t watch Tough Enough. I don’t like the concept, and I don’t want to waste any more of my time than I have to on WWE each week. This segment was a clear ploy to get more people tuning into Tough Enough, and the only reason I’m going to give it a pass is because it’s nice to see Lita, and this was a great Raw on the whole.

Match 7: Stardust vs Neville

Before this got started, we had a backstage promo from Stardust, talking about how heroes will fall, etc. etc. This is pretty obviously setting up for his feud/match/segment or whatever with Stephen Amell of Arrow. I’m not sure how to feel about this development. On one hand, Cody Rhodes is probably committed to keeping his character alive, but this was the perfect opportunity for him to ditch the gimmick that’s been holding him down for the best part of a year. He’s a great performer, no doubt, and has the same knack for getting characters over that his father did, but the Stardust character will never break through like Cody could otherwise.

Anyway, the match was a pretty good affair. After Cody called out “The Green Arrow” on Twitter, I don’t think this programme will develop further, but these two have pretty good chemistry, and I do want for Neville to retain something of a prominent spot on the roster. He has developed into a great storyteller, as well as a fantastic worker and a decent talker. Hopefully, when Sami Zayn comes back from injury, he can work with Neville if he’s not immediately embroiled with Kevin Owens or Cesaro.

Stardust wins with a roll-up on Neville. Not a bad finish, as it keeps both men looking okay, and it was a necessary cool down match, but I’d like to see these two work a better, longer match together in the future.

Closing Segment: Seth Rollins (w/Kane) and Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman) WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match Contract Signing

The final segment of the show, much like the opening segment, didn’t feel like anything we hadn’t seen before, by and large. Paul Heyman’s promo was better than he’s been as a face so far, and Brock Lesnar exudes menace like nobody else. He’s one of the very best performers, from a physical standpoint, in wrestling by a long shot. Seth also held his own, declaring that he wasn’t afraid of The Beast and that he was going to beat him at Battleground. Brock put the kibosh on Rollins and Kane’s plans when he grabbed the axe handle hidden under the table before they had a chance to use it. In a great example of booking Brock right, he then placed it on the table, offering Rollins an equaliser.

Then the segment got good. Rollins and Kane tried their best, but Brock fought off everything, even shrugging off being blasted by the ring steps. He really smoothly reversed a chokeslam attempt into an F5, laying waste to Kane at ringside. Rollins booked it into the crowd, and Brock smashed Kane’s ankle in a well-conceived spot. Brock played to the crowd a little bit before returning to the back, and if that were the end of the segment, it would have been a perfectly acceptable go-home moment.

Instead, Seth furiously returned to ringside, and cut what I think might be the best promo of his career on Brock, claiming that Lesnar beat John Cena, The Undertaker and Roman Reigns, but that he couldn’t beat Rollins. He claimed that at Battleground, he is going to prove that Lesnar is a man, and that he can be beat. He said he would take the sword off of Lesnar’s chest and slay him. This was a fiery promo, Rollins looked fantastic, and trash-talking a wounded Kane afterwards, before stomping his leg, was a wonderful heel touch.

But for the love of God, don’t start off a Kane – Rollins programme before Rollins finishes this feud with Lesnar.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I though this was a way better show than we are used to from WWE. Maybe even better than the Raw from Montréal a while back. The Divas segment, the crazy triple threat, and a passionate Rollins promo really put it over the top, keeping up that consistency from last week’s show. There were a few dead segments, and a few stupid decisions (Dean Ambrose being treated like a goon is unacceptable), but on the whole, this did way better than usual as a go-home show, and might just make Battleground an interesting show.

Grade: B+

Dominion 7.5 Results and Review

It all comes full circle.

In May 2014, NJPW ran what is probably their biggest failure since the beginning of the renaissance started in 2012. Back To The Yokohama Arena was a daring move by a historically daring company – the kind that promotions must take to be truly great these days – and it was a mixed bag. On one hand, a stacked card drew a decent number (particularly a hellacious fight between Tomohiro Ishii and Kota Ibushi), but the main event was the biggest gamble yet made by NJPW promoter Takaaki Kidani. IWGP Heavyweight Champion defending against challenger Kazuchika Okada was always a risky decision, as Styles was as-yet unestablished in Japan (his title win over Okada at Dontaku was a disappointing affair, and his only defense later in that month was a three-way match with Okada and Michael Elgin in New York). The event – New Japan’s first in the Yokohama arena in 11 years – drew a disappointing 7,800 attendance and called into question the legitimacy of AJ Styles as champion (the first Gaijin champion since Brock Lesnar in 2005).

