Welcome to another addition of @RantsWrestle wrestling round up covering all of this months wrestling news including vince McMahon's announcement the wwe network would be free for the month of November and wwe big push for the wwe survivor series and trying to create new stars for this years main event. Where is Brock Lesnar and will he resign with the wwe or will he go back to MMA, bray Wyatt, the shocking decline of the unstable one Dean Ambrose and a crazy booking scanerio involving Sami Zayn for mania. We also cover TNA new tv deal with destination America and the changes coming to company as a whole. Also we look at tommy dreamers house of hardcore event and the shocking appearance of Alberto del rio on that show. ROH build for it's second ppv this years ROH final battle and also discuss Michael Elgins return and weather or not his leaving ROH for a few weeks back was a work or shoot. Finally we take a look at El reys new venture lucha underground and discuss Jim ross being confirmed as the lead announcer for the joint Global Force Wrestling/New Japan wrestling kingdom ppv on January 4th.
WWE
The month started out with the company announcing the month of November on the wwe network was completely free. Vince McMahon broke the news shortly after 3rd quarter financial records were announced during the investors call. Wwe announced that since wrestlemania with all the hard selling on tv (the 9.99 jingle springs to mind) of there network that they had only 770,000 subscribers and had lost over 700,000 subscribers as well since mania 30 in April. The figures did not reflect very well on wwe and reports are some investors where extremely unhappy that this had happened. So vince is giving away the network free for the month of November and one of the big four ppv survivor series is included in that free month. Wwe hope this will attract insterest from the casual viewer to subscribe to it's failing network and at this point many are saying wwe need to do something big to keep those people who have signed up for the free month around for December but at this point I can't see what that big angle will be but I'm sure they have something planned. Talking of the network wwe really dropped the ball for uk fans when 20 minutes before launch they pulled the network launch in England and Ireland respectively. Fans were outraged and voiced there disapproval online through either twitter or Facebook. I'm a uk resident but this news didn't shock me it just surprised me as I already have access and a wwe network account thanks to my trusty VPN but I can understand there angrier as it was pulled 20 minutes before the launch. Word is wwe uk tv partner sky was displeased with wwe giving away survivor series for free as it would seriously undercut sky who would be charging 15.99 for show on there sky box office service. Others have reported wwe and sky were trying to reach an agreement to get the network launched on the sky service (similar to what thy have in Canada) but whatever or whoever it was wwe dropped the ball on this one and now have egg on there face and it couldn't have happened at a worst time as wwe was due to tour the uk that week and once over here most shows had fans chanting where's are network. As for the survivor series card which is free of course wwe have been pushing a traditional survivor series 5 on 5 elimination as the main event as team authority would face team Cena and if team authority lose then they would lose there power and control of wwe and if team Cena lost everyone expect Cena (strange stipulation to add but team Cena needed to have something at stake as well) would be fired. As of writing this match is yet to take place and I for one believe team authority will lose but something screwy will go down on raw the following night and I'm sure the authority will remain in power somehow. Wwe so far have done a good job of building popular star Dolph Ziggler into the main event scene and it looks likely him and hunter may be headed for a showdown at mania or the rumble. Ryback returned and the crowd immediately embraced him back as a star for future after last years botched heel turn and team with Curtis axel and Paul Heyman (which I fill was criminally underrated). Ryback is now the one to watch for that match and I hope wwe plan on keeping him up there in the main event and continue to make him look strong and protect him when he is eliminated from the main event. Rusev has also benefited from an association with the authority and has received a hefty wwe push for this main event. The more I see Rusev the more I know I was dead wrong about how I viewed him on his debut as a Vladimir Kolsov rip off. He's become more than that in his short (so far) run on wwe tv by mania I think wwe will have something big lined up him for mania. Overall the build for survivor series was about one match and one big match and it's a added bonus that it is free. Bray Wyatt returned at hell in the cell after two month absences from tv he at first appeared as a hologram in mid ring then attacked the unstable one himself dean Ambrose who was in the midst of a fine cell match with Seth Rollins to cost Ambrose the match and start a feud between the two. Bray who is getting the stop/start booking treatment in wwe at the moment needs a strong feud after two dire feuds with John Cena and Chris Jericho if he is like many predict to be the future of this company. As for Ambrose it's shocking how far he has fallen over the last month. Remember Ambrose was