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wrestlingisfake · 4 years

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Smackdown Fake Rankings, 4/28/2020

Men’s singles heavyweight division - babyfaces

Braun Strowman (universal champion)

Daniel Bryan

Drew Gulak

Men’s singles heavyweight division - heels

Bray Wyatt

Sami Zayn (intercontinental champion)

King Corbin

Sheamus

Shinsuke Nakamura

Cesaro

Dolph Ziggler

Unranked: Mojo Rawley

The face-heel balance on Smackdown is very lopsided, since Roman Reigns is staying home during the coronavirus pandemic and Elias is currently selling a storyline injury. (Mojo Rawley turned face when he jumped to Smackdown to be Rob Gronkowski’s sidekick, but he hasn’t done anything of note since then.) Then again, aside from Strowman vs. Wyatt, a lot of the Smackdown feuds are lopsided. Bryan and Gulak are feuding with the Zayn-Cesaro-Nakamura trio, Ziggler is basically feuding with Otis and Tucker by himself, Sheamus is just squashing jobbers, and Corbin is killing time being a dick until Elias comes back.

Men’s tag team division - babyfaces

The New Day - Kofi Kingston & Big E (Smackdown tag team champions)

Lucha House Party - Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado

The Usos - Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso

Heavy Machinery - Otis & Tucker

Men’s tag team division - heels

The Miz & John Morrison

The Forgotten Sons - Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake

The tag division is the same as it ever was, with the New Day regaining the belts and trying to look busy with some non-Uso teams for a while to build up to New Day vs. Usos, part 742. The big new thing is that they’ve called up the Forgotten Sons, whose entire gimmick is that they’re a stable of guys who got lost in the shuffle in developmental, so just being on the main roster sort of screws up that gimmick, but oh well.

Women’s singles division - babyfaces

Tamina

Alexa Bliss (women’s tag team champion)

Lacey Evans

Nikki Cross (women’s tag team champion)

Dana Brooke

Carmella

Naomi

Women’s singles division - heels

Bayley (Smackdown women’s champion)

Sasha Banks

I’m not sure how every woman on this brand ended up being a face except Bayley and Sasha. Bliss had been a heel manipulating Cross, but then they dropped that in favor of the Bayley-Sasha frenemies bit, so Bliss just genuinely became Cross’s bestie. Then Evans turned face at some point, and Tamina came back as a monster threat to Bayley’s title. You’d think they’d turn some of the others heel to balance it out, but I guess not. Considering Sasha and Bayley will eventually split and one of them will turn, this imbalance will probably get worse before it gets better.

No TV or PPV matches in 30 days: Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, Jaxson Ryker, Jeff Hardy, Mandy Rose, Mustafa Ali, Robert Roode, Shorty G, Sonya Deville

I’m really surprised Dallas and Axel survived the April 15 layoffs, since they seem to only appear when they need extra guys for a battle royale in Saudi Arabia. Ali, Roode, and Chad Gable/Shorty G had been kindasorta featured guys for while, but they seem to have dropped off the earth shortly before the pandemic. Hardy seems to be on reserve while they air the retrospective on his career, although I’m not sure what the point is if he’s just going to re-debut in an empty building. Ryker is the third man in the Forgotten Sons team, who just doesn’t wrestle very often for some reason.

It’s telling that one of the bigger storylines on Smackdown over the past few months has revolved around Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, and neither of them has wrestled a match in over a month. Actually, Mandy is slated to wrestle later this week, so it’s not as bad as all that, but it’s still weird how little ring time they’ve gotten from the program.

Part-timers: Goldberg, John Cena, Rob Gronkowski (24/7 champion)

Semi-retired: Kane

The allegedly big news lately has been the major acquisition of Gronkowski, who I guess played football with Mojo Rawley once, and then his sudden decision to return to football. I don’t think this actually interferes with whatever he was going to do in WWE, but I do like the idea of him leaving before anybody could actually give a reason why wrestling fans should give a shit about him.

Inactive

Elias (storyline injury - can’t play that one guitar chord I guess)

Ember Moon (right ankle - Achilles tendon tear)

Lars Sullivan (knee - unspecified injury)

Mickie James (right knee - ACL tear)

Kalisto (left shoulder - separation)

Roman Reigns (quarantined)

Xavier Woods (right ankle - Achilles tendon tear)

The situation with Reigns is that the treatment for his leukemia has weakened his immune system, and people with immunodeficiency have a much greater risk of contracting, and suffering complications from, COVID-19. I’m not sure why he waited as long as he did to stop appearing on WWE shows, but it’s generally understood that he won’t be back until the pandemic is over. WWE has avoided mentioning Reigns, but I’m pretty sure that’s not over hard feelings about his quarantine. It’s probably just because they can’t explain where Roman is without breaking the weird “don’t talk about coronavirus” rule.

People have been anticipating the end of Sullivan’s WWE career almost from the moment he was called up to the main roster. He had a panic attack that scrapped a feud with John Cena, then old racist comments surfaced, then he blew out his knee, and then some old gay porn footage surfaced. There was some frustration amid the April 15 cuts that Lars’s name didn’t come up, as if he was “due” to be sacked. The bottom line is that any of Sullivan’s issues could potentially burn a bridge with Vince McMahon, but Vince has a talent for looking the other way when it suits his double standards.

Not much to update on the other injured wrestlers. Woods and Moon are both months away from returning. James and Kalisto shouldn’t be out too much longer, but it’s telling that Kalisto recently had to confirm he wasn’t quietly cut, and James recently said she had been expecting to get cut.

#wwe #fake rankings

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andymull · 5 years

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WWE Stomping Grounds PPV – Previews & Predictions

Seth Rollins (c) vs The Baron: WWE Universal Championship Match w/ Special Guest Referee

The main event that no-one cares to see! The only way any interest remains for this bout once the bell rings will ALL depend on who gets announced as the guest referee, and truthfully there’s only one clear choice here that completely opens this match up to be something interesting…..and that’s Brock Lesnar.

If Lesnar comes out in the stripes with his briefcase it quickly becomes a case of ‘when’ will he cash in during the PPV, does he referee the match as normal then cash in on the winner? Does he get bored during the match and decide to destroy both guys and pin Seth? Does he beat up both guys and let The Baron win the title then beat him just to anger Rollins more? Or do they just have him ref as normal then leave and not cash in to annoy the fans/viewers that nothing happened after the big tease it will be.