Fast-forward just over a year later, and things have certainly changed. AJ Styles tore the house down with Kazuchika Okada in Yokohama, and never looked back. From outstanding performances at the G1 Climax in August (including the Match of the Year with Minoru Suzuki), to a co-main event match with Tetsuya Naito at January’s Wrestle Kingdom 9, the Bullet Club’s secret weapon has firmly entrenched himself within the promotion’s upper-leagues. All the while, he has grown in stature with the viewing public, to such a degree that his (somewhat-divisive) title defense against Kota Ibushi at Invasion Attack this April drew a crowd of 9,500 to Sumo Hall. Extremely impressive for a main event featuring none of New Japan’s big three, one untested main event talent, and another non-Japanese performer.

It all leads back to this. Following the successful Ibushi defense, Styles was immediately challenged by a raging Kazuchika Okada, who looked as good (and independent) a wrestler as he ever has in his post-match attack. The match was set for Dominion 7.5 (allowing it a longer build than average), and Styles/Okada was ready to prove everybody just how far the two men had come.

And prove it did! Dominion is not merely a stunning show (easily challenging Wrestle Kingdom 9 for show of the year), but it packed a massive 11,400-strong audience into the Osaka-jō Hall – a reported sell-out. Of course, a stacked card (featuring almost no filler and numerous excellent matches) is no doubt to be praised, but the headlining match is a demonstrable case for how far both Okada and Styles have come in just 13 months. So without further ado, let’s get straight to the review.

Match 1: Manabu Nakanishi, Máscara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi, Sho Tanaka and Yuji Nagata vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask and Yohei Komatsu

This was a perfectly-acceptable opening ten-man tag, kept to a merciful minimum of 8 minutes and 16 seconds. It’s really nothing special, and Nagata and Nakanishi on the same team did create a bit of a disconnect for me, when they have opposed each other in these scenarios as recently as at Wrestling Dontaku. The match was kept at a slow and steady pace for the opening minutes, understandable when the likes of Liger, Kojima and (much as I hate to say it) Nagata have all since passed their prime. However, Tenzan’s lack of energy after being tagged in totally derailed the match’s building momentum, as his phoned-in performance only served to alienate the viewer. It’s to be expected with these matches, but it was disappointing nonetheless. I was struck by the underuse of Máscara Dorada, who participated in a hot final segment that saw him pin Yohei Komatsu after a very entertaining back-and-forth. Dorada recently had the (now-second) best match of Kenny Omega’s Jr. Heavyweight run, and I would like to see him participate in a little more than dark matches. The same can be said for Taguchi but, y’know, Taguchi’s Taguchi.

Winners: Manabu Nakanishi, Máscara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi, Sho Tanaka, and Yuji Nagata.

Rating: **1/4

After this, the show got started in earnest, and the true breadth of the Osaka-jō Hall was revealed. A huge, sprawling crowd and incredibly large ramp set the show apart from previous sets, and really drives home the rapid expansion New Japan is undergoing right now.

Match 2: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship – The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) (c) vs ReDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) vs Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero and Baretta)

This breathless opener is one of the best Jr. Heavyweight Tags (which basically means best tags) I’ve seen this year. It features the usual crazy spots one expects from the Bucks, the same tenacity from RPG Vice, and the same great tag team wrestling from ReDRagon. However, it all gelled beautifully here into what I think might be their best performance all year. Matt and Nick looked truly dangerous, like a well-oiled tag machine and far-removed from the hilarious but light match at the last two shows. Their tag team moves felt very well-executed, and Romero proved the perfect foil, especially in his hope spots at the match’s end.

Romero’s beatdown passion compounded Baretta’s role as a force to be reckoned with. When he finally gets a tag in about a third of the way into the match, he cleans shop brilliantly. Of course, this match was moreso a singles match with guests. ReDRagon have once again refrained from being pinned, elevating their status as hard-hitters in the division, despite a relative lack of participation in the match, save from stopping the Bucks’ cheating. I’m delighted at how much more impressive they look on the back of Kyle O’Reilly’s incredible match with KUSHIDA at this year’s Best of Super Juniors final.