main eventing a ppv last month and his feud was the vocal point of most raws leading up to hell in the cell. Ambrose over the last 3 weeks has fallen from the top of the card into a mid card feud with bray Wyatt and I'm sure both men want this to succeed but it is shocking to me how far Ambrose has fallen over this short period of time now. I can't even imagine him anywhere near the wretlemania card let alone main eventing it. Finally this wwe section comes to an end with my crazy mania booking idea. It involves NXT star Sami Zayn probably the most sympathetic character in wrestling today. You see Zayn is involved in a hot feud with Adrain Neville at the moment and has been on his road to redemption to the NXT title. What I'm proposing (and hear me out) is that Zayn lose his match with Neville at takeover 3 next month and disappear from NXT saying he had tried but failed to win the big one in NXT. Over the next few weeks he ends up on wwe tv (how you decide) and wins a match against a mid level heel (like the miz or Cesero) to gain entry in the royal rumble and that the rumble Zayn finally wins the big one and books a place against Brock Lesnar the all conquering (and rarely seen) wwe champion. Zayn as mentioned above is the most sympathetic baby face in wwe today (go ahead name another that isn't Daniel Bryan) and a match with Brock at mania could see fan interest rise. Could you really imagine Zayn beating Brock at the showcase of the Immortals, I bet you can't but wait what if zayn actually did beat Lesnar at mania. Now that would be quiet a finish to zayns road of redemption. I'm currently not going to say this is what wwe will do but I think Zayn is more ready than Regins at this point and if Brock is off for that big money pay day back in MMA (with either baltor or UFC) wwe need to have a big future headliner lined up to beat him in my opinion and there is no one better at the moment than Zayn.
TNA
TNA finally announced a new television at the eleventh hour with destination America which has been described as a discovery channel 2 (it's flagship shows included a BBQ pit challenge and something about big foot) type of station which is clearly a step down for the number two wrestling organisation in the world but thankfully the group found a new home. Just imagine a world without TNA it wouldn't be pretty and I would worry about those people who are currently employed by the league. So at least for once the group had some good news after months of bad news and online commentators writing them off altogether (and I was one of them). The company can now look forward to the new year and try to start over again but with this step comes an increased chance TNA will be on a much tighter budget come 2015 (due to tv licensing deals which will be nowhere as much as spike paid TNA in the 9 years TNA was on spike) and some fat will have to be trimmed from the organisation. TNA will need to keep hold of bobby lashley, bobby Roode, Kurt angle (I got a bit ahead of myself in last months round up claiming angle could jump to new japan and was probably dreaming a little to much about angle in action against the likes of shibata, tanahashi, nakamura and others), MVP, EC3 and rock star Spud. I can't see TNA having problems with attracting some interest in there product on destination America but it is a little worrying people online are already asking how to get this channel as well as saying they can't get it altogether and I can only see TNA hardcore audience having the patience to stick around to find it's new home on destination America. Also a little worrying Is the announcement the channel is only available in 50 million us homes meaning the the group will lose almost half it's audience because of it but whatever the bad at least there was good news and it meant those men and women employed by TNA still get to have a job and be involved in the wrestling business a business they all love so much because they wouldn't be in it other wise.
ROH
ROH final battle is less than 3 weeks away now and it will be the companies second traditional Sunday night ppv this year and will be in New York City. The card for the show is already building nicely as jay Briscoe will defend the ROH title against Adam cole in a fight without honor. One of my favourite tag teams reDRagon will defend there ROH tag team titles against new japan duo of KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley collectively known as the time splitters. ROH television champion Jay Lethal defends against Matt Sydal the artist formerly known as Evan Bourne in what could be a show stealing match of the night. Decade leader Roderick Strong battles former decade young boy Adam Page and even though the streak is dead RD Evans (Archiebald Pecks lawyer) faces former team mate and undefeated himself newcomer (well not so much a newcomer anymore) Moose. The card is already shaping up quiet nicely for the December 7th show and a wrestling ppv I'm actually looking forward to watching. Michael Elgin is back with ROH after quitting on twitter two months back he even went as far as to do a highspots DVD where Elgin vented his angrier at ROH management. It's lead many fans to question weather it was a shoot or a work in my opinion Elgin did quit ROH over his angrier towards management for a number of things including work visas among other things but ROH reached out to Elgin and resolved the issue fairly quickly and now Elgin is back so it Is a shoot and a work, confused yet because I know I am.