If it turns out to be anyone else on the roster as the referee this will be hilarious for how bad it will be received, so much so that I need to see it lol

So, for me Lesnar refs as normal until both guys hit big moves or something big happens then he cashes in, whips the floor with them both and pins Seth. But, remember there is still the rumour that Brock holds onto his briefcase until Smackdown Live moves to Fox and cashes in on the champion during the first show for a big story to lead with on the new champion…. – LESNAR

Kofi Kingston (c) vs Dolph Ziggler: WWE Championship Steel Cage Match

Seriously, no-one cares about Ziggler, no-one cares about him in the main event and no-one thinks he has any chance of winning the title, and all of that lack of care would be even greater if they actually made the dumbest move in giving him the belt. Man, its sad that with both of these title fights we worry more about them making the dumbest decision (with great experiences of this) instead of the easiest decision that people want to see and makes sense.

This really has just been poor/easy/lazy booking, it all started with Kevin Owens not wanting to go to Saudi Arabia and they had to find a short-term challenger for the event, they went with Ziggler who hadn’t been on tv and didn’t deserve it. The match they had was meh and Ziggler lucked into them being lazy and booking most of the matches there for rematches on this Stomping Grounds show, as really he should have disappeared back into obscurity on the comedy circuit and quickly be forgotten about again by his bosses in the WWE.

Sadly, this Kofi title run still isn’t doing anything for me, ive mentioned it since Mania in that it doesn’t feel anything different or special after the initial title change and celebration. Not that I think he should be beaten ASAP for it and moved on, he needs big challengers and then should beat them clean to solidify his-self in the main event better, hell id have had him beat Roman Reigns soon even if its just a tv match to make an impact. They can focus on that win massively to try and help him while moving Roman quickly away from the title scene for awhile, then next time they get near each other we can hear how Roman has been studying tapes of the match to prepare better for Kofi, again making Kofi seem a bigger threat……its just easy to do with little thought to help everyone involved – KOFI

Becky Lynch (c) vs Lacey Evans: WWE Raw Women’s Championship Match

Another match that feels flat I guess, we all know the long-term plan is for Evans to win the title eventually but if its too soon it affects Becky more negatively as she’s been handled pretty poorly since Mania. Some of that is due to Ronda leaving for awhile and partly down to how they booked Lacey’s debut, with her being made to be ‘a lady’ above being a threat in-ring and showing her marine side.

Then we have to consider if we have Lacey lose again to Becky it potentially could harm her a lot, which is the big problem in having someone new come in and be pushed at the top of a division but don’t really want to put the belt on her instantly. People perceive wrestlers on the whole on how they debut usually, if someone comes in on top beating everyone they get looked at as a star, if they come in and receive a stuttering push and lose their big matches they come across as someone who cant hack it in the position they’ve been placed.

Truthfully I feel this kind of needs a screwy finish, mainly to keep them both strong without badly damaging either, it allows Becky to move to another feud but not truly be over Lacey who can always come back to the feud when they are finally ready for to actually win the belt. For the prediction Ill go with Becky but really it could go either way if the finish is just a DQ – LYNCH

Bayley (c) vs Alexa Bliss w/ Nikki Cross: WWE Smackdown’s Women Championship Match

The girls had a great promo segment on this weeks Smackdown that helped build this feud more than nearly everything else they’ve attempted. When looking at the winner here its only Bayley, the first thing people talk about with Bliss is still her injury status and likelihood of her getting more concussions and not being around that long and not her chances of winning the belt and moving shows.

The Smackdown women’s division really isn’t doing much of anything lately and needs some big focus the next few weeks in setting up programs for Bayley and the other girls after this title defence. I really want to see the other girls all show their ambition of being champion, it doesn’t have to be the centre piece of their ever feud away from the title but needs to be evident to show they are/want to be a big force in the division. Again, make everyone seem important and people begin to see everyone as important – BAYLEY

Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre

Is it just me that feels like we’ve typed this out nearly every month?

And ill say the same I think I usually do, it would be great and mean so much for Drew to beat Roman but Roman will probably win, we have to build up Shane McMahons next big challenger don’t we???? But truthfully with Roman being out of the title scene currently he should be losing this match clean, with the focus being a program in helping move Drew into a serious and legitimate world title contender instead of this being a seeming stepping stone match before Roman finally gets Shane one on one.

Give Shane the world title already!!!! – REIGNS

Samoa Joe (c) vs Ricochet: WWE US Title Match

After winning the elimination match Ricochet gets his chance for a big match with Joe, and this should be all kinds of fun. Joe is going to be bumping his ass off taking everything from Ricochet and making him look awesome, which won’t be hard. I don’t think we see a title change here but cant be sure 100% as I still think we see a Joe/Rey match when Rey’s healed for the title with a stipulation of hair vs mask – JOE

Daniel Bryan & Rowan (c) vs Heavy Machinery: WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match

I really don’t expect new champions here, but instead I fully expect to see Daniel Bryan do his damn best to put over Heavy Machinery as stars in the tag ranks that shouldn’t be laughed at but taken VERY seriously.

I think Bryan will dominate the early stages but gradually we get to see the heart of Heavy Machinery show with the fans getting behind them even more, expect some great Bryan faces throughout when Otis hits big moves and goes close to victory – BRYAN & ROWAN

The New Day vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn

A match I didn’t realise was happening until reading the matches listed for the show lol Seriously

At least there’s history involved for the guys to play off, but truly the only thing this match is here for is for Owens to get the victory setting up the feud with Kofi……surely? OWENS & ZAYN

Akira Tozawa vs Tony Nese (c) vs Drew Gulak: WWE Cruiserweight Triple Threat Title Match

2 really good weeks of tv these past two weeks from 205 Live, now they need to hope that this gets on the main show again and not the kick-off show…..

No title change yet, this show doesn’t seem to like doing them anyway, plus they don’t have the best depth available – NESE

Hope everyone enjoys the show, even though most are matches from the Saudi show but hopefully they bring more tonight

Bye for now

Andy

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ryanonwrasslin-blog · 7 years

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Wrestlemania 33 Review

RI’m going to keep this relatively short because I’ll have the full review of the week later on, but as one of my gimmicks around here is ranking things, I thought I’d put together the definitive ranking fo the matches from NXT and Wrestlemania, along with some assorted thoughts, from worst to first, and grouped together by category.

Terrible

18. Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt

There were a couple of letdown matches on the main card that I came into with high hopes, but nothing compares to this one. Against the right opponent each of these guys can have fantastic matches. But neither has a style that meshes well with everyone, and unfortunately it’s now clear that they just don’t have chemistry with each other in the ring that’s even 1% as interesting as their chemistry outside of the ring. I don’t know what Smackdown’s plans are, but the air really felt like it was let out of this feud last night.

17. Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker

Poor ‘Taker. And honestly, poor Roman. The Big Dog has mostly had good matches for the last year-plus no matter what his critics might insist. But I don’t think even a wizard like Shawn Michaels or AJ Styles could have pulled something worthwhile out of the Dead Man last night. We’ve seen this deterioration in the ring really since the Mania loss to Lesnar, but ‘Taker was always able to at least give us something. Last night was dreadful and thankfully it’s the end for ‘Taker. That spot with Taker turning to putty as Reigns tried to put him into the Tombstone hurt to watch. In all honesty, he shouldn’t have gone past the CM Punk or first Lesnar match. Thank you for so many good moments, ‘Taker, but it’s time to rest in peace.

Mostly Dull

16. Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin

I don’t think I’ll ever understand why this wasn’t made under like hardcore, No-DQ rules. I get that there were multiple other matches that made use of no rules, or bent the rules, but there’s always a place for a schmozzy match that battles backstage and uses lots of props and barely resembles a technical match. That’s what this needed to be. Instead, it was a perfectly okay pre-show match where, for some reason, Dean Ambrose retained.

15. Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Even a bad battle royal is still perfectly fine, and that’s more or less what this was. I liked the strategy involved in getting Strowman thrown out. That kind of stuff needs to happen every now and then to keep fans from complaining too much about how dumb the wrestlers are. And Mojo is an interesting choice. I can’t see a world where he’s ever even worthy of being more than a placeholder for a midcard belt, but hey, the guy is fun to have around and it takes all kinds to build a wrestling company.

Too Long By Half

14. Seth Rollins vs. Triple H

Woof. This match. Why in God’s name was this match the longest on the card and yet Samoa Joe still didn’t show up? There were basically zero shenanigans you wouldn’t see in a typical episode of Raw. If they wanted to book it this way, they should have shaved probably eight-plus minutes. And if you wanted it to be 20-plus minutes several hours into a card, you needed to do something more interesting than a typical Triple H cerebral assassin match. They’ve known this match was coming for like eighteen months, so thank God it’s over, and I’m sure that’s why they made it this epic battle, but sometimes you’ve go to realize how that sort of thing will play in-house and this crowd was not interested and neither was I. Also, I know Seth hitting Trips with the Pedigree was the money move, but how you gonna deflate the goddamned Phoenix Splash by kicking out? That 100% needs to be a Rollins finishing move going forward.

Left Something To Be Desired

13. Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya vs. Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James vs. Naomi vs. Carmella

On the one hand, the shortened time led to a frenetic pace that, this late in the show, was needed to keep the crowd from utterly dying. But on the other hand, I would have liked to have seen this get at least another 2-3 minutes so that it wasn’t entirely a spot fest and didn’t feel as much like a throwaway. They do gain points for making the right call in the end result, with Naomi being one of the best calls to win of the night.

12. Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

At some point we need to have a discussion about Bayley, right? I mean she’s not outright bad or damaging for sure, but she is just not working as well as she should be on the main roster. People want Sasha to win big, and are perfectly happy to hate the hell out of Charlotte. But this was not a good match after the fun of taking out Nia was accomplished. And if they turn Sasha tonight, I’m concerned fans are not going to be nearly as behind Bayley as you’d expect. Sasha is an amazing heel, but she’s also a brilliant character that fans respect the hell out of.

11. SAnitY vs. Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong, Kassius Ohno, and Ruby Riot

The mixed tag rules still leave us in such weird places. Unless the match is booked damned near perfectly, at some point it always turns into a frustrating plot point. I do wonder if NXT ever comes close to pulling the trigger on Dillinger. It almost feels like too little too late after another L.

10. John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse

I hoped for more from this given how phenomenal the booking leading up to the match was. Instead they mostly protected Maryse, let Miz have a couple nice minutes, and then it was time for the Cena family to get their shit in and get to the real point of all of this: the proposal. Fine for what it was, but given how good 3 of the 4 in this match are in the ring, and how Maryse’s ring rust could have played into Nikki’s strong style dominance, I hoped for better.

Perfectly Fine, And That’s Okay

9. Aleister Black vs. Andrade Almas

Almas has settled in as a nice mid-card hand in NXT and a welcomer to the card, and this showed why. It was a nice match, showed off both men’s skills, and put Black over as a force to be reckoned with in the months ahead in NXT. At some point, I hope they get on the Almas train. That dude has it figured out now and needs to get something of a push.

8. Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens

I wanted this to be Savage/ Steamboat. I wanted it to steal the show and make it impossible to follow in every way. But this just never clicked as much as I wanted it to. That’s not to say it was bad. It wasn’t. It was a strong story of two guys who know each other’s moves so well that they constantly have the moves and counters scouted. That’s a fine story, but it needed more to really work. We didn’t quite get there, I’m sorry to say.

Fun

7. Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar

This was the best possible version they could have done of Goldberg/ Lesnar. I didn’t want another 2 minutes or less affair but asking these two to go ten or more minutes is not being realistic about what you have in them, and it’s risking the crowd turning on it. Instead, both guys got to hit their combined four moves, it told a coherent story, and was a lot of fun. Everyone involved deserves serious kudos for stretching this out to just the right length and making it as good as it could possibly have been.

6. Bobby Roode vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

This was a far better version than their first matchup. Roode is developing a nice tendency of working smart, dare I say cerebral, matches. The knee work to neutralize the Kinshasa was good, as was his ready counters. Shinsuke’s matches in WWE have all been fine, but not one has ever lived up to the man’s hype, charisma, and most of all his entrances. I hope that changes on the main roster.

5. Neville vs. Austin Aries

In terms of technical skill on both sides of the bout, this was certainly the winner at Wrestlemania. Just a well-booked, entertaining match all around. Neville continues to be both smart and devastating, and this didn’t take any shine off of Aries. Let’s do this again with these two.

4. AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon

If I could get past the booking oddity of making Shane McMahon look on the equal of AJ Styles, this would almost certainly be the match of the night, and I can’t believe that’s something I just typed. AJ is a demigod in the wrestling ring, and full marks go to Shane McMahon for learning from the worst parts of the overlong Undertaker affair. This was fun, relatively strong from a technical perspective, and should cement AJ as a goddamn miracle worker in the ring to the decision makers at WWE.

3. The Club vs. Cesaro and Sheamus vs. Enzo and Cass vs. The Hardys (!)

I gave this match shit for using up the ladder stipulation for three team who seemed in capable of making it worthwhile. But the, things got a little bit Broken. Without a doubt the biggest pop of the night went to the freakin’ Hardys showing up at Wrestlemania. From there it turned into 11 electric minutes. Everyone got cool spots, crazy ass Jeff Hardy jumped off an enormous ladder, and the crowd lost their shit repeatedly through it all. It won’t score high by any technical measure, but goddamn if this wasn’t a ton of fun.

These Are The Actual Good Matches

2. Asuka vs. Ember Moon

It seems like I like this match more than most, even though I don’t have a ton to say. And yes, I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The tag match was hot fucking fire, but this told a strong story and made both women look great. Ember is coming for Asuka, and coming soon, but Asuka’s surprise semi-turn tonight was beautiful.