In the end, the Bucks put away Romero, who absorbed a great deal of punishment in the match’s final act. This match was a great example of putting over two guys as killers in the ring, without devaluing them through cheating tactics, while simultaneously making the pinfall team look like great and likable faces, and the non-pin team like an untapped source of danger. I just wish we could have had a little more ReDRagon in the already-frantic mix.

Winners (and still IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions): The Young Bucks

Rating: ***3/4

The Bucks had a pretty heart-warming shout-out to Finn Bálor (formerly Bullet Club leader Prince Devitt) as the left the ring, congratulating their former master on his victory over Kevin Owens the previous day at Beast in The East. It’s little things like that I like. It makes the wrestling world feel real, and adds extra layers to guys like The Bucks, who are too easily written-off as one-dimensional.

Match 3: Tetsuya Naito and Tomoaki Honma vs Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi)

This was an excellent way of cooling down the crowd without sacrificing a match’s importance or intrigue. Tomoaki Honma’s star has been on the rise since his incredible G1 Climax performance last year, while Naito’s has steadily fallen since his unsuccessful IWGP Heavyweight Title challenge at Wrestle Kingdom 8. The two are paired up against Bullet Club stalwarts Takahashi and Fale, and this is a very skippable match, to be sure. But the real story (which has been brewing since Naito’s return from CMLL last week) is his newfound attitude. He saunters down to the ring, never taking off his t-shirt, and puts very little effort into his performance. If a heel turn is what we’re going for here, there is no better place to start than Osaka, which is only too keen to give him huge heat (his tag partner being Honma, the most over man on the roster, only helps matters).

The real hook of the match is that when Naito gets tagged in, he cleans house, absolutely decimating the protected Fale and helpless Yujiro. It was a sight to behold: bored, emotionless, t-shirt-clad Naito, demolishing the opposition that had waled on Honma moments earlier. It adds a lot to the dynamic of the match beyond the potential heel turn. Honma eventually connects with the Kokeshi Headbutt for the victory.

Winners: Tetsuya Naito and Tomoaki Honma

Match Rating: **1/2

Naito’s post-match lack of enthusiasm (and angry snatching of his cap) was quite funny, but really underlined the awkwardness of the Honma partnership. I have high hopes for this angle going forward.

Match 4: Kazushi Sakuraba vs Katsuyori Shibata

Here’s a match I’ve been anticipating for months. Shibata and Sakuraba returned to NJPW in 2012. One is a legend of Mixed Martial Arts, and the other’s record leaves a lot to be desired. Remaining as a tag team until 2014, Shibata would finally turn face, embracing the huge face reactions he’s been receiving for a while, and Sakuraba would align with CHAOS and Toru Yano in particular. With the Tanahashi/Yano feud reaching boiling point, the student/mentor duo would face off during a multi-man tag match at Invasion Attack. This led to a sequence that made my jaw drop. Saku schooled his protégé, out-wrestling him at every turn, before tapping him out in what I thought was a shocking and excellent finish. I was so happy to hear that this was being mined for potential, and the match was set for Dominion. My hopes were high, but Shibata’s sometimes spotty record and Saku’s sometimes spotty health put a little doubt in my mind.

Not to worry, for this was the first really stunning match of the show. The two went at hard, pitting Sakuraba’s experience grappling against Shibata’s stiff strikes. So entangled did Saku have Shibata that they latter had to get a rope break with his teeth. The fantastic crowd response only added to the drama of what was a most-intense take on the teacher/student match type. Shibata’s intense strikes on a downed Sakuraba were particularly hard-hitting, but the veteran would never be out-wrestled, and even leaped the top rope in a very exciting moment.

Eventually, the expected outcome did occur, but not without fanfare. Once Shibata caught Sakuraba in a rear-naked choke, the match was all but done. Sakuraba was on the verge of submitting and Shibata had finally bested his mentor. To put a personal cap on this very personal statement, however, Shibata ended the match on his terms, breaking the hold and finishing the weak Sakuraba with his own Soccer Kick to seal the deal. This was a short (11 minutes), intense and very entertaining match. It highlighted the strength of both performers, while putting Shibata over as the dangerous man he is. I just hope he signs a full-time contract soon, so he can get a legitimate shot at a singles IWGP Title.

