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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 – WWE Raw 10/26/15: No One But Reigns
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 10/26/15)
No One But Reigns
– The opening segment with Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns was a good way to shed light on the previous night’s happenings (Rollins defeating Demon Kane to fire Corporate Kane as Director of Operations, Brock Lesnar defeating The Undertaker in a brutal Hell In A Cell encounter) and set up matches throughout the night to give this show an immediate goal – find Rollins a new number-one contender. Of course, given how the night ended up, not having Reigns in this segment would’ve made things less predictable, but he held his own here. Boy, could you feel the crowd’s energy drain when The Authority’s music hit? We were also surprised to see that Michael Cole was quick to talk about the bloody HIAC main event, even as we saw multiple still shots, with blood quite visible on both guys’ faces. On a storyline level, we saw Trips/Steph be proud of their little architect and announce an unofficial tournament using the previous night’s winners, where the winners of those matches would advance to a number-one contender fatal four-way main event to determine Rollins’ next opponent. With Lesnar not in the building, we were awaiting an explanation as to why he couldn’t be involved, but we never got one. Horrible. You guys couldn’t say The Authority sent him home because of the low blow or something of that nature? The Rollins-Reigns interaction was solid, as Reigns laughed off the idea of Rollins making it to the WWE Hall Of Fame and made it clear he was going for the Title.
WWE Network – Live From MSG Reaction
Image courtesy of Ringside Rumors Dot Net.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
With another installment of recent exclusive WWE Network live specials, this time we had the spectacle of seeing Brock Lesnar make an appearance in the “World’s Most Famous Arena” – Madison Square Garden in New York City, in action against The Big Show, a match 13 years revisited in the same arena.
Also on the card was The New Day defending the Tag Team Championships against the “hometown” Dudley Boyz, who were going for their 10th Tag Title reign.
Ultimately, this ended up just being a glorified house show, with nothing out of the ordinary occurring.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 9/28/15: Believe That It Ain’t Over…
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 9/28/15)
Believe That It Ain’t Over…
– The opening video highlighted Corporate/Demon Kane getting into WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins’ head and literally dragging him into hell. Strange we didn’t see anything from Smackdown that happened with the feud. Guess Rollins got out of hell okay?
Notes In Observance – WWE Smackdown 9/17/15: Keeping Your Enemies Closer
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 9/17/15)
Keeping Your Enemies Closer
– The opening video looked back at Raw, where The Authority hyped Sting’s first in-ring match on Monday nights, mixed in with them looking at Big Show as the “problem solver.” We saw the match highlights play out of John Cena making the save when WWE World Heavyweight and United States Champion Seth Rollins came out. Cena/Sting won the impromptu tag match.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 9/7/15: Seth Freakin’ Rollins
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 9/7/15)
Seth Freakin’ Rollins
– WWE World Heavyweight and United States Champion Seth Rollins’ in-ring promo did drag on, but it was cool to see him soak up all the heat as he used the “boring” chants to help his ego boost and talked about how great he was. Sting interrupting to show he had the statue in his possession was funny, but maybe WWE should’ve gone more for a serious approach. Sheamus coming out to confront Rollins was entertaining to see and set up a potential outcome for Night Of Champions. Rollins didn’t hold back either, also resorting to insulting Sheamus’ look, which the crowd seemed to dig.
Notes In Observance – WWE Smackdown 9/3/15: The Tableguards
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 9/3/15)
The Tableguards
– Having The New Day on this quest to “save the tables” is actually comedic brilliance in all its glory. They know how to make it work with the picket signs and everything, despite Raw’s rough promo. Their in-ring promo on this show went better, not as cutesy this time. The Dudley Boyz’s interruption was good for what it was. The Prime Time Players’ interruption kept their name in the conversation and it was good to see them lay claim to the Tag Titles, although to be fair, Dudleys did beat New Day on Raw, so you’d think that earns them a shot. With the Dudleys back, that probably hurts the PTP in getting babyface reactions, but nevertheless, we needed to see these two teams go at it and we got more than that here, while New Day bragged on commentary and “hijacked” it at one point. Funny. The match was sort of hard to follow with New Day’s commentary which may had been more of a distraction that true heat (think of trying to watch a wrestling show in a room full of loud, chatty people) but Dudleys looked good here in beating PTP, though perhaps Darren Young should’ve took the pin, since Titus O’Neil is clearly the stronger worker of PTP that’s more over. Post-match saw New Day cheap-shot and run away from The Dudleys yet again and the program rolls on.
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 8/31/15: More Stink Than Sting
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 8/31/15)
More Stink Than Sting
– The opening video chronicled WWE World Heavyweight Champion/United States Champion Seth Rollins being unofficially crowned as “the man,” and how Sting ruined his unveiling of the bronze statue designed in his honor last week. They really milked up the drama in that, huh?
Notes In Observance – WWE Raw 8/24/15: The Unveiling Of An Icon
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 8/24/15)
The Unveiling Of An Icon
– The Triple H-Seth Rollins backstage segment was pretty straight forward, setting the scene for Trips to congratulate Rollins on beating John Cena at SummerSlam the previous night, retaining his WWE World Heavyweight Championship and becoming new United States Champion. God help us, they actually designed a statue. This hyped the “unveiling” for things later on, which was all fine and good. Kind of odd that they neglected to mention the actions of Jon Stewart, but them being delirious heels, that was most likely on purpose.
WWE SummerSlam 2015 Reaction
Courtesy of Wikipedia.
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
WWE deserved a lot of credit for building up this four-hour long, Brooklyn-bred edition of SummerSlam.
You had the pure marquee matches (Seth Rollins-John Cena “Title For Title,” Brock Lesnar-The Undertaker “The Rematch Too Big For WrestleMania,” etc.), a sure-fire Tag Team spotfest, celebrity involvement (Jon Stewart, Stephen Amell) and much more.
It’s not to say the entertainment factor didn’t strike us with the desired reaction, it’s just an example of how shoddy overbooking can override what would otherwise be fun on its own.
Let’s get to all of that stuff below.
