Wrestling Republic Weekly – June 1st 2017

Welcome to The Wrestling Republic Weekly! You will see reviews, news, rumours, reports, predictions and more! Enjoy it!

Raw Review

After last weeks Raw getting the lowest ratings in 21 heads this weeks raw needed to deliver and get a lot more views especially considering there were no big NBA events clashing with Raw tonight. WWE realised this and for tonight’s show they advertised Balor vs Wyatt vs Joe as well as a PPV main event worthy main event Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns.

The night started off with an episode of Miz TV with Cesaro and Sheamus as guests. Miz kept on going on about how much he likes them and how much he thinks they deserve to win the raw tag team titles! It was like somehow The Miz had completely forgot that a year ago he was in a feud with Cesaro and he said the complete opposite to this, so in my opinion Miz should not have said that and instead just stayed to the facts about how Cesaro and Sheamus had a shot at the titles before the Hardy’s unfairly interrupted at Mania, instead of giving his opinion on how much he likes them both beforehand. Cesaro and Sheamus then went on to talk about how the fans had turned there backs on them as soon the Hardy’s debuted and Sheamus went on to talk about how the fans only like the ‘new toys’ and aren’t loyal at all which I thought was a genius promo as quite frankly right now we can’t prove that wrong! Dean Ambrose then came out and said how he seems to get himself into sticky situations a lot but he needed to come and shut their mouths. The Hardy’s then came out and joined Ambrose before all three men ran into the ring and attacked Cesaro, Sheamus and Miz and made them retreat to the outside. The segment was good but it was obvious from very early on that it would lead to a six man tag team match and this same thing seems to be happening almost every week now with different superstars so WWE definitely need to start to change some things up now and again.

The 6 man tag team match then happened and it was an alright match but there were a few botches including moments when Dean Ambrose dived to give a hot tag to Jeff but instead dived to Matt so Matt had to sort of dive out of the way and then Ambrose had to retry it and then successfully tagged in Jeff. The Hardy’s and Ambrose won in the end but very commonly the team that wins the show before the PPV lose at the PPV so could we see The Hardy Boyz lose their titles this early after winning them on Sunday?

After the match the cameras went to commentary where Cole was talking while Graves was on his phone. Cole asked Graves a question and Graves didn’t answer so Cole repeated it but then Graves got up and said sorry I have to go and left. During the commercial break there was a lot of speculation on social media about whether or not this was kayfabe. The fact social media was very intrigued about this is a great thing! Plus WWE doesn’t do things like this much. After the break we saw Kurt Angle looking at Graves’s phone with Graves. Kurt then sounded like he was reading something and read out ‘a disgrace and embarrassment to the WWE’ Kurt then asked if it was a joke and Corey responded ‘I wish it was but it seems serious’. Corey then went on to praise Kurt before Kurt finally said ‘if this is true it could ruin me’. It seems like we will have to wait to see what this is but I definitely do believe that Corey has got something to do with it. Another theory for this is that maybe it’s got something to do with the upcoming debut of Maria Kanelis and Mike Bennet as it has been reported that they have already signed contracts with the WWE and they are ready to debut any week now.

Ellias Sampson then had a squash match where he defeated local talent Zac Evans. Sampson looked very strong in the match and hopefully this means that he will be used well on the main roster however I can’t see WWE using him well as he progresses but after Jinder Mahal won the WWE Championship we know anything can happen!

We then went on to see a great triple threat match between Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt. The match showcased all talent from all of them. In the end Balor hit the Coup de grace on Bray Wyatt but Samoa Joe came from behind and threw Balor out of the ring and stole the victory. This ending was great as it showed on Sunday you could be the best superstar yet you could still lose.

We then saw Titus O’Neil beat Kalisto in the matter of seconds by grabbing the tights of Kalisto while pinning him. I am really not liking what they are doing with Apollo Crews at the minute and they should have definitely not let Titus O’Neil become his mentor! I guess it gives him TV time but in my opinion he should have just received a push when he came on to Raw and maybe even feuded with Elias Sampson. That way you have two fairly new superstars having a rivalry together showcasing their abilities.

We then saw for the second week in a row Enzo Amore injured backstage. Big Cass yet again came running in seconds later trying to help Enzo before Kurt came and Cass told Kurt he is confident that it is The Revival who have done this although Kurt said he personally saw them leaving the building. I believe that it is either Cass who has been attacking Enzo or maybe even Mike Bennet?

We then had the women’s title segment which got a lot of heat on social media where Alexa Bliss made up a lot of crap about Bayley’s childhood which was obviously not true and then had Bayley’s old teacher who told us that Bayley’s dad had to sit next to her every day in school which was obviously not true considering that wouldn’t even be allowed! And then just to make things worse Bayley’s old best friend (who maybe could be her real best friend) kiss her ex boyfriend (no connection to Bayley at all) The acting was horrible and nothing seemed to fit in at all. Bayley then ran out to put a stop to this horrible segment and Alexa attacked Bayley with a kendo stick. The only good part of this segment was that Alexa was getting heat. In fact this segment was so poor WWE decided to only show the try and hit each other with a kendo stick part of the segment on YouTube.