Winner: Katsuyori Shibata

Match Rating: ****1/4

With the intense grudge match out of the way, it was time for the culmination of KUSHIDA’S rise to the top. Arguably the best babyface in New Japan (possibly the world), KUSHIDA’s status at the top of the Jr. Heavyweight division was assured after his incredible victory over Kyle O’Reilly at last months’ Best of Super Jrs. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega, meanwhile, also had something to prove. Despite being one of the most talented all-round performers in the world, his run in New Japan has so far fallen somewhat flat. Aside from a fun match with Máscara Dorada at Invasion Attack, none of his matches really stood out, though his Alex Shelley feud had a lot of potential before Shelley’s injury. Either way, with the title on the line, it was all to play for between two men with everything to prove.

Match 5: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship – Kenny Omega (c) vs KUSHIDA

This was an absolutely stellar affair, and I was on my toes from start to finish. I was legitimately worried in the early stages, as Bullet Club made a mess of KUSHIDA’s knee on the outside, that this was going to be ruined by interference as Shelley/Omega was. However, Omega’s getting involved added a more engaging personal dimension to the attack, and his heeling in the ring afterwards (drinking water as KUSHIDA struggled into the ring, before spitting it on him in a really repulsive manner) got the crowd super hot, and they remained so for the rest of the match.

And the rest of the match was just outstanding. After the initial interference, almost everything was kept in the ring. KUSHIDA fought valiantly while selling like a champion on his knee (his screaming becoming legitimately uncomfortable after a fashion). Omega played heel better than ever (the advantages of working KUSHIDA), while putting on show his own ability. The limbwork was key to the match’s tightness, as the two went twenty minutes of strategically and logically targeting the other’s limb (KUSHIDA’s leg, Omega’s arm), and working that story to perfection. The climactic moments of the match, wherein Omega attempts the One-Winged Angel, only for Kushida to slap on his Kimura lock on the standing Omega, is an absolutely insane sight.

Another KUSHIDA classic, another submission victory. The title changes hands for the first time since Wrestle Kingdom, and KUSHIDA taps out Omega like he did O’Reilly. This was the perfect finish to a perfectly-told story between two excellent workers wrestling at their peak standard. I can’t wait for the inevitable rematch, and KUSHIDA’s defenses after.

Winner (and NEW IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion): KUSHIDA

Match Rating: ****1/2

After so strong a championship bout, it’s only natural to have a buffer cool-down. Unfortunately, that buffer match happened to feature one of the best wrestlers in the world once again doing the job for a talent far below his level, for the belt that would not be relevant without aforementioned superior talent. YES! It’s Tomohiro Ishii vs Togi Makabe!

Match 6: NEVER Openweight Championship – Togi Makabe (c) vs Tomohiro Ishii

In all honesty, I have no idea why this match happened at all. Sure, Ishii only had his second reign this year as a result of Makabe’s flu, and the title was quickly put back on the Unchained Gorilla at Wrestling Hinokuni (think Beast in The East, but without the effort), facilitating a third match in this feud, but there is really only so much one can do with Togi Makabe. He’s a brawler, but his strikes look absolutely terrible, he’s supposed to have hard-hitting matches, but he always shrugs matches off after the final bell rings, and he’s supposed to be a convincing champion, but he’s a lesser wrestler than Ishii in every manner. It’s gone beyond a joke that a one-match feud started in November should be here, getting on my nerves in July. I don’t think anybody ever questioned the outcome to this one.

There is no real work to speak of. After Ishii hit an impressive, but spotty dive off the turnbuckle to the outside, the rest of the in-ring work was a lot of strike-exchanges and rope-running. Makabe is neither as fast as Ishii on the ropes, nor as believable in his strikes (he grazes the top of the head with his forearm, and it doesn’t look good at all). The match meanders for 17 minutes, before Makabe hits the King Kong Knee Drop for the win. It’s exactly the same as Wrestle Kingdom, without the intrigue.

Winner (and still NEVER Openweight Champion): Togi Makabe

Match Rating: **3/4

I wish there was something more to say about a Tomohiro Ishii match, but there just isn’t. He’s the most underutilised performer on the New Japan roster, and I pray he gets the chance to prove himself in the great-looking G1 Climax this year. Hopefully, a rematch with Hirooki Goto is on the cards afterwards, after the two stole the show at Power Struggle 2014.

