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Top 20 Of 2016
Graphic by Salwinder Singh.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“It.” “Delete.” “Obsolete.” “The List.” “10.” “The Champ That Runs The Camp.” “Stupid Idiot.” “Glorious.” “Too Sweet.”
The list above describes a fiesta of phrases commonly found in pro wrestling jargon that made 2016 possibly its best year ever.
The one below describes select moments that help seal that argument and make us forget about things like The Titus Brand, The Cruiserweight Division, Raw’s Third Hour, WWE’s overloaded Pay-Per-View schedule, TNA’s X-Division and Matanza Cueto.
If you want to remember that bad stuff, check this out.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 4/6/16: A Dallas Flashback
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 4/6/16)
A Dallas Flashback
– NXT TakeOver: Dallas remains our favorite show of the year thus far (WrestleMania included) and while we were disappointed that NXT TV following the show didn’t give us anything new, it was all okay, because it still revolved around TakeOver.
The Man With “Strong Style”
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Anthony Zevoteck
If you watched NXT TakeOver: Dallas over Wrestlemania weekend, then you saw one of wrestling’s all-time greatest matches.
Shinsuke Nakamura’s NXT debut against Sami Zayn quickly became regarded as Match of the Year four months in. These two laid everything on the line and gave the fans a spectacle of epic proportions.
“The King of Strong Style” made his pro wrestling debut in August 2002 and everyone knew that someday the world as we knew it would change. Nakamura made his start with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and continued to work for them for the majority of his career.
On his way to gaining multiple championships, he took time off from wrestling to improve his in-ring skills and gained the knowledge he’d need to become one of the world’s biggest stars and even trained with Brock Lesnar to increase his muscle mass.
At age 36, Nakamura made a bold move and left his home country that provided him with global fame to sign with WWE.
The RSN Wrestling Podcast – WrestleMania 32 Weekend Reaction “Shoot”
Photo courtesy of Facebook.
*An RSN Wrestling Podcast Exclusive*
Check out the latest episode of The RSN Wrestling Podcast, where Rich, Sal and Nick each break down the events of Mania weekend, spanning from NXT TakeOver: Dallas to the 2016 WWE Hall Of Fame, WrestleMania 32 and the Raw-After-Mania!
Watch Below:
WWE NXT TakeOver: Dallas Reaction
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
TakeOver: Dallas – the most recent of NXT’s TakeOver live specials – boosted enthusiasm towards WrestleMania weekend, giving us a deliciously diverse card that was indicative that the brand was bound for a shakeup.
On a night where Austin Aries and Shinsuke Nakamura made their in-ring NXT debuts, there were also a few “passing of the torches” to some current standout talent.
TakeOver: Dallas showed us that the future looked bright and the past was moving on to bigger things, making the present pretty damn good.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 3/30/16: Ready For A Takeover
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 3/30/16)
Ready For A Takeover
– The American Alpha-Corey Hollis/John Skyler was a logical squash for AA to hit their signature moves en route to their biggest match to date at TakeOver: Dallas when they’d fight for the NXT Tag Team Championship against Champions The Revival, who watched attentively backstage. Good energy from the Title challengers here.
The RSN Wrestling Podcast – WrestleMania Weekend Live Edition
Photo courtesy of Facebook.
*A RSN Wrestling Podcast Exclusive*
Check out the latest episode of The RSN Wrestling Podcast, as Rich, Sal and Nick discuss live the entire WrestleMania weekend and preview the entire Mania card as well as speculate on what could happen in arguably wrestling’s biggest weekend.
Link Below:
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 3/23/16: The Empress Strikes Back
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 3/23/16)
The Empress Strikes Back
– Nothing will kill a crowd like “The Drifter” Elias Samson, especially to open the show, albeit against Johnny Gargano. We were severely hoping that Gargano wouldn’t be the latest Samson squash victim. The action didn’t last long and we were actually shocked to see that Gargano would pull out a surprise roll-up pin to win, meaning that Samson’s unspectacular undefeated streak also ended. The post-match angle gave Samson some decent heat before Apollo Crews came to save the day. Who knew the one thing that we needed Samson to do was actually lose? Crews-Samson doesn’t exactly have us jumping out of our seats, but maybe Crews can pull out a good match from him.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 3/16/16: The Arrival Of Strong Style
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 3/16/16)
The Arrival Of Strong Style
– The opening video (as it should’ve) showed us highlights of the NXT Championship #1 Contender’s Best-Two-Out-Of-Three Falls between Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe, which opened that show and ended up taking the whole hour by the third fall, an even-handed bout where Joe emerged victorious two falls to one.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 3/9/16: To The End
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 3/9/16)
To the End
– After almost two months of an unclear #1 contender to NXT Champion Finn Balor’s Title, this was the decisive bout between Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe, as they’d battle it out in a best-two-out-of-three-falls match. There was no going back from this and that fact was expressed in the opening video.
Pro Wrestling Opinion 