Wrestling Republic Weekly – May 25th, 2017

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

Backlash Review
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Nakamura vs Ziggler
I personally really enjoyed this match and felt that it was definitely the right decision for Nakamura to win. It showcased how great of a wrestler Ziggler is as well. I also loved the technical part of the match. Overall I was expecting a little more from the match but still I loved it!
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The Usos vs Breezango
This match was surprisingly great! Yet again this match showcased the talent of both teams and also I hope people will realise how talented Tyler Breeze and Fandango are now. I also really enjoyed how Tyler Breeze kept changing identity and that JBL didn’t know it was Breeze in disguise. Say what you want about JBL but he sure does know how to commentate. The Usos winning was yet again the right decision in my opinion as now they New Day are about to debut on SDLive they will surely get a title shot and you need a heel team to take them on!
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Baron Corbin vs Sami Zayn
I really didn’t think this match was going to be that good but it was the match of the night in my opinion! I’m quite surprised that Corbin loses considering WWE are reportable about to give him a huge push, but still I guess it pushes Sami a bit more and that definitely isn’t a bad thing!
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The Welcoming Committee vs Charlotte, Becky and Naomi
This match was alright but could have been a lot better. I liked it that The Welcoming Committee won so they all get more credit and sort of get pushed. I find it good that on Raw it would just be Naomi, Charlotte and Becky as the main women if they had this roster but on SDLive they give all of them the opportunity thy deserve!
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Owens vs Styles
Again this match was good but to be honest I expected a lot more. The ending was horrible! A veteran like Styles wouldn’t get his leg stuck in a table! I honestly think that sometimes WWE forget about stuff like that. Still though I enjoyed the match but I really do think that if Owens was going to win he should’ve won another way.
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Erick Rowan vs Luke Harper
Two hugely underrated wrestlers in the same match! I was very exciting to see this. The match lived up to what I thought it would be. It was great! I really enjoyed it. The Chicago crowd didn’t seem too interested in it though which is quite sad but still it was a great match. I honestly think that Harper has the potential to be an amazing main event superstar. I’m hoping that in the next few months he will be involved in the US Title picture. He doesn’t have to win it but it would be amazing just for him to have the chance. Then hopefully people will see his potential and he could receive a huge push!
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Orton vs Mahal
I actually did enjoy this match and thought it was better than Styles vs Owens which I was really surprised me. I honestly still can’t believe Jinder won! I mean no one would have thought a year ago or even a month ago that he would win the title right now. I don’t know if the ref was supposed to see Orton kicking out of if it is kayfabe but in case you didn’t know it, Orton did kick out of the pin! I think this will lead to a rematch at Money In The Bank, unless of course it happens on SDLive and then Jinder does feud with Mahal for a match at MITB like the rumours suggest.
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Overall Review
Overall I enjoyed this PPV. I was expecting it to be a little better but still I enjoyed it. Personally I thought it was worse than Payback but I know a lot of people disagree.

Raw Review

Raw had an interesting start this week with Bray Wyatt doing a promo and Roman Reigns interrupted and they then had a match. The match was quite entertaining and showcased some of what both of them can do. However Joe interrupted and attacked them, followed by Seth. It was then announced that later in the night it would be Reigns and Rollins vs Joe and Wyatt. I enjoyed this segment but I was confused why Balor wasn’t involved!

Elias Sampson won his Raw debut on Raw this week against Dean Ambrose after an interruption from The Miz.

Finn Balor had match up against former ‘brother’ Karl Anderson. This really excites me as it makes me feel like there is hope that Balor club could be formed soon! Balor did beat Anderson. After the match Paul Heyman made a shock appearance basically saying that he thinks Balor will win the Fatal Five Way at Extreme Rules and wished Finn good luck.

Rollins and Reigns vs Joe and Wyatt was actually an amazing main event! It made me bet hyped for this fatal 5 way match at extreme rules! Which is what this match was meant to do.

Overall I thought Raw was very entertaining this week!

SDLive review

SDLive hasn’t been that good in recent weeks however this weeks episode showed why SDLive is as good/better than Raw!

The show started off with Shane McMahon coming out and revealing the 6 participants of this years MITB match. They were AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura and Kevin Owens. I enjoyed this segment and I believe that they have chosen the right 6 to be part of this match! I think that Corbin will win the match as I know WWE are preparing to push him very soon and what better way to do it than let him win the MITB match. There are also reports that Rusev will be a late edition to the match and could even win it.

Yet again The Fashion Police segment was entertaining and funny! They then went on to both beat The Usos in singles competition before having a title rematch against them. The match was good but yet again they lost. The fashion police have been really entertaining the last few weeks so I hope their push continues. If The New Day are going to feud with The Usos now The Fashion Police could have a feud with The Ascension. What a feud that would be!

During the show it was also announced that next week there will be a fatal five way to see who will be the No.1 contender to face Charlotte at MITB. There have been rumours that there will be a MITB women’s ladder match at MITB this year so I wouldn’t be surprised if no one wins the match next week. It was also announced that Orton will have a rematch against Jinder Mahal at MITB

The main event was AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura vs Owens and Ziggler. It was a great match which was really entertaining from the start! Nakamura and Styles won after Nakamura hit the Kinshasa on Owens. Nakamura seems to be having a huge push on SDLive and I think it would be very hard to rule him out of winning MITB as well!

Weekly News

Last week I reported that Adam Cole is expected to soon debut for NXT or even the main roster! It didn’t happen at Takeover or Backlash but on the Elite’s YouTube show ‘Being the Elite’ this week, it was hinted that Adam Cole would soon be leaving as The Young Bucks said something along the lines of ‘Kevin wants you to make up with us before you go’. Could this mean Cole is about to sign to WWE?

It is also being reported this week that unless a huge drop in ratings (despite the fact WWE are experiencing their worse ratings in over 20 years!) Jinder Mahal will hold the WWE championship until the Royal Rumble. I doubt this is true and even if it is I think the plans could change very easily, because if you didn’t know already, Jinder Mahal found out 2 hours before the show that he was going to win!

Also some breaking news that WWE have randomly posted a video on their YouTube channel of Punk vs The Rock at Elimination Chamber 2013. As far as I know this is the first video WWE have posted of Punk since he had left the company! Now I extremely doubt he will be returning but there have been some huge rumours recently that he might be coming back to WWE on SDLive working under Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan. So many are suggesting this is a sign that this could mean a return could be coming? I’m not believing it though

On the note of CM Punk he still hasn’t replied to 5 Star Wrestling’s $1,000,000 deal for him to tour with them in June.

Chris Jericho had an interview on his band tour this week where he talked about his future with WWE. This is what he said “WWE, it’s the brand name. I’m just a cog,” he said. “An important part of it, people like it. But this is our band. People are here to see us. That to me is a little more of a rush. It’s not under the auspices of another name. It’ll be a long time before I go back,” he said. “If I ever do go back, if I never go back, it’s fine. If I never wrestle another match, it wouldn’t bother me.” This is a complete shock as he was expected to return next month! I really do hope the GOAT is lying about this and he will have a surprise return.

Maria and Mike Bennett have been reportedly going to WWE for months now but there are reports that they have actually already resigned with WWE and the original plan was for them to debut a couple of weeks back! So they could be coming anytime now.

Weekly Match ratings (7 and above)

Yes for the first time in week we have had a few matches make the database!

Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne NXT Takeover Chicago = 9
Ricochet vs Ospreay BOSJ 2017 = 8.5
Tyler Bate vs Mark Andrews UK Championship Special May 2017 = 8

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!