Yet another month has passed in the world of professional wrestling and for the month of March wrestle rants has yet another stacked month of news to get in the world of pro wrestling. Major talking points in wwe surround brock Lesnar sudden departure from wwe then showing up in ufc and then announcing this week that he had signed a new two year deal with the wwe. Also while in wwe I'm looking at the card for wrestlemania 31 as well as Daniel Bryan's demotion back into the mid card. There is also forcus on nxt champion kevin owens and I look at how right wwe have got it in pushing this guy so far as well as looking at Finn Balor and Adrain neville and asking are these guys really ready for the main roster and do they really need to be on the main roster now NXT is considered a brand by wwe. Hugh Morus proves he is isn't such a happy go lucky go guy that his laughing man gimmick would suggest. Rey Mysterio is gone from wwe and has returned to AAA and is now bound for Lucha underground and stephanie McMahons Twitter spat with AJ Lee. It's been another hard month for TNA with the departure of Samoa Joe. Over to ROH and I have a full review of roh 13th year Anniversary PPV, the results from new Japan new beginnings and the card for new Japan cup shows and more noah results. Then onto the indie scene where I have reviews on Chikara Season 15 premier show A New Start and CZW sixteen plus plenty more.
WWE
To start this section is quick results from last months WWE FastLane PPV (or network depending on what we call it these days) which was held in front of a Luke warm crowd in Memphis Tennessee in the fed ex forum before 13,263. The Big Show, Kane and Seth Rollins/with J N J Security toppled Dolph Ziggler, Erik Rowen and Ryback in a very average six man tag which saw kane pin Ziggler after big show had used a jumping (and I use that term loosely) KO Punch to pick up the win for the authority. Afterwards months after he was originally susposed to be back Randy Orton returned and nailed Mercury and Noble with a pair of RKO's while Seth Rollins run to the back in a very good segment indeed. Goldust bested Stardust in another average match between the two brothers which had a botched finish and already wwe have given up on this angle and have placed stardust into the IC Title Ladder match instead of another match with goldust. Obviously someone in the wwe offices felt this feud was not worthy of a WrestleMania match and you know what they were right. Tyson Kidd and Cesero dropped The Uso's Jimmy and Jey to win the WWE Tag Team Titles in a solid outing, it was nice to see Cesero and Kidd get the titles after months of being ignored by wwe Mangerment. Triple H and Sting finally came face to face in a good segment to set up there WrestleMania match. hunter said "he wanted sting to work with him not against him" and if "sting worked with him he would immortalise The stinger with a hall of fame induction but if sting wanted to do things the hard way then he would essentially take him out of this business. Of course sting came down to the ring with his baseball bat in hand and cornered hunter and challenged him to a match at mania by pointing his bat that the sign then placing it back under hunters chin. Sting did this a few times just to drive that point home to the audience live on the network and to those in attendence for the show. A nice set up For what could be an quiet interesting match at mania. Nikki Bella beat Paige with a"FUCKING " roll up to retain the WWE Divas Title in a very bland match which was the same old divas match, in fact I hated this match with a passion. Wade Barrett won by DQ over Dean Ambrose to retain the WWE Intercontinental title, the finish was piss poor and did nothing for either man. A casket rolled out to ringside as the undertakers music played, the crowd in attendence poped huge for this but it was all a ploy by Bray Wyatt. Another silly segment all I enjoyed was the fact bray trolled all the fans in attendance, as for Brays promo it was the same old shit but was delivered very well by the eater of worlds. Rusev made John Cena tap out to the accolade in what turned out to be a good match to retain the WWE Us Title. For those who claimed Cena didn't put Rusev over well go back and watch this again because he clearly did as this was Cenas first loss by tap out since 2004 but then the next night Cena as usual acted as if the loss was no big deal which only added the fuel to the fire to piss the IWC off even more. Finally Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan in a very god match to earn his shot at WWE Champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. Of course bryan carried reigns here but reigns more than held his own in there with super worker bryan. Reigns in fact should be applued for working so hard and keeping up with bryan. Afterwards bryan solidified reigns as the next big thing by shaking his hand and raising up reigns arm as the memphis crowd looked on not really cheering or booing this but hey at least both men had a good match right. A very bland ppv by wwe which only pissed off the fan base who really wanted to see bryan v Lesnar at Mania but overall it was a piss poor show where nothing of real importance happened so I'd give this show a 4 out of 10 because let's face it wwe didn't exactly take this show very seriously. So Roman Reigns is officially on the road to Wrestlemania and will face Brock Lesnar in the showcase of the immortels main event for the WWE Title. Brock Lesnar and Vince McMahon had a shouting match at the beginning of the month, not many insiders seemed to know what was happening but whatever it was it forced Brock to walk out on wwe if only for a short while as it was announced he had signed a new two year deal just before this section was completed. Seriously wwe insiders/office staff were worked by brock and vince into believing something serious had gone down between the two but now with Brock signed it seems this heat between the two has subsided for now. The main event to mania was never in dealt in my opinion, now having sat back and watched this mess unfold and it's great news Brock has resigned with wwe after Brock showed up to a recent ufc event and had the whole world talking. Maybe that was what vince and brock was going for, either way this is all over now and we're heading into mania with no worries about weather Brock is staying or going. I do smell a face turn for the beast because that looks like the direction there going in now. Daniel Bryan has been demoted back to the mid card following his one and done feud with Roman Regins at FastLane, in my opinion it seems like wwe wasted an opportunity with bryan and rushed him back for mania for no reason whatsoever. Surely it would have made sense to have bryan return after mania to work a programme with the new wwe