The Silver Report: February 2018

With past Silver Reports, these introductions can get a little long-winded when summarizing a week or month of wrestling into a paragraph or two.

From the New Japan debut of Rey Mysterio to the launch of ROH's HonorClub streaming service to end of Johnny Gargano's NXT career, February was packed with huge developments in the world of pro wrestling. While I can't get to everything, I got three big stories to talk about in this month's edition of the Silver Report.

Tournament Breathes New Life into 205 Live

From its inception, it was an uphill battle for 205 Live. No matter the talent of its roster or the amount of quality matches it laid witness to, it was the home of a division that was poorly booked from the moment it debuted on Raw. Eventually, all that talent and quality match-ups gave way to redundant feuds of the cartoonish variety and silly theatrics.

Well that all ended this past January, when former Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore was fired due to sexual allegations he kept from WWE upper management. As January became February, 205 Live got its very first general manager in Drake Maverick (the former Rockstar Spud of Impact Wrestling fame), a new show runner in Triple H, and a tournament to crown a new Cruiserweight Champion.

For the first time since the Cruiserweight Classic, WWE's Cruiserweight division is must-watch television and it's all thanks to this tournament. From crazy spot fests to technical showcases to hard-hitting affairs, every match has been a delight to watch. Even the matches on the lower end of the spectrum are better than your average Raw/Smackdown match.

With new faces running the show and serious, more wrestling-oriented direction, 205 Live has finally found its footing after a year and a half on air. Now, fingers crossed that Triple H and company can keep this show on the right course. If so, 205 Live may be able to compete with NXT as WWE's best weekly program.

Monday Night Rollins, Sunday Night Strowman

One week. Two superstars. Two unbelievable performances.

It all started on the February 19th edition of Raw. WWE announced a Gauntlet Match featuring all seven men in the Elimination Chamber, but nobody expected the nearly two hour match we got.

Although Braun Strowman stood tall at the very end, it was Seth Rollins' iron man performance that left a huge impression. Lasting a total of one hour and five minutes, Rollins dispatched both Roman Reigns and John Cena in two hard fought matches (a feat comparable to Chris Jericho beating the Rock and Steve Austin in the same night back in 2001) before falling to a fresh Elias. Despite the loss, Rollins came out more over as a babyface than he has ever been.

The next incredible performance came from the very winner of that Gauntlet Match, Braun Strowman. While Strowman was the second last competitor to enter the Men's Elimination Chamber, he left the biggest impact. Adding to his long list of amazing feats, Strowman would go onto eliminate five men before losing the bout to Reigns. Which came after kicking out of a quadruple powerbomb, Attitude Adjustment, Curb Stomp, Coup d'Grace, and Frog Splash off the top of a pod! For lack of a better term, it was bonkers. Even with the formulaic Super Roman ending, Strowman looked like the true face of the company at the end of this match.

Bullet Club isn't Fine

After all the turmoil that January brought to the Bullet Club, things only got worse in February as Kenny and Cody's feud ravaged the faction.

The month started with the announcement of Kenny Omega vs. Cody for the leadership of the Bullet Club for ROH's Supercard of Honor show on WrestleMania weekend. From there, Cody planted seeds of dissension among the Young Bucks and Marty Scurll (the three members that were conflicted by Cody's power plays). By the end of the month, the conniving Rhodes convinced Scurll to break off and form the Villain Club. Plus, he slowly worked the Young Bucks into moving up to the heavyweight tag division and in the process, turning on Omega.

On the other side of this conflict, Omega made strides in renewing his relationship with Kota Ibushi. The two were featured in a mini-documentary on New Japan World, which gave fans an inside look at their first practice back as a team and built excitement for their first matches back as the Golden Lovers.

All this turmoil came to a head at NJPW and ROH's joint Honor Rising shows at the end of the month. The Golden Lovers faced the likes of Cody and Marty Scurll in the main event of both nights (first in a six-man tag with Chase Owens and in a regular tag match the next). Despite ending the weekend with a 1-1 record, the Golden Lovers showed the world that they haven't lost a step with their unbelievable tag team offence and high energy. Plus, the fans in Korakuen Hall showed their appreciation tenfold as their cheers were deafening.

Although the Golden Lovers were successful, they didn't leave Honor Rising unscathed. Cody continued his mind games with Omega by planting a kiss on Ibushi in the middle of their tag match. Plus, the Young Bucks cutoff the Lovers' celebration to officially announce their aspirations in New Japan's heavyweight tag division and challenged to the Golden Lovers to a match, which New Japan later booked for March's Strong Style Evolved show in Long Beach.