Match 7: IWGP Tag Team Championship – Bullet Club (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows) with Amber Gallows vs The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) with Maria Kanellis

God in Heaven, the less said about this one, the better. Karl Anderson is an incredibly talented wrestler, who has all the skills to make it in any promotion in the world. He has proved this against New Japan mainstays, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. Doc Gallows is a perfectly fine tag team wrestler (he plays a great giant menace, particularly during their Wrestle Kingdom loss to Meiyu Tag). The Kingdom are the most-boring team I have seen in New Japan in quite some time. Their entire schtick is something between “douchey Americans” and “Friends of Maria”. Their in-ring work is less bland.

Speaking of Maria, the nonsensical Anderson infatuation angle is still present here, if not as obnoxious as it was last time round. The “western-style” shenanigans are very much present here, and the crowd (great throughout the whole show) absolutely died. The ring work is completely forgettable, and the drama is laughable. I chuckled heartily at the worn-out Bennett carrying Maria to the back after losing the titles, unable to get her up convincingly. It just summarises this entire failed angle. Next.

Winners (and NEW IWGP Tag Team Champions): Bullet Club

Match Rating: *1/4

And people say the Jr. division is in trouble… Moving on.

Match 8: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Toru Yano

Much has been made of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s future lately. The most decorated IWGP Heavyweight Champion of all-time has infamous back problems, and it looks like his career of earth-shattering, game-changing performances could be coming to an end. This has been compounded by a recent feud with comedy heel Toru Yano, whom many will recognise as the guy who shills his DVD, and annoys Minoru Suzuki. I like to believe this is a rest period for Tanahashi, after his incredible match with Okada at Wrestle Kingdom this year, so he can get in the right frame of mind for this year’s historic and gruelling G1 Climax.

A short 12 minute bout is nothing to really write home about here, but the match is quite fun while it lasts. Yano does an excellent job dictating the pace like old-school heels do, and the ever-babyface Tanahashi is a better foil than the sour Suzuki. Yano’s turnbuckle shenanigans add legitimate drama to the encounter, and both men’s low blow attempts are funny, but engaging nevertheless. I think Tanahashi still has a lot left in the tank, and while this match was a holdover for the best worker in the world, both men have done a commendable job at keeping the little feud fresh and fun.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi

Match Rating: ***1/4

With all the perfunctory matches out of the way (two very good ones included), it’s time for the main events. One of these severely underdelivered last time, and the other is riding a massive wave of expectation, so it’s fair to say that the pressure was on for both.

Match 9: IWGP Intercontinental Championship – Hirooki Goto (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Suffice to say, this meeting between new champion Goto and Mr. Intercontinental Championship Shinsuke Nakamura, blew their previous encounter out of the water. I expected a lot from these men at Wrestling Dontaku, but their main event match was really half-hearted, and played more like a collection of spots than a flowing match. Goto’s upset victory didn’t really aid the affair, but it was a nice change of pace in the title scene. I had a lot of faith, however, that the rematch would deliver a more satisfying bout, and better establish Goto as a legitimate champion, and a true equal to the New Japan main eventers. Nakamura has been the Intercontinental Champion almost without pause since 2013, dropping the belt only to Tanahashi and Fale on different occasions. With G1 coming up, however, and Nakamura the hot favourite, it didn’t make a lot of sense for him to win it back here.

The match opened very slow (I here a lot of complaint about that), and I personally thought it was a nice pace to get started. It might have been my weariness after about 3 1/2 hours of NJPW, but I liked the controlled pacing of the match’s opening minutes. As the two picked up speed, the match started to really come together. Nakamura gave it his all to wear Goto down with rest holds and submission holds, while the face Goto fought back with his trademark hard-hitting offense. This time, however, it didn’t feel like an isolated series of spots. The slow pace at the beginning added a caginess between the two, and the gradual understanding of each others’ game plan made for an intriguing story.

It was the match’s closing stretch that put it over the top, however. Goto and Nakamura threw everything they had at each other, including three separate exhilarating Boma-Ye spots (the second of which had me convinced Nakamura had the title again), but the resilience of Goto put him over as a worthy successor to the former champion, and the final false-finish before Goto put him away had me jumping out of my seat. These two proved all naysayers wrong here, nailing an incredible second match, and building a lot of anticipation for their rematch at G1.

Winner (and still IWGP Intercontinental Champion): Hirooki Goto

Match Rating: ****1/2

After an absolutely stellar night of pro-wrestling, featuring numerous highs and few lows, it was time for the most-important bout of the evening: Okada/Styles. This would make or break an excellent show, and the need to prove doubters wrong was palpable with both men.