champion or with Brock heading into SummerSlam but alas wwe has yet again dropped the ball with this one and if I hear that bryan winning the IC title in a worthless ladder match at Maina will elevate him and the belt well I'm sorry your wrong as the build to this ladder match has been about the theft of the actual title not how important (the title) it is. As for the challengers every single one of them are guys who have nothing else to do at this years show and don't even get me started on how bad they've booked champion wade barrett leading into this as he's been made to look a goof with all this outrageously bad booking. I'm not knocking the match because I'm sure all seven men will bust there butts to give us a rememberable wrestlemania moment but once it's over everyone will move onto caring about something else and not the new IC champion. The #GiveDivasAChance hashtag created buzz following AJ Lee tweet directed at Stephaine McMahon (after steph was trying to get a cheap Retweet from Patricia Aquette who had tweeted something about giving ladies fair pay compared to her male counterparts in the world of acting). Lee basically pointed out that women in wwe were paid less than there male counterparts including merchandising royalties (which isn't just a problem with the women but the men also). Whatever she was trying to achieve by doing this, I don't know but she did return to tv and is now booked to team with Paige to wrestle the Bellas at WrestleMania. There is yet another Andre The Giant Battle Royal at this years mania featuring a who, who's of nobodies (expect for Miz and Mizdow with their feud expected to peak at this years show of shows) and last years winner Cesero is on the pre show so that should tell you how seriously wwe are taking this match again this year. Cesero and Tyson Kidd will be defending the wwe Tag Team titles on the mania pre show against the Uso's. Well until Jimmy went and got injured, so now it looks like the champs will be defending against Los Matadores (Fuck Seriously) and the New Day, but wwe is still advertising the Uso's for the match so maybe they will find Jey a new partner for mania. John Cena seems to be settling into his role as upper mid carder very well indeed and his feud with Rusev has been quiet fun. Considering I've never been a fan of Cenas work and I rarely have nothing nice to say about his work or feuds, this feud has been very fun indeed and will cumulative at this years mania. Let's hope wwe make the right move and have cena lose at this years showcase of the immortels unlike last year when they had him beat Bray Wyatt which ended up seriously hurting Wyatt for the long term and Wyatt has only just recovered from this. Undertaker is back and he's scheduled to wrestle Bray Wyatt on the show of shows. The more this match is bulit the more I think Bray will beat taker on the grand daddy of them all, but if takers scheduled for next years mania wouldn't it make more sense for the guy who had a famous winning streak going into his last mania on a losing streak. I think that would make sense after wwe dropped the ball last year having taker lose to brock as a way to set up Brock's wwe title win last summer. Kevin Owens may be sidelined but he's the shinning light in wwe developmental brand NXT with his honest man character who isn't a face or heel at the moment. Owens said "he did what he had to do to become champion (regrading the way he beat down his best friend Sami Zayn) and his honesty doesn't really make him a face or heel. I think his character is a refreshing change from the norm but like with all the other NXT standouts I do worry for him once he reaches the main roster. Talking about nxt and the main roster I would say the whole question over who should and shouldn't be on the main roster isn't a thing anymore hopefully after wwe announced NXT would start touring. I was going to pose the question did you think Finn Balor, Hideo Itami and Kevin Owens were all ready for the main roster (which they all are) but now with triple h coming out and saying he sees NXT as another brand, is there really any point in these guys and gals heading up to the main roster. I would say no, don't and why hunters at it please keep vince away from NXT if anything been proven its that vince may be so out of touch with his audience (similar to how he was in 95) that he would do more harm than good when it comes to booking NXT. Bill De Mott was released by wwe this month, the head trainer for wwe developmental centre and was released/fired after a number of high profile complaints about him finally became public and wwe was forced to act. For people who don't know becoming a pro wrestler is no easy task and in a business bulit on respect his methods may not be very public image friendly in this day and age. A lot of stories of harassment and abuse have been reported and I'm not going to defend De Motts actions (because the racist and homophobic slurs are not acceptable in this day and age for good reason) but he and others probably had it far worse coming up in the ninties than developmental guys have today, so I will leave it at that and move on. Rey Mysterio has finally been released by wwe after being with the company since 2002. It ends months of speculation about his future with wwe after rey has been trying to secure a path out of wwe. Rey has joined Alberto El Patron and Sin Cara in joining AAA as well as rumours he will be joining Lucha Underground. Rey was in line to Wok Perro Ayguero Jnr in AAA at some point until Perro untimely death. Finally to finish off this section here is the entire card for this Sunday's WrestleMania 31 (play button) show being held in the Levi Stadium in Santa Carla California. Brock Lesnar defends the WWE Title against Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt squares off with The Undertaker, Triple H finally meets Sting 1 on 1 in what should be billed as a grudge match (just saying). Wade Barrett (one of wwe most undervalued IC champions in a long time, we're talking Dean douglas levels here folks) defends the WWE Intercontinental Title in a Ladder Match against Daniel Bryan, R-Truth, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust, Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper. Seth Rollins finally faces the viper Randy Orton, John Cena faces the Us Champion Rusev for Rusev us title which has had a rocky 4 type of build to it, which I've personally enjoyed. AJ Lee and Paige face the Bella Twins Nikki&Brie, there is also the Andre The Giant Battle Royal and Cesero and Tyson Kidd defend there WWE Tag Team Titles against The Matadores (Epico&Primo) and the New Day (Kofi Kingston&Xavier Woods) and maybe the Uso's but as reported above Jimmy is sidelined with an injury and will miss the granddaddy of em all, so I expect the Uso's to be pulled from the match.