1. The Authors of Pain vs. The Revival vs. #DIY

A great, possible swan swong, for what has been the best division in all of WWE for over a year. I have to think at least one of Revival and #DIY are being promoted, and honestly they both should be. I’m not sure AOP can keep this up without them, but that’s a question for another day. For Saturday night, we got brilliance from the three teams. The combo finishers, the frenemies dynamic between the two smaller teams, and AOP’s just incredible physicality. My only issue is just how much damage AOP had to overcome to win. It got to be too much when whichever Author sat in double submissions for forever without tapping, and within another minute or two was up hitting his moves. That was a step too far, and the only thing that kept it from being another all-time classic.

#Wrestlemania #Wrestling #WWE

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thenotoriousgib-blog · 7 years

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Wrestlers of the Year So Far (#100-76)

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on this project, basically spending every minute of my free time watching wrestling to have the most accurate half-year wrestling report. It’s very much imperfect, but I felt the need to still share it.

The ranking is based entirely on my ratings for matches I’ve seen throughout the year. Every match I have at ***+ gives an individual wrestler points weighted by how many stars it gets. Then I add everything up, rank it, and do a little write-up on my thoughts. Any tiebreaker is broken by my personal opinion of which wrestler is having the better year.

I’ll address some questions you might have along the way:

Why Is _______ Not on the List?

This could be for a variety of reasons. As much wrestling as I consume, I can’t watch everything, and unfortunately I’m very much behind on some promotions I love. I’m massively behind on promotions like Stardom, wXw, and CWF Mid-Atlantic so a lot of wrestlers I really like - Io Shirai, Ilja Dragunov, The Carnies, Kairi Hojo, The Ugly Ducklings, etc. missed the cut because I just haven’t been able to watch enough of their stuff this year.

Why Is _______ So Low/High?

There are wrestlers I really like who aren’t as high on the list as they would be if I wasn’t making use of my star-rating-based rankings. There are also wrestlers that I don’t like much at all who are on the list because they’ve still been in a number of matches I liked. The list is biased towards wrestlers who work a lot of places and have consistently good-to-great matches, even if the matches aren’t always MOTY category. Consistency matters, and number of matches matters.

Before I start the countdown, I’m gonna throw out some honorable mentions who just barely missed the list: Toni Storm, Oney Lorcan, Io Shirai, Jay White, Kassius Ohno, Kairi Hojo, The Authors of Pain, Alexa Bliss, Hirooki Goto, Frightmare, LuFisto.

100. Ethan Page: Page has come a long way for me in the past year. I used to not be able to stand All Ego at all, but he’s improved quite a bit. He’s a great character worker who gets good heel heat, and he’s progressively getting better in the ring. His matches still aren’t always my cup of tea, but I think part of that is also how he’s been booked.

99. Rocky Romero: I love RPG Vice so I’m happy they’ve had a good enough year for Rocky to make an appearance. It’s gonna be interesting to see what Rocky does now that RPG Vice has split up for Trent to make a singles run in New Japan. I hope he doesn’t get left behind because he’s a very solid tag wrestler.

98. Penta El 0M/Pentagon Dark: Penta is one of my favorite brawlers in the world, but his 2017 hasn’t been my favorite. He’s honestly underwhelmed me a decent amount as a singles wrestler this year (his stuff with his brother Fenix is still *kisses fingers*). I’m hoping maybe I’m just missing some of his standout matches and his stock will be up for me later in the year because he’s such a charismatic performer.

97. Bayley: The WWE women’s division has struggled a bit in 2017. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of story developing and the women often have just kinda been thrown together seemingly at the last minute. Bayley’s still managed to have a solid year in the ring despite her character being booked rather terribly. Her feud with Charlotte wasn’t always great in build but it had some very good matches.

96. Jimmy Havoc: Havoc’s had a solid year but not as good as many of the other big PROGRESS guys. Still, his brawls with the likes of Pete Dunne and Will Ospreay in the company have been phenomenal. Hardcore wrestling isn’t always my shit, but when I’m in the mood, Jimmy does the job very well.

95. Martin Stone: The Guv’nor is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the world, in my opinion. He’s worked really well as a developmental guy in WWE while still having dope matches in the UK and southern indies. It seems he’s gonna be on NXT in a slightly larger role now so I’m hoping more people pay attention.

94. Sammy Guevara: Guevara’s a guy I want to see more of. He made this list because he’s made appearances in quite a few multi-man spotfest matches that I’ve enjoyed. He’s a fun, young wrestler who has a ton of potential. I’d really like to see where he goes from here.

93. Jason Kincaid: “The Gift” is one of the most unique wrestlers I’ve ever seen, and I need to seek out more of his matches from this year. He’s lowkey been one of my favorite EVOLVE wrestlers for a minute and impresses me just about every time. Watch out for him.

92. Chris Jericho: Jericho’s getting up there in age and is more limited in the ring than ever, but he can still put on an occasional show if he wants to. From an in-ring standpoint he’s no longer the best in the world, but he still reinvents himself enough through his character work to stay relevant.

91. Raymond Rowe: Hanson didn’t make this list and Rowe did because Rowe has more singles matches that I’ve seen. War Machine is a really fun tag team of big boys that I wish had a bit more competition. They’re perfect for New Japan and ROH but I don’t need to see them wrestle the Bucks, TenCozy or Guerillas of Destiny ever again.

90. Shinsuke Nakamura: Nakamura barely made it on this list despite being rather underwhelming in WWE. Since the Zayn match he’s never felt like too much of a big deal like he should, at least when he’s actually in the ring. Nakamura’s still great, but I’m hoping he finally puts together another standout match later this year instead of coasting on “fine” matches.

89. Mark Haskins: To be honest, I’m a bit surprised Haskins made the list. I’ve never been a huge fan of his. Something just doesn’t connect. I think a lot of his matches are good, but they never really reach the next level for me.

88. Moose: Moose made it here on the small amount of TNA/Impact/GFW I have seen, as well as some indie appearances. He’s still not really at his full potential yet, but he’s improving steadily.

87. Austin Aries: The Neville/Aries matches were some of the biggest highlights for the WWE cruisers this year, and that’s all I really have to say about Aries. He was rock solid in his role, and I’m hoping he can continue to be rock solid back in the indies or wherever he signs next.

86. Jushin “Thunder” Liger: A lot of people were disappointed with Ligers’ final BOSJ run but I didn’t mind. I thought it was cool to see Liger put over all the younger guys (except Taichi) in his final tournament. Liger’s another guy that’s lost a step or two but can still go when he wants. He’s having a nice, consistent year.

