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WWE WrestleMania 35 Preview/Predictions
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
NXT TakeOver: New York (or TakeOver: Brooklyn V?) came, conquered and impressed everyone in all its glory.
300-pound Heavyweight Hanson performed a handspring back elbow and a top rope senton to the floor, Velveteen Dream was the GODDAMN STATUE OF LIBERTY and the main event between Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole delivered more wows than a summer blockbuster.
To be frank – WrestleMania will pale in comparison to its NXT counterpart and that’s to put it nicely, despite the fact that Mania will run more than twice the amount of time and contain more than three times as many matches.
Below are our predictions to shape Mania into a halfway decent show. If you’ve followed the Raw side (without falling asleep), the build has been abysmal while SmackDown has held themselves together better thanks to Kofi Kingston’s journey, but there are still some flaws here and there.
Let’s get to it.
Good, Bad & The Ugly – WWE TLC 2018
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
Welcome to “Good, Bad & The Ugly,” the newest review concept where we’ll break down shows according to three ratings – Good, Bad or Ugly. The results will tally up to give us the Final Decision on the show.
Headed In
– In the midst of a Creative shake-up, we’re still fresh off two big heel turns – “The New” Daniel Bryan (WWE Champion) and Dean Ambrose. Meanwhile, on the Raw side, Ronda Rousey (WWE Raw Women’s Champion) had dominated all before her but a huge obstacle in “Knockout Sensation” Nia Jax, notorious for her punch on “The Man” Becky Lynch. To top it off, we’d have the first-ever Women’s Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship between Champion Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Asuka. This should be a fun show, albeit a long one since we have a grand total of 12 matches. What is this, WrestleMania? Even past Manias never had that many bouts.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 1/4/17: Land Down Under
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 1/4/17)
Land Down Under
– The Revival-Riddick Moss/Tino Sabbatelli match was interesting (yet awkward) for heel-heel interactions alone, but we’ll leave it at that. Being that this was the Melbourne, Australia portion of NXT’s December global tour, this was a house show-esque effort. We guess it makes for filler television when needed, but that’s not always good. The Steel Cage match for the NXT Championship between Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe headlined the episode, though they showed it a few weeks back. Check out our review of that match here. Luckily, anything with Revival written on it will generate fan response and the Australians were eager to chant for them. Moss/Sabbatelli have light momentum charisma-wise, but still need to hone their in-ring skills to get anywhere. A little strange when Commentator Corey Graves actually compared Moss/Sabbatelli to WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro/Sheamus. Not much action besides for Revival’s usual “isolate and destroy” style on display. Moss pulled off a few decent spots, namely where he caught Scott Dawson on a high crossbody attempt and countered with a fallaway slam. Nevertheless, the fans showed no interest for Moss and a “Revival” chant actually broke out. Revival’s classic rule bending also garnered a pop in select moments, where Dawson raked Moss’ eyes and they both worked him over in the corner. The crowd booed Sabbatelli’s hot tag sequence, which only meant the Shatter Machine was imminent. Couldn’t come at a better time. Revival win and keep momentum for their rematch next week on NXT when they face NXT Tag Team Champions #DIY for the belts. Yes.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 10/12/16: Joe Gets What He Wants
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at then bottom of the post.
(Aired 10/12/16)
Joe Gets What He Wants
– Another week of NXT TV was here and the good thing was that we’d finally get Sanity’s long-awaited debut and the first match of “The Glorious 10” pair of Tye Dillinger/Bobby Roode. It’d also happen under the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament First Round. This was a smart way to blend programs. Needless to say, Sanity’s entrance was unique, yet left us unsettled. This was reliant upon flashlights in the dark, smoke, brick walls and heavy metal music as four denim-jacket clad figures stood with masks. Two of them were revealed as Alexander Wolfe/Sawyer Fulton. It had been a while since we seen them, so we were all for this. They were big in stature and powerful, so smart idea. A man and woman remained masked outside for the match. The duo worked over Dillinger extensively as they mauled him to no limit. Roode watched from afar and wanted no part of them, to the point where he teased a step-in, but walked away, as Dillinger reached out for help. It became apparent that Roode had no interest in a team with Dillinger and was only concerned about himself. Then again, at the same time, we wouldn’t to step in against those guys either. Their finisher was like a Magic Killer variation as they turned Dillinger over for a powerslam to get the win. The reveals of Eric Young/Nikki Glenncross as the last two members was well-done, especially on EY’s part. The crowd let loose a “Holy shit!” chant and rightfully so. We’ll see what promos they give us to establish who they are, but so far, this was a hot debut. Their entrance and look almost rivals The Wyatt Family.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 8/31/16: The Era Of Strong Style Begins
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 8/31/16)
The Era Of Strong Style Begins