ROH
Ring of Honor have announced 3 shows in conjunction with new japan, none of these shows will be on the traditional Sunday night PPV but will probably be made available for purchase via ROH website. On Wednesday May 13th will be ROH War of the Worlds which will be held in philadelphia at the ECW (2300) Arena. Then on Friday May 15th and Saturday May 16th will be ROH Global Wars in Toronto Canada at the Ted Reeve Arena. If you saw these shows last years then should know these shows will be well worth your time and paying for as well. As last year both shows were critically acclaimed and for good reason as Shinsuke Nakamaru vs Kevin (Steen) Owens, reDRagon vs The Young Bucks, AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada vs MIchael Elgin and Adam Cole vs Jushin 'Thunder' Liger all where in the match of the year honors for 2014. Samoa Joe has returned to ring of honor and has been booked on the groups recent conquest tour where Joe faced Kyle O'Riely, ACH, Michael Elgin and is also being put into a headline feud with ROH Champion Jay Briscoe where the two will meet at this years Supercard of Honor, which rather surprisingly isn't being shown on ippv or traditional ppv. Then wwe announced an interest and word was ROH was seriously considering putting the belt on Joe but now with wwe interest growing this dream scanerio for a longtime ROH mark like myself made me fill rather glum because I really want to see one of ROH best world champions ever get that ROH title back around his waist. ROH next traditional Sunday night ppv is ROH Best in the World and will be held on June 6th back at the fairgrounds (TNA used to run there weekly ppv there from 2002-2004) in Nashville Tennessee. ROH 13th year anniversary ppv results held in Las Vegas Nevada. Up first Matt Sydal toppled Cedric Alexander in A very Good fast paced opener which got the crowd and this review warmed up Nicely for the rest of the card. Sydal won after a good 10 minutes of solid action with the shooting star press. Up next Moose/with Veda Scott&Stokely bested Mark Briscoe In an Ok match which was nothing special, moose did drop my jaw when he gave mark that dropkick while mark sat on the top rope. Moose picked up the win to continue his winning streak after he gave Mark the spear. Afterwards Mark tried to shake moose's hand and the former NFL footballer wanted to but Veda stopped her client from following the code Of honor. Next was the 3 Team Tag Team Match as The Kingdom (Matt Taven&Michael Bennett) rolled over The Addiction (Christopher Daniels&Frankie Kazarain) and The Bullet Club (Karl Anderson&Doc Gallows), Another good match which the right team won, unfortunately doc gallows didn't make the show due to travel issues but that didn't bother the machine gun because he said "he would fight on his own" or was it ROH being to cheap to get a last minute replacement for the big LG. Again the push for the kingdom continues as they pinned new Japan star karl anderson clean to pick up the win. Up next was Roderick Strong beating BJ Whitmer/with Adam Page and Jimmy Jacobs, Another very good match but would you expect anything less from these two ROH legends. Mr ROH roderick strong picked Up the win with his fall from grace back breaker. To continue the feud between the decade stablemates of Jacobs, Whitmer and page, Jimmy Jacobs sat on commentary but my expected Jacobs face turn never happened and now I can't see it happening. We then moved onto the Women's Match as ODB/with Mark Briscoe Hammered Maria Kanellis/With Michael Bennett. Depending on how you rate wrestling you either loved or hated this match, if you was looking for a knock out drag out technical masterpiece from these two ladies then you would sure be dissappionted but what they did do here was entertain and these two currently delivered. Maria claimed she was pregnant to get out of wrestling ODB then Bennett superkicked ODB to officially start the match because you see it was all a rouse by maria. Corino was at his best here on commentary whenever maria got struck in the stomach with something he would scream "she's pregnant" but that was just a ploy as kevin kelly pointed out to steve over and over again. Again the right person went over as ODB beat Maria. Afterwards ODB gave the belt of love back to its rightful owners her brothers the Briscoes after months of this old ROH title being disrespected by maria and her kingdom stablemates the Briscoes finally got back there property. The Internet dream match was next as AJ Styles dropped ACH. Again depending on what you like about pro wrestling this match was either your match of the night or worst match of the night. I personally loved it as I enjoyed the fact both men busted there arses with the 15 plus minutes they got out there. In the end after teasing it all match AJ nailed ACH with the styles clash to pick up the win. We continued with ROH World Tag Team Title Match as reDRagon Kyle O' Riely&Bobby Fish (Champions) downed The Young Bucks Matt&Nick Jackson to retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Another match I really enjoyed in fact I've enjoyed every match the bucks and reDRagon have had together, I would rate right them up there with some of the greatest tag team matches of the modern era. After so much happened I can see why there is detractors toward this style of wrestling but seriously how can you complain when these four put it all on the line. I must admit I wasn't fond of interference spot from that MMA fighter (I can't remember her name and don't care enough to look it up) who accompied reDRagon to the ring that aside the champs picked up yet another win over the bucks this time with there finisher chasing the dragon for the 1,2 and 3. Up next was ROH World Television Title Match as Jay Lethal (Champion)/with Truth Martini and Jay Diesel pinned Alberto El Patron to retain the ROH World Television Championship. Another very good match which was built around El patron arm bar finisher and the house of truth interference in the match. In the end lethal overcome the former wwe heavyweight champion and his arm bar and after a second attempt at the arm bar, which was Broken up when truth martini nailed El patron with his book of truth then lethal recovered and nailed El patron with the lethal injection to pick up the win and retain his title. So Samoa Joe is back where he belongs in ROH and here he simply came out and made it clear he wanted the winner of tonight's main event. Joe holds the record for one of ROH most famous title regains which lasted well over 21 months and for this longtime ROH fan nothing could have been sweeter to see a motivated Joe cut an impassioned promo declaring his intent to reclaim his ROH world title. I am samoa Joe, I am pro wrestling (always loved that line and totally brought into the gimmick back in 2003). Finally in the Main Event ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe (Champion) defeated Tomasso Ciampra, Hanson and MIchael Elgin to retain the ROH World Title in a 4 corner survival match. So this main event was too rushed in my opinion and was over booked as so much happened in such a short space of time. The match featured a referee bump, a run in from the kingdom dressed up as TKD (or whatever they are called), a spot with the retired ROH legend Nigel Mcguiness nearly getting a buckle Bomb from elgin and a table spot. In the end the ROH world champion Jay (who still hasn't been pinned in two years) got lucky when he fell onto Ciampra after elgin had KO both Jay and Tomasso and the referee counted three and jay retained his title and jays undefeated streak remained. Afterwards Joe came out to the ring and shook jays hand but not first without warning him he was the next in line for a ROH world title shot. Another very good ppv by Americas arguebaly number two wrestling promotion, it was stacked from top to bottom and every match delivered. Apart from the overbooked main event I really enjoyed this show and would give it a 9 out of 10. It could have been 10 out of 10 if the main event went a little longer as well but I understand time constraints on ppv but why not cut some time off of the undercard matches so the main event had time to breathe.