85. Hallowicked: Hallowicked’s run as Grand Champion might be one of the best things in indie wrestling that not enough people were paying attention to. It’s easy to get caught up in behind-the-scenes drama or Quack’s crazy ideas when talking about Chikara, but they still have some great, underrated wrestlers and Hallowicked’s at the front of the pack.

84. Randy Orton: Orton got here because he had some solid matches while he was in the Wyatt Family and was actually interesting. Since Mania he’s basically been a wet fart to me, aside from the second Jinder match.

83. John Cena: Cena being this high was a big of a shock to me considering he hasn’t done too much all year, but when Cena’s in the ring at this point, it’s usually pretty special. The Styles match and Elimination Chamber stand out of course, but he also had some really good TV matches.

82. TK Cooper: Cooper’s one of the most improved wrestlers over the course of this year. It sucks that Visa issues got in the way of further impressing people. Can’t wait to see him in BOLA.

81. Ryan Smile: Smile stood out on a bunch of the British shows I watched at the beginning of the year, but I’m massively behind on my UK content so I haven’t seen him in a bit. He’s still very solid.

80. Mustafa Ali: Ali should be the one to dethrone Neville as cruiserweight champion when the time comes. WWE probably doesn’t know what they have with Ali, but here’s hoping they figure it out. He’s a champion.

79. Finn Balor: Finn’s done good work since returning from his injury but he’s lacked much direction by no fault of his own. Here’s hoping he gets a bit more of a push soon.

78. Dolph Ziggler: I hate Dolph Ziggler but he’s been in enough decent matches to coast by to this list. I hate it.

77. Dezmond Xavier: Xavier’s a younger guy who’s impressed me a lot on a variety of indie shows that he’s been on. Scarlet & Graves is a really fun tag team and Xavier’s doing great work pretty much everywhere.

76. Austin Theory: Theory’s a guy that impresses me when I see him, but I’m waiting for that standout match where I say, “Wow this guy is GREAT.” Theory’s young so he has plenty of time to do that, but right now he’s on the bubble.

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wrestlingisfake · 4 years

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Smackdown Fake Rankings, 2/1/2020

Men’s heavyweight singles division - babyfaces

Roman Reigns

Daniel Bryan

Braun Strowman (intercontinental champion)

Shorty G

Elias

Men’s heavyweight singles division - heels

Bray Wyatt (universal champion)

King Corbin

Shinsuke Nakamura

Sheamus

Cesaro

Unranked: Drew Gulak

This division is surprisingly robust, considering how many of the guys on it have been misused or underutilized. For better or worse, Vince McMahon really believes in Shorty G and Elias, so they’re stronger than the corresponding undercard faces on Raw. Sheamus is clearly going to be positioned as the next “asshole bully” heel after Corbin’s dog food stunts run their course. And Cesaro is overqualified as a lackey for Nakamura.

Nevertheless, it’s pretty obvious that Reigns is the only real choice to challenge Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania. Bryan has already tried and failed. Strowman’s superhuman gimmick pales in comparison to Wyatt’s. The other faces are still too weak to suddenly topple an invincible monster, and I don’t see any of the heels turning any time soon. Unless Captain Marvel gets drafted to Smackdown or something, I think the only force powerful enough to beat Bray will be Vince’s dogged determination to make Roman look strong.

Men’s tag team division - babyfaces

The New Day - Kofi Kingston & Big E (Smackdown tag team champions)

The Usos - Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso

Heavy Machinery - Otis & Tucker

Lucha House Party - Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado

Men’s tag team division - heels

The Miz & John Morrison

Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode

The Revival - Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder

Reports about the Revival wanting to leave WWE have intensified in the past few days. Last I heard, Dawson’s contract is up in April, while Wilder’s ends in June. The heel side of this division will struggle to adjust to their loss--it’s hard to imagine any of the current face teams turning to balance things out. Maybe Nakamura and Cesaro could make a run for the title in the spring.

Women’s division - babyfaces

Naomi

Lacey Evans

Alexa Bliss

Nikki Cross

Carmella

Dana Brooke

Women’s division - heels

Bayley (Smackdown women’s champion)

Mandy Rose

Sonya Deville

Unranked: Tamina

In theory the women’s tag team champions would be obligated to appear on all brands, but Asuka and Kairi Sane haven’t been on Smackdown since September and haven’t defended the title against a Smackdown team since December. Bliss and Cross fighting Rose and Deville a zillion times isn’t much of a tag division. The singles division isn’t much better; as with Raw, WWE is falling back on the bad habit of focusing on exactly one women’s feud at a time (the champion and the latest challenger) instead of cultivating multiple programs to get plenty of future challengers ready.

It doesn’t help that Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks repeatedly get sidelined for weeks at a time. I presume those issues are concussion related, but whatever it is, WWE needs to focus on really resolving the problem instead of just getting them medically cleared for the next show. I’m increasingly worried one or both of them could be forced into an early retirement.

No TV/PPV matches in 60 days: Apollo Crews, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, Drake Maverick, Heath Slater, Kalisto, Mustafa Ali, Sami Zayn

As far as I can tell, Zayn has wrestled exactly two matches since last summer. I won’t pretend to know why that is, but it feels like he’s either winding down his career or trying to run out his contract with as little wear and tear as possible. Most of the other guys listed above haven’t been seen since the last Saudi Arabia show, and I suppose we’ll probably see them again on the next one in late February. If I were Apollo Crews, I would want out very, very badly.

Part-timers: Cain Velasquez, Kane, Maryse

Velasquez reportedly signed a multi-year deal with WWE, so even though speculation about him appearing at the Royal Rumble didn’t pan out, he should get a rematch with Brock Lesnar one of these days (likely at another Saudi show). I thought Kane would be done after becoming mayor of Knoxville, but I guess he can and will wear a mask and do a chokeslam until he’s 75. We probably won’t be seeing Maryse much while Miz is teaming with John Morrison, but she’s technically available the next time they do a battle royale or what have you.

Inactive

Sasha Banks (undisclosed injury - possible concussion)

Xavier Woods (right heel - Achilles tendon tear)

Woods will probably be miss Wrestlemania and Summerslam with his injury. Banks is one of these cases where WWE won’t say what it is, but they only do that when it’s a concussion. The word is that they expect her to be cleared each week, and then she isn’t, which is consistent with how concussions could take hours or weeks to clear up.

#wwe #fake rankings

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andymull · 5 years

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WWE Money In The Bank - Preview & Predictions

Becky Lynch (c) vs Charlotte Flair: WWE Smackdown Live Women’s Championship Match

One of the champions two defenses on this show after being crowned the champ champ at Wrestlemania, I know previously we weren't sure if they would have the two belts be combined and just have the champ rule over both shows, but this makes it definite that there are still two titles and they will be separate to each show once one person doesn't own them both.