– With NXT back at home at Full Sail University, it was time to see some new feuds and stars develop as the next NXT TakeOver event looms in the coming months. We started off with a backstage segment with Samoa Joe, NXT General Manager William Regal and a medical trainer as Regal was told that due to numerous injuries caused to Joe at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, he wouldn’t be cleared to compete any time soon. Joe, who was uncrowned of the NXT Championship at Brooklyn by NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, was expectedly pissed and stormed away. Uh oh.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 7/27/16: Flipping The Switch
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 7/27/16)
Flipping The Switch
– The Shinsuke Nakamura-Wesley Blake match was an easy way to keep the undefeated Nakamura just that while we also saw a quarrel between Blake and Buddy Murphy, who were convinced that one could upstage the other. Blake challenged Nakamura, while Murphy claimed he could beat “a favorite to win the CWC.” As for Blake, his new theme music was eh and commentary mentioned a “new look,” but he still looked the same to us. Anyways, this was reminiscent of Nakamura’s squash over Murphy and didn’t give us anything new, but Nakamura’s always a treat to watch. The follow-up was also fun since we saw NXT General Manager William Regal come out and formally announce that Nakamura would face NXT Champion Samoa Joe at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II. Oh, snap.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 6/22/16: Nakamura Demolition Derby
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 6/22/16)
Nakamura Demolition Derby
– Out of TakeOver: The End, we know that “The Beginning” has ended and with that comes a focus on the now. Arguably, since they alluded to it the week before, NXT’s spotlight feud’s now the anticipated encounter between Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura. The opening video looked at last week’s epic closer segment where it was first referenced. There’s a great story in there too. Balor looked to see what was next for him while Nakamura felt that he needed to beat an “idol” the caliber of Balor to cement himself as a contender.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 6/1/16: More Than Good Hands
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 6/1/16)
More Than Good Hands
– We can only assume the window of time for The Revival on NXT is closing up, but that said, they’ve solidly convinced us that they’re primed and ready to potentially be the first two-time NXT Tag Team Champions. A lot of this show’s focus was on The Revival and their mission to get back what they felt was theirs, yet also pushed other teams on the rise. The opening in-ring segment between Revival and Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa was solid mic work from all involved. Gargano/Ciampa looked tough in the way they directly confronted the heels and didn’t back down, while Revival came off as overconfident. Surprisingly, the voices who stood out here were Dash Wilder (almost Kevin Owens-like in his delivery) and Ciampa, who we never hear from often. This obviously set the stage for the two to battle later in the show, but we had assumed this would be a way to give Revival a hard-fought win headed into TakeOver: The End and give Gargano/Ciampa a good performance to put under their name. Revival also had some bold insults towards the NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha when they called them “little amateurs” and it’d be cool to see if AA would follow them up on that.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 7/29/15: Dominance Is Bliss
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 7/29/15)
Dominance Is Bliss
– NXT seemed to do a decent job in straying from the norm, at least in terms of how the tag team division is presented. Sure – they’ll always have the over teams like Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady to fall back on, but we’re beginning to see an emergence of other teams. This show saw matches and segments dedicated to Dash Wilder/Scott Dawson, Jason Jordan/Chad Gable and then the main event was a Tag team Championship match between The Vaudevillains and the Champions Wesley Blake/Buddy Murphy. It’s a slow start, but if they stick by them enough, they can pull out something decent. For Blake and Murphy’s sake, they need some form of competition and they’ve been running strong as Champions for six months now. Has it really been that long now? As far as the Amore/Cassady-Dawson/Wilder match, it had the look and feel of a Team SAWFT victory from how we got the full SAWFT routine treatment and they worked in their usual spots to the hot tag. Even if they hadn’t won the match, Dash/Dawson worked in a lot of offense and hard strikes to be past what we’d consider a lopsided victory. The fact that they got out of Cassady’s hot tag offense and overpowered Amore to get the win came off like a major upset and a full confirmation that the format was indeed being changed. Got a negative reaction but one nonetheless. You get the feeling there will be a rematch and with Enzo/Cass recently working main roster shows and Main Event tapings, will this be their last big “rivalry”? It’s still baffling that they never had a run with the Tag Titles, but that’s just us.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 7/22/15: Reign Of The Demon
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 7/22/15)
Reign Of The Demon
– The opening video highlighted NXT Champion Finn Balor pulling off his biggest accomplishment to date and it was proclaimed the “Reign Of The Demon.” Rightfully so. Balor leads NXT as it is somewhere between an era of new blood and main roster call-ups. It’s a perfect balance.
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