@RantsWrestle presents it's monthly newsletter/blog for the month ending in January 2015 and this month we have a packed month so lets get to it. This month we take a look at the build for the wwe royal rumble including taking a look at protential winners Daniel Bryan and Roman Regins. We also take a look at Brock Lesnar and what's next for him and John Cena now were officially on the road to wrestlemania. Over in TNA were taking a look at the promotions relaunch on destination America, as well as Roode vs lashley 3 on free tv and what's in store for TNA lockdown show. Then it's over to ROH where we are talking ROH massive 13th Year Anniversary ppv and Sinclair investment in Alberto El Patron (Alberto Del Rio) and what this could mean for the promotion, the tag wars final and the rumours ROH and new japan will be running more joint ppv ventures together in 2015. Also covered is Global Force Wrestling and what is next for Jeff Jarrett's promotion and we also have a full new japan/GFW wrestling Kingdom 9 review and quick results of czw cage of death 16 ippv, a new feature called best and worst of the month and last but not least we take a look at chikara's up and coming season 15 and the announcement the group is bound for Britain in April.
WWE
So to end the month of December and to begin January 2015 wwe decided to bring back the Authority and Daniel Bryan, pleasing and pissing off there fan base in one show but my own personal view was that the companies end of year raw was a vast improvement of months of poor tv which at times has even forced me to reconsidering watching a product I grow up on. On the show fans rejoiced as incredibly popular wrestler Daniel Bryan returned after nearly 7 months on the sidelines with an neck injury. Bryan announced on his return he would be back for the royal rumble match after wwe and Bryan did a tremendous job of teasing that Bryan could retire but he didn't and fans rejoiced. Bryan announced he would be in this years rumble match and he is needed after it looked as if Roman Regins was the only protential winner of this years match. Now with Bryan's return we have two legit talents who can win this years rumble and headline mania, I'd say that was a good thing for the company. Then on this same show wwe had super heel Seth Rollins threaten to break john Cenas friend former wwe superstar and multi time world champion edge's neck in a very good angle. Cena who in the storyline was the one man who could bring the authority back had no choice but to bring the unpopular duo back. So the authority is back leading many on twitter to complain of the return of Steph and Hunter. I for one didn't have a problem with it but what I did have a problem with was the way the authority (who remember had been banished from wwe after survivor series) just walked out on this show to gloat over there return. So basically wwe flushed away an entire few weeks worth of tv which could have been held off for another week but I guess this is how they do business now by hotshotting everything. To make matters worse after the show ended then for the live crowd (it wasn't televised) the authority had a brawl with Cena and co who ended up being saved by randy Orton. Yes randys big baby face turn which happened throughout late October early November and return to wwe was wasted for the live crowd only. With some proper build this return of Orton could have 'oh I don't know popped a rating or even added a few extra network subscribers if wwe had just held off and saved this angle for a show down the road. It's clear wwe is panicking and when wrestling promotions panic hotshotting normally follows (as an old wcw fan, I know this all to well). Seth Rollins was added to the John Cena v Brock Lesnar match for the royal rumble making it a triple threat wwe title match in the process. I have three lines of thinking regrading this decesion. One. Brock can avoided being beaten by Cena Which in turn would render the streak meaningless (if you remember Brock ended takers famous streak to set him up for his title run this summer). Two. Seth can beat Cena and become wwe champion and then roll into a match with either Cena or Regins come mania. Thirdly Cena could beat Brock or Seth then go on and headline mania against Roman Regins and if wwe do this then Regins start as wwe champion could be rejoiced by the fans rather than sore them after months of bad reactions towards Regins (because let's face it wwe fans will more likely boo Cena and cheer Regins in scanerio three where Regins beats Brock the wwe audience is far more likely to cheer Brock and boo Regins). So what's next for the current WWE World Champion Brock Lesnar with more rumours saying he's going back to UFC as it's emerged he has signed a deal with UFC many years back blocking him from competing for a rival MMA company (like Bellator) so if Brock is going back into the world of fighting then it looks as if UFC is his only opition. As of writing Ryback, Dolph Ziggler and Erik Rowen where all fired by the authority but will likely return in time for the rumble, yet more hot shotting by wwe. Sting must surely be back in my opinion for the rumble to continue his feud with triple h with the two still likely to have a match at wwe wrestlemania 31. Bray Wyatt seems to be being built up for a big match at wrestlemania with him likely going one in one with the undertaker. Meanwhile Dean Ambrose has fallen so far after months of losing top level feuds to Seth Rollins and bray Wyatt that he may have even a hard time making it onto the mania card itself at this point. Hopefully wwe have something lined up something for Ambrose but at this point what is left for him to do with mania looming. Rusev also seems to be left out in the cold for mania after wwe had booked him so well all year long. Again maybe I'm giving wwe too much credit here but I fully expect them to have something big lined up for the Bulgian brute come mania.