I would imagine the main event of this show will be between this bout and the men’s Money In The Bank (MITB) match, I imagine the men’s bout takes it in a late decision with them deciding that based on Becky probably coming into this second title defense with a ‘knock’ and having to work from the bottom against Charlotte so they’ll want the fresher wrestlers main eventing the show (yeah I know that doesn't make much sense but if Beckys selling alot it will be Vince foremost thought).

I did have Becky winning this and continuing on as a double champion for a while yet, but, I actually see it different today after thinking about an injury being something they add to this bout following on from her first match. Make it Becky getting a slight twisted knee in the first match against Evans and still winning, but against Charlotte she zero’s in on the knee building to her finisher and title win. That way they can have Lynch drop the title and blame it one having to wrestle twice in one night and Charlotte taking advantage of a bad knee, lets Becky stay on Raw as champion and also adds another layer to Becky/Charlotte for when they feud again in the future. But at the same time I wouldn't be surprised for Lynch to retain against both women and carry the champ champ gimmick for longer, if its a ratings success in her segments and shes still moving big numbers of merchandise that is.... - CHARLOTTE

Seth Rollins (c) vs AJ Styles - WWE Universal Title Match

I get the feeling this match will be given good time in the middle of the show but will get overlooked due to the placement on the card sadly. Two great wrestlers here and the match should be quality, the hype videos have been superb showing both guys alot younger and their progressions to get to this point from wrestling each other pre WWE.

Im not keen on the slight heel actions of Styles in the build up here, but sometimes they have issues when having title matches be face vs face and have to go back and have one of them play the slight heel. I imagine once this feuds wrapped up that Styles goes back to being 100% face and quickly going into another feud.

In terms of a winner here we cant look past Rollins retaining his belt, he isnt dropping it this quickly and nor should he. For me his reign hasn't felt anything special just yet, so hopefully this can be the springboard in having a great match and that leading to him being THE focus of Raw for the next few weeks - ROLLINS

Kofi Kingston (c) vs Kevin Owens - WWE Championship Match

Is it just me that isnt feeling the Kofi title win? In a different way to Rollins in that Kofi doesn't seem a champion to me at all yet, him wearing the world title looks weird and most weeks has been in matches featuring guys better than him and all I can see is other wrestlers that should be holding that belt, not sure that’s the way I should be thinking lol

In my head I feel they may think about swapping the belt early, may just be me though, I feel Owens as a heel champion has more legs to it than Kofi as champion does - OWENS

Roman Reigns vs Elias

Im glad that Elias is getting a big feud here against Roman after moving to Smackdown Live, and hopefully they get some decent time here for Elias to show some fire and talent and not just revert to rest holds like they have him do usually on tv.

But lets not get mistaken here, there’s no chance Elias is winning unless multiple people run in to cost Reigns the win - REIGNS

The Miz vs Shane McMahon - Cage Match

We all know this company, Shane won at Wrestlemania so Miz wins here to make it 50/50. Shane goes for a big stunt from the top, Miz attempts to look a tough guy fighting in the cage while Shane runs away - MIZ

Becky Lynch (c) vs Lacey Evans - WWE Raw Women’s Championship Match

The second title match on the PPV for Becky against the newest threat for her belt in Lacey Evans, sorry The Sassy Southern Belle Lacey Evans.

Im glad they have had Evans hold her ground in brawls with Lynch, she really needs to and also needs them to build her as a past Marine in having her be as tough as anyone and be able to gain a deadly focus in the ring due to it, give her a deadly touch as well as her being a ‘lady’.

I see Becky retaining this belt as the safest bet in her two matches, while at the same time I see this being the feud they carry on with after the show with Becky remaining on Raw. So, they will have to be careful in how they have Lacey beaten and not done so in too much of a dominate fashion. In my preview of the Charlotte match I mentioned her gaining a slight injury in this match, so, lets go with her getting a slight knee injury and beats Evans with a lucky roll-up. That leaves them open to carry on the feud as its a lucky finish and the heel can gain the rematch on Raw no problem - LYNCH

Ember Moon vs Mandy Rose vs Dana Brooke vs Nikki Cross vs Bayley vs Nattie vs Naomi vs Carmella - Women’s MITB Ladder Match

It seems that yet again the women get pulled from house shows the weekend before a big match to prepare it all out, I bet the guys wish they had that option sometimes....

Firstly, im really glad that Dana is getting the big opportunity here, she’s been doing her best in every chance she gets in the ring and has gotten some good reactions from the crowds, especially the Wrestlemania crowd.

Secondly, Alexa Bliss has been dropped from this bout and replaced with Cross, the company really need to be analysing Bliss in the same ways they do Bryan with his head issues. She really shouldn't have been brought back for the Rumble and the odd other match she’s had since as she doesn't seem ready to get back in the ring, with reports she has been throwing up backstage after a match which as a sign of concussions. She really needs to be wrapped in cotton wool for awhile longer and given access to the best doctors to double check everything rather than just using the companies own doctors.

Now onto the match, in terms of potential winners I have it down to Bayley, Moon, Rose and Carmella. I think all of them if given the briefcase will need alot of work in building them up ready to be a threat, but, I see them all more than capable of getting back into the title scene and ready to take the title in afew months or rebuilding. Rose probably needs the least build as she’s been ok, but the others either due to injury or not being the focus of a push and taking a number of defeats or being treated as a comedy act need that change to make them looked at more seriously again.

Out of those girls Ill go with Bayley, she’s been treated like a joke since Wrestlemania and bring traded to Smackdown in not getting a win. This should give them the imperative to focus back on her to build her back up, its so needed with Bayley that its a joke they have missed so much with how they've treated her since her call up from NXT its unbelievable - BAYLEY

Andrade vs Ricochet vs Drew McIntyre vs Finn Balor vs Sami Zayn vs The Baron vs Ali vs Randy Orton - Men’s MITB Ladder Match

I really like 90% of this match (get lost The Baron) and it should lead to some fun spots throughout, I also see them having re-watched the ladder match for the NXT North American title from last year and taking some of the spots from with how well that match did being a 5 star rated bout.

Personally I only see Drew winning this match and being a constant threat on nearly every Raw standing over the champion or watching him menacingly, then decimating him for the title and making himself the new main eventer in the company.

When looking at the others I guess I could see other winners in Andrade, Ricochet, Balor or Ali. Ali and Andrade would need some very solid pushes and focus but would lead to some very fresh threats around the world title scene, and that’s something they are desperate for lately so may be a factor in deciding the potential winner tonight. Ricochet and Balor are guys I would have zero problem in pushing them big time through the summer for the world title, as both guys will fit in there no problem, I just dont see it yet sadly - MCINTYRE

Samoa Joe (c) vs Rey Mysterio

A rematch following their very short Mania match due to Rey having an injury that he is now fully recovered from, this will definitely get more time than that.