We then had the main event which was actually an amazing match! Maybe even PPV main event standard. The crowd was really into it as well. Roman Reigns won the match and it was fairly obvious he would because as far as we still know he is going to beat Brock for the title at mania so until then they want to do three things. The first being keep him away from Lesnar, the second is make him look strong, and the third thing is to make him the main baby face of the company. The third option is where it gets awkward as Roman Reigns considers himself as a heel and nobody has reminded him that he needs to become the top babyface. Of course maybe WWE doesn’t want to do this yet and have a plan in mind for example maybe wait until Braun returns and have Roman feud with him again and as long as the fans don’t start liking Braun, Roman will become a babyface. However until then we will have to keep watching this half face half heel gimmick Roman currently has.

SDLive Review

SDLive started with Kevin Owens yet again hosting an edition of the highlight reel. Last time he hosted one of these which was a few weeks back I reported that when Jericho returns he will most likely feud with Owens again and little things like Owens hosting the highlight reel while Jericho is gone is just a way to keep the rivalry fresh in people’s minds. However Jericho has no announced that he might not return to the company and if he does it will be in the later rather than sooner, which means he won’t be feuding with Owens any time soon. Shinsuke Nakamura was the guest this week and the fans are still seeming really into him but surely there is only a matter of time until the fans get bored of humming his entrance theme? Owens did a great job working the crowd too! They were booing almost every word he said. Corbin then interrupted and it was obvious at this point this was going to lead into a tag match and it was only a matter of time before someone else would come out. Corbin and Owens then attacked Shinsuke and Zayn came to his rescue setting up for a tag match.

The tag match between the team of Nakamura and Zayn vs the team of Corbin and Owens then happened. The match was fairly good with yet again for the second week in a row Shinsuke pinning Owens at the end. Shinsuke seems to be getting a huge push on the main roster which is definitely a good thing!

We then saw The New Day make their SDLive debuts announcing that they will be facing The Usos at Money in the Bank. I was kinda hoping we would see Breezango involved as well to be honest in a triple threat ladder match for the titles

Next we were meant to see a fatal five way elimination match to see who was going to be the No.1 contender for Naomi’s title. But all five women beat the crap out of each other before the match has even started! So Shane McMahon came out and said that he thought this was amazing that they all wanted the title so bad so he has decided to put them all in the first ever women’s ladder match! I am really looking forward to seeing this match and my early prediction is that Carmella or Tamina will win! Also could Charlotte do a moonsault off a ladder? What a moment that would be!

We then had Orton come out and basically claim that he wouldn’t win back his title at Money In The Bank. Jinder then appeared on screen and said that he will retain his title against Orton at MITB. This segment was fairly boring but at least the crowd were into it and we’re getting involved by chanting for the USA

We then had the main event Styles vs Ziggler which was a very entertaining match. Not as good as Rollins vs Reigns on Raw this week but still a very good match! The match ended with a huge surprise victory with Ziggler beating Styles. It wasn’t even controversial, yes Styles was stuck in the ropes a few seconds before but that’s not, not allowed so it was a fair victory. If they wanted Ziggler to win they should have done it a controversial not like that. All it does is make Styles look weak.

Special Match Review : Mundo vs Mack (Lucha Underground S3 Ep 20)

I just finished watching this weeks episode of Lucha Underground and after watching it I knew I had to put it in here this week!

In case you didn’t know this week was the return of Lucha Underground and the entire episode was going to just be one match. This match was Champion Johnny Mundo against the challenger Mack. The match stipulation was ‘All Night Long’ which basically means whoever has the most victories at the end of the episode wins! The story behind it was that Mundo believes that Mack (who in case you didn’t know is a bit of a large guy) won’t be able to last an hour against him. The match ended up being one of the greatest of all time! Now the following review will spoil the result but I won’t spoil what happens in most of the match just mostly the end.

Mundo is a huge heel in Lucha Underground and Mack is a face, I just thought I would make this clear before I started the review because it really does matter in the match.

So the match started and fairly quickly Mundo got 2 pinfalls and was two up. Mack then got one back. Mundo then hit this sort of spinning heel kick of the turnbuckle off the turnbuckle. It connected with Mack but his leg smashed into the floor. Medics then had to come and sort Mundo out, but for some reason moved him back in the ring to do this. The commentators were then saying that in pro wrestling serious injuries can happen and that’s why we should not try it at home.

Mack then went up to Mundo and shook his hand, before walking over to the ropes to calm the fans down. Mundo then burst back onto his feet and attacked Mack from behind getting another pinfall! The crowd were booing and chanting abuse to Mundo, meanwhile Mundo was laughing.

Then for a while it’s back and forth between Mundo and Mack and some people get involved but this part I won’t spoil but it is really good!

Then finally it’s three – three but Mundo was flat across a table meanwhile Mack was climbing a ladder and there is one minute left. One of Mundo’s crew then grabbed the leg of Mack and wouldn’t let him climb the ladder. Sexy Star then came to help Mack and then Mack was finally able to climb to the top of the ladder! There was 20 seconds left. Then about 7 seconds later Mack jumped and Mundo went through the table! But Mack wasn’t pinning Mundo and when he finally did pin him there was only 3 seconds left and of course a 3 pin count actually takes around 5 seconds so the match just ended in a draw! The crowd went crazy booing and it was announced that the match will continue next week so they would find a winner! See what I rate the match in the ratings below

Match Ratings

Mundo vs Mack (all night long Lucha Underground) = 9.5

Rollins vs Reigns (Raw) = 7.5

Joe vs Balor vs Wyatt (Raw) = 7

Styles vs Ziggler (SDLive) = 7

That’s it for this weeks Weekly. Please share if you enjoyed it and contact me
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If you have any suggestions on what else you want to see on the weekly or just want you think of it. Thanks for reading!