TNA
On January 8th TNA finally relaunched on destination America in the states and is back up and running again. Which is great news for pro wrestlers who were employed by the fledging company but once back it proved to be much of the same for TNA. It seems no one has learned from there previous mistakes like hot shotting a number of things like Kurt angles first match in almost 6 to 8 months right onto free to air tv rather than save it show at a later date which would have popped a rating for TNA if built up properly. The show opened up with a well put together video package which saw teams of wrestlers arrive in limos to the manhattan centre and once outside all of the wrestlers had a brawl to open up the new era of TNA on destination America (this was just plain stupid as later on james storm had a sit down interview with mike tenay which had a recorded earlier graphic on it but according to the booking of the show all the wrestlers had only showed up to the building at the start of the show). Kurt Angle interrupted the brawl and had a good exchange of words with MVP which then lead to two of TNAs biggest stars having a match which angle won (this bothered me a lot as I'm asking the question do TNA not want to get better and make some money god damn it). The cutbacks of TNA production was obvious with the lights turned down (reports say the building was only half full) and it got worst when taz and josh Matthews where shown sitting in a very poorly dim lighted booth. Also on the show Cowboy James Storm and Abyss pinned The Wovles Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards to retain the TNA world tag team titles in a good match. Austin Aries beat Low-Ki to win his seventh X Division Title In another good match, Taryn Terrel retained her TNA Knockouts Championship in a battle royal last eliminating Havok. Before the match Robbie E said he was dumping Brooke even though the two had no association with one another on TNA tv and it was never once mentioned on the Amazing Race they where a couple (again it made no sense). The champ was not over whatsoever during her introduction, her entrance was meet with silence. Afterwards Awesome Kong returned and had a stare down with Havok, hopefully TNA book this feud correctly between these two monsterous women and get that title off of Taryn as soon as possiable and give it to Havok or Kong. Thoughout the show Kenny King, MVP and Lashley argued which was all leading to TNA favourite booking tatic the swerve. One of the best things on TNA this last year has been EC3, it's something TNA haven't dropped the ball on and here yet again EC3 stole the show. As he grabbed TNA company man and ring announcer Jeremy Borash and gave him a hair cut. As spud (another high point for TNA last year) looked on being held down by Taurus, this was a very good angle indeed. Finally Lashley defeated Bobby Roode to win his second TNA world heavyweight title. Towards the end MVP, Kenny king and two masked men hit the ring the two masked men unmasked and it was Samoa Joe and Low-Ki. Then Eric Young hit the ring with a chair in his hand and you could see the swerve coming from miles away as young turned on Roode to cost him the match and the title (yep three heels in the space of minutes, that's called overkill folks). To make matters worst Spoilers for TNA over the next few weeks do not read well with TNA throwing away another Kurt angle match and rushing two matches between Roode and young who probably shouldn't have touched at least for another month or two but that's not how TNA does business. Mark Andrews the winner of TNA British Bootcamp 2 made his debut at the impact tappings following the live destination America debut. It's clear reading spoilers lashley is going babyface after months of being an effective heel, yet again TNA have rushed something that should have been a big deal for the company with lashley face turn in my opinion. Finally to end this TNA section TNA have done away with pay per view with the announcement TNA Lockdown 2015 would be shown on tv for free along with TNA Bound for Glory. If there not making any money on ppv then maybe TNA should be looking at improving it's product and give fans the matches they want and it's proved with ROH fans will still buy wrestling ppv if there is matches they are interested in seeing.
