Category: Wrestling

WWE 2017 Summerslam Preview – The 9 Deuce Deuce

Here we are, the second biggest PPV of the year for WWE.  Back at Barclays, yet again, so expect a solid crowd, so the opposite of Canada.  There are 13 matches in total.  Why?  Who knows, it’s way too much.  Expect to be watching well past 11PM folks.  We did the best that we could in predictions.  After looking at the odds, I can see that my picks will be terrible.

Of course, we also did our podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

The 9

Kickoff Show

  1.  The Hardly Boys & Jason Jordan vs The Miztourage

Keri: Since this PPV is going to be, well awful. I’m going to have a little fun with my predictions. As some of you, or maybe all of you, know Southpaw Regional Wrestling returned this week to WWE.com and that was better than anything we are going to see on Summerslam. So, I’m going to change names to their Southpaw counterparts and all my predictions will be with Southpaw characters. And with that said, on with the predictions. This match seems very thrown together. Oh wait it was and that probably explains why it is on the pre-show. I don’t care about Pork Chop Jones and the Hardy’s or Adam Dung and his entourage. So…

Prediction: Tex2Badd comes out and beats up everyone.

Teddy: I’m not sure if I care about this match. Like why the fuck are the Hardy’s teaming up with Jason Jordan? Thought they were feuding with The Club? Why WWE? Well at least it’s preshow and I have the option to not see this dumpster fire.

Prediction: I will watch the defenders instead of this match

Kent:  Nope, don’t care.  I like some of these performers, actually all of them in their own way, but together, this is just stupid as hell when somebody like Elias, Sami, and Chad can’t get on the card.  The smarter move would have been to have a brand versus brand clusterfuck for kickoff shows.  Hear me out.  Get rid of the Cass match entirely, same with this one.Those matches don’t exist.  Move the 205 and SD Tag Team matches to the main card, they both deserve it.  The idea is to have 3 matches, and whichever brand wins the most gets to main event Summerslam.  Match 1 would be the battle of tag teams that aren’t being used so Hardlys, Gallows & Anderson, and Ginger Rhynos vs Breezedango, The Ascension, and Hype Bros.  In match 2 you could have the leftover women, so it would be Emma, Nia, Mickie, Dana, and Alicia vs Carmella, Lana, Tamina, Becky, and Charlotte.  The third match would be The Miz, Elias, Jason Jordan, Big Show, Apollo Crews, and Cass vs Sami Zayn, Tye Dillinger, Mike Kenellis, Chad Gable, Luke Harper, and Eric Rowan.  Tell me that kick off show wouldn’t be fun as hell to watch for a clusterfuck.

Prediction: The Hardlys and Jason Jordan since Miz can eat a pin here.

  1.  Cruiserweight Championship Match: Akira Tozawa vs Neville

Keri:  After Monday’s match, I don’t care. What I do want to see instead is Big Bartholemew vs. The Sea Creature at Lethal Leap Year.

Prediction: The Sea Creature wins.

Teddy: bout time they took the title off Neville, hopefully they don’t give the title back to Neville. Maybe Tozawa can save the increasingly boring crusierweight divison

Prediction: Titus Worldwide will get more hype than the Hype Bros.

Kent:  I just saw this match, and while it was good, I am not interested in seeing it again this soon  to be perfectly honest.  I was looking forward to this prior to Monday.

Prediction: Akira retains because he just won it and the Titus Brand deserves wins

  1.  Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match: New Day vs The Usos

Keri: I like this feud. It’s entertaining and this should be a good match. Probably will end up being match of the pre-show.

Prediction: Voo and Doo win.

Teddy: This is one of the only matches I’m invested in. New day is always good in my eyes, and Usos are getting more and more over. I still don’t see a new day heel flip or them getting the shield treatment, so only other options are to have them get squashed to push over the Usos, or bury the Usos because NEW DAY ROCKS!

Kent:  Gosh, the Uso’s are better as champs.  New Day don’t need the belts because it only changes a few words of their whole schtick.  The Uso’s don’t need the belts either, but they can feud with The Hype Bros and eventually Breezedango down the line.  New Day can feud with The Usos and The Ascension.  Yikes.  Both brands need more tag teams for guys who aren’t being used.  Still, this match should be really good so I am looking forward to it.

Prediction: The Usos after Kofi turns heel.  I will keep predicting that New Day breaks up until they actually do.

 

Main Card

  1.  Smackdown Women’s Championship Match: Naomi vs Natalya

Keri: Don’t care about this match. But maybe this will give us some insight as to who Debbie Desperado’s opponent will be going forward on Southpaw Regional Wrestling.

Prediction: Debbie Desperado wins. Carmella cashes in.

Teddy: I love naomi, but her gimmick is getting stale. I hate Natalya because her gimmick is Charlotte’s gimmick without Rick Flair or Charlotte’s athleticism. Also can she lose the who Sailor Moon hair? It looks terrible on her.

Prediction: Carmella pulls a corbin and flops her cash in. No chin cashes his in and becomes smackdown’s Women’s champion.

Kent:  These 2 could be wrestling in the nude and I’m still not sure that I would care.  The build has been more about Carmella than Natty.  That’s stupid.  That’s really piss poor on WWE’s end.  Not at all interested.

Prediction: Naomi retains with a Carmella tease that never fully happens.  Thanks WWE.

  1.  Big Show vs Big Cass with Enzo in a shark cage

Keri:  Please let this be the final chapter. Please. I want this to end so badly. I think this feud has officially jumped the shark, literally.

Prediction: I don’t care enough to assign a Southpaw Reference to this one. But I am routing for an actual shark in this case.

Teddy: Big show isnt too old for the need to retire him. Hopefully Show continues to show (pun intended) Cass’s glass jaw. Also wtf was the club helping Cass again???

Prediction: Big Show will win and forget Enzo in the shark cage

Kent:  Why wrestling gods?  What did we ever do to you to deserve this awfulness?  I don’t care.  Enzo will cost Show the match and I don’t care.  Please happen during Game of Thrones.

Prediction: Cass wins and the crowd will not care at all.

  1.  RAW Women’s Championship Match: Alexa Bliss vs Sasha Banks

Keri:  No Southpaw reference here cuz I actually care about the match. I would like to see these two feud for awhile. So I say

Prediction: Alexa retains. I will always pick Alexa.

Teddy: Bliss is adorable irl but her gimmick is that of a whiney child. Was looking forward to Bayley bodying Alexa finally, but I’m okay with Sasha doing it.

Prediction: Little Miss Bliss, falls off her throne and cries about it.

Kent:  This is one of the few matches that I think can actually be match of the night.  They may have a bit of real life bad blood, and their styles mix incredibly well.  Sasha thrives in Brooklyn and Bliss is legit. The question is how much time will they be afforded, and can they keep the botches to a minimum?  I say yes.

Prediction: Alexa wins thanks to Nia’s interference.

  1.  Rusev vs Randy Orton

Keri:  There has been a decent build up for this feud. Kinda sorta. Am I looking forward to the match? No.

Prediction: Big Bartholomew wins and gets his farm back.

Teddy: RKO outta nowhere. Rusev being back he needs some sort of win. I love Orton but I feel like he can hold his own and still put rusev over.

Prediction:  Rusev Crush.

Kent:  Both guys need a win big time.  The thing is that I think some matches need to be shortened, so I think this should be one where Randy catches Rusev.  Afterward, he can say that he got caught off guard and get a few wins to put him over Randy.  Definitely excited for this one.

Prediction: Randy via RKO outta nowhere around the 6-7 minute mark.

  1.  Finn Balor vs Bray Wyatt

Keri:  I’m going to break with tradition here because quite frankly WWE has broken me.  Am I excited to see this match? Nope saw it Monday. Am I excited to see the Demon? Kinda sorta much more into monsters these days.

Prediction: Wyatt wins and doesn’t job for a change. Oh look I’m all out of Southpaw references.

Teddy: The Demon build up was super predictable. Hopefully they don’t bury Finn because Finn is the future.

Prediction: Sister Abagail gets Coup De Graced back to the pit Randy Orton burned her in.

Kent:  I swear that I just saw this match and Bray won cleanly.  Oh?  That did, in fact happen.  Ohhhh, now we’re going to bring in the demon because Bray dumped some acidic red goo on Finn.  Well that changes everything, right WWE?  I just am not interested in what should have been one of the easiest feuds to build up.  This was sooooo easy to build up.  Morons!  Not very interested, although if Finn does an original Demon outfit, he will have my attention momentarily.

Prediction: Finn wins because getting acid dumped on you means that you get the win back.

  1.  John Cena vs Baron Corbin

Keri:  Corbin will beat up Lance Catamaran.

Prediction: Lance Catamaran will still win.

Teddy: Corbin is pissed, but Cena is back in his “I’m gonna be a dick phase”

Prediction: Can Corbin bury Cena finally?

Kent:  Nope.  PASS

Prediction: Kent drinks heavily

Bonus Deuce Deuce

  1. RAW Tag Team Championship Match: Sheasaro vs Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins

Keri:  The match has potential and will be fun to watch. But honestly, I want to see Ambrose and Seth get into it beforehand. Ambrose leaves and Rhyno comes out and we get Sheasaro vs. the Butchers.

Prediction: the Butchers win.

Teddy: I’m hoping that Dean/Seth is back for good. However Sheasaro is still my bae. I think it’s too soon for Dean/Seth to win the titles, but I think it’s a future for them.

Prediction: Baesaro gets another win, Dean/Seth charge their spirit bomb a little longer

Kent:  This match could be match of the night, but I don’t think it will.  I have it as the 4th best on the card, but it is my darkhorse.  Everybody in this match can work their ass off.  I like every guy in this match.  Unfortunately, I think the storyline will ruin what should be a great match by determining which spots they must hit.  Dean or Seth are going to need the hot tag and then get screwed over and whatnot.  

Prediction: Sheasaro defy the odds due to Dean not being able to hot tag Seth.  After the match, Dean turns on Seth.  Yup, both tag team titles will have heel turns according to me. Don’t listen to me.

  1.  United States Championship Match: AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens

Keri:  I’m looking forward to this match. It’s one of the few on the card that I am. These guys have the potential to put on a match of the night type match.

Prediction: Malibu Al retains and sells KO a car.

Teddy: KO vs Aj is always good to watch, shane being the ref is just icing on the cake. I feel like I cant solidly predict this match because one of two things. 1. Shane will help AJ leading to Shane v Owens or 2. Shane helps Owens turning him Heel since Steph isn’t around to do that job.

Prediction: mind will be blown either way

Kent:  Here is the most obvious choice for match of the night if given the time.  I think that it’s a trap.  It will be very good, but Shane’s involvement will taint it just enough to where it only hits the 7.5 range instead of 8.5.  Trust me, this will happen and you will feel like you got cheated out of a great match.  I am absolutely looking forward to this match.

Prediction: AJ retains and KO vs Shane becomes a feud.

 

  1.  Blue Belt Championship Match: Jinder Mahal vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Keri:  I’m looking forward to this match. It should be decent to watch.

Prediction: Nakamura wins

Teddy: Nakamura is Hella over and Jinder is getting stale.