JAPAN
New Japan presented the New Beginnings cards on February 11th and 14th in Osaka and Sendai. Here are the results from both shows which I couldn't review last month due to the last publication date being on February 16th. Night 1 results Osaka: Mascara Dorada and Tiger Mask beat Captain New Japan and Manabu Nakanoshi, The Illunminati Chase Owens and Rob Conway/with Bruce Tharpe dropped Hiroyoshi Tenzan&Jushin 'Thunder' Liger. Kota Ibushi toppled Tomoaki Homna in a good match and this match signalled the beginning of the show for me after watching two duds to open the show. The Young Bucks Matt&Nick Jackson/with Cody Hall rolled over reDRagon Kyle O'Riely&Bobby Fish (Champions) and Time Splitters Alex Shelley&KUSHIDA in a 3 team corners match to win the IWGP Jnr Heavyweight Tag Team Titles in a fine outing. Kenny Omega/with Cody Hall and The Young Bucks dropped Rusuke Taguchi to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, yet again I was not impressed with these two outing and omega deserves better. Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba hammered The Bullet Club Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi and Tama Tonga in a six man tag which was nothing special. In another six man tag Satoshi Kojima, Tetsuya Naito and Yugi Nagata defeated Choas (Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Iishi and Yoshi HASHI) in a much better six man tag which set up the next shows main event nicely. Bullet Club Doc Gallows&Karl Anderson downed Hiroki Goto&Shibata to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles which the bullet club had only lost a month earlier. A very good match overall but was a bit disappointed Goto and Shibata lost the titles after only winning them last month, I guess that mammoth title run I thought the two would have was not on the books after all. Finally AJ Styles pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the IWGP Heavyweight Title, yet again another very good match as both men seem to be able to bring the best out of one another in there matches. Like I said last month when I posted the spoiler for this match this is AJ second run with new Japan's and Japan's top belt and I for one couldn't be happier, after the 2014 AJ had he truly deserved another run with the belt. Overall this was in my opinion the far supieror show to night two as I'm a bullet club mark this show had everything I wanted from it and more. Night 2 results, Sendai: reDRagon Kyle O'Riely&Bobby Fish dropped Jay White and Tiger Mask in a rather substandard opener maybe at this point I expect so much from Kyle and Bobby performance wise that when they have a average match I'm disappointed. Alex Shelley, Mascara Dorada&KUSHIDA toppled Bullet Club Kenny Omega&The Young Bucks Matt&Nick Jackson in a enjoyable six man tag which sets up a match between Dorada and Omega at some point hopefully as those two had some nice exchanges throughout this match. Jushin 'Thunder' Liger downed Chase Owens/with Bruce Tharpe in a lousy match to retain the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title, Hiroyoshi Tenzan rolled over Rob Conway to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title in another average outing but I must admit I did mark out seeing Tenzan win the belt. Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito bested Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano in a good match which picked this reviwer up after two poor matches. Choas (Yoshi HASHI and Kazuchika Okada) hammered the Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale and Yuijiro Takahashi) in another average match, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroki Goto&Shibata beat the Bullet Club (Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga) in a six man tag at this point I was pretty burnt out with all the tag team matches. Tomohiro Iishi defeated Tomoaki Homna to win the vacant Never Title in the match of a the night. Both men had the crowd in there Palm of there hands throughout and the crowd helped make Homna look like a credible threat to the Pitbull Isihi but in the end Iishi beat Homna clean to regain the belt he lost last month to Togi Makabe. Finally Shinsuke Nakamaru pinned Yugi Nagata to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Title in another very good match like Jericho v Triple H at Mania 18 (which had the task of following the rock v hogan dream match) this had a hard time following Iishi and Homna as the crowd and this reviwer were drained for this main event match. In the end nakamura finished off Nagata with the bombary running Knee smash and it sent the veteran and NJPW legend Yugi Nagata back down the card. Uhaa Nation departed Dragon Gate this past month after 4 succesful years in Japan to sign a wwe developmental deal. Uhaa will be remembered for his time in the monster express stable and as Akira Tozawa tag team partner. Uhaa will