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Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 1/31/17: Chamber Music
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 1/31/17)
Chamber Music
– Given that the Royal Rumble was won by a SmackDown guy (that’s Randy Orton, The Wyatt Family-Friendly version in case you didn’t know), the opening video gladly reminded us of all that jazz. WWE took it upon themselves to quote various media outlets with the most generic sentences on planet Earth. We’ll give an example. “That was a Rumble!” – Forbes. No kidding. You’d also be crazy if they didn’t sprinkle in footage of the epic rematch between WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena and AJ Styles where history was made and such. However, the Rumble madness is over and thanks to WWE’s killer Pay-Per-View schedule, we’ve got Elimination Chamber in a mere two weeks.
WWE Royal Rumble 2017 Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
While January begins with a countdown from ten to one, wrestling fans most associate the month with the same countdown towards another festivity – the Royal Rumble.
Given the “Big Four” treatment, equivalent in 2017 to a NXT TakeOver event the day before, a two-hour pre-show and a five-and-a-half-hour Pay-Per-View, it was treated as a huge deal.
It probably also helped that it emanated from San Antonio’s Alamodome, with a house count of 52,020. It was practically WrestleMania without being it.
Given the Rumble’s star power of Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, The Big Show, Goldberg and The Undertaker, there was an unpredictability headed in that severely lacked the previous few years.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 1/24/17: Brother Vs. Brother
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 1/24/17)
Brother Vs. Brother
– The General Manager Daniel Bryan/Miz/Maryse backstage segment was another perfect example of chemistry done right. For months, Miz had been at his boss’ head ever since he was criticized in that infamous Talking Smack promo. There was no better way to set up a Lumberjack Match than have Miz boldly claim he “paid all of the locker room’s salaries with star power.” Bryan, apple aside, was all wits, as he used Miz’s statements against him to give him a WWE Intercontinental Championship rematch, but under his rules to prevent outside interference. Welcome to the world of logic. None of that on Raw.
Notes In Observance – WWE SmackDown Live 1/17/17: Merch Stand Mayhem
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
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 1/17/17)
Merch Stand Mayhem
– The opening video hyped up the big Steel Cage Match main event for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship between Champion Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch. Primarily, the focus was on Bliss’ repeated attempts to flee, but the bout’s basis would be that all paths were now closed off thanks to the cage. We were eager to give it a shot. Especially loved that this would be the closer.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 11/23/16: The Cool Kids Get Eclipsed
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 11/23/16)
The Cool Kids Get Eclipsed
– The opening video reviewed the glitz of TakeOver: Toronto, when NXT visited the Great White North. Upon the highlights were Paul Ellering in a shark cage, Shane Thorne’s impressive senton off the structure onto The Authors Of Pain, Bobby Roode’s defeat of Tye Dillinger, #DIY’s impeccable win over The Revival to become new NXT Tag Team Champions, Asuka’s successful defense of the NXT Women’s Championship over Mickie James and finally, Samoa Joe’s regain of the NXT Championship over Shinsuke Nakamura.
WWE NXT TakeOver: Toronto Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
NXT found its way “North Of The Border,” but didn’t lose any luster.
Like we’ve come to expect from the TakeOver specials, we had a solid card with some spectacles ready to deliver, which also included Mickie James’ return and a couple of hot rematches for the NXT Tag Team Championship and NXT Championship.
By night’s end, we wouldn’t call it a “Perfect 10,” but it was close.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 11/2/16: Bruised And Scarred
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 11/2/16)
Bruised And Scarred
– To our delight (on the surface), this episode completely revolved around the Quarterfinal Round of the Second Annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament. For a nice touch, three of these four matches came from a live San Jose event for a unique experience. The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament Quarterfinal match between Austin Aries/Roderick Strong and TM61 took a sucky situation with Aries’ broken eye bone injury (as he revealed in a promo where he took off sunglasses to reveal it while in street clothes and managed to get heat on himself as he unconvincingly tried to get over how bad he wanted to compete) and with NXT General Manager William Regal’s help, turned it into a Strong-Shane Thorne match to determine which team would advance. There was a good dynamic between the two, as Strong used speed and strength to dominate early on. Sick spot where he dropped Thorne in the corner from the top rope, a la WWE Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte and Sasha Banks at SummerSlam. Back and forth stuff, as Thorne hit a double foot stomp in the corner like Alberto Del Rio, which spawned “Si!” chants. Strong laid into Thorne with a swift array of maneuvers, but it only led to a near-fall. Strong also kicked out of the Falcon Arrow. The finish was well-done, as we saw Aries’ attempt to distract the Referee fail to get Strong the win, as Strong got rolled up in a quick pin shortly after to eliminate him/Aries from the tourney. This decision made sense, since we got to see Strong do his thing in the ring (will always be the best thing to do with him, still haven’t even gotten a promo yet) and TM61 has more to gain out of the Dusty Classic than Aries/Strong at this point.
Worst 10 Of 2015
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
*Graphic by Angel Alcantara*
As we all know, not all pro wrestling storylines ideas are gems. There were times this couldn’t be more true in 2015.
Whether it was the overhyped, underwhelming “invasion” of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) by Global Force Wrestling (GFW) or the debacle that was the Slammiversary 2015 Pay-Per-View, there were countless moments that we’ll revisit so you can shake your head yet again.
Pro wrestling fans are plenty of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.
Check out our list of the “Worst” 10 moments of 2015.
Notes In Observance – TNA Impact Wrestling 7/29/15: Jarrett Struts Into Fame
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)
Jarrett Struts Into Fame
– To the night’s credit: there was a fair amount of hype for the episode, as we got the big payoff match with Mickie James/Magnus against James Storm/Serena, what stipulation Matt Hardy would pick for his TNA World Heavyweight Championship match against Champion Ethan Carter III and of course, the biggie – Jeff Jarrett’s induction into the Hall Of Fame this year.
Notes In Observance – TNA Impact Wrestling 7/1/15: EC3 Goes For The Gold
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 7/1/15)
EC3 Goes For The Gold
– The opening video hyped the Kurt Angle-Ethan Carter III World Heavyweight Championship match. If only this was Slammiversary material. Actually, a lot of this show was what should’ve been Slammiversary. This was undoubtedly the best Impact of the Destination America era in terms of consistent top-to-bottom enjoyment.
Pro Wrestling Opinion 