Prediction: Nakamura adds some bumps to the Singh brothers. Hopefully Jinder retains and they take their time with Shinsuke.

Kent:  I am interested in Shinsuke’s entrance and Jinder’s.  I anticipate fuckery by the Sing Bros.  I expect Jinder to walk out of the match incredibly sore.  The hard part about this is predicting a winner.  Let’s face it, prior to the event that I will not speak of, we all thought that there was a decent chance at Baron cashing in his briefcase.  With that gone, I say Jinder wins and has a longer run than his gimmick and workrate deserve, if we are comparing him to his 6 closest peers in the upper card.  Should Jinder hold the belt over Cena, Randy, AJ, KO, Baron, Shinsuke, Luke, or Sami?  No.

Prediction: Jinder remains unhindered and walks away as world champ, but via count out.

 

  1.  Red Belt Championship Match: Brock Lesnar vs Samoa Joe vs Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns

Keri:  The only match on the card I care about and the one that will leave me the most disappointed in the end. This match will probably nothing more than a glorified brawl but I will probably be awesome.

Prediction: I would love to see Braun win but Brock will probably retain. Sigh.

Teddy: This match is too hype and will probably dissappoint everyone with a reigns win.

Prediction: Reigns wins but Braun isnt done with him.

Kent:  I really think that this is going to be match of the night.  It has to be the odds on favorite because you can rotate guys in and out of the ring, hit huge spots, really have fun with it.  The crowd will be bonkers for this.  There is a caveat though.  If they stretch out the PPV too long, the crowd may be dead by this point, like at Wrestlemania.  With a lesser crowd, the guys may not be able to feed off the energy and emotions.  It’s entirely possible.  All 4 of these guys know how to be great.  I think that they will be given the time to be great.  The question is, will you, as a fan, be worn out by the time you see this and hurt how you feel about it?

Prediction: Brock seems like a lock to retain.  With that being said, I’m going with Samoa Joe.  Please do the right thing and give Joe the opportunity while he is young enough to have the great matches that he is capable of.  

 

Final Thoughts

Keri:  This PPV is going to be a roller coaster for all of us involved. Wait wasn’t that the thing for Mania?  It’s going to have its high points and low points and it’s ultimately going to make some of us feel nauseous in the end. I predict I will not make it past the first two hours of this PPV so in the end at least I will get a good night’s sleep out of it.  Thanks WWE, I guess?

Teddy: this PPV has the potential to be Good or completely suck ass. Hoping for the first one always but WWE likes to remind me that they dont give a fuck about what fans really want.

Kent:  This is going to be a 6+ hours show.  I’m very bitter and the penultimte episode of Game of Thrones airs the same night for season 7.  Admit it, GoT for that one hour is going to be better than all 6 hours of Summerslam.  And that is where we are at as fans sadly.  Hey WWE, try to make it up to us as fans.  We are sick of the same old boring BS>  Give us something memorable.  At least NXT delivered.

All pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.

NXT TakeOver Brooklyn III Preview – The 9 Minus Deuce

Hey, I got Cece and Teddy back to help out with the NXT TakeOver Brooklyn III preview.  These 2 actually see this stuff live, so I feel like we are in good hands here.

Of course, there is also my podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

Brooklyn 9 Minus Deuce

 

  1.  Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Cien Almas

Cece: I think this will be an interesting fight. The crowd obviously loves Johnny Wrestling, but honestly, I think Zelina will get involved. I believe this will trigger something in Almas to go full on rage and show his heel side even more.

Prediction: Almas wins to draw heat from the crowd.

Teddy:  this fight doesnt really interest me because it was poorly introduced, but I do believe Andrade is gonna take this building into a bigger fued

Prediction: Almas wins building towards a fued

Kent:  Andrade just likes to lose apparently, so he’s due for a call up.  Johnny needs momentum for when Ciampa gets the call up.

Prediction: Johnny Wrestling

 

  1.  Aleister Black vs. Hideo Itami

Cece: This feud is interesting. Poor Aleister having to pick up the pieces from the Kassius/Itami feud. But, as far as I’ve seen, Aleister has not lost many times. I do believe Itami needs to be knocked off his power trip.

Prediction: Aleister Black defeats Hideo Itami.

Teddy:  Aleister black hasnt really had too competition in NXT, and Itami is looking like an Asian Dolph Ziggler (when he turned heel on kalisto). Its a weird booking but it was nice to see Aleister knock out Itami.

Prediction: Aleister wins and Itami attacks him after the match ends

Kent:  Aleister seems to be a star in the making, but Hideo needs momentum just as much.  If Hideo can lose and get some after match retribution, I can get behind that logic and continue their feud.

Prediction: Aleister Black

 

  1. Authors of Pain vs Sanity

Cece: I have been waiting and waiting to see Sanity come up, but I think they’ll let it brew a little longer and put them over a lot as the best heel tag team in NXT. I mean, yes, they are already in my eyes. But I think they want them to come out and be very over first. So, I see this being a very brutal/heated match.

Prediction: My Sanity comes out on top. (No pun intended)

Teddy:  AoP are too big for NXT now, and Sanity is the carrying NXT.

Prediction: Sanity wins, and AoP gets called up to smackdown.

Kent:  Authors of Pain are the new Asuka for NXT, and with Asuka potentially losing, these guys are going to keep their hands on the belt for awhile longer.

Prediction: I’m down with AOP, yeah you know me.

 

  1.  Asuka vs Ember Moon

Cece: This is the one match I’ve been waiting for. I have a lot of anticipation about this one. Of course, Asuka deserves her long reign as NXT Women’s Champion as she is a great wrestler and worked her ass off to get where she is. So, I do see this being a bittersweet match. I truly believe Ember Moon will take the title from Asuka, bc I see Asuka moving up. I think it will be a very physical match-up, with both women do their best. I feel like they will have a sentimental moment if this is indeed Asuka’s time.

Prediction: Ember Moon taking title.

Teddy:  I feel like Ember moon deserves the push because she is an amazing wrestler, but Asuka is still too over to take the title from her. Asuka is gonna retail till after she breaks the record for longest title reign and then will drop it to Ember and move up.

Prediction: Ember isn’t ready for Asuka 2.0

Kent:  I think Asuka is showing up on Smackdown Tuesday.  Brooklyn is the place to pull the trigger on it, so let’s do it!  Ember is the best after Asuka, but not by much as Nikki, Peyton, and Billie are all very talented, but Asuka needs to leave for them to all blossom.

 

  1.  Bobby Roode vs. Drew McIntyre

Cece: Oh lord… After the last few tapings of NXT, I have to saw I became a Drew McIntyre fan overnight. I was never really into him until he made his speech about ‘Our NXT’ and that was awesome. Plus, I can’t stand the pompous asshole that is Bobby Roode. I am not sure how this fight will go down honestly. I think maybe Drew looks like he may win, but the Bobby does something cheap to DQ or in a perfect world, Drew loses civilly and moves up, leaving Roode to his next challenger, Rodrick Strong.

Prediction: Roode loses but retains by DQ.

Teddy:  this was kinda interesting to see, Drew doesnt want to be moved up and is trying to get people to see NXT is not developmental (it is though). Meanwhile, it’s clear Rodrick isn’t done with Roode and I believe Roddy is the one who is gonna dethrone Roode.

Prediction: Roode wins because Rodrick gets involved

Kent:  I think it’s also time for Drew to be given the ball to run with it.  Bobby needs to get called up.  He is being wasted in NXT.  The guy is better than 80-90% of the main roster.  Drew is also very good.

Prediction: Drew wins after Roddy screws over Bobby

 

  1. Most Likely Title to change?

Cece: Asuka. Hands down.

Teddy:  Tag titles.

Kent:  Women’s, but I think the men’s is also changing.  Yeah, I’m calling for 2 changes.

 

7, Match you are most looking forward to?

Cece: Asuka vs Ember.

Teddy:  Ember and Asuka

Kent:  Aleister vs Hideo truly intrigues me, but I can see the women stealing the show tonight.

All pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.

 

Speaking of picture, here’s some that Cece and Teddy took while at a recent NXT taping.  Please enjoy.

The Wrestling 9 Deuce – August 14 & 15, 2017 – The Burial of Baron Edition

Kent is pissed off over the events of Tuesday while Keri and RUss are left to pick up the pieces.  Keri is over Finn finally.  Russ, yes Russ, is the most positive person this week, which is the lead up to Summerslam.

Of course, we also did our podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

The 9

  1.  F*** this, I am not wait to #6 to get this one started.  What the fuck were they thinking?  Seriously, just what in the fuck happened to Baron Corbin?

Russ:  This week started out so strong.  RAW was enjoyable, Smackdown was average.  Yeah I know the bar is low for WWE and strong weeks (enjoyable and average should be the bare minimum.  Then WWE did something I was completely shocked by.  Corbin cashed in.  I thought for sure this was going to be one of those he’s going to cash in but Cena is going to interfere before the bell rang.  Hell they even took forever to ring the bell.  However, this was not a drill the bell rang!  I knew right there that he was going to lose and he did!  I don’t know the plan, but based on how WWE operates I feel safe in saying that this was terrible.  What a complete waste of a money in the bank.  Cena was still out there! You have a match with him in 5 days of course he is going to do something to mess with you.  WHY IN THE HELL WOULD YOU CASH IN THEN?  It makes Corbin look stupid.  I feel this was done only to make his match with Cena have more drama.  The only way to remedy this is to have Corbin win on Sunday (He wins he should be #1 contender or at least in the fight for it.).  If he doesn’t then congratulations WWE you will have ruined the career of a future Super Star.  

Keri:  Well I picked the wrong week to come back to this blog. I was shocked and then thoroughly disappointed with how this cash in was done. I’m not going to go on a angry tirade like Kent. He said what needs to be said on that front. With that said, this was bad planning on Creatives part. What did they hope to accomplish by having him cash in now, on free TV, and then lose due to the Cena factor. This leads me to one question. Can Cena retire already? He is a part timer who steals opportunities from full timers who bust their asses week in and week out. Yes, John Cena despite what you say in your promos and in interviews, you are a part timer, regardless of how much you love this company and the business. When was the last time you were on the roster for a full calendar year (minus time for any sort of injury), did live events, and actually earned your opportunities? You are the equivalent of Brock Lesnar and Goldberg. Go marry Nikki and be gone, will you?  While I’m at it Nikki and her sister should stay gone as well. The women’s division on both brands are fine without both of them coming in and stealing opportunities from women who deserve them.

Kent:  F*** you WWE!  Whoever made this decision, may you get what is coming to you, whatever that may be.  You can all just eat a bouquet of D’ you f***ing pricks.  I will be watching Game of Thrones Sunday, maybe watch some porn.  Hell, I’d rather watch soccer or women’s bowling than to watch Summerslam live.  You scumbags disgust me.  That is the nicer edited version of what’s really going on in my mind.