likely appear on NXT by the end of year as he has everything wwe normally looks for in a talent as he is a big guy (he looks similar to Bobby Lashley but is a far superior worker than lashley) but along with his explosive power moves he can fly like a Cruiserweight, which could go against him in wwe but only time will tell on how successful he can be in wwe. Uhaa got a classy send off after putting over Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate champion Hulk BXB. Afterwards uhaa was put over by all his peers (who will clearly miss him) in an emotional send off and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. The following is the card for this years new Japan cup tournament which is held every year and is being held on March 5th, 8th and 10th and here is the first round matches of the new Japan cup for the March 5th show. Yujiro Takahashi vs Yoshi HASHI, Togi Makabe vs Toamoki Homna, Shibata vs Satoshi Koijma, Kota Ibushi vs Doc Gallows, Tetsuya Naito vs Karl Anderson, Taru Yano vs Hiroshi Tanahashi and Bad Luck Fale vs Kazuchika Okada. Pro Wrestling Noah run its most relevant show in over 4 years thanks large in part to new Japan's Suzukigun invading the group and on this show held on March 15th Tokyo Japan at the Ariake Coliseum and was shown on Nippon Tv in Japan. BRAVE (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Mohammed Yone&Tariji Ishimori) and Captain Noah bested Jonah Rock, Super Crazy, Zack Sabre Jnr and Yoshinari Ogawa in an Eight Man Tag which wasn't a bad opener. Strong BJ (Daisuke Sekimoto&Yuji Okabayashi) dropped Akitoshi Saito and Quiet Storm in a very poor match indeed. Cho Kibou-Gun (Takahashi Morishima&Maybach Taniguchi) downed Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Manabu Nakanishi in an ok tag team match. Danga Yankees (Masato Tanaka&Takashi Sugiura) rolled over Suzkigun (Shelton Benjamin&Takashi Izuka) in what was an average outing, probably because it was far to long going well over 18 minutes. Suzukigun (Taka Michinoku&El Desperdo) pinned Cho Kibou-Gun (Hajima Ohara&kenou) (Champions) and No Mercy (Daisuke Harada&Genba Hirayanagi) in a 3 team match to win the GHC Jnr Heavyweight Tag Team Titles in a short but good match. Taichi toppled Atsushi Kotoge to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight title in a very flat match and one that didn't exactly enjoy watching, now it's Suzukigun 2 noah 1. Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Jnr&Lance Archer) beat TMDK (Shane Haste&Mikey Nicholls) to retain the GHC Tag Team Titles, this was match of the night as both teams worked very hard and it was timed just right going 15 minutes plus, now that was Suzukigun 3 pro wrestling noah 1. Finally Minuro Suzuki defeated Naomichi Marufuji to win the GHC Heavyweight Title in what was my match of the night. The crowd was also great for this one with some torn between cheering both men and they seemed delighted (even if they booed suzukigun) at the end even though the invader Suzuki had won the GHC title. So that was first official all Suzukigun noah show and it did raise my interest to check out Noah for the first time since Mitsuhuru Misawa death in 2009. Overall I enjoyed the show, yeah ok there was a few duds but there was also a lot of good on this show but if your a Suzkigun mark like me then you probably also really enjoyed it, so on that basis alone I'm going to give it a 7.5 out of 10.
TNA
Samoa Joe has finally departed TNA after nearly ten years with the group as he debuted at TNA Slammiversary 2005 (oh the good ole days of TNA). Joe has left TNA with another huge hole to fill after his departure much like after AJ, Daniels and Kazarain left, these are talents TNA can't replace and moving forward the company is looking much weaker than it ever has before but I'm sure mark Dixie will continue to pump her daddy's money into the fledgling company. By this point I can't see how TNA can even grow its got to a point where Dixie is more than happy to run a bare bones promotion which will continue to loss money (they don't tour or do ppv so only have there tv income coming in) rather than make any and in wrestling, companies need to make money to survive unless your a Carter but in all honesty I hope TNA can rebound but at this point I can't see how. Nothing much less to report really regrading TNA as the company taped all its tv shows last month and doesn't run ppv or house show events so not a lot has happened in TNA this month because at this point moving forward the company seems to be stuck in limbo and going nowhere with Dixie Carter running it. I will end with this on the TNA section that the company is still producing the same old product that hasn't drawn a dime for years and until Dixie rolls the dice and I don't know actually do something different for once then the company is going to be stuck in the same position it's been stuck in since 2008.