I do still think this feud will continue on longer and will potentially feature more appearances from Dominic, I even have a slight feeling that he turns heel on his dad at some point, dont ask why I just do lol

I dont see a title change occurring here, and continue to say what ive mentioned previously in that id be building Joe monthly as a killer with the plan of having him ready for the world title come the end of the year - JOE

Tony Nese (c) vs Ariya Daivari - WWE Cruiserweight Title Match

Sorry but ive stopped caring about this title after Murphy dropped the belt and moved to Smackdown to not be used much, 205 Live NEED more/new talent on their roster quickly to keep peoples interests, please - NESE

Rowan & Daniel Bryan (c) vs The Uso’s - Non Title Match - Kickoff Show

Gutted for these guys in being demoted to the kick of show, get ready to be interrupted by ads in the middle of your match with no-one watching.

Its a non title match so they usually result in the challengers gaining the win setting them up for a title match next, and with the lack of depth in the Smackdown tag ranks they really shouldn't have the Uso’s lose...................................................As long as the wildcards can win the titles on the show they are visiting that is - USOS

Hopefully everyone enjoys the show, and we potentially could have some decent surprises with the winners in the MITB matches, leading to us all having our imaginations run wild in the potential cash ins and how they could occur

Bye for now

Andy

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ryanonwrasslin-blog · 7 years

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The Wrestling Optimist - March 9, 2017

For those newbies, this is my first in what I anticipate becoming roughly a weekly edition of my thoughts, from a mostly optimistic viewpoint, on the wonderful world of professional wrestling. I'm working my hardest to stop being such a miserable smark, and this column is my best effort at both keeping myself honest and funneling out the various thoughts I have on wrestling. For the most part, this will be a WWE-themed piece every week, and it's still evolving, but for now I think I've found a solid format. Also, I typically intend for this to be a weekly column, but I was excited to try it out after Fast Lane (and really put my efforts at optimism to their most extreme test), so this particular column will only cover Raw, Smackdown Live, Talking Smack, 205 Live, and NXT.

Theme of the Week: We really are in the fast lane to Mania. The PPV may have left a lot of people a little displeased, but I think Raw and SDL did a nice job this week of building to the Jaws-like creature lurking in our midst, the reportedly 6.5 hour Wrestlemania now less than a month away. On Raw we got Y2J vs. KO, and the Women's Triple Threat officially booked, set up a possible Cruiserweight title match, while also getting Lesnar vs. Goldberg hyped, and Reigns vs. Taker hinted at with the subtlety of one of the Big Dog's Superman Punches. And the inevitable pre-show Tag title match will get clarity next week. That's an awful lot of productivity even for 3 hours.

Smackdown Live, not to be outdone, settled on Wyatt vs. Orton officially, made an intriguing Women's Championship free-for-all, kept the build on for the Mixed Tag, set conspiracy theory AJ Styles loose on Shane O'Mac, and hinted that we're going to get a hardcore type of Intercontinental Title match between Corbin and Ambrose.

The Mania card is now starkly visible, with the unknowns being whatever is happening with the Triple H/ Seth Rollins/ Samoa Joe/ Sami Zayn/ maybe Finn Balor storyline, whether Big Show vs. Shaq happens, how the poor SDL Tag division will be handled, which undercard guys will fill out the AMBAR, and then designating a few of these as pre-show.

For my own druthers, I mostly don't care how the card order stacks up, but I'm going to lose it if the Smackdown women end up on the Pre-Show as I fear they might. My girls Becky and Alexa deserve better than that.

10 Best Moments of the Week

Teasing the Phenomenal Forearm into the RKO Some day they are going to have Orton hit him with the RKO when going for either the forearm or the 450 and it's going to be the coolest thing since the Curb Stomp RKO, and I'm glad they clearly know how cool that is.

Heyman rushing out to address the CM Punk chants and halt whatever ill-fated improv Goldberg was about to attempt I'm not positive that Heyman was rushed out there early to cut off the Punk chants and prevent Goldberg from saying something that would only make the chants worse, but it certainly looked that way and it was another hilarious reminder of how little WWE can trust Goldberg to do pretty much anything.

The Miz motherfuckin' ETHERS John Cena I have nothing to add to his masterpiece. Go watch the SDL and Talking Smack segments.

FORK YOU! - I loved Baron Corbin pinning Dean Ambrose under a forklift. I'm always in for goofy prop fights, and there's always a place on the card for something like this at Mania. I hope this is how the match goes at Mania, a sometimes goofy, sometimes brutal street fight sort of affair. We know that Ambrose wanted the Mania match with Lesnar to go way too far last year but was rebuffed. Let him try this year with someone young and hungry like the Lone Wolf.

Austin Aries, the hero the Cruiserweight division needs Running Aries as the apparent face against Neville could be a weird fit in the long run, but I was all in for this segment on Raw. Aries is the outsized character the division needs right now to complement all the work Neville is doing and the better ring-work we've started seeing from guys like Tozawa and Swann.

The SAnitY and Dillinger story really comes together I don’t know about everyone else, but seeing Roddy get dragged out beaten half to death by the rest of the group, and seeing Tye and Jose get fired up about it, worked like hell for me. That awkward trio coming together against the heels was lacking something and this helped fill in the storyline, as did EY yelling “YOU DID THIS” at Tye. Good stuff.

As the Smackdown Women's Division Turns Becky gets turned on by a tag partner again (at this point I’m surprised Luke Sanders hasn’t turned on her), and Mickie at last turns on Alexa. Sometimes the easy story is the right one. If Naomi makes it back, she's pretty clearly going to win the title, but if not I really hope they have Becky overcome a whole Rogues gallery of heels to win (throw in Eva Marie and Carmella to really put it over the top). She's been turned on so many times that she needs the perseverance story.

For a night, the Part-Timers were booked well I'm as deeply skeptical as anyone that Raw can get me fully invested in a Lesnar/ Goldberg feud or an Undie/ Strong Roman feud, but credit where it's due, they did an excellent job on Raw this week. Goldberg eating an F5 was long overdue and I honestly wanted to see the whooping get worse.

TJP and Shinsuke dab on each other WWE spent a few headscratching months booking TJP after the Cruiserweight classic, but this was a fun match and felt like the right way to handle him, as a cocky, shitty, sorta heel who also does some seriously cool shit in the ring.

The way AJ Styles says, "Randy Orton burns down a man's house and gets rewarded for it!" I knew AJ was among the best in the ring prior to his WWE run, but his promos have been a wonderful surprise to me. He is a natural on the mic and has a goofy charisma, and for whatever reason I chuckled for a long time after he said this particular line.