  1.  How did Neville vs Akira Tozawa end up taking the back seat to Big Show vs Cass?

Russ:  The match was great!  I for one applaud WWE for giving them time.  I also thought it was smart that WWE did this on RAW instead of at the PPV.  Yea, I know what everyone is saying, but SummerSlam is the bigger stage.  You are right it certainly is.  Too bad we all know this match is going to be relegated to the Kickoff Show, where very few people would have seen it.  At least on RAW lots of eyes saw it and boy it delivered.  This was a bigger moment than what they would have gotten at SummerSlam.  As to how this took a backseat to Show and Cass? Well we know how much Vince loves Big Men.

Keri:  I have a really easy answer for this one. WWE doesn’t care about its cruiserweight division. They have made this blatantly obvious since the CWC ended.

Kent:  Is Neville 7 feet tall? What?  Is Tozawa 7 feet tall? What? Can Titus fit inside a shark cage? What?  I just want to drag my sack across the face of the decision makers right now.  Tozawa and Neville both deserved a bigger platform to display that match.

  1.  Is Emma getting buried or is this part of a bigger, more productive storyline for her?

Russ:  We will know this answer in about 3 months.  You know the next time we see Emma and another revamping of her character.  

Keri:  Who knows. I liked to think that this give Emma a chance thing has a chance. But at the end of the day her name is not Bayley or Sasha so no title shot for her.

Kent:  Buried, anally.  Nope, it doesn’t have to make sense because we’re talking about wrestling, which is make believe , so anything goes.

  1.  Is Jason Jordan destined to be a heel after this current storyline?

Russ:  You know what would have made this storyline better.  If they used Chad Gable instead.  Jordan is a decent wrestler, but fails at every other level.  They made a mistake trying to be funny and now they are stuck with a dumb story and a wrestler who can’t pull it off.  I wouldn’t be surprised in like 4 months this story is completely dropped and never mentioned again.   Kind of like when Vince blew up in a Limo.  The only time it is mentioned is in mocking, just like this will be.   

Keri:  I didn’t care about this storyline when the whole big reveal happened and I don’t care about it now. It’s a stupid storyline that broke up what was one of the best tag teams to come out of NXT within the past year. Therefore, I’m not wasting anymore time on this one.

Kent:  You know what?  I don’t care.  I could wipe a monkey’s a** with whatever they decide to do with Jason Jordan.  He was in a great tag team with Chad Gable, and they snatched them in the middle of the night and anally raped them, violently, until they agreed with the current direction of their characters.  Just like Spielberg did to Indiana Jones.

  1.  Why didn’t anybody come out to help Big Show but the locker room poured out for the final segment?  Also, did the final segment make Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns look incredibly unimportant?

Russ:  Little known fact WWE isn’t consistent.  I did find it funny that The Big Show was unfairly getting ganged up on and was about to suffer possibly career ending damage at the hands of Cass and G & A and nobody bothered to come out, but Braun and Brock looked at each other funny and the entire locker room came out to make sure no one got hurt.  Good logic WWE.  As for Samoa Joe and Reigns looking incredibly unimportant I have a hypothesis on this.  These 4 guys are so on fire right now that WWE actually went out of its way to try and play this match down.  Let’s face it because of Joe, Braun, and Roman this match was already up their for expectations.  WWE knows it could never live up to the hype so they decided to make each guy look unimportant.  Don’t believe me let’s take a look over the past several weeks:  1.  Triple threat match that was fantastic minus Brock.  Making Brock look like he was unimportant.  Then The last man standing match.  Again, fantastic and Joe came out and purposefully took out Roman ignoring Braun.  Making Braun look like he was unimportant.  This week with no time remaining.  A locker clearing brawl between Braun and Brock while Joe and Roman disappeared into the night making them insignificant.  Everyone had their shot at being downplayed, now WWE won’t have to worry about this match being underwhelming.  

Keri:  I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Because reasons and yes. I would like to think that Braun looks very strong heading into this weekend but we know the Universal title is the groundhog of the championship belts. This means that Brock will retain and we will get 6 more months of no Universal title on WWE TV. Seriously Brock, join Cena and be gone already.

Kent:  Dumb dee dumb dee dumb.  I thought the Hardy Boys were feuding with Gallows and Anderson.No?  My bad, sorry for paying attention.  Big Show has no friends, and you can’t teach that.  Just wait until Enzo turns heel Sunday.  As for the end, it feels like Joe is having a deja vu to Wrestlemania weekend.  I could have sworn they took Joe seriously like a month ago.  I must be wrong.  I thought Roman was the franchise, but I didn’t even see anybody holding him back, but you know, he can take a 20 minute beating last week and then fully run and spear Braun.  Sorry for having a memory WWE.  You SUCK!!!!

  1.  Seth and Dean touched fists, tips, and butts. The Miz is in wrestling purgatory of sorts, but better off than Elias.  Sheasaro get no respect. Heath and Rhyno can’t get screen time.  On the plus side, 6 days prior to Summerslam they gave us Bray vs Finn, in which Bray won cleanly.  What the hell?

Russ:  Well I’m going to tackle the Bray and Finn match.  I hated this.  It was simply a way for WWE to give Bray a win and they can Blow their load on this feud at SummerSlam.  Instead of drawing having the demon come out over several months culminating in a demon feud at Hell in the Cell.  WWE has decided that should have a throw away match on a RAW showing Bray > Finn.  Then Bray goes too far and pours “acidic” red goo all over Finn.  Now Finn is going to bring out the Demon at Slam.  Yay, way to make it special WWE.  Yeah the match was used to set up that Demon Finn > Bray.  I’m sure the match will be adequate, but knowing the Demon is coming out means Bray is losing and I don’t care anymore.  

Keri:  Again, it’s nice to see that nothing has changed while I was gone and old storylines are still so exciting. So, let me see if I got this straight, Seth and Dean are a bickering old married couple just like Sheasaro were when they got paired up a year ago. Nice recycled storyline there. Miz has the IC title but no match at Summerslam despite the fact that his belt is the only one that is showcased week after week on RAW. Again, nice work Creative. As for Bray and Finn, I guess I’m excited that Bray woke the Demon. But seriously didn’t we see this coming when this whole thing started back around Mania. Also, I hate to say it Finn but Braun is starting to become my favorite guy. Sorry, but you bore me and I had to move on. Nothing personal I swear. (Kent: Gooood goooooood.  Let the hate flow.  Good job WWE, you have broken Keri.)

Kent:  Well apparently WWE thought that the Billy and Chuck gimmick worked so good that they are having Dean and Seth reenact it.  They need matching tights.  Maybe the can come out Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance as Dean piggybacks Seth down to the ring.  It would be historic and so open minded and progressive.  They could say that they started the homoerotic tag team revolution, and then Breezedango could dispute with them, only to have The Ascension truly lay claim with moon pie references.  And just when you thought, “My God, I am so happy to watch this new homoerotic division” suddenly Billy and Chuck would show up and say that they started the revolution.  Then you have Demolition come out in their BDSM gear and say that they were the real pioneers.  Homoerotic Wrestlemania tag team battle royale, I cannot wait.  I’ll be cheering on the Prime Time Players, only replacing Darren Young with Apollo Crews because I don’t wish to insult Darren Young.  That dude’s pretty fucking cool…unlike WWE.

  1.  Naomi is boring and having a lousy championship run.  Describe a way to get her back over to the point that you care about her again.

Russ:  Get her in a feud with someone like Becky or hell a heel Charlotte.  She has not had a single feud her entire run.  Unless you count Lana, which shame on you if you do.  She needs a story where she is the hero and someone keeps doing wrong.  If she just moves from one competitor to the next it’s boring.  Also, her feuds have been with the dregs of the division.  Give her someone she has to step up for.  I’m all for Becky vs Naomi and it is easy to keep them both fan favorites.  Naomi is the champ.  Becky wants the belt.  That’s it.  Wow, you mean stories don’t have to be super elaborate and make little sense to be good?  Oh WWE, you are silly sometimes.  

Keri:  Find her some charisma. Seriously, she has zero charisma. I could care less about her or the fact that she has the title. Her and Natty have to be the most uncharismatic women in the division and they have the title match at Summerslam. All I can say is come on Carmella cash in. I seriously cannot wait for her (and Ellsworth) to win the title and bring something back to that title that hasn’t been seen since Alexa held the title.

Kent:  Nudity?  Maybe build up Tamina with the help of Lana so Naomi has this huge uphill climb to show the heart of a champi……no, fucdgeit.  Nudity, basically her ass, on live TV.

  1.  Has Rusev vs Randy been the best booked feud leading into Summerslam?  If not, tell me which one was.

Russ:  I’m going to say, and I know Kent will hate me for this,  Cena vs Corbin.  I had no interest in this match other than to watch Corbin lose in what was hopefully a competitive fun match.  Instead, they completely fuck Corbin out of his Money in the Bank in a very deliberate bullshit way.  Making his fans very angry at the wasted opportunity.  Now I want to see if they complete the burial of Corbin or he comes out on top.  Either way they did their job.  It is the only match that I went from zero to holy fuck gotta watch it on the entire card.  (Kent: Well Russ, you have betrayed me and all of the fans reading this.  Getting out the Shame lady again.)

Keri:  Its really a tie between this one and KO and AJ. Both have a legitimate storyline which is rare in today’s WWE. Which leads me to my second question. Why is it that the US title is being booked better than the WWE title? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? I’m so confused and may need an adult.

Kent:  Yup.  Rusev cut one whole promo asking for competition after an amazing match with Chad.  Randy accepted.  Rusev attacked him the following week with a simple kick to end the show.  This week Rusev kills Chad, and RKO out of nowhere.  Yeah, this is simple wrestling storylines at it’s finest.  This is the best that we have, especially since another SD feud got a little sidetracked at the end of SD.  Assholes!!!!!

  1.  Is it smart for WWE to end Fashion Peaks to get Breezedango back into matches, or is this a surprising, shocking, unusual mistake by that great F’N brain center known as Smackdown creative?

Russ:  They ended Fashion Peaks, they never said it was the end of Breezedango and the Fashion Police.  They were deliberate in saying Fashion Peaks.  Maybe next week we will get “That Fashion Show”  Where Dango lives with his parents and is a bit of a geek and his best friend Tyler lives in his basement, because his parents abandoned him.  They both love to smoke pot and we see them in a pot circle with their other friends The Ascension and Aiden English and hilarity will ensue.  I still don’t think WWE is going to have them wrestle yet and the Fashion Files will continue on.  

Keri:  Another short and sweet answer for this one. This is stupid plain and simple. Fashion Files, X files, Vice, etc has been gold week over week. It was the only thing I checked in on during my two week hiatus. That and to see what the Ascension was eating this week. The only good thing about the ending of Fashion Peaks is that maybe Konnor’s waistline will now start to shrink.

Kent:  WWE and smart don’t really belong in the same sentence.  So no, this is a terrible idea.  Neither are great in the ring.  They could do this weekly and get over more than anything they will do in the ring.  No offense to Breezedango, but this is their pinnacle.  Man, the WWE is really making me foolish for saying that giving them the tag belts 2+ months ago would be the only way to keep them credible as wrestlers.  What was I thinking?  Good thing that New Day is around and not getting broken up.