ROH
Ring of honor started off the new year with a bang as that there tv tapping on January 3rd Alberto El Patron (Alberto Del Rio) made his debut for the group in what was reported as being a very good match against veteran ring warrior the Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels. This was some good news for people like myself who fill ROH do not take advantage of the situation TNA sees itself in and try to step up and take that spot as North Americas official number two wrestling promotion. Now it seems officials are Looking at the wrestling business a bit differently by opening up the wallets and bringing in the artist formly known as Alberto del rio which means the group must be serious in Going forward as a promotion and taking over as the number two wrestling promotion. ROH announced it's return to ppv on March (add date) for the 14th year anniversary show, so far El Patron, AJ Styles, The Young Bucks and the regular ROH crew have all been announced as being on the show. reDRagon Bobby Fish&Kyle O'Riely Beat Matt Sydal&ACH, The Briscoes Mark&Jay and The Addiction Fallen Angel Christipher Daniels&Frankie Kazarain in a very good tag wars final which consumed ROH tv a few weeks back I would highly recommend you guys and gals go out and watch it if you haven't seen it yet. ROH and New Japan will be doing two joint shows like last year in Canada and New York again this year with at least one of the shows being broadcast on ppv in the states (well that is how it is being reported as of writing). We end this short ROH section with news that ROH have pulled Adam Cole, Kyle O'Riely, Bobby Fish and Michael Elgin from PWG (Pro Wrestling Guerilla) after signing exclusive contracts with ring of honor.
Elsewhere
So the month started off with another tremendous Wrestling Kingdom, this was the ninth instalment of New Japan's (which was co promoted in the US of A by Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling promotion) version of wrestlemania and as mentioned above this was a tremendous show which featured three five star matches which has a lot of people sitting up and taking notice of new japan for the first time in there lives. As a fan of puro for over ten years it's nice to see people who buried the product to me before now admitting how good the show was due to the Wrestling Kingdom 9 being live, on ppv and also shown on tape delay in America. Also Jim Ross and Matt Striker called the action which helped appeal to the fan who won't watch japanese puro because they don't like the Japanese commentary. Word is there was some people who experienced some problems with ordering the ppv via the flipps app (like I had to do here in the uk and I didn't experience any of these problems). To open the show was a new japan rumble (which aired on the new japan world service only and you tube) which was won by veteran new japan star Yugi Nagata. To open the show proper reDRagon Bobby Fish&Kyle O'Riely beat Forever Hooligans Rocky Romero&Alex Koslov, The Young Bucks Matt&Nick Jackson and The Time Splitters KUSHIDA&Alex Shelley in an incredible opener to retain the IWGP Jnr Heavyweight Tag Team Titles. Tomoaki Honma, Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan put away The Bullet Club Yuijiro Takahashi/with Mao, Jeff Jarrett/with Karen Jarrett&Scott De'More and Bad Luck Fale in a six man tag. Toru Yano, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls and GHC Heavyweight Champion Naomichi Marufji toppled Suzukigun Takashi Izuka, Shelton X Benjamin and Killer Elite Squad Davey Boy Smith Jnr&Lance Archer in a eight man tag. The incredible Minuro Suzuki beat Kazushi Sakuraba in a UWFI rules match (worked shoot), Suzuki (a former AJPW Triple Crown Champion) and Sakuraba rolled back the hands of time to have a very convincing looking worked shoot (the arm sell by Suzuki stood out for me). Togi Makabe rolled over Tomohiro Iishi to win the Never championship in a very strong style match indeed (again I loved it). Kenny Omega rather predictable beat Ryusuke Taguchi to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title in another very good match where omega picked up the win with the impressive looking reverse electric chair. Meiya Tag Shibata&Hiroki Goto downed Bullet Club Doc Gallows&Karl Andersson/with the Bullet Babe (Amber O'Niel/Gallows) to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles in another quality contest. AJ Styles defeated Tetsuya Naito in another very good match, the two had a better