Let the Smark Out

For as much as I’m trying to be an optimist, wrestling is not a perfect product. Far from it, really, and when you have problems with something, it’s healthy to let that sort of thing out. So, in the hopes of keeping a 5:1 ratio tilted toward the good side, here are my two complaints of the week:

Are we seriously doing this with Emma again? She was in such a good place as Evil Emma with the half-gloves and the shoulder pads. Given how shallow the Raw Women’s division is, why did they feel the need to screw around with something that was working????

I’ve known for weeks that the Styles/ Shane O’Mac feud was coming, but now that it’s here, it hurts even more. There is obvious proof on the roster in multiple forms that you only get so many Wrestlemania’s out of your top workers (like Balor and Rollins both being potentially on the shelf for this year after not being on last year’s card either). To use up one of those years for Styles, unquestionably the best in-ring performer in the company, and probably the world, is asinine. I know there is no bigger honor in WWE eyes than to fight against a McMahon (and I strongly suspect we’re heading toward either a Bayley or Sasha vs. Stephanie program in the next year), but I have no interest in seeing AJ selling for ol’ Baby Jabs McMahon.

Let’s Rank Stuff!

One of the best things to do as a wrestling fan is to compare things. Who's on the Mount Rushmore of wrestling? Who was the most over with the crowd? Who's the best in-ring worker? What's the most uncomfortable Attitude Era storyline in retrospect? That's what I'm going to do here every week, pick a topic and rank it as I see it. Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts! I'd love to hear them.

This week's ranking: The Status of the Championship Belts

It's been almost 8 months since the Brand Split, which saw WWE add a whopping 4 title belts to their company (and a fifth in the UK Title even more recently) and with Wrestlemania approaching, I thought now would be a fun time to rank those titles in terms of their current level of prestige. Keep in mind the old adage about the wrestler making the belt, not the other way around. So without further ado, in reverse order:

13. UK Championship - Too young to be any higher. If Pete Dunne gets it, though, this thing could rocket up the list. That dude has incredible potential.

12 US Championship - Man what a precipitous fall. A short 18 months ago, Cena had made this thing into probably the second best belt in the company. But more recently it's been seen being dragged around by a disinterested Roman Reigns like he was worried that touching too much of it might infect him with some terrible disease. The good news is that I can see KO winning this at 'Mania and proudly defending it, not because it represents America or anything, but because KO is convinced anything he has is just the best.

11 Smackdown Tag Team Championships - Another letdown since the brand split. Slater/ Rhyno was fun, but American Alpha is surprisingly struggling right now.

10 Raw Tag Team Championships - The shenanigans required to get New Day to the tag title record didn't help anyone, and now I can't help but view The Club as utterly inconsequential. Tag team wrestling on the main roster is in a bad way right now. Thankfully, there's hope on the horizon if WWE is smart enough to realize it.

9 Cruiserweight Championship - Talk about the wrestler making the belt. Putting this thing on Neville was the step that was badly needed to salvage this belt and the entire division.

8 Smackdown Women's Championship - This division has done wonders in terms of drawing out depth and giving its characters chances, but it's in need of some excellent, or rather Bex-cellent, wrestling and something memorable. I think maybe they missed an opportunity not having Becky and Nikki fight for this at some point. Face vs. Face can be tricky, but these two could have done it, it would have given more prestige to the belt and now rumors are Nikki may be on her way out. That’s a seriously missed opportunity if so.

7 WWE Universal Championship - Yikes. I was closer to putting this thing 8th than moving it higher. It's impressively ugly, KO's title run was consistently neutered, and now Dadberg is drenching it in sweat for the next few weeks before Lesnar takes it from him at Mania and promptly disappears for a few months. If we do this ranking again in June, this belt might be 13th.

6 NXT Women's Championship - Asuka is obviously great and the coming feud with Ember should be a lot of fun, as should Nikki Cross' pursuit, but the belt hasn't kept up with some of the others under the WWE umbrella. From where it was during Sasha/ Bayley, things have slipped a bit in part because no one legitimate has come for Asuka. Yet.

5 NXT Tag Team Championships - Several of the best matches of 2016 were contested for this belt, and honestly I feel like it should be higher. I just couldn't quite bring myself to pull the trigger. That said, there's no shame in being 5th and the sole beacon of light for tag team wrestling in WWE.

4 Raw Women's Championship - I didn't love the hot potato of the belt, same as most people, and I loathe it when WWE starts talking about "making history," but this title is a very important one right now.

3 Intercontinental Championship - This likely would have been number 2 if I'd done this ranking in the fall thanks almost entirely to the Miz. Ambrose has been fine as champ since then thanks to his pedigree as a former WWE Champ, and if they are setting up Baron Corbin to win the title at Mania, that could be a great step toward both making a star and helping keep the belt relevant.

2 NXT Championship - One of the most impressive lineages of any championship belt in wrestling history right now. At times, it probably has surpassed even the WWE Championship itself. I'm curious to see how they handle Bobby Roode's reign after having one indy giant after another hold it for years on end. Obviously Roode is no slouch, but this does feel like an interesting point for the title.

1 WWE Championship - I'm glad they're back to just calling it the WWE Championship. That just sounds so much better than adding any sort of "world" modifier to it. It's the franchise, the belt with all the history behind it, and that WWE itself even clearly tries to pay respect to, and this past year or so has only added to the legacy. Getting AJ Styles' name on the belt was great for everyone, Cena tied the record with it, and now Bray Wyatt, a character that WWE has always viewed as a long-term face of the company, is battling another all-time legend in Randy Orton at Wrestlemania for it. That's great stuff.

Match of the Week

This was supposed to be a column that covered everything after Fast Lane, but I have to give it up one more time for Neville vs. Jack Gallagher. That’s unquestionably the match of the week.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I sketched out a rough idea of the Mania card earlier in the column, but for the next few weeks I’m excited for the build. That’s where these matches are set up for memorable moments and big crowd pops or destined for failure. I covered the Triple H saga in this segment in the Fast Lane column, but I was surprised to see it not get a ton of attention on Raw this week. It’s starting to feel like WWE doesn’t even quite know what to do with it at this point.

If we get through this week’s Raw without some kind of stakes for Mania set for those two and the various other players in their drama, I’m going to start doubting whether the match is actually happening, and if maybe we’ll only get some kind of confrontation only at the show.

The Finisher

Big Show vs. Shaq would be kinda cool if it happens, but if it doesn’t, I hope they do Strowman vs. Show II. Strowman is ready for something more than winning the AMBAR, and Show deserves a reward for getting into such ridiculous shape. Plus, those two had low-key the most surprisingly fun match of 2017 so far, and you could do a lot worse than a ten minute hoss fight at Mania. Make it happen, WWE.

#WWE #wrestling

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