Bonus Deuce

  1. Rate RAW

Russ:  I really enjoyed this week.  I thought the way they compartmentalized each match into it’s own segment was smart.  Even though it was predictable I enjoyed the Dean and Seth fist bump show.  The cruiserweight match was great.  I liked what they did with the Fatal Four way.  Of course their was dumb shit, but that is par for the course with WWE.  

Rating: 6.8  

Keri:  Overall, decent show, I guess. I missed the first 30 minutes because I had to watch GOT and that was far better than the first 30 minutes of this show. Braun looked strong and thats all I care about right now (Sorry again Finn). He isn’t winning Sunday, is he? Sigh. Rating: 4

Kent:  F*** RAW

  1.  Rate Smackdown

Russ:  I’ll be honest, I barely remember what happened.  With the exception of the whole ending debacle.  I liked the Fashion Peaks Finale and the KO, AJ, Shane saga has been entertaining.  The rest of it was blah.  Rating: 4

Keri:  The word to describe this week’s show was pointless. Pointless cash in, pointless segments, and the pointless end to the Fashion Peaks. I was needless to say underwhelmed. Rating: 3 (Yes, RAW beat Smackdown this week)

Kent:  F*** Smackdown

 

Final Thoughts

Russ:  SummerSlam is shaping up to be a decent PPV.  On Paper that is.  We all know there won’t be enough time for each match to deliver.  This will end up where each match, except for maybe one or two, suffers.  Because of this and fatigue from watching 6 hours The PPV will be largely boring in several spots.  Still I am excited to see most of these matches and I definitely will.  Right after I watch “Game of Thrones.”   

Keri:  As I said at the start of the blog, boy did I pick the wrong week to come back to the blog.  RAW this week was decent but did little to nothing to get me excited about this weekend. Smackdown well I wish I watched something else instead honestly. As for Summerslam, I will probably watch part and then go to bed at a decent hour as usual then read the recaps the next morning.

Kent:  F*** Summerslam

All pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.

The Wrestling 9 Deuce – August 7 & 8, 2017 – The Unfortunately We’re Back In Canada Edition

In this week’s Wrestling 9 Deuce, Russ and I tackle the week that was in Canada buddy.  RAW was surprisingly solid thanks to 4 really decent matches.  Smackdown was better on the talky side of things, not so much in ring.  We also found out that Bayley is out for Summerslam, as is Scott Dawson of the Revival.  Charlotte had her ass exposed in her match, and much, much more.  Also, those fans at RAW were absolutely awful.

Of course, we also did our podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

The 9

  1.  Sheamus fought Seth and Cesaro fought Dean.  Which match did you prefer?

Russ:  Both matches were good, but Cesaro and Dean got a lot more time and that actually helped them.  Seth vs. Sheamus felt more like evening the score out between the two instead of a full fledged match.  It was fine for what it was, but they definitely had a better match last week.  Cesaro and Dean on the other hand was given time and told a decent story.  It was interesting that the crowd didn’t really get into this until after the first commercial break.  Then the crowd was going crazy with chants and cheers.  Dean and Cesaro have good chemistry together, I’d like to see more of them.  

Kent:  Just last week I sang the praises of Sheamus, and he had a good TV match.  Then Dean and Cesaro tore the house down in one of the best TV matches all year.  What a great display for both guys.  If Dean would get the time and not be so goofy, he could give us more of this.  Cesaro, well still climbing the ranks of all time greats to never wear the main championship.  Yes, he’s really high up in that discussion.

  1.  Are you a fan of how the set up for the Bray vs Finn match has gone so far?

Russ:  It kind of feels like they have done this before.  Where an opponent thinks he is more Bray than Bray is.  However, I won’t say I hate it because Finn doesn’t seem to be giving into the Demon stuff.  Which is good because we don’t want the Demon to come out during the first match that wouldn’t be any fun.  

Kent:  I do like it.  The less that these guys do physically to each other, the better.  Finn showcasing his speed is going to be the story of the match I hope.  This match could be a show stealer at Summerslam.  It won’t be, but it COULD be.

  1.  In honor or our missing colleague, Keri, let’s talk about the women.  Let’s talk about the fans being dicks to Bayley and the two matches.  Thoughts?

Russ:  Well, I’d say the fans were being dicks to Bayley, but really Bayley has been poorly booked and characterised by the WWE lately and the fans are starting to sour on her.  Yeah, Canadian fans think they are above it all, but they sometimes make a good point.  This time they made a good point.  If they are going to fuck up the Bayley character this badly then we should be booing her.  We complain about her all the time on the podcast.  I just think the Canadians are listening to us.  As for the matches.  They were ok.  The two most obvious choices won so it wasn’t a shocker.  I thought Emma looked good out there, too bad she never had a chance.  Nia looked good in her match, but man her competition was hot garbage.  I am pretty sure next week Sasha is going to win.  So we may just end up with a decent match after all at SummerSlam.  

Kent:  Canadien fans like to think that they are special.  They are not.  There is no reason to boo Bayley, so screw you buddy.  “I’m not your buddy, Guy.”  Yeah, well I’m not your guy, Friend.  “I’m not your friend, Buddy.”  Huh, talking to Canadiens is confusing.  Seriously, did they have to put the 3 best talents available in the one match and then….well Nia was in a match.  Emma looked like a million bucks, as was expected by yours truly.  Alicia was great in her role.  So naturally Sasha won.  Fuck that.  I want to give Nia props for doing a really good job with her shoulder to the ring post spot.  She’s been working on it for a long time and it is showing.  Also, when Nia goes face, she’s going to be a star.  I am noticing that she is starting to get a sense for the moment, when to pose and show off a bit.  Dana on the other hand….not so much.  I wish Emma would have taken Dana’s spot.  Mickie is criminally underutilized on RAW.

Here is Alexa on Sportscenter.

http://www.wwe.com/videos/alexa-bliss-discusses-her-raw-women-s-title-defense-at-summerslam-on-espn-s-sportscenter

I believe this week also had Alexa’s birthday, so I found this gallery of 30 of Alexa’s best pics per WWE.

http://www.wwe.com/gallery/30-stunning-photos-of-alexa-bliss#fid-40123415

Finally, to stay on the women, here is Sasha as a zombie. I’d still hit it.

http://www.wwe.com/inside/mattel/gallery/sasha-banks-wwe-zombie-photos#fid-40122788

  1.  Who should Titus choose as his next client in Titus Worldwide?

Russ:  I’d like to see Heath join the ranks of Titus.  He’s got kids!  So does Titus, so he knows how important family is.  Titus and Heath could do some great things together on the mic and Heath is that star that just needs a spark to move really improve his status.  I think joining Titus Worldwide could be that spark and Titus Worldwide needs the star power of Slater.  

Kent:  I say run with this as long as they can and then when Bayley returns, have her lose a bit, and then have Titus boost her up.  She’s not great on the mic, but Titus is.  He also wears purple, so Bayley would fit in.  I think this would help everybody involved.  Then if they ever need to do the Bayley boyfriend storyline, Apollo would be available while Titus could be ridiculous.  I haven’t read Russ’ answer, but my answer is better than his.

  1.  WWE gave away Roman vs Braun in a Last Man Standing match for free.  Was this a good decision.  Also, if you have any thoughts on the match, regale us with now.

Russ:  I’m not sure why WWE is all of the sudden giving PPV level matches for free on TV, but I’m not complaining.  This was a really good showcase between the two men and the ending almost made sense.  I mean Kent is right why did Joe not take out Braun as well?  The lead up to this fatal-four at SummerSlam has given me high expectations for that match.  Which I know can’t possibly live up to what I want now, but man they are doing a great job with this!  

Kent:  I feel all Last man Standing matches should strictly be PPV matches that end feuds.  No exceptions.  This was  apretty good match.  I hate how much Braun had to sell the spear and how little Roman sold at the end.  The big issue I have with this was that after Joe took out Roman, why didn’t he take out Braun as well?  It makes Braun seem like a lesser threat than Roman, and it was kinda insulting.  I hate ending this on a sour note, so good effort by Roman and Braun!

I also have lots of good Braun related stuff this week.  First of all Braun met up with the man who plays The Mountain in Game of Thrones.

https://www.thescore.com/news/1349597-braun-strowman-hangs-with-the-mountain

Braun recently did an interview where he put over Roman.

https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/braun-strowman-puts-over-roman-reigns-in-major-way-during-wide-ranging-interview/

Then of course, there is Braun doing a table reading for Juno, which Eric originally reported to me.  What a week!

Braun Strowman Does Table Read For ‘Juno’, Charlotte Comments On Media Tour In China, Outsiders vs Steiners (Video)

Finally, if you want actual video of the chair toss, which you know you do, here you go.

Braun Strowman tosses a desk chair at the head of Roman Reigns and thus creates the perfect GIF

  1.  Which feud has you more excited at the moment: Rusev vs Randy or Baron vs Cena?

Russ:   Well, this one is easy for me:  Baron vs. Cena.  The main reason is that Randy has never been a wrestler that I enjoy.  Yes, he does have good matches and sometimes I like what he does.  However, for the most part I just think he is boring.  Since winning the title at Mania he has been almost unbearable.  Not to mention Randy has been on a major losing streak and needs a win.  Rusev is a master at getting buried. We all know how this will end.    

Kent:  Well, we all know that I have been hoping for months now, that Cena would face Baron.  Of course I am excited.  With that being said, Cena isn’t putting Baron over yet.  He NEEDS that win so that when Baron cashed in MitB, then Cena can say that he beat him.  Cena NEEDS all wins all the time.  My pick is Rusev vs Randy.  Randy got his first win in what seems like months this week.  Rusev is in desperate need of a big win, and Randy as seemingly embraced taking on guys who need a rub this year.  With Bray, he seemed to embrace it.  With Jinder, he tried, but the writing ruined it.  With Rusev, I think they can have at least a 6.5 if not 7.0 match.

  1.  What will help the women’s division more: Charlotte’s opponents pulling her pants down or the return of James Ellsworth?

Russ:  This is a tough one!  James Ellsworth coming back is a big thing, especially for Carmella, but Charlotte’s face when she realized her shorts were down…Priceless.  The “Thank you, Lana” chants were fantastic.  I think it completely eclipsed poor James making his triumphant return.  I think that should be Lana’s new gimmick.  Everytime she gets in trouble in a fight she pants her opponents.  I’d watch every match!  

Kent:  We all know what I’m going to say.  James MF’N Ellsworth is the obvious choice.  Go do a search for Charlotte nude and go play a rousing game of 5 against 1 if you need to.  Ellsworth is the Women’s savior because he’s the best on the mic and gets over Carmella’s opponents.  Of course he’s the answer.  Russ, you’re a pervert.

  1.  We know that Shane is going to get involved in the Summerslam match.  In the end, who will he help win?

Russ:  Well, it seems the obvious choice would be to help AJ win.  This will get KO out of the championship picture and into an interesting feud with Shane.  The feud could easily make it to Survivor Series and hell they might even push it to The Royal Rumble.  Although, I kind of hope that they might pull a fast one on us and he instead helps KO win and then Shane and KO form a faction that will rule Smackdown, while Daniel Bryan tries desperately to fix the wrongs of the duo.  