INDEPENDENT
Sad news coming out of Mexico just before I published this with news Perro Ayguero Jnr died after an in ring as accident for the crash promotion in Tijuana Mexico. I'm refusing to write to much over the incident due to the fact that reports are still sketchy (it seems he suffered a similar fate that Mitshuru Misawa did) as to what actually happened so more on this tragic incident next month. Tommy Dreamer was raging on Social media about torrent and streaming sites this past month. He made some good points espiecally the one regrading how many views his last show got and how much money he may or may not have lost because of it. He said "my heart sunk seeing 99,000 views on one site which is roughly 900,000 dollars. He may very well have a point but I've got to add Tommy 20 dollars for your iPPV mate I will pay it but some can't and want to see your show anyway so why not make it more affordable to those people by charging a lot less. Yes 20 dollars is fair but in this day and age it is a little excessive and I think a lot of indy Feds need to realize this considering the wwe network is only 9.99 a month (and that includes wrestlemania) so I think it's time all these indy Feds came to together to start an over the top on demand service with all ippv for say 12.99 a month. Before you tell me how there is such a thing called the world wrestling network (which is still not available in the UK on roku), but is dreamers house of hardcore event on there. Well no it isn't and the same can be said for Chikara and don't even get me started on ROH VOD service. These promotions need to make money I understand that but to be able to watch these events is becoming more and more cost ineffective for your fans who only have so much for entertainment each month, so they are more than likely to go to these sites if they can't afford it. Chikara presented its new start season 15 premier on January 26th the afternoon of the royal rumble and here is my review of the show having finally being able to watch it via smart mark video on demand service. To open the show was a Ten Man Tag as Sidney Blackabella men The Wrecking Crew which included The Devistation Corperation Blaster McMassive&Max Smashmaster the current Campeonatos de Parajas champions (chikara verison of the tag team titles), Flex Rumblecrunch, Jaka and Oleg The Usurper who beat The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield&Mr Touchdown), Jervis Cottonbelly, Princess Kimberlee and Shynron. Fun opener which featured lots of the chikara goodness as all nine men and the one women pulled there weight in the ring to put in a entertaining performance. The finish saw max Smashmaster and princess Kimberlee ending up in the ring together as everyone else was wiped out on the floor. The dastardly Smashmaster then cornered Kimberlee and took the upper hand with some closed fist shots, which made the Chikarmy boo max for such a heeliish act. Max then gave Kimberlee a side slam and covered Kimberlee for the 1,2 and 3. Nokken downed Ophidian in a good match which continues the story of Ophidian questioning himself and the gods. NRG (Hype Rockwell&Race Jaxon) put away Colony Extreme Force (Arctic Rescue Ant&Missile Assualt Ant) in mere seconds. This was a quick squash which helped to make NRG strong going forward and the team now have 2 points and are only a point (a win) away from a shot at the Devistation Corperation. Afterwards an irrate Missile Assualt Ant walked away from his partner Arctic Rescue Ant to tease a split within the colony extreme force. Ultra Mantis Black bested Juan Fransisco de Coronado in another good match. I could complain about how Coronado should have had the win here (he had a tremendous season 14) but he really didn't need it in my opinion but chikara most recognizable face mantis obviously did in the eyes of Mike Quackenbush. Die Burderschaft des Kreuzus (Jakob Hammermier, Pinkie Sanchez&Soilder Ant) toppled The Colony (Fire, Silver&Green Ant) in a trios match. Yet another good match which gave Jakob and his team a much needed win going forward. The colony are so over at this point a loss didn't hurt them as with all chikara matches the bigger story was the story of Soilder ant and his betrayal of his former stablemates the colony. During the closing stages of the match Soilder had fire ant at his mercy but then fire ant saluted Soilder which made Soilder question weather he should nail fire ant. In came Jakob who pushed Soilder ant out of the ring and took out fire with a what looked like a variation of a Death Valley driver. Kevin Condron/with The Lituanian Snow Troll won by DQ over Eddie Kingston in yes you guessed it another good match. Yet again the match was about the story hence why I didn't mind the DQ because there is an overall direction for this DQ and IT made Condron look like even more of a jerk an he is. The story was eddie Kingston had 2 points and with a win here he could finally get another shot at "Her" (the chikara Grand championship which is Chikara's verison of the world title) if he beat Condron like everyone thought he would. The former Kid Cyclone played mind games with Kingston right from the bell by grabbing a wrench which made Kingston grab a chair then the two squared off and Condron begged Kingston to hit him. Throughout Kingston brutalised Condron why Condron tried to get himself and Kingston disqualified. The finish saw the referee get distracted so Condron throw himself holding his crotch then the referee turned around and called for the bell. Condron left smiling while laughing as Kingston got hot then announcer Gavin loudspeaker announced that the referee hadn't just disqualified Kingston he had taken away a point from Kingston. Now Kingston had one point and is two points away from getting a shot to regain "Her". Afterwards a very angry Kingston chased the referee away as well as throwing some chairs and threating poor ole loudspeaker. Freightmare&Hollowicked pinned The Batiri (Kodama&Obariyon) in an ok match which was nothing special but it wasn't exactly bad neither. Finally Icarus defeated The Kentucky Gentlemen Chuck Taylor to retain the Chikara Grand Championship. Fun main event match which wasn't to overbooked unlike the main event of the ROH 13th Anniversary PPV. The story of the match was that these two had been in chikara since day one and had been stablemates in TEAM FIST together for many years winning the king of the trios together as well (they beat the then named Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan, Claudio Castagnoli/Cesero and Dave Taylor in 2008 for chikara most pretegious title the king of trio's), also they had been Campeonatos de Parajas together and travel companions for many years.