In summation, February was an insane month for this ongoing Bullet Club saga and March should be even crazier as tensions build to Strong Style Evolved and Supercard of Honor respectively. So if you want to follow the best storyline of 2018 so far, best to keep up with the latest and greatest episode of Being the Elite.

Must-See Matches of February 

2/6/2018
205 Live
Roderick Strong vs. Hideo Itami

2/7/2018
NXT
Sanity vs. Undisputed Era - Six Man Tornado Tag Team Match

2/10/2018
New Beginning in Osaka
Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada

2/19/2018
Raw
Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns vs. John Cena vs. Elias vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz vs. Braun Strowman - Gauntlet Match

2/21/2018 
NXT
Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - Title vs. Career

2/24/2018
Honor Rising Night 2
Hangman Page & The Young Bucks vs. Jay White, Chuckie T & Yoshi-Hashi
Golden Lovers vs. "The American Nightmare" Cody & Marty Scurll

2/25/2018
Elimination Chamber
Women's Elimination Chamber
Men's Elimination Chamber

2/27/2018
Smackdown
AJ Styles vs. John Cena

205 Live
Roderick Strong vs. Kalisto

The Streak is Over

WrestleMania XXX has come and gone.  It was much better than yours truly initially expected following the results of Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber.  More so than in years prior, WrestleMania as an overall show was fun and thoroughly enjoyable.  There were a good number of great moments from Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock all in the same ring and Daniel Bryan's winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after having the odds stacked against him to Cesaro slamming Big Show over the top rope and The Shield's triple powerbomb on both members of the New Age Outlaws.  While a couple matches did not live up to this writer's expectations namely John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt and Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar, it was a pleasant surprise to see the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton exceed my low expectations.  Out of everything that happened at WrestleMania XXX, one moment in particular clearly defined this event and cemented its spot in wrestling history.  That moment was the end of The Streak at the hands of Brock Lesnar.

Over the course of the Undertaker's illustrious career, no accomplishment has been greater than his winning streak at WrestleMania.  As countless wrestlers fell to the Deadman at WrestleMania year-in and year-out, The Streak grew in prestige and importance.  One could easily argue that The Streak was the most prestigious and important accomplishment in the WWE and professional wrestling as a whole.  To break such an unprecedented streak would be greater than winning any match or championship in wrestling.  Considering the lacklustre events leading up to the match between Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, no one could have imagined The Streak would end in that very match.  You would expect the WWE to pull out all the stops and put together some epic build for a result this monumental and polarizing to even considered.  Wrestling fans have been so invested in The Streak that it is understandable to see such a wide array of emotions come from it ending.  Being of the camp that never wanted The Streak to be broken, I am personally surprised at how well I have received it.  Even though Brock Lesnar is a part-timer and has already established himself as a premier athlete, I am perfectly fine with him ending The Streak.  Actually, having Lesnar end The Streak gives the Beast nuclear heat that will never wear off and establishes him as THE dominant force in the WWE.  Also it sets up whoever beats Lesnar next, which better be Bryan, as a bona fide superstar in the WWE.  Personally, I am bummed out that Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar could not develop into a great match.  While it was still a pretty good match at best, they could never take the match to the next level and really get our blood pumping like all of the recent Undertaker matches at WrestleMania.  Not putting on an excellent match to rival the moment of The Streak ending just made things feel surreal and uncomfortable.  The match did show that it is definitely time for Undertaker to hang up the boots for good.  People may be concerned about how WWE will book a possible Sting vs. Undertaker match for next year, but this writer would rather not see that smoke-and-mirrors show become a reality especially since neither Sting or Undertaker can perform anywhere close to the level they use to.

WWE could not rely on The Streak to solely sell WrestleMania forever; now is the time to let it go and make new selling points for WrestleMania.  To launch the WWE into a new era, it is beneficial to honour both the Undertaker and The Streak as an important part of WrestleMania and wrestling history with Raw tonight and the 2015 Hall of Fame at WrestleMania 31.  As hard as it may seem for some, the unthinkable has happened.  The Streak is over and we all have to come to accept it one way or another.  WWE took an incredible risk with ending The Streak, but the only way to know if it was truly the right call or not is to see what happens next.  Tonight's Raw is the first page of this next chapter.  Will you be watching?