Elsewhere
Jim Ross has agreed to a deal with Global Force Wrestling to be the lead announcer for the joint GFW/New Japan pay per view on January 4th called wrestling kingdom 9 which will be held in the world famous tokyo dome. Ross will be ringside calling the action for the IWGP heavyweight title bout between champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs challenger Kazuchika Okada. Also lined up for this ppv is IWGP Intercontinental champion shinsuke nakamura defending against Kota Ibushi, newcomer Kenny Omega challenges IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Ryusuke Taguchi. IWGP Never Champion Tomohiro Ishii defends against Togi Makabe in what should be a strong style classic, IWGP junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions reDRagon Kyle O'Riely and Bobby Fish defend against Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero and Alex Kolsov), The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) and The Time Splitters KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley and also in what will be a UWFI Rules (a worked shoot/MMA match but the rules vary) MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba fights Minoru Suzuki. Season 2 of El Reys Lucha Unserground begins filming in the new year and Alberto del rio will be involved. Talking of lucha underground the first 4 episodes have been a breath of fresh air so far on El Rey the backstage vignettes have been so different to wwe same old vignettes these vignettes have the production values of a big budget movie and shot in such a way which makes the leagues tv product look different to wwe same old segments which air week in week out. So far prince puma (Ricochet) his manger konnon, super heel Chavo Guerrero and Johnny mundo (John Morrison/Johnny Nitro) have all impressed me and unlike raw or impact I actually look forward to watching there show and am left wanting more each and every week, if you haven't checked out this show yet you owe it to yourself as a wrestling fan to go out and check it out trust me you won't be dissappionted. House of Hardcore 7 aired on rf video ippv stream this past week. Yet again tommy dreamer stacked his show with stars and the show itself actually wasn't bad and had a little bit of everything for everyone who went out of there way to watch it. Quick Results: House of Hardcore 7 held in the arena in Philadelphia. Stevie Richards pinned Danny Doring in a rather dull opener, Christian York bested Brain Myers/Curt Hawkins in a decent effort . Afterwards Myers refused to leave the ring because he was a big star and would only wrestle a big star completely forgetting his lose to York. Myers was interrupted by Richardo Rodiguez who came out and introduced his charge Alberto Del Rio who came out and cut an impassioned promo. Del rio touched on his wwe release claiming he was so happy that he didn't have to wait an entire year because wwe wanted him to sign a 1 year no compete in America Claus once they released him. The crowd chanted fuck vince McMahon and called vince a pussy which del rio agreed with then Myers tried to attack del rio but del rio slapped Myers in the arm bar to end the segment which was met with cheers by the crowd in Philly in ECW old home the arena. Guido Maritato (little Guido/Nunizo) and Team Tremendous rolled over Vic Daliahus/with the Durprees, Ben The Beast and Anthony Green in a comedy six man tag. Eddie Edwards toppled Eddie Kingston in the best match of the night in my opinion, both men had what looked like a tribute match to misawa and Kobashi. The Dudley's/Team 3D Bubba Ray and Devon beat The Killer Elite Squad Davey Boy Smith Jnr/Harry Smith and Lance Archer/Hoyt in a fun ECW style brawl tag team match. Austin Aries dropped Drew Galloway/Mcintrye in another very good match which was well over 20 minutes long and proved wwe really missed an opprurunity with Drew. In another good match Bobby Roode downed Tommy Dreamer to retain the TNA world title in an old school extreme rules match and finally The Young Bucks Matt and Nick Jackson defeated The Hardys Matt and Jeff in an internet dream match which really did deliver. Afterwards the Hardys tried to swerve turn on the bucks but Matt and nick Were wise to this and superkicked both Matt and Jeff to the outside. The Dudleys then showed up and attacked the bucks (bubba really stiffed one of the bucks) and said they were the greatest tag team in wrestling history. Then to close out the show (like they did on almost every ECW show weather it was in the back or in front of the fans) the entire lockeroom had a beer bash. A Very good nostalgic trip down memory lane felt like an ECW arena show and was essentially just that but I didn't fill like I had wasted my time (it was just under 4 hours long) watching it, Final score for house of hardcore 7 is a solid 7 out of 10.
Wrap Up
So that was the month of November 2014 in wrestling history, next month is my year end awards round up. Featuring my match of the year, wrestler of the year and moment of the year, the worst match and wrestler of the year, promotion of the year and commentator of the year as well as my top ten predictions for 2015. So until next month peeps keep an eye out for some great sort of live tweets on my @RantsWrestle twitter account including WWF survivor series 97, WWF wrestlemania 14 and WWF king of the ring 98 this month and my blog reviews of them shows for the JWR Podcast blogspot account.