So there was plenty of history between these two longterm Chikara alumni's. The match featured both men taking short cuts to gain the upper hand. After senior official Bryce Remsberg was accidently struck by a chuck taylor big boot he went down and chuckie T pulled out some powder from his ring jacket and threw it in Icarus eyes but the champion was not new to cheating and pulled out some of his own to blind taylor and get a near fall. It finished as chuck argued with Bryce after a near fall on Icarus and the champ went to the outside grabbed his grand championship and clocked chuck with it behind Bryce's back but Icarus only got a two count. The crowd booed this but then chuck countered Icarus pedigree with a low blow to get another near fall on Icarus. It ended when the champ nailed the Kentucky gentlemen with an omega driver and then slapped on the chikara special to make chuck tap out. Overall I really enjoyed this show much more than any wwe ppv of late, I would give it a solid 7.5 out of 10 as every single match regardless of how big or small told a story and a good one at that. Evolve 38 Was on March 8th, I haven't seen the show yet but I will post what headlined the show as Roderick Strong took on Drew Galloway in a steel cage match. If you haven't seen any of this feud yet then you should these two have been knocking the stuffing out of one another in Evolve and this has turned into a proper pro wrestling grudge. I expect these two to yet again Beat the hell out of one another and wouldn't be surprised if the two bleed in this match as well. Vince Russo has been in the news again when he was a guest to a recent Lucha Underground tv taping. The Internet was in a uproar over this but you have to give it to russo the guy has stayed employed for whatever reason all these years for a reason he says all the right things. Konnon who is a regular on MLW podcast didn't really address why he was there when on the show and asked by host Court Bauer. Hopefully Russo will have nothing to do with Lucha Underground the guy has nothing but bad ideas (wcw 1999-2000 and whenever he was in the position of creative/Booker for TNA) and can't help them at all. Hell even Russo famously said he didn't think Mexicans drew in a America because Americans don't support foreign wrestlers. The guy should stay away and hopefully El Ray haven't been conned like so many others have by Russo over the years. Russo also was in the news for a situation with his website but by this point I really didn't care about this, with talk he has very little to do with articles on there and taking subscribers money after it got shut down, all i have to say is more fool you for paying the guy for content which is full of half truths. We end this section with a review of CZW Sixteen ippv which celebrated the promotions sixth year in the pro wrestling business and was czw first show back in the ECW (2300) Arena for over 5 years and drew a respectable crowd of 700 fans. To open the show Danny Havoc comes out (he's been out six months with an injury). havoc reminisced about the good old days of CZW in the ECW (2300) Arena and his time out with injury. After announcing Wrench was to face 3 deathmatch challenges over the coming months he announced he would team with Devon Moore and face Lucky 13 in an ultraviolet deathmatch (remember because it's important) in tonight's main event. Dirty Buxx Belmar dropped Pepper Parks/with Cherry Bomb in a Best of the Best Qualifying Match which was a decent comedy match which got the crowd warmed up just right for the rest of the show. Thankfully it was short and the story of the match was that Buxx kept getting sexually suggestive with Peppers wife Cherry Bomb. This lead to a fun spot which had been teased earlier where Buxx removed cherry's shoe and licked her foot, I guess that is why they call him Dirty Buxx Belmar. In another Best of the Best Qualifying Match CZW DOJO standout Bad Boy Joey Janela beat former CZW Heavyweight champion Sozio in what was upset of the night and even the year. I would have liked this match more if it wasn't for Janela deciding to fly from the top rope down onto the ring apron taking a horrible looking back bump, just to get himself over with the crowd. My thinking was the kid went too far he didn't need to do that, his performance here was good and so was the match but did he really need to take that bump, in my opinion no he did not. Alex Colon came out to set up his match, he accidently broke someone neck last month and it is now being used to get him over as a dangerous heel. Anyway bad ass Colon said he would break anyone's neck in the back and out came Drew Gulak and match number three was underway. Drew Gulak bested Alex Colon in a average match which went less than ten minutes and I guess colon push is over because Gulak pretty much schooled him here. The Devils Play Thing Stockade dropped The Bulldozer Matt Tremont in a Ultravoilent Rules Match. I don't mind watching two fat guys bleed and hit each other with chairs but I can why wrestling purist turn there nose up to this short of match, personally speaking this was an ok match not as Ultravoilent as czw in past would have. Both men gave the fans what they wanted and that was blood, chair shots to the head and men bumping on concrete. The finish saw stockade (who was making his debut on this show) give Tremont a Death Valley onto some barbed wire to pick up the win, in what was another huge upset. Tim Donst came out to cut an emotional promo about how he was now effectively retired due to a doctor finding a tremor in his kidney. Donst was given a standing ovation by the crowd in attendence and rightfully so. Donst says "he loves the CZW fans because of how passionate they are and how vocal they are". He then says "his career might be over for now but one day he may be back in this ring for you people. The crowd cheered and chanted C-Z-DUB to end this segment. In match of the night Joe Gacy downed Speedball Mike Bailey in a very good match to retain the CZW Wired (Television) Title. This was the first time I have seen Bailey work and I can see why he has aquired a small fan base on the independent scene. Bailey and Joe worked harder than anyone else on the show in my opinion. It ended with Bailey nailed Gacy with a top rope shooting star knee press drop for a near fall. Bailey then gave Gacy a powerslam and a pump handle slam to get the beard all on Gacy but the champ is a fighter as he countered a spin kick by Bailey and applied the strecthed muffler leg bar to pick up the win and to retain his strap. The Beaver Boys (Tim Silver, Rex "Lawless" Silver and Chuck 'Taylor' Silver) beat Team Tremendous (Dan Barry, Bill Carr and Dick Justice) in a tornado tag Tables Match). There was two things to takeaway from this match, one. I sadly underestimated team tremendous after what I had to say about them at COD. In fact they've grown on me ever since then and two. Well I would have never "funked" it that chuckie t was a long lost Silver brother. Also Alex Reynolds Tim silvers regular tag team partner had not been able to make the show