Kent:  I have been wondering if Shane may be due for a heel turn.  I like that Daniel and Shane by and large just make matches, but that’s not WWE’s style.  They like having an evil ruler sooner than later.  With Kurt running shit on RAW like a mayor, and Daniel never going heel EVER again, Shane makes sense to help KO here.  So I’ll say that he helps AJ because I like providing explanations for how wrong I am.

  1.  We now know that Double AA, the OG of the A Double level, was behind the Tully thing.  We also know that Fandango was abducted by aliens.  We always knew that Konnor likes pie….way too much.  What revelation is most interesting to you and is this ever leading to The Ascension getting a feud or taken seriously at all?  Also, what the hell happened to the Hype Bros storyline?

Russ:  Well Konnor liking pies isn’t exactly a revelation. It’s more of a fact.  I thought AA being the mastermind behind the Tully incident was fantastic!  I can’t believe it didn’t dawn on me until after seeing Arn that it made perfect sense.  The aliens were also a nice touch to clean up the case of the missing Dango.  Now can we please get them into a proper feud?   

Kent:  Really, how did I not figure out that it was Arn Anderson?  It made me feel so utterly stupid.  Fandango being abducted was a fine revelation, especially if they go places with it.  Still, I gotta say, I did not know of Konnor’s love of pie until this week.  That was always The Rock’s go to delicacy.  So what I am basically saying is that Konnor is the next Rock.  Trust me.  As for the Hype Bros, I feel bad for them because the timing never seems to be right, and the one time it was, Zack got hurt.  After Summerslam, please do an angle with them challenging for the belts.

Here’s the full video.

http://www.wwe.com/videos/did-tyler-breeze-find-fandango-in-the-return-of-fashion-peaks-smackdown-live-aug-8-2017

Bonus Deuce Deuce

  1. Rate RAW

Russ:  I’m going to say that overall this wasn’t a bad night.  We got a few decent matches and the last man standing match was a solid piece of business. Rating:  6.3

Kent:  I enjoyed myself.  For an overall show with 4 solid matches, this is better than some PPVs this year in all honesty.   I’ll give it a 6.8.  I am subtracting points due to that annoying ass crowd though.  Go fuck yourselves for booing Bayley.

  1.   Rate Smackdown

Russ:  James Ellsworth returned, Charlotte mooned the crowd, WWE used logic about something that happened a few months earlier and Fashion Peaks answered a lot of burning questions..  These are the makings of a decent show.  Rating:  5.5

Kent:  Smackdown may have not had solid matches, but they had a woman’s ass, a lot of stuff with Fashion Peaks, a continuation on some of their best storylines without blowing their load, and the return of the women’s division MVP, James Ellsworth.  Not as good as RAW in all honesty though, so 5.3.

Final Thoughts

Russ: Who knew that two guys with the same name (spelled differently) in the same week could have me cheering for them both!  Thats right Bronn and Braun both had fantastic outings this week in their perspective worlds.  Bronn for injuring one of the Dragons and saving Jamie from becoming a crispy treat.  Braun for throwing an office chair perfectly at Roman.  Kudos Gentlemen  I salute you both.  (Jesus, that was beautiful Russ.)

Kent:  Well, yeah, I was going to talk about Game of Thrones.  I will say this, Jaime was SMART for trying to go after Daenerys when he did.  We go over this, plus much more at The Game of Thrones 9 Deuce.  Cross promoting is fun!  I have a few more things of wrestling interest though.  Yeah, lots of links this week.

Here’s the 50 best bikini pics from WWE this summer.

It’s also the 20th anniversary of DX.  I’m surprised not many shout outs to Rick Rude’s involvement.  There’s a great tribute by New Day at the bottom of the first one.

http://www.wwe.com/section/overtheropes/article/dx-20-anniversary-reactions

http://www.wwe.com/gallery/wwe-superstars-d-generation-x-20th-anniversary-tribute-photos#fid-40123205

Here’s a cool live performance in NYC of Shinsuke’s theme song.

Finally, I am going to end this on a more serious note.  There’s a guy who won the 3rd season of Tough Enough, along with John Morrison, named Matt Capotelli.  Some of you long time fans may remember him.  He had to retire super young due to a brain tumor.  Well he had been good for 10 years, but it came back, only worse.  So there’s an interview with wwe.com that they did with Matt.  It’s well worth a read.

Matt Capotelli Interview

All, but one, pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.

The Wrestling 9 Deuce – July 31 & August 1, 2017 – The Shinsuke Dropped Cena on His Head Edition

This week, we had some pretty solid matches, well at least in theory, they sounded good.  RAW gave us a triple threat with Roman, Braun, and Joe while Smackdown gave us AJ vs KO, Cena vs Shinsuke, and a surprisingly good Rusev vs Gable match.  Bayley is hurt, Brock is preparing to get back to the UFC, Paige and Del Rio are still together, Enzo is apparently off of RAW, and it’s been a somewhat interesting week in totality.  Unfortunately, we are without lovely female correspondent for this week and next because apparently education is more important than wrestling.  Yeah, we don’t get it either.

Of course, we also did our podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

The 9

  1.  How in the blue hell did the Battle of the Big’s main event RAW over so many other worthy matches?  Also, did WWE miss an opportunity to make Enzo into a Rey Mysterio or 123 Kid?

Russ:  I think it has everything to do with ratings.  I think the ratings peek around 10.  That is the reason we got the triple threat match then.  I’ll be honest I’m glad that happened.  I started getting tired after that match and fell in and out of sleep for the rest of the night.  I don’t even remember who won.  Ok, after looking it up it was Big Cass by DQ and it sounds as boring as I remember it being while I was fading in and out of consciousness.  As for the Enzo being a 123 Kid or Rey.  They can still make that happen, but the window is closing and will stay closed after SummerSlam.  

Kent:  Well, rather than Russ revealing that he is parroting what has already been reported and passing it along as his own thoughts…..no, it’s cool.  Yes, ratings have been revealed to be the answer.  That’s the reason.  So I will tackle the second part of the question.  Enzo needs a rub, and it needs to go for at least a month.  Teaming up with Cena in some tag matches against Cass and somebody like Elias could be fun.  Enzo vs Elias could be a solid midcard feud.  Enzo needs help though.  As has been reported, Enzo has been thrown out of the locker room by Roman, and as JBL has said, the only guy who has been thrown out and got back in good with the boys and became a success was The Miz.  Everybody else flamed out.  But doesn’t Enzo possess a lot of similar skills to Miz?  I know Enzo sells merchandise, but he should have been the one who turned heel.  He is a natural heel with his gift of gab.  But the window is closing as Russ alluded to.

  1.  Did the Jason Jordan & Miztourage segment work for you on any level?

Russ:  It worked to prove that Jason Jordan was not the right choice for this push.  They should have given it to Chad.  Jason is not good on the mic.  I know he is young and has had very little opportunity to practice, but he is way too stiff and looks uncomfortable out there.  I haven’t had a chance to see him wrestle much so I could be eating crow by the end of SummerSlam, but I think they missed a golden opportunity to push a legitimate star who was willing and Gable.  

Kent:  If you pizza when you should french fry, you’re gonna have a bad time.  That is what the ski instructor told the South Park boys in a season 5  or 6 episode called Asspen.  Jason Jordan is pizza.  Chad Gable is french fry.  Jason needs to learn to cut a promo ASAP or else he’s dead in the water.  Remember, there’s a reason why he floundered in NXT for years before finally finding success with Gable.  Miz can only do so much to save certain bad ideas, like a promo with Finn or this trash.  Still, Bo Dallas looks amazing.  I truly hope that they push him and Curtis.

  1.  It appears that RAW is doing the unexpected and providing us with 2 tag team feuds simultaneously.  Which one is better and which one are you more interested in?

Russ:  I’m not sure if better is the appropriate word I’d use because I think both feuds are going to be good.  However, I’m more interested in the revival vs. Hardly. I know you are shocked I didn’t pick my boy Seth, but I’m not interested in watching him while he is in a holding pattern, because they don’t know what to do with him.  The match will be great, but i don’t care about everything leading up to it.  The Revival vs Hardly’s though will be a showcase for the WWE universe on what The Revival is all about and I’m interested in how they are going to be handled and how good they can handle a feud and match quality.  

Kent:  Can somebody explain to me why RAW, a brand who needs faces to get their plethora of heels over, is combining Seth and Dean, possibly long term.  Man, I just don’t get it.  Sheasaro on the other hand will hopefully benefit.  Still, I am loving the Revival and Gallows and Anderson are finally getting more time to shine.  Meanwhile Seth is beyond cringeworthy in his promo segments as of late, and Dean isn’t much better because of the shit that creative is providing them.  The 3 way is better, for now.

  1.  Did they waste a Brock appearance considering the three way match later on in the night, and he was nowhere to be seen?

Russ:  Well if you came and wanted to see Brock then yes, this was a complete waste.  They had lots of potential to have him do a run in on the triple threat match and lay them all out to waste.  That would have been exciting. Alas, we got a really good match and that was it.  Not that I’m complaining.  I honestly stopped giving a fuck about Brock around a year ago.  

Kent:  Yeah, this felt like a waste of Brock, and yet, I don’t care anymore.  I’m fine if Brock retired today.  He is of no help to the roster.  If the final goal is to have him put over Roman, than everything will be for nothing.  Brock’s last match needs to be against Joe or Braun or Bray.  Anything else, and all fucks will be lost, none to give out.

  1.  Is Alexa Bliss currently the most complete performer in WWE right now?

Russ:  Alexa is definitely a complete package.  Good on the mic, knows how to work a crowd, and she can wrestle.  There aren’t that many wrestlers that can pull all that off.  I would say that she is the best by far out of the women, but I wouldn’t say she is the most complete when you include the men.  AJ, KO, Cena, and Samoa Joe all have the same talents with the crowds, but their wrestling skills are far superior to Alexa’s. She does have one thing that those 4 don’t though.  Youth!  She just needs more time in the ring and she could one day be the most complete package.  (Kent: Uhmmmm, I think you are forgetting something else that she has that the other 4 don’t.  Multicolored hair!!!!)

Kent:  So I asked this question because Eric and I was talking recently about favorite wrestlers, and he said Alexa, and I thought about it.  No, she’s not the most complete, but she is on the short list at the moment.  People that I would have above her include: Samoa Joe, Sheamus, The Miz, Kevin Owens, and that may be it.  Yes, I know.  But what about AJ?  He sucks on the mic as a face (Russ: How is Alexa on the mic as a face?) (Kent: Never seen it that I can recall. I would guess snarky.).  Carmella is almost there, but her in ring skills aren’t up to Alexa’s.  Sasha is having AJ problems.  Jericho would be higher, but I don’t think that he is back.  Cena’s promos have been shit.  Roman, Braun, Brock, Seth, Jinder, Randy, and a host of others aren’t that great on the mic.  The one that I feel is right on Alexa’s level is Baron.  Alexa is slightly better on the mic, while Baron is slightly better in ring.  Samoa Joe is my pick with KO at #2.  I know that Sheamus is a surprising choice, but consider the fact that he is very good in ring, can be placed in a main event at any time, looks great, and can cut a decent promo.  Sheamus is criminally underrated.