outing at the G-1 last summer. That aside the match was built around styles deadly styles clash and the finish was a perfect fit as AJ drove Tetsuya from the middle rope with the styles clash for styles to pick up the much needed win. Shinsuke Nakamaru beat Kota Ibushi in another cracker (and my match of the night/month and probably year) to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Title. This was rated 5 stars by Dave Meltzer and rightfully so both men brought there a game for this encounter. Ibushi was made to look like a star by Nakamaru but those convincing comebacks and facial expressions by Ibushi proved his fighting spirit. Finally Hiroshi Tanahashi pinned Kazuchika Okada to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a match which was just as incredible as Nakamaru and Ibushi. Meltzer rated it five stars but admitted later on in the week that it was more like 6 stars and the marker is 5 stars out of 5 not a 10 out of 10 scale for anyone who doesn't know. Tanahashi repeatable out wrestled Okada at almost every turn by hitting the high flow low from almost every position (at one point Tanahashi hit the move from the ring into the second row where Okada was standing). Okada comeback hit his picture perfect drop kick and a rainmaker but Tanahashi kicked out at two (no wonder some long time puro fans rather jokingly refer to this guy as the Japanese John Cena). Finally Tanahashi hit his last high flow low by turning his body in mid air to hit the move to Okada to get the three. Overall this show was a tremendous success in ring wise but what will the ppv buy rate be. I know a lot of people who didn't buy the show because of the flipps app crash but I was one of the lucky ones who had no problem with it but they were so able to watch the show via online sources who had the show up for free to view. So was it a success financially and will it lead to more new japan shows on ppv and promoted by GFW. I currently hope so and hope enough people went out and viewed the show by buying it because if this is a success the wrestling landscape could very well change in 2015 and for the better. Also this month (Well technically last month but it fell before my last publication date) I have the quick review of CZW Cage of Death 16 ippv event. Up first was an appearance by Santa himself after an awkward back and fourth with the ring announcer which brought out czw owner DJ Hyde who is a heel because longtime czw fans dislike the way Hyde has taken away the death matches and death match stars like Nick Gage (who's actually still in jail). Anyway the silliness aside Hyde predictable beat up Santa which brought out Chris Dickinson and the first match was underway. Chris Dickinson bested DJ Hyde in a average opener, Papadon&Pepper Parks/with Cherry Bomb toppled Lucky 13&Devon Moore in a dire match which had a cheap finish as bomb distracted Lucky to help her team pick up the win. The Beaver Boys Alex Reynolds&Tim Slyvia put away Team Tremendous (investigations) Bill Carr&Dan Barry/with Dick Justice in an ok match (it wasn't good but it wasn't bad either). Joe Gacy dropped Shane Strickland to win the CZW Wired Championship in what was a very good match (and my match of the night), Gacy left quiet an impression on me and reminds me of Samoa Joe from 2000/01. Greg Excellent&The Returning Sexxxy Eddie (you may remember him from czw tournament of death 2004 as the guy who seriously cut open a vein in his arm and blood shout out everywhere) downed Matt Tremont&Buxx Belmer in a rather average comedy match but it was good to see Eddie back. Johnathan Gresham rolled over David Starr, Alex Colon, Mike Bailey, AR Fox and Caleb Konley in a six way match as Starr was pinned he is not egiable for this years Best of the Best Tournament, this was a fun match which brought my attention levels back up after the previous dull tag team match. Alexander James beat Rich Swann in a non title match as James unsanctioned czw junior heavyweight title (which he brought back himself from the dead after winning a fantasy tournament, sound familiar), which was another fun match. 