Match 10: IWGP Heavyweight Championship – AJ Styles (c) vs Kazuchika Okada

From the outset, this match was looking really good. Okada was the strong and resilient challenger, Styles the cocky, overconfident heel champion. Bullet Club at ringside called unfortunately back to Okada/Styles’ first encounter, but referee Red Shoes’ quick banning of the group from ringside (complete with his own ‘Suck It’ taunt) both got the crowd very hot, and added a dimension more similar to their later, superior encounters. Without BC behind him, Styles’ demeanour changes considerably, forcing him to use speed and intelligence to keep his title. The size difference was played up here, seeing Styles pull a lot of fancy high-flying moves, and Okada picking him up and using his considerable size advantage.

The development of the match was like a best-of reel for their previous clashes, as the two proved how evenly-matched they are in everything they do. The exchanges and counter sequences became longer and longer, and each man pulled out more desperate moves (Styles’ springboard 450 was an incredible sight). I am in awe of how well-established, and even crowd-favoured, the Gaijin champion Styles is. While Okada plays face here, Styles is clearly of huge importance to the promotion, and it shows in every inch of the match.

The final stretch of this match is possibly the most exciting sequence you’ll see all year. Styles and Okada throw everything they have at each other for an extended period of time, seeing Okada miss the Rainmaker and Styles attempt the Styles Clash. A three reversals of the Tombstone Piledriver were also magnificent sights. Eventually, Okada hits the rainmaker following a breathtaking sequence, but much like Nakamura and Tanahashi before him, Styles is a bigger threat than that. Okada picks the champion up for another Rainmaker, but Styles ducks. After a brief tease of Styles’ abilities, Okada hits a backslide before transitioning into a second Rainmaker for the win.

Winner (and NEW IWGP Heavyweight Champion): Kazuchika Okada

Match Rating: ****3/4

This was one of the best matches of the year (on a card featuring two other contenders for that title), putting over both men as being stars equal to Nakamura, Tanahashi and just about anyone. Both have arrived, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and if all goes well, they will stay at the top of their game, proving just why NJPW is as good as it is, for years to come.

On the whole, this is easily the best major wrestling show since Wrestle Kingdom 9, and it may have even surpassed that. An insane crowd, a stacked card and matches that delivered everything and more, there was little else to ask for on this. Sure, you had your nitpicks here and there, but as the first step in New Japan’s major expansion into western Japan, and hopefully the United States, this was as strong a show as anyone could have hoped.

Show Rating: A

Pro Wrestling Illustrated, World Titles and Why Kayfabe Doesn’t Matter

It’s been a poor couple of months for TNA Wrestling. Between a war of the words with Dave Meltzer over his reportage on their TV deal, the murky nature of the federation’s future and the recent exodus of talent (including lifer James Storm), it’s not hard to see that America’s oft-overlooked WWE alternative may be on it’s last legs. Morale may well have taken a turn for the worse with the recent announcement by iconic wrestling digest, Pro Wrestling Illustrated, that it will no longer recognise TNA’s title as a ‘World Championship’. However, nestled amongst the debate as to what constitutes a ‘World Title’ in the eyes of critics, journalists and fans, lies a much more interesting argument pertainin to the relevance of such a ranking, and indeed, the relevance of PWI in today’s post-kayfabe world.

The announcement comes from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, in August’s edition of the magazine, as publisher Stu Saks outlines the reasoning behind the decision, as well as future protocol:

“There’s only one world, so there can only be one world champion.” Though I can’t recall the origin of that quote, I was always impressed with its simple profundity. And I always agreed with its sentiment: Under ideal circumstances, there would be just one world champion in professional wrestling. For the half-century or so that this company has been publishing wrestling magazines, those ideal circumstances never existed. Until now. Effective immediately, PWI will recognize only one world title- the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

This is not necessarily an indictment of TNA, the only other company whose title has received world title status from PWI over the past eight years. The decision is all about WWE and its continued dominance of the industry. In all candor, it’s a decision that is long overdue. Historically speaking, there was a time when it would have been improper NOT to recognize multiple world title claimants. Before the McMahonification of pro wrestling, when the business was broken up into numerous regional territories governed largely by the WWF, NWA, and the AWA, there was every reason to recognize the champions of each of those companies on an equal plane. Both the NWA and AWA predates the existence of WWE’s forerunner, the WWWF, and covered more geographic territory.