  1.  Despite having 8 females on the roster, including Maria, does the women’s division on Smackdown seem stale to you?

Russ:   Yes.  I don’t know why this is.  They have a great champion in Naomi.  I don’t understand why they can’t get her into a meaningful feud?  They always have her just take on the flavor of the month.  The Queen of shouting is there and as much as I don’t like her sometimes, I know she can wrestle.  Yet they don’t seem to be doing anything with her.   Becky has done nothing since losing the title all those long months ago.  I think Smackdown has forgotten how to properly book women.  

Kent:  Yeah, and I blame Charlotte.  Not the person, but the booking.  They made her Goldberg of sorts and it’s tough to build around that.Charlotte is a better heel.  Becky is a really good heel but is stuck in face purgatory.  Carmella is too good as a bitchy heel to turn face yet.  Naomi is great in her role but needs to be featured more as champ.  Tamina is a star just waiting for a chance that I am fearing won’t come.  I have really started to believe in her in ring ability, which is weird for me.  Lana should be a valet.  Maria is a good valet.  Both should pose nude some more.  Natty could be a face at anytime.  Lana should be a sympathetic, crafty and sneaky face that pulls off some cheap upsets to get the crowd to pop and then get beat down by someone like a Tamina.  They totally blew it.  This feels beyond stale.  Honestly, trade all of RAW’s faces for Smackdown’s faces, really mix it up a bit.  That way Sasha can still turn on Bayley.  Nia vs Bliss and Charlotte can happen.  Carmella vs Bayley intrigues me.Emma vs Naomi would be solid.  Yeah, let’s do that.

  1.  In a night of good matches, did Rusev and Gable steal the show?  Also, give me your thoughts on Randy vs Rusev.

Russ:  Rusev and Gable definitely stole the show.  That was an incredibly fun and exciting match.  It was so good that I actually stopped playing video games to watch it.  The only other match I did that for was AJ vs. KO and that had a crap ending so that gets counted out.  As for Randy vs. Rusev.  I don’t remember them ever feuding so at least it is fresh.  However, I won’t be sold until I know which Randy Rusev is getting.  If we get the same Randy that has phoned it in since Wrestlemania then this will be crap.  

Kent:  I felt that they had the match of the night, and it wasn’t really close.  I would re-watch that match.  It was a great showcase for both guys, and Chad looked great, even in a loss.  I want Chad vs Sami soon.  The mid-card on Smackdown could be disgustingly great with Tye, Aiden, Sami, Rusev, Chad, and Mike.  How does RAW get it SO wrong?  Randy vs Rusev……take my money.  I am sold.  I want Randy vs Mike eventually before his character flames out.

  1.  Were you hoping to get a Shane vs Kevin Owens match, or are you happier with a potential match of the year with AJ and KO that so far hasn’t lived up to the expectations?

Russ:  I have a one more match in me.  Maybe having Shane is just what this feud needs to get what on paper sounds like should be easy money.  Instead we have only gotten one fantastic match out of AJ and KO and that needed Jericho.  This may also lead us to a Shane vs KO match down the line say at Hell in the Cell.  I’m just saying it is a Smackdown PPV this year.  

Kent:  I don’t want anymore AJ vs KO matches.  They haven’t clicked and I am good with them moving on.  It happens.  Not all greats are destined to have great matches with one another.  Remember that Seth and Joe were having bad matches, and both guys are great.  KO vs Shane would be the better match oddly enough because Shane is good at taking a beating, selling it, providing exciting offense, but never goes out of his capabilities and allows his opponent to run the match.  That’s why you rarely see bad Shane matches.

  1.  Shinsuke Nakamura faced John Cena for the first time ever, and dammit, it was historic, but did it live up to your expectations?

 

Russ:  It was a good match.  I was genuinely surprised that Shinsuke got the clean win here.  I honestly didn’t think they would give this one away for free let alone Cena eating a clean pin.  Yet it did happen.  It was a good match, but Shinsuke is a little sloppy out there.  A couple of times I thought he made some mistakes out there,  especially when he threw Cena on his neck.  Still for a free tv match it was very solid.  

Kent:  I like it because it wasn’t overly long.  I thought it was a good opportunity to have Baron interfere to set up Baron vs Cena.  The match was fine.  My big issue is that Shinsuke gets sloppy and he gets let off the hook too easily.  Listen millennials, just because nobody holds you accountable, this shit needs to stop.  Hold Shin accountable.  He damn near broke Cena’s neck and that is unacceptable as an in ring performer.  I am cheering on Jinder now.  Shin needs to be punished.  He hurt Samoa Joe and Austin Aries in NXT, and now this.  Strong style is fine, but within reason.

Bonus Deuce Deuce

  1. Rate RAW

Russ:  I honestly can’t remember too much of what happened.  I enjoyed the triple threat match, though I didn’t care for the winner in this case.  The Revival, Hardly’s and G & A are ramping up to be lots of fun coming to a head soon.  The Main event was a blur, not because it was fun and over too fast, but because it was boring and I was falling asleep.  Rating: 4 

Kent:  Uhmmm, the triple threat match was fun.  The tag team stuff with Revival on commentary worked really well.  Bayley is hurt from her match with a  shoulder injury and we don’t know the extent of that yet. Meanwhile, Cass is not good at all and shouldn’t be main eventing.  Jason Jordan is showing very little potential.  Dean and Seth’s story is fucking terrible.  So essentially, another week in paradise.  3.75

  1.  Rate Smackdown

Russ:  I really enjoyed Smackdown this week.  There were three very good matches.  We got progression on the AJ and KO feud.  The Fashion Files was a great tribute to Twin Peaks and showed us why Konnor is getting so fat (he eats logs of wood with syrup, Comeon Man! That is just unhealthy.)   Overall Rating: 7.3

Kent:  A really solid evening all things considering.  I hated the ref storyline during the KO match, but it set up Summerslam.  I fast forwarded the women’s match because this revolution will not be televised in this household.  I liked everything else, and the Fashion Files was interesting to say the very least.  I would go with a 5.4 for this week.  

 

Final Thoughts

Russ:  I don’t understand WWE.  How can they screw up this Dean and Seth storyline?  We always bitch when WWE doesn’t use logic in stories.  Now, they finally use logic saying Dean doesn’t trust Seth for past reasons that make sense, but the story is just terrible.  Maybe we as fans are putting too much stock into logic.  I mean the best storyline of the year has been Braun flipping over an ambulance and that makes no Goddamn logical sense!  

Kent:  Man, Game of Thrones was great this week.  So much better than wrestling.  I miss last week when I didn’t have to watch wrestling.  It was so nice.  But back to Game of Thrones, can Dany just die so that the show can be far more fun.  Cersei is fantastic, and Euron is the best wrestling heel in the business, despite not wrestling.  I really need a new hobby.  When was the last time that we had a really good, match of the year caliber match?

I found not one, but TWO fun galleries this week via wwe.com. The first one is bikini pics of Emma, Lana, Naomi, and Maryse.  The second one is of wrestlers fighting dinosaurs.  They are both exquisite.

Emma, Lana, Naomi, & Maryse Bikini Pics

Wrestlers fighting dinosaurs Pics

All pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.

The Wrestling 9 Deuce – July 24 & 25, 2017 – Break the Walls Down Edition

This week, we saw the return of Jericho, and we drank it in.  Keri also saw RAW live in DC.  Russ and I basically took the week off.  Oh, and KO won the US title on Sunday and then lost it back to AJ on Tuesday, so there’s THAT.  But first, some lovely pictures taken by our even lovelier Keri.  She got to see her boy Finn lose to my boy, so who wants to walk with the drifter?

Of course, we also did our podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

The 9

  1.  RAW this week set up its main event for the universal title. Discuss this and the opening segment.

Russ:  I for one think this will be a great SummerSlam main event.  Braun is the most over superstar right now, Samoa Joe belongs in the main event picture, Roman is a hard worker and great in the ring and Brock is, for some reason, considered a big draw.  Get all four in the ring at the same time and we are in for some good fun.  They should put the belt on Braun at SummerSlam.  It’s the perfect time to do it.  Think about it, Roman doesn’t have to win it because it isn’t one-on-one, and Brock doesn’t have to eat the pin.  We all win, so don’t expect it to happen.  

Keri:  The opening segment of RAW this week was the highlight of my live RAW viewing experience. Yes, readers I was there live. And let me say, that was an amazing pop that Braun received and Reigns was pretty much booed out of the Verizon Cente, despite the fact that in replays it sounded like he was being cheered. I assure you those were added in after the fact DC does not like Reigns. Now back to the segment, The announcement itself was good but predictable. I think we all saw this coming. However, the post segment brawl that ensued afterwards was worth the price I paid for my ticket. I was seriously concerned about that security guard that Braun turned into a land dart and threw half way across the river to Virginia. It was awesome and I’m glad Braun was standing tall at the end.

Kent:  There’s a weird part of me that wants to see a Brock and Braun vs Joe and Roman match of 2 Samoan bad asses vs 2 super strong white boys who throw people around.   As far as this segment, it’s pretty much what you would and should expect at this point.  That doesn’t mean it was bad, it was rather entertaining.  I’m glad that we can get this match.  I almost always enjoy when the locker rooms clear out.  This match should steal the show at Summerslam.  On a related note, UFC champ, Jon Jones called out Brock Lesnar after winning back his title at Saturday’s UFC event.  Rumors have been circulating about Brock returning to UFC for a match at MSG in NYC in November (I believe).  Well come to find out, whoever started those rumors are morons.  Brock has to get himself back in the USADA drug testing pool for another 6 months in order to serve out his suspension from his last fight against Mark Hunt.  Basically, Brock screwed himself because he was sick of getting tested to prove that he was clean, and now he wants another huge payday, and it’s going to be put on hold.

  1.  We have a new number one contender for the RAW women’s title, Bayley. Discuss this choice.

Russ:  Didn’t we just see this horrible match like two ppv’s ago? Bayley isn’t ready for the WWE, either that, or creative just doesn’t know how to use her. I think it’s a bit of both,  but the last time these two tangled it wasn’t good for  Bayley or Alexis.  

Keri:  Old feuds are so exciting. Said no one ever. Come on Creative we’ve seen Alexa vs. Bayley and it honestly was a flop. Sasha vs Alexa could have been a really good feud. It’s been eatables already that there is no love lost between these two ladies. Why not capitalize on it? Because reasons I guess. Oh well.

Kent:  What?  Emma isn’t getting an opportunity?  What a shocker.  Boooooring.  Bayley has been ruined.  I would trade Bayley and Sasha for Charlotte and Becky.  Charlotte was a bigger deal on RAW, and Becky seems to be constantly lost in the shuffle.

  1.  There was a three on two match this week involving the Miztourage and Dean and Seth. Where do you think this is heading?

Russ:  Maybe a triple threat match at SummerSlam.  It seems like in order to get all the big names in they will have to be in multi-men matches.  These three could deliver a classic triple-threat if they are given enough time.