014K Jake&John Crist (formely known as Irish Airborne) pinned The American Wovles Eddie Edwards&Davey Richards to retain the CZW Tag Team Titles in another good match but when do the Wovles not have good matches. Finally BLK Jeez defeated Sozio (Champion), Biff Busick and Drew Gulak in a Cage of Death Match to win the CZW Heavyweight Championship in what wasn't the best ever COD match but wasn't exactly bad either as all four men killed themsevles with some sick bumps into and off of the cage. BLK Jeez won when he jumped from the cage and double stomped the champion in the back of the head to pick up the win and title. I actually enjoyed this show well the second half anyway, yeah it's not the czw I followed in 2002-07 and isn't as violent as it was once before but dj Hyde doesn't want to do that over the top balls to the wall style anymore. I have to applued Hyde for taking his company in a new direction for the last 3 years and showing the detractors czw is a lot more than blood and guts as it offers up some pretty good solid wrestling as well. So if your reading this and you used to be a czw fan of old I would recommend you go out of your way and hunt this show down there plenty of other shows which sucked far worst this month than this one. Finally for the elsewhere section Chikara season 15 begins on January 26th back at the old ECW arena in Philadelphia, that's the same day as the royal rumble. The group has also announced that it will be visiting these shores of blightly in April for four shows, two in wovlehampton, one in Cardiff and another in London. I've already brought my ticket for the London show and I'm genuinely looking forward to attending my first chikara show live and in person and I can add that to the shows I've already attended in this country including 3 ROH cards, a TNA house show, wwe raw and Smackdown tv tappings, WWF summerslam, pwg in Portsmouth and some super shows which none of you will remember more than likely.
Round Up Honours
Last but not least we end this newsletter with a new feature dedicated to the match of the month, wrestler of the month and the much sort after worst match of the month and worst wrestler of the month for January.
Match of the Month: Shinsuke Nakamaru-This was a tough one as I didn't know weather to pick this match from wrestling kingdom 9 or the main event but in the end I went with Ibushi vs Nakamura because it made me mark out so hard for the story theses two pros told in the ring and how both men made themsevles look like stars coming out of it.
Wrestler of the Month: Shinsuke Nakamura- I've been a fan of Shinsuke for over the last two years and last year he was by far along with AJ Styles and Adam Cole my wrestler of the year. He wins the January honor for his incredible match with Ibushi and for his super heated showdown with Yugi Nagata the next night on NJPW New Years dash show which sets up a rather tasty affair between Nakamaru and Nagata for February and March. So yes next month I'll probably he praising that match yet again #NakamaruMark.
Worst Match of the Month: Roman Regins Vs The Big Show-Another tough choice as wwe, czw and TNA all had a chance of winning this award but it had to go to show v Regins. Wwe haven't exactly been getting it right in the way they've booked Regins the so called future of wwe recently. Word is it's McMahon who's been personally behind the creative direction of Regins as late and it's not doing Regins any favours (dean Ambrose also falls into this bracket as well and vince is booking him even more poorly recently). The match in question was built as a big deal but couldn't have come off any worse than it did on this addition of Smackdown and wwe used it's favourite finish of late by ending it in a DQ. I think your agree it's not the best way to book your new chosen one and It has had many within pro wrestling question weather vince is the right guy in guiding Regins and Ambrose career.
Worst Wrestler of the Month: Roman Regins-Again this award goes to poor ole roman, I really like roman and hope he can became a bona fide main eventer some day but with the way he's been booked this month has just been awful, it's a new low for wwe head vince McMahon. Roman has plodded along in a dire feud with big show and cut some horrid promos of late one where he channeled slyvester the cat from a popular cartoon from the 50's, referring to himself as superman and telling a story about jack and the beanstalk. I'm sure your agree it's not been a good month for roman. The only thing that can save him now is a heel turn and for someone expect McMahon booking Regins.
So that's it for another month in the world of pro wrestling as told by @RantsWrestle if you've enjoyed what you read or haven't then your more than welcome to tell me via twitter. Until next month then as bill apter would say I'll see you at the matches.
Billy
@billy222me