Throughout the 60′s, 70′s, and 80′s, our magazines supported the world title claims of all three companies. As the WWF underwent its aggressive expansion program in the mid-1980′s, it became clear that the business was becoming a two-horse race, with the AWA fading and the NWA’s title lineage being co-opted by WCW under the ownership of first Jim Crocket and then Ted Turner.

We reluctantly stripped the dying AWA of world title status at the end of 1990 and did not recognize another world title until ECW received its national TV deal in 1999.That turned out to be a mistake, as the original ECW lasted less than two more years. It would be another five years before PWI would recognize another world title claim, that being the NWA again, this time under the auspices of TNA in 2006. The world title distinction continued when TNA dissolved its relationship with the NWA a year later.

Is TNA’s reduced national audience with Destination America as its national TV carrier the reason for our change in policy? The answer is an emphatic “probably not!” Had TNA not received any national TV deal after its split with Spike, we probably would have downgraded the title, but that was not the case. TNA exists as a reduced yet viable national company, but to its credit, it continues to expand its presence internationally. However, the continued growth of Ring of Honor on the Sinclair network and the emergence of Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network make them part of the discussion as well. Then there’s the matter of New Japan Pro Wrestling, who’s IWGP heavyweight belt was, for the second straight year, selected by the “PWI Poll” panel as the most important in the sport, aside from WWE.

Even TNA loyalists would concede that New Japan is the number two wrestling company in the world. It’s time to acknowledge that all these companies combined do not measure up to the size, influence, and significance of the WWE World title…from this point hence, the only world title we’ll recognize.”

While I understand that it is well within the rights of any magazine publisher to do as they will in regards to their work, I can’t help but sense a kind of old-school intransigence in the above statement. As someone who does not keep up to date with PWI, I was shocked to read that they will only consider the WWE World Heavyweight Title as a ‘World Title’. The acknowledgement and subsequent writing-off of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s IWGP Heavyweight Title struck me as particularly obstinate, especially from a magazine that is reputed as publishing within kayfabe. Surely, a belt with the history, visibility and prestige of IWGP can be considered a ‘World Title’, on par with WWE? Especially when one considers that it has been defended outside of it’s home country, previously considered the stipulation by which one qualifies a ‘World Title’.

I am of the belief that this development is the latest indictment of PWI’s redundant and outdated coverage of wrestling. If it were to publish within kayfabe, surely it would adhere to the “rule” that whatever title is defended outside it’s home country be considered a ‘World Title’, and therefore include IWGP, to name but the most notable example. Alternatively, if PWI were to embrace the non-kayfabe stance of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, would it not acknowledge the world title claims of all promotions, tiering the prestige and importance by perhaps financial or popular relevance. It then becomes very easy to rank the seeming importance of world titles from the top down (WWE, IWGP, TNA, ROH and so on). So easy a solution to the question highlights once again what I think is a particularly brash decision by the staff at PWI.

Ultimately, I feel this is a poorly thought-out decision by PWI, functioning as an attempt to shut out the rest of the wrestling world rather than acknowledge the growth of WWE competitors. This is once again most evident in the recent rise of NJPW, which has grown to be the second-largest wrestling company on Earth, as well as the most ambitious. With cracking America in it’s sights, I don’t know if PWI can afford to flaunt so ignorant a perspective on world titles in this day and age.

However, this simply leads into the most pressing point there is to make of this story: Why Kayfabe doesn’t matter. I’m well aware that many of the old school would string me up for such a pronouncement, the fact is that Western audiences have been ruined of kayfabe by Vince McMahon’s empire since the late 1980s. No, adults did not believe wrestling was real in the “Golden Era” of WWE. In fact, I think most children were well aware that what Hulk Hogan did in the ring was little more than fictionalised entertainment, not a legitimate sporting event. In a way, I suppose that could be stated as being the closest Vince McMahon ever came to achieving his dream of making wrestling more than wrestling.