Keri:  I’ve got three words for you. Triple threat match. And then I have two more, at Summerslam. That is alll.

Kent:  Rumors are stating that Dean and Seth will be facing Sheasaro at Summerfest, while Jason Jordan will take on the Miz.  If that is the case, fuck man.  While it will be nice to get Dean away from Miz, they don’t deserve a tag title match, but if it leads to a Dean heel turn, I’ll choke this feud down.  Jason Jordan…….I think he has bust written all over him.  Gable was the star.  Gable should have been Kurt’s son.  Feud Jordan with Cass in a match of epicly awful proportions.

  1.  Tag team discussion time. The Revival had a match against G&A with a Hardys run in. Shesaro was not featured in the ring this week and was seen only via backstage segment. Was this the appropriate way to feature the division? Discuss.

Russ:  It would have been better to have Sheasaro actually do something, but it was nice to see the revival out there getting back to basics.  How long until they get the Nxt break up treatment?

Keri:  So, I think we are getting the Revival vs Sheasaro at Summerslam. I think over the next few weeks we are going to see the Revival beat up on the other tag teams first. Thus making them a threat to the titles and the Bar.

Kent:  No.  Sheasaro needs to have some entertaining backstage promos to keep them relevant while teams compete for #1 contendership, like a one night tag team tourney with G&A, Revival, Hardly’s, and Ginger Rhynos.  Maybe toss in Seth and Dean, Bo and Curtis, Enzo and Show, and maybe a cruiserweight team or Bray and Finn.  Get creative….Creative.

  1.  It looks like Creative is finally pulling the trigger on Bray vs Finn after the events on RAW this week. Do you think this match is actually going to happen? Do you think this will bring back the Demon? What does this mean for Elias Samson?

Russ:  Elias will fall back into obscurity, which is a shame.  I think Bray vs Finn, could be a great story driven feud.  I Don’t think their first match should bring out the demon.  Save that for a match down the line.  

Keri:  I think this time it may actually happen. Let’s face it Seth vs Bray and sloppy and kind of fell flat. I also think for this feud to be effective we need to bring back the demon. He’s had a year break. He needs to come back. It would work into the storyline so well. As for Elias, I’m not sure how he factors into this feud but he should have something going into Summerslam. I was very impressed with what I saw Monday night from him.

Kent:  Apparently they want to only call him Elias now, because once you make the main roster, you only have a first or a last name, not both!  Elias vs Miz would be a great start.  Add in Jason Jordan and you have 2 guys that can carry it on the mic, and 3 very different in ring styles.  Sold.  Regarding Finn vs Bray, yes, it is an excuse to bring back the Demon, which should have been done MONTHS ago.    Finn didn’t deserve his huge push, but he deserved better than what he’s been served since his return.  Can’t wait to see Bray job to another star.

  1.  Sooooo, Jericho is back and AJ Styles is the NEW US champion.  Which development is most important for the company at the moment?

Russ:  I don’t think Jericho is back for the long run yet, so I’m going to have to say AJ getting the title back.  Still what the hell was the point of having KO win it just to give it back to AJ the next night? The only thing I can think of is that Battleground was a botch.  Still this triple threat match was way  better than the crap we got at battleground, so I guess that is an overall win for the fans.  

Keri:  I’ll be honest I marked out when Jericho’s music hit. It was great to see him back and putting people on the list. With that said, flip flopping the belt back to AJ was kind of pointless. Provided Jericho is back for awhile, they could have spent the next couple of weeks building this up with all three saying they had a legit claim to the belt. Thus making the belt seem important and giving us the pay off at Summerslam. By doing it this way, neither Jericho’s return or the title change Tuesday night provided any benefit.

Kent:  Jericho is more important because he’s another top guy that could help keep this show a little more fresh than RAW.  Still, where’s Dolph?  I need him to start feuding with Gable.  This US Title nonsense, it’s nonsense.  If you are going to flip flop the belt this much, then you follow it up with a best 4 out of 7 to reign supreme and end it.  That’s how you tell a logical story.

  1.  Who do you want to win next week between Shinsuke and Cena?

Russ:  I don’t think either of them are going to win. They aren’t going to give this dream match away for free.  There will definitely be interference. The question is who will interfere?  Baron could, given his unfinished business with Shinsuke.  However, don’t count the Bulgarian Brute out yet.  Sure he is as buried as you can get, but he keeps digging himself out just long enough to get air and then promptly buried again.  

Keri:  I’d like to see Shinsuke win next week but it will probably be Cena facing Jinder at Summerslam. The promo between Jinder and Cena prior to the announcement of this match pretty much foreshadowed the outcome of how next week’s match is going to play out. This is also means that Cena will probably get the belt at Summerslam. Some much for the land of opportunity. Besides, like Braun, I don’t think Baron is finished with Shinsuke yet. (Kent: Nice finishing line.)

Kent:  We all know how this is going to play out.  Now allow me to tell you what I would do.  I’d have Baron interfere and beat down Shinsuke, which also DQ’s Cena, so he attacks Baron.  The following week, have Shin vs Baron to blow off their feud for now, with Shin winning and Baron blindsiding him after and Cena making the save.  Then of course the obligatory tag team match of Baron and Jinder vs Cena and Shin.  Cena vs Baron is made official.  At Summerslam, Cena goes over Baron, as is tradition, with Baron beating Cena down and sending him to the hospital after.  Shin beats Jinder and the crowd goes apeshit.  The Singhs interfere and then out comes Baron, and cashes in MitB.  Baron gets his belt.  Ohhhh, Shinsuke vs Baron isn’t over yet, as they have a match at the next PPV.  At the end, when Baron retains, have Cena come out so we get a proper feud between them.  That’s how you build up interest and stop pushing Jinder.  Maybe put Jinder and Rusev back as a team with Lana as their manager.

  1.  Now that Natalya is the #1 contender, do you feel like this has a chance to be a good feud with Naomi?

Russ:  No.  What? You want more? OK, this going to be terrible.  At least we can assume Naomi will hold the belt a little longer.  You never know, because Carmella does have that briefcase.  

Keri:  I feel so indifferent about this feud. I mean it’s nice to see something different but can these women actually carry a feud and put on a good match at Summerslam. I think Naomi can cover the match portion but is there enough of a storyline for me to care. I just don’t think so. Oh well, at least we have a potential Carmella cash in to look forward to at Summerslam. Oh, and free James Ellsworth.

Kent:  FREE ELLSWORTH!!!!!

Remember Natty vs Nikki and how good the build up was, and how bad that match was?  Yeah, that.  Keri’s used the term indifferent, and that’s pretty spot on.  I think Natty will bring it in the build up, but I expect to be underwhelmed by match time.  The sooner that Carmella is running this division and “Talking Smack” about how nobody can beat her and allow for Asuka’s call up, the better.  If only there was a 25-30 minute show on Tuesdays around 11PM where Carmella could run her mouth and help build her brand.  Somebody should create that show.

  1.  Is the Sami Zayn and Mike Kanellis feud working for you or should both move on?  If you say move on, then who should they feud with?

Russ:  No, I just don’t have any feelings good or bad towards Mike. WWE needs to do something with him that is better than this power of love crap.  So, honestly give him a mini-feud with AJ.  If AJ can’t make me care about him then it’s all over for me.  As  for Zayn he should feud with the Modern Maharaja.  It gives Zayn some credibility and someone new for Jinder to get better as champion with.  (Kent: It’s the MDM, the Modern DAY Maharaja….you disgust me.)

Keri:  It really wasn’t working me from the start so I say move on. Have Mike work with Tye and start building the lower card. As for Sami, his character is stale. Let’s turn him heel and have him join the group fighting over the US title. (Kent: Sami in a feud potentially involving KO wouldn’t count as stale?)

Kent:  I really want to see Randy battle the power of Love, because if anybody can really hate love, it’s Randy.  It’d be amazing, and give both guys something very different to work with.  Sami needs wins.  Sami over Jinder, Rusev, Baron, KO, whoever.  Sami vs AJ would actually appeal big time to me.Sami deserves the belt and some day, if I wish really hard, maybe it happens.

Bonus Deuce

  1. Rate RAW

Russ:  I didn’t watch it… And I couldn’t feel better! Rating: 8

Keri:  Overall it was a better show than I was expecting. And trust me my bar was set pretty low. Yes, you had the normal storylines and matches but that opening segment/brawl really made the episode for me. Rating: 4

Kent:  It’s Sunday, I finally watched it…sorta.  The funny thing is that I gave it a 4.0 prior to watching based on what little I heard about it.  After watching it, I give it a 4.2 for the Elias and Finn (2 points), tag team (1 point), Opening segment (1 point), and Alexa Bliss and Emma sightings (0.2 points).

  1.  Rate Smackdown

Russ:  i saw a few things but I still didn’t get to watch everything.  What I saw was good so in honor of watching very little wrestling and enjoying the week…  Rating: 8.

Keri:  This week’s show was kinda meh for me. The only redeeming quality for me was the return of Jericho (welcome back..mannnnn). Other than that and the AJ title change,this was an uneventful and predictable Smackdown.

Kent:  I actually quite enjoyed this week.  2 points for the opening.  1 for the Uso’s beatdown.  1.5 for the main event.  1 for Shin vs Baron.  0.3 for Aiden and Tye getting on the show.  5.8 for the night….wait, Charlotte had a match.  It’s a 5.5 for her awfulness.

 

Final Thoughts

Russ:  I’m rested and ready to watch some wrestling.  Everyone needs a break and this was really needed. Now I can make it to SummerSlam and I might just get through it before totally smarking out.  It depends on how bad WWE creative makes the shows.  

Keri:  It was an ok week but I think I really need a break. I way to smarky to be objective and positive about anything wrestling related anymore.

Kent:  It was nice having the week off.  Unfortunately, we are really late with this, so we were less productive than ever before. Hooray!  On the plus side, I found these Twitter pics on WWE’s website and I wanted to treat you for being oh so patient.  The Sheasaro one makes me giggle.

All pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.

2017 Battleground Review – The Return of The Great Khali Edition

Battleground happened this past Sunday and it was the most mediocre, middle of the ground PPV pf the year.  Nothing great happened, but the lows weren’t terribly low either.  It was weird.  Anyway, Russ and Cece are here to help me wade through the sea of mediocrity.

