It may be nostalgia, but I can't think of a time where I've been so disengaged by Raw and SmackDown. I don't even watch them live anymore. To be honest, my time isn't worth wasting five hours on a subpar to bad episode. If there is something worth watching, I have the episodes saved on my PVR to check out at a later date — if I even get to them.
Getting back to my conundrum, I'd say I keep watching out of loyalty. I got into professional wrestling because of WWE and originally, I felt an obligation to support them due to that. Over time I came to realize how little WWE as a company cared about their fans — despite what their executives may say — and my loyalty shifted. Nowadays, it's a loyalty to the great men and women, like AJ Styles, Asuka, Bayley, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, and Shinsuke Nakamura, that put their bodies on the line for our entertainment.
So in conclusion, as long as WWE employs wrestlers that I like, then I will still watch and cheer on, no matter how much I want to tear my hair out sometimes. Guess the frustration has become part of the fun.
You Can't Beat God
After 90 grueling matches, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi were the two left standing as block winners of the 28th G1 Climax. Tanahashi held Okada to a 30-minute draw in order to win A Block, while Ibushi won B Block, thanks to having wins over the three men (Kenny Omega, Tetsuya Naito, and Zack Sabre Jr.) he ended up in a four way tie with.
Despite their taxing journeys to the G1 finals, only one of them would get the chance to main event WrestleKingdom 13. The question is: will Ibushi overcome the man he considers God or will Tanahashi move one step closer to regaining his position at the top of New Japan?
With Omega in Ibushi's corner and Katsuyori Shibata in Tanahashi's, both men waged war for 35 minutes. As they hit each other with hellacious strikes and devastating moves, Ibushi seemed to be on his way to conquering the biggest obstacle in his wrestling career. Unfortunately for the Golden Star and his fans, the Ace was far too resilient. Tanahashi took everything Ibushi dished out, even some incredibly violent strikes later in the match, and hit three High Fly Flows in a row for the victory. Like Icarus flying too close to the sun, Ibushi tried to reach God, only to come crashing back down to Earth. The disgrace of this defeat was too much for Ibushi as he would run to the back covering his face.
While some may be confused why New Japan management wouldn't go with the huge money match of Omega vs. Ibushi to main event WrestleKingdom, especially since it seems to be building in the background for a while now, New Japan does long-term storytelling better than any wrestling company today. They book their major storylines around grand character arcs. Much like Omega needed to fall to his lowest point (the Bullet Club civil war) before finally winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Okada, this major setback will be the catalyst for any even greater triumph in Ibushi's future.
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| Source: Sports Illustrated |
The Reign of Terror Is Over, Let the New One Begin
FINALLY, Brock Lesnar's year and a half reign as Universal Champion is over! So, why am I not happy?
This should be one of the best moments of the year. No more BS to explain why Raw has no heavyweight champion, no more five minute or less championship squashes whenever Brock decides to grace us with his presence, no more protecting a lazy champion because he's a supposed draw — I can go on. Unfortunately, WWE mucked things up with a smoke and mirrors show in order to protect their image.
First, Braun Strowman came down before the main event to declare he would cash-in his Money in the Bank briefcase against the winner of Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns. Stowman's explanation was that he didn't want a to be as cheap as those opportunistic cash-ins. While Strowman's logic was faulty at best, everybody let it slide since we all thought it was only moments away from Strowman hoisting the Universal Title. Well, it turned out to be a bait and switch as Strowman never got the chance to cash-in.
Leading into the finish, Lesnar incapacitated the Monster Among Men with one F5 on the floor and a few chair shots before he hurled the briefcase up the ramp. Distracted by his attack on Strowman, Lesnar walked into a spear by Reigns for the win. Immediately following Reigns' win, Summerslam would go dark before the crowds' negative reaction to Reigns and the main event as a whole was caught on-camera.
While I wasn't too keen on another Reigns coronation, what made this one sting was how WWE sacrificed Strowman in order to keep the crowd from turning on the main event. Stowman, one of the biggest stars in the company, was made to look like a complete idiot for not cashing in at the beginning of the match. While Strowman may not have won the ensuing triple threat match that would've followed the cash-in, at least, he could've been protected if Lesnar took the pin.
Now, we're left with the next chapter in Reigns' never-ending push and my emotions are mixed. While I am sick of Reigns being shoved down our throats, I can tolerate this title reign as long as we get good Universal Title matches. The defense against Finn Balor the night after Summerslam is a good start. Now WWE needs to keep the ball rolling and re-establish the Universal Title. If not, we could be in for another terrible reign.
This should be one of the best moments of the year. No more BS to explain why Raw has no heavyweight champion, no more five minute or less championship squashes whenever Brock decides to grace us with his presence, no more protecting a lazy champion because he's a supposed draw — I can go on. Unfortunately, WWE mucked things up with a smoke and mirrors show in order to protect their image.
First, Braun Strowman came down before the main event to declare he would cash-in his Money in the Bank briefcase against the winner of Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns. Stowman's explanation was that he didn't want a to be as cheap as those opportunistic cash-ins. While Strowman's logic was faulty at best, everybody let it slide since we all thought it was only moments away from Strowman hoisting the Universal Title. Well, it turned out to be a bait and switch as Strowman never got the chance to cash-in.
Leading into the finish, Lesnar incapacitated the Monster Among Men with one F5 on the floor and a few chair shots before he hurled the briefcase up the ramp. Distracted by his attack on Strowman, Lesnar walked into a spear by Reigns for the win. Immediately following Reigns' win, Summerslam would go dark before the crowds' negative reaction to Reigns and the main event as a whole was caught on-camera.
While I wasn't too keen on another Reigns coronation, what made this one sting was how WWE sacrificed Strowman in order to keep the crowd from turning on the main event. Stowman, one of the biggest stars in the company, was made to look like a complete idiot for not cashing in at the beginning of the match. While Strowman may not have won the ensuing triple threat match that would've followed the cash-in, at least, he could've been protected if Lesnar took the pin.
Now, we're left with the next chapter in Reigns' never-ending push and my emotions are mixed. While I am sick of Reigns being shoved down our throats, I can tolerate this title reign as long as we get good Universal Title matches. The defense against Finn Balor the night after Summerslam is a good start. Now WWE needs to keep the ball rolling and re-establish the Universal Title. If not, we could be in for another terrible reign.
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| Source: Independent |
Must-See Matches of August
8/4/2018
G1 Climax Night 14
Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii
8/10/2018
G1 Climax Night 17
Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
8/11/2018
G1 Climax Night 14
Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii
8/10/2018
G1 Climax Night 17
Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
8/11/2018
G1 Climax Night 18
Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi
Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi
8/12/2018
G1 Climax Final
Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
8/18/2018
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4
Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain
Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa - Last Man Standing Match
8/20/2018
Raw
Finn Balor vs. Roman Reigns
8/27/2018
Raw
Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
8/29/2018
NXT
Undisputed Era vs. Pete Dunne & Ricochet
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