for whatever reason. Early on it was a wild brawl as all six men brawled all over the arena. Then they all did dives, normally watching Carr exucute a tope is pretty breath taking (as he looks a weighs the same as Big Boss Man did during his height as a performer) but here dick justice stole the show with an awful looking dive (dick is a 400 plus ponder) down onto all five men. Dick was the first to be eliminated as he sets up a table in the corner, dick grabs tim but in comes lawless from out of nowhere who spears dick through the table. Bill carr meanwhile sets up a table on the outside then moments later drives lawless through the table with a side walk slam after coming off the apron with the move in a great looking spot. Back in the ring team tremendous set up a table but barry is taken out by the Kentucky gentlemen and then lawless returns and him and Tim drive the incredibly popular Carr through the table to eliminate the bossman lookalike. Rex leaves knowing his "brothers" have the two on one advantage on barry. Chuck and Tim double team barry to get there heat, chuck sets up a table and ladder which Tim scales up. Tim is on top of the ladder as barry recovers and throws chuck out of the ring and climbs the ladder. On top Barry grabs Tim and goes for the moonsault slam but chuck moves the table as Barry and Tim come crashing down off the top of the ladder to the mat below. On the outside chuck sets up a table and he tries to put Barry through it but Barry battles back and lays chuck on top of the table. Barry rolls into the ring and dives out of the ring and crashes into chuck breaking the table in the process. Rather comically back in the ring Tim silver has a look of freight and disgust on his animated face. Back in the ring Barry drills Tim with a ddt and sets up the final table and another ladder. Barry puts Tim onto the table a scales the ladder but Tim recovers and pulls Barry off who rather calmly steps onto the table and lays down. Tim silver climbs the ladder and drops a leg drop to pick up the win for him and his "brothers". BLK OUT Jeez defeated Chris Dickenson to retain the CZW Heavyweight Title in a very boring match. To me Dickenson may be a Philly native but the crowd couldn't have cared any less about him. They wanted Jeez to win and for good reason, he's been in CZW for years and Dickenson is a newcomer who isn't exactly gaining many fans espiecally in the philadelphia area with his below standard performances. The finish saw Dickenson (who had no support from this crowd) walk into jeez verison of the lethal injection to pick up the win and retain his belt. Afterwards Dickenson cut a heel promo calling the people of philadelphia (his hometown) pieces of shit and stormed off. Jeez then cut a babyface promo saying he was the king of Philly and how great the city was. Finally O14K (Jake&Jay Crest) pinned The Young Bucks (Matt&Nick Jackson) to retain the CZW Tag Team Titles. Ok match, no scrap that it was your usual bucks affair with them coming in to put over the local boys after doing all there big crowd pleasing spots to end the show. To end the show, well didn't you say the main event was an CZW old fashioned deathmatch. Yes I did but what CZW didn't tell us was that the deathmatch was not apart of the ippv even though Danny Havoc had said so earlier. This left a bad taste in a lot of fans mouths who had wanted to see the match because a lot of CZW die hards had wanted to see havoc first match back since his injury, but that was not what we got here as only the live crowd in the arena got to see the end of this one. Overall it was an ok show, everything you expect from an anniversary show actually with some fun nostalgia, plenty of table spots, some blood and some good comedy. I would give this show a 6 or 7 out of 10 for effort alone but that false advertising did kind of sour me on putting down money next time to watch CZW.
BEST&WORST OF
Best Match of The Month: reDRagon Kyle O'Reily&Bobby Fish vs The Young Bucks Matt&Nick Jackson (ROH 13th Year Anniversary PPV)
Again another tone of mentions for this month including a Sasha banks and charlotte rematch on NXT, AJ Styles vs ACH which was also from this months ROH 13th Year Anniversary PPV, Homna V Iishi at NJPW New Beginnings night 2, Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Yugi Nagata from the same NJPW show, IWGP Title match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and AJ Styles from new beginnings night 1, Brian Kendrick vs Finn Balor from NXT and Uhaa Nation&Akira Tozawa vs BXB Hulk&Kzy from Dragon Gate in Japan but after a long and painful decision process I choose the right match as yet again these two teams didn't just have a good match they had a great match in ROH for a third time in there long and storied rivalry but also in Japan last month for new Japan as well.
Best Wrestler of the Month: AJ Styles (NJPW/ROH)
This months wrestler of the month goes to AJ for his stealer performances in Matches with Hiroshi Tanahashi and ACH, honourable mentions go to Kevin Owens for fresh and very different babyface/heel chracther and Mr independent wrestling Roderick Strong for his performances against BJ Whitmer (in ROH), Trevor Lee (in PWG) and Drew Galloway (Evolve). Even two team's had honourable mentions as reDRagon and The Young Bucks had stand out months in performances against one another.
Worst Wrestler of the Month: Alex Reily (NXT)- maybe I'm being a little harsh on A-RY but considering how bad his promos and in ring matches have been ever since his quick desent to the top of NXT over the last month.
Worst Match of the Month: Alex Reily Vs CJ Parker (NXT)- in this match it was stated before the match A-RY had to impress NXT GM William Regal in this performance but wwe went and blew it by inserting a video package right before this match into the show which gave away the finish (not that it was ever in dealt) as it was promoting next weeks show which would be A-RY taking on Owens for the NXT title, Someone in post production fucked up big time here. (DONE) (spell check)
So thanks for checking out this months @RantsWrestle Wrestling Round Up as for next month we have a full WrestleMania review as well as a review of the following nights raw, a look at Brock Lesnar resigning with WWE and what's next for WWE. Over in ROH it's a review of ROH conquest tour featuring samoa Joe vs ACH. In new Japan it's a stacked month with reviews on the new Japan cup semi and final and the invasion attack show. Over in TNA there will be a review of the episode where Kurt Angle wins the TNA World title. Also there will be a review of the latest House of Hardcore show in the old ECW Arena, a Evolve 38 review and look ahead to chikara up and coming UK tour along with results from the show I will be attending in Highbury in London England. So until next month as Bill Apter would say I will see you at the matches.
@billy222me aka Good_Brother_Billy
And @RantsWrestle
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY WEEKLY NXT AND ROH TV REVIEWS EVERY THURSDAY AND SATURDAY
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