Welcome back to my weekly segment where I will be looking at the best segment in wrestling this week across all promotions. If you feel there’s a segment that warrants my attention contact me on twitter @cs_rose1 and I’ll let you know what I think of it.
This week with so much wrestling going on specific moments were a little hard to pick just one standout moment, starting from Smackdown last week we have had 8 shows so this week my spotlight will be on a standout show as opposed to a moment and the show that makes it to the top spot for this weeks Weekly Spotlight is NXT Takeover XXX. A solid card with a multitude to talk about and in terms of quality it narrowly beats Summerslam and AEW Dynamite (Saturday 23rd) to the top spot.
The show from the first bell to the last was in my opinion fantastic. Storytelling, pacing and match quality was fantastic. What a match to begin with as well letting Timothy Thatcher vs Finn Balor open the show. An insightful look into the technical aspect of wrestling and how if you work on a body part and allow holds to be applied and used properly it can be every bit as entertaining as somebody throwing themselves through two table or being hit multiple times with a kendo stick.
I get that there is a portion of the fanbase who are only there for the high spots and the big dives, for me as someone who has stepped between the ropes and worked a fair number of matches, this kind of match is a work of art. To be able in this day and age to work an overly technical hold based match and still draw a reaction from the crowd and those watching at home shows the level that these two athletes are on.
The next match, however, was one of my favourites on the night the multi-man ladder match for the North American title, with such a varied group of competitors with all different styles this match made for an interesting contest. Not to mention I am a big fan of the eventual winner Damien Priest. He has a lot of the same qualities of Razor Ramon although a lot more athletic in my opinion. This match was just pure carnage with guys like Velveteen Dream and Johnny Gargano involved you knew there would be a fair few high spots in this one as well as the other three men looking to make a name for themselves.
One of the more notable spots involves Bronson Reed performing a splash off of a ladder onto Johnny Gargano with Gargano’s wife Candace LeRae on his back, as well as Velveteen Dream being launched off a ladder from the ring over the guardrails on the outside. A great effort by all men involved in this match with a special shoutout to Cameron Grimes who really impressed me, although in the end a worthy winner in Priest.
The surprise of the night had to be the emergence of Pat McAfee and the fact that he has no right to be as good as he is in the ring after 2-3 weeks of training, and I mean that with the greatest deal of respect, he did exceptionally well in his debut match. One of two fantastic WWE debuts that weekend and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him in a ring again because with the natural athletic ability that he has he has the potential to be really good. A massive Well Done to Pat despite the loss to Adam Cole, I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the match.
The women’s title match also put on a great show, I’ve never been a massive fan of Dakota Kai, however with the heater in Raquel Gonzalez it gives a similar feel to that of Shawn Michaels and Diesel and I am very interested to see where they go with that. A great defence for Io Shirai and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last time we see these two facing off against one another.
Now time for the main event, Keith Lee vs Karrion Kross. The story was brilliant leading up to Takeover with Kross playing mind games, disposing of a close friend of Lee’s, Dominik Dijakovic and even trying to blind Lee with some form of a fireball in the contract folder. The match was a hard-hitting affair with two absolute powerhouses of the ring, with Keith Lee being the perfect opponent as a fan favourite for Kross to dismantle. Halfway through the match Karrion Kross suffered from a separated shoulder and still carried through to the end.
With Keith Lee fighting out of the Kross jacket, both superstars found themselves perched on the top rope throwing haymakers when Kross hit Keith Lee with another monstrous Doomsday Saito suppler from the top rope to pick up the pinfall victory.
A fantastic overall show from the start to the finish which kept my attention, kept me entertained with actual good quality storytelling, something that the main roster has forgotten about for the most part.
Honourable Mentions
WWE SummerSlam
To my pleasant surprise, I found myself really enjoying two WWE shows in the space of two days which, to be honest, hasn’t been the norm in the last few months, however, I believe that Summerslam was definitely one of the best PPV’s that the main roster has put on since the Royal Rumble at the beginning of the year.
Was the PPV perfect? No, it definitely wasn’t I felt that while good the Mandy Rose/Sonya Deville loser leaves town match could have been a lot better. The major moments from the PPV for me were the debut of Dominic Mysterio vs Seth Rollins, one of the best people he could have in there to look after him and help continue the story and he more than held his own with a 4x WWE champion. This was also possibly the best performance I have seen from Braun Strowman in a WWE ring as well.
The highlight of the night, however, was the WWE title match between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton up there with Drew’s best match in defence of his title up there along with his battle against Seth Rollins. An incredible battle that made both the champion look extremely strong and the challenger look like a credible threat to his reign (despite him being Randy Orton and always being a credible threat). With both men not hitting a finisher and Drew winning with a backslide an old school wrestling move this both angered some casual fans online but popped me big time with the win overall a great match and a solid PPV.
AEW Dynamite (Saturday 22nd August)
Another solid outing for AEW which seems to be the norm these days when it comes to their weekly TV show and this week was no different (apart from the fact it was on a Saturday). In the build-up to All Out on September 5th, solid shows are exactly what AEW are needing in that build up. Fantastic promos from Jon Moxley as well as matches involving The Young Bucks/Omega, The Lucha Bros, Darby Allin and the main event between Cody and Brodie Lee which was an insane but also fantastic way to end the show.
This was my highlight of the show with the build that the commentary team were giving to Cody bigging up the fact that he was wrestling on TV every single week with 12 straight wins on Dynamite. It is true that Cody has been a fantastic TNT champion taking on all comers almost every week however this main event put a stop to all of that with a dominant Brodie Lee win. It was so dominant that Cody got almost no offence in on the big man, it was a glorified squash match.
The ending seeing The Dark Order standing tall over The Nightmare Family is the show of dominance that the group needed which should lead to a feud between the two factions down the road and see Dark Order as a genuine threat to the rest of the AEW roster.
There you have it my Weekly Spotlight remember, if you feel there’s a moment in wrestling I’ve missed this week get in touch on twitter @cs_rose1 and I’ll have a look and probably tell you you’re wrong.
SLTD Wrestling brings you all the greatest wrestling content. from blogs, to podcasts to exclusive Predictions and Fantasy Leagues.
Recent Comments