The point is that this garish, unreal era of gross extremes set the template for wrestling fans in the years to come. As a result of this business boom (or fad, depending on one’s point of view) a culture was created, one unwilling to accept “real” wrestling from the likes of Bret Hart, Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels in the mid-90s, wrestling fans forced WWE into a period of change that would retroactively become the “Attitude Era”. Entertaining though the times were, it is an indisputable fact that this period forever altered how fans perceive the product of pro-wrestling. No longer do we sit in awe of athleticism and physical sport, whether we knew kayfabe or not. Instead, we watch America’s premier wrestling show, Monday Night Raw, as a series of increasingly asinine, increasingly desperate decisions made by increasingly out-of-touch people. Kayfabe is no longer defined by whether we know the worked nature of what we see in the ring, but if we can put together the logic that led to what we see in the ring. This is post-kayfabe, and it’s any wrestling promoter’s worst nightmare. If you can’t present something to your audience without any certainty as to how they will be received, you have really shot yourself in the foot. This is WWE today, and that is how kayfabe dies.

I believe this era we live in (one that has been amateurishly co-opted by the WWE as the “Reality Era”) has created a kind of bizarre purgatory within the WWE. Progress cannot be made outside of the events that will draw money (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania and SummerSlam, for the most part), and what does change in that time is either irrelevant in the grand scheme of things (Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins), or a situation where hands were tied (CM Punk and Money In The Bank). This why Raw has gone from “Must-See TV” to entirely skippable, and utterly meaningless. This is not an indictment of performers, as the current WWE roster is perhaps the most-stacked it’s ever been, and is very possibly the most voluminously talented roster in the world. What has created such a turgid product on the whole is WWE’s inability to trim the fat. It presents to it’s viewers an image of ‘TV Wrestling’, where performers exist in bubbles and feuds and matches are ultimately meaningless (except, of course when WWE goes mainstream for WrestleMania). This inability to change with the desires of fans stands in direct contrast with NJPW.

Since 2012, New Japan Pro Wrestling has dominated the yearly discussion for Wrestler and Match of The Year, winning both titles, more often than not. And this comes not with the absurd cartoonism of WWE, or even the sharp and thoughtful madness of Lucha Underground. NJPW, by virtue of it’s excellent training system and it’s current stars (most of whom perform under their given name) has crafted a product that is very much “can’t miss”, and it does do without the shackles of kayfabe. In never once trying to convince it’s audience that it is something more than a “fake sport”, NJPW has engaged people of all ages, and their growth is coming on at an astounding rate. This the polar opposite approach to how WWE harnessed the reality of post-kayfabe. In it’s unselfconscious presentation of pro wrestling, without any gimmicks (so to speak), or coattail-riding, New Japan Pro Wrestling has crafted a product that never once has it’s viewers turning on it’s stars, nor disrupting projected plans. In fact, when a reaction is less-than-desired, the booking team of Gado and Jedo has very often manipulated events in such a way as to provide a much more satisfying outcome (the upgrades in status of Tomohiro Ishii and Tomoaki Honma come to mind).

Before I veer off into a total love-fest for what I believe is the best promotion in wrestling today, I think it’s important to reiterate that the point stands: Kayfabe may be dead, but that doesn’t mean a great wrestling product cannot enrapture it’s viewers. WWE, in effect, has become car-crash television, and I’d wager many watch out of either curiosity or mere habit nowadays. For a company that has so prevalent a history of desiring mainstream exposure, this is not a good situation. There is an entirely different article therein, chronicling the decline in relevance and ultimate death of WWE that could well happen in a decade or two should the refusal to make new stars continue. But for now, the focus remains on the similarly stuck-in-the-mud nature of PWI’s recent announcement. I refuse to believe that one can fall back on the old excuse of “WWE is the most successful, therefore it is all that matters” in this case. I have outlined just why the matter of kayfabe vs non-kayfabe matters not to a wrestling-oriented publication. At the end of the day, I can’t help but feel that there is little more than laziness in PWI’s recent decision. The matter of it being a shot at TNA is irrelevant, when a company that is a lot more successful than TNA is being similarly overlooked, and I would argue being put down for a WWE-centric mentality.

I don’t think PWI will ever be as essential in pro wrestling as it was before. Kids today will never rush to buy it, because so much of it’s appeal hinged on the popularity of wrestling as a fad, or a sideshow. Neither will it be as essential in the way Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter is, and even that has made the transition to online distribution. I think Pro Wrestling Illustrated is a dying breed of coverage, and this latest development really comes as nothing more than a final “harrumph” by a woefully outmoded institution. Wrestling will continue to evolve in years to come. Promotions will be born, will live, and will die. I think PWI will live, but not in decades to come. The fact is, times are changing, and all PWI has proved this week is that they are staying the same, for better or worse.