Halfway There: Preview of WWE Elimination Chamber 2012

Oh we are halfway there.  Halfway to the biggest wrestling event of the year, the Grandest Stage of Them All, the Showcase of Immortals, WrestleMania.  As the last pit stop before the grand show, Elimination Chamber serves as one last test for the WWE superstars along their journey to WrestleMania.  Champions will defend their titles in the unforgiving Elimination Chamber construct against five very hungry challengers and other superstars will fight to the bitter end in matches that could end their Road to WrestleMania.  Elimination Chamber ultimately sets up the final leg of the long taxing Road to WrestleMania.

This year the Road to WrestleMania has gotten off to a slow start.  Rather than the fever pace that fans loved about last year’s build to the grand show, WWE seems to be slowly building to WrestleMania.  While there has been build for WrestleMania, there has not been much for Elimination Chamber.  Thrown just a mere three weeks after the Royal Rumble, this year Elimination Chamber feels more like a three hour Raw than the PPV before WrestleMania.

Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Big Show vs. Great Khali vs. Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Wade Barrett in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber Match for the World Heavyweight Championship

With Randy Orton out of the picture, no one should stand in the way of Daniel Bryan retain the World Heavyweight Championship.  While most of the match was built around Big Show, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton, nothing has been given to Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes.  In the last month, WWE Creative has done more to bury Barrett and Rhodes than push like months before.  Also Great Khali adds absolutely nothing to this match while Santino’s only purpose in the match will be making one of the heels (Bryan, Barrett or Rhodes) look like a considerable threat to the other competitor’s as WWE has not done that in the last few weeks.  Honestly my hopes are not high for this Elimination Chamber match, but hopefully WWE put together an entertaining match worthy of being in Satan’s Structure.

Prediction:  Daniel Bryan retains

Beth Phoenix (c) vs. Tamina for the Diva’s Championship

After demolishing the Divas of Doom and making a joke of Natalya, WWE has finally decided to push Beth Phoenix as the dominant Diva she should have been pushed as from the start.  Considering that she has dominated all the models in the Diva division, Beth Phoenix needs a worthy adversary to battle to solidify her dominance of the Divas.  Step up Tamina, who has been on a roll as of late.  While Tamina will be more of a stepping stone for Beth Phoenix to launch the Diva’s Champion to a collision with Kharma at WrestleMania, this match could be the best women’s match in years if and only if these women are given enough time to actually wrestle in that ring. 

Prediction:  Beth Phoenix retains

John Cena vs. Kane in an Ambulance Match

What started as an interesting yet a little cheesy storyline to keep John Cena busy until WrestleMania has now devolved into nothing more than how Creative can ruin Zack Ryder’s life this week.  It was interesting leading up to Royal Rumble, but it is getting incredibly old revisiting it for the umpteenth time.  It is nice to the return of the Ambulance Match (it has been a long time), but personally I could care less about this feud.  Expect this match to be an overbooked mess which ends with Cena rising above the hate to beat Kane.

Prediction:  John Cena wins

CM Punk (c) vs. R-Truth vs. Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho in the Raw Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship

Now we finally come to best built match on this card.  This Elimination Chamber match is filled to the brim with excellent wrestling talent, so expect this one to be a thriller to the very end.  The main focus is set on CM Punk and Chris Jericho as their feud is just in the early stages.  It is not hard to see WWE going with Jericho winning the WWE Title at Elimination Chamber to have Punk chasing after the title leading into WrestleMania.  It would be a very interesting twist in this budding feud.  Personally I feel it is too early to take the title off of CM Punk so I could see him getting a fluke win over Jericho in order to set up their match at WrestleMania.  The Raw Elimination Chamber has enough raw talent to easily be Match of the Night.  If there is one match to watch at this year’s Elimination Chamber event, it is this one.

Prediction:  CM Punk retains

If you have not noticed by now, this writer is not looking forward to Elimination Chamber.  While the WWE has to watch out to make the matches outside of the Elimination Chambers worthwhile, they also have to build the PPV itself.  Elimination Chamber feels more like a stepping stone on the Road to WrestleMania instead of a monumental stop along this long and hectic journey.  Ultimately we will have to wait and see until later tonight to see if the WWE can actually pull it off on all this poor build.  At the moment, WWE Elimination Chamber 2012 does not feel worthy of being the PPV before WrestleMania.