Of course, we also did our podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

The 9

  1.  Aiden English def Tye Dillinger

Russ:  This was fun match.  I’m glad Aiden got the win, because even though Tye really needs wins Aiden needs them more.  These two have done well against each other maybe it’s time to get them some story on Smackdown.
Rating: 4.6

Cece: I really dug Aiden’s tights, to start. This match was decent but it didn’t really pull me in. They both need more story work.
Rating: 4.0

Kent:  This is one of the absolute best kickoff show matches that they have had in years.  Yes, I was impressed.  Yes, I was happy to see Aiden win a match.  Yes, I am fearful that I was right that Tye DIllinger wasn’t ready for the call up to the main roster, which I covered a lot months ago.
Rating: 4.9

  1.  The New Day def The Uso’s to become the NEW Tag Team Champions

Russ:  Wow, this match was way better than I thought it would be.  I was surprised that Big E sat on the sideline, but I think the mix of Kofi, Xavier, Jimmy and Jay made for some great chemistry.  A lot of near falls several that were believable and a great pace made for an exciting match.  I think not knowing for sure which team would win made this more exciting.  Unfortunately, the wrong team won.  I like New Day, Big E is one of my guys, but The Uso’s have been on a tear since winning those belts and they deserved a decent run.  Oh well, let’s prepare for another record breaking run for New Day (It could happen, these belts haven’t been held very long by one team.)
Rating: 6.3  

Cece: This was easily the best match of the night. The energy was just right and they kept me watching the entire time. As much as I love New Day, it’s interesting that they would be getting the titles again as there are other tag teams who need a push. But DON’T YOU DARE BE SOUR!
Rating: 8.0

Kent:  Match of the night in a night where it didn’t seem like any other match wanted to challenge this for the honors.  I liked the match.  I watched it a second time.  It wasn’t great, but fun and well done.  I don’t care for New Day winning, but that doesn’t change my rating in my eyes.  I won’t watch a third time, under any circumstances.
Rating: 6.5

  1.  Shinsuke Nakamura def Baron Corbin via DQ

Russ:  A hard hitting match and well choreographed.  This wasn’t either guys best match, but it was a decent match.  It was obvious Baron was going to lose, but I wasn’t expecting it to be a DQ loss. Knowing he wasn’t going to win Corbin decided to deliberately cheat in front of the ref in the most painful way possible.  That’s just good character building.
Rating: 4.8

Cece: This was a pretty decent match up until the end. I love Shinsuke and his striking style. I also think Baron was a good match for him as he is a powerhouse when he wants to be. I think the low blow to end the match was what ruined it for me.
Rating: 6.1

Kent:  I wanted to love this match.  I really did.  Then came the bearhug and I did mentally lose interest.  Sorry, but it happened a second time when I tried rewatching it.  I didn’t make it through the match.  Because I tried rewatching, I have to obey my rule of higher than 5.0.
Rating: 5.1

  1.  Natalya def Charlotte, Becky, Lana, and Tamina to become the #1 Women’s contender

Russ:  I’m not going to lie, I paid scant attention to this match assuming Charlotte had the win.  So imagine my surprise when they said Natalya was the winner.  I think she was one of the ones I thought had no chance of winning.  I guess I’m not watching wrestling this week.  (oh no, I was really looking forward to watching wrestling too.)
Rating: Bathroom Break / Food Break / Read reviews of Game of Thrones  

Cece: I thought this match could have went a bit better. I’m tired of the whole Lana/Tamina thing. They need to use Tamina better, not just as a ‘bodyguard’ or something. That’s bullshit. She can be much better if they’d let her. I am upset Charlotte didn’t win, but I didn’t predict her to win anyway. Natty was a surprise for me.
Rating: 5.2

Kent:  Around this time, Game of Thrones came on and it was such a good episode.  To have to force myself to come back to this match did negatively affect my view.  I’m simply being honest.  With that being said, it was a surprising match.  It was well done.  The cameraman got some great shots of Lana’s backside.  Natalya winning, well I am quite surprised.  I’m happy for her, but stop talking about your fucking cat!  None of this matters until the greatest female is holding the belt, and that’s Carmella.
Rating: 4.8

  1.  Kevin Owens def AJ Styles to become the NEW US Champion

Russ:  This is a tough match to give a score to.  On the one hand this was a decent match.  Several good moves and counters and some decent chain wrestling.  A few near falls that were exciting.  On the other hand this was completely underwhelming for these two.  By far neither’s best match.  I think the ending had a lot to do with it.  The ref bump was odd and seemed to give neither guy an advantage, it took forever to get the ref back into it when he was clearly ok and watching the two men.  Finally, the ending was very anti-climatic.  How come AJ who wasn’t injured and had a slow count didn’t even struggle to get out of the pin?  It was odd and I hope they explain it on Tuesday, even though I can’t watch it (Damn!)
Rating:  4.9  

Cece: Meh. This match had the potential to be awesome. And, as much as these two fought, it still could have been better. I think they robbed AJ of having more time in the spotlight, so that sort of ruined things for me there. But, it was overall a decent match.
Rating: 6.5

Kent:  This match wasn’t terribly exciting.  Add to it, that awful ending and this is hard.  The work was good.  I simply have ZERO interest in rewatching what should have easily been a 7 or higher match.  Hel, this had 8 potential.  That ending was soooo bad, and that AJ didn’t seem too fazed by it after the fact hurt it even more.
Rating: 4.99

  1.  John Cena jobbed out Rusev for the 137th time in a flag match

Russ:   I really hoped that the WWE would troll us on this match and give Rusev a victory here.  Unfortunately, and I should have known this,  #LolCenaBeatsRusev137thTime.  I have no idea why Cena likes to “crush” Rusev, but you can tell he enjoys it!  As for the match it wasn’t bad.  Look it’s a Flag on a pole match. If you are looking for anything more than stupid fun then you are looking too deep into this type of match.  Watching Cena and Rusev slow climb 4 steps was hilarious and watching Cena stop Rusev from planting his flag with his bare hands was laugh out loud!  What I’m saying is I had a few good laughs and there were a few moments of entertaining wrestling.  I’m ok with that.
Rating: 4.7

Cece: I thought this match was boring and pointless at first. Tired of the foreigner is bad trope. BUT, it did pick up when the two got closer to the flag posts. I did think the last 5-10 mins of the match were exciting. The winner was super predictable though.
Rating: 4.2

Kent:  This match has it’s moments, and there was some good moves in it.  Without the flag gimmick, this probably is in the 6 or higher territory.  The stipulation dictated that the match had so many stupid moments.  Like, just throw your opponent’s pedestal, or break the flag pole so they are unable to plant it.  Cena like overpowering Rusev from planting the pole.  So many dumb, dumb things.  But some of that was funny too.  Mixed bag.  I would rewatch this for the humor.
Rating: 5.1

  1.  The Fashion Files happened

Russ:  This was good.  It left me with more questions than answers.  Like does Konnor just want to act, because he put more effort into this skit than he has his wrestling career and physique since being called up from NXT.  Also, the mystery got deeper as we still don’t know who trashed the office, but now Deputy Dango was being dragged off someplace!  This will be the one thing from wrestling this week that I will really miss.
Rating: 7  

Cece: This was another hilarious skit. I loved it. The Ascension bluffing made things too funny. EDDIE MONEY! Also, it definitely left me wanting more. I was actually upset nothing was revealed last night! Who did it?!?!
Rating: 9.0 because it’s intriguing, damnit!

Kent:  I am working with people who are easily amused apparently.  No, this wasn’t THAT funny.  I laughed twice, once at Konnor’s silhouette and once for Eddie Money.  Seriously, where are your standards people?  Just saying, this is why the comedy film genre is at a new low, because we have allowed our standards to be so low that people think that Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer and Melissa McCarthy are funny.  Please, you are not going to rewatch this multiple times.
Rating: 4.0 because it’s the same old stuff but with less jokes, but more Konnor.  Hmm, 4.5.

  1.  Sami Zayn def Mike Kanellis

Russ:  I’m still not sold on Mike and Maria Kanellis.  This match did not help either.  The crowd was just not into this match and you could tell they didn’t know what to think of Mike.  Zayn tried, but the crowd was dead by the end.  There were some glimmers of hope here.  I thought it was fun when Maria blew Mike a kiss and he used that hand to immediately punch Zayn with.  Mike can take a hit too, because that Heluva Kick was pretty nasty.
Rating: 3.8

Cece: This feud continues to be pointless and stupid. The whole ‘true love’ gimmick is the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen. I really cannot get behind it whatsoever. So, therefore, I paid almost 0 attention to this match. Sami deserves better. That’s all I’ll say. Again.
Rating: 3.0

Kent:  Mike needs a different opponent as Sami isn’t vicious enough to continue this one and keep it fun.  The matches are ok, but too short, and both guys are way better than they showed on Sunday.  I am getting some dread that Mike and Maria are going to not get a chance to shine.  I hope that is not the case.  Randy Orton needs somebody to be pissed off at, and everybody hates seeing PDA, so make it happen, please.  This match needed about 3 more minutes to maybe get us excited.
Rating: 4.0

  1.  Jinder Mahal def Randy Orton in a Punjabi Prison match to retain his championship

Russ:  This match concept is stupid.  The doors are really useless.  Just let your opponent go out the first immediately, and you climb up the top  and jump to the other structure (like Randy did) and climb out.  Ding Ding Ding, you win.  Getting over that, there were a few good moments and spots in this one.  The Singh through the announce table sounded totally devastating.  Jinder has improved in the ring, but he is still boring to watch.  The whole ending of the match seemed forced.  Khali just doesn’t have the movement to pull what they tried to pull off.  However, it’s over.  Now give Jinder a real opponent that can make him look good, because Orton was not helping the cause.
Rating: 4.3    

Cece: Meh. I was super unhappy with how this match turned out. It had so much potential but it definitely was just another match. The one I will give props to, is Samir Singh. He took that table like a champ, man. Also, Khali coming out was kind of stupid. I understand people like legends when they show up, but he could have done it in a cooler way. The shaking of the prison to make Randy fall over the way he did was so unbelievable. Idk I wasn’t impressed.
Rating: 3.6

Kent:  Nobody in the history of ever said that they wanted a third Punjabi Prison match.  Do you know why?  Because everybody fucking hated the first 2!  Seriously, it looks cool as shit, and then you get to the rules and you realize how much of a clusterfuck it is.  The door concept is beyond asinine.  The minute rule is just an excuse to waste 4 minutes.  Then the cages are so close that you can just stretch over from one to the other.  Seriously, what were they thinking?  I felt bad for both guys.  I will admit, I did not foresee the Great Khali returning.  Do you know why?  Because nobody liked the Great Khali, his knees betrayed him, he had no mic skills, no in ring skills, he simply has a large jaw and is Indian.  The fuck?  What a shit storm of fuckery.  Still, that Singh brother took that bump like  a fucking champ, and the kendo sticks actually added to the match.  Notice how the kendo sticks did the damage in the match, not this shitty structure.  Just give us a hardcore match and it would have been way better.
Rating: 4.1 mainly for the bumps and kendo sticks

 

Bonus Deuce Deuce

  1. Best Match of the Night

Russ:  New Day vs. Uso’s.  There wasn’t a close second, but none of the matches were out right bad either.  

Cece: New Day VS Uso’s for sure. Such energy.

Kent:  Tag team title match

  1.  Worst Match of the Night

Russ:  I’m going to have to go with the Women’s match.  I barely paid attention to it and I didn’t really care.  

Cece: Probably Sami and Mike.

Kent:  Mike and Sami, but not by much.

 

  1.  What booking decision surprised you the most, either positively or negatively?

Russ:  Definitely Natalya winning.  I was 100% confident that she had about as much of a chance of winning as I did.  So I guess that is positive because at least it is something different and I don’t have to tolerate Charlotte going for the belt yet.  

Cece: Most surprising was Natty winning and AJ losing.

Kent:  I’m torn because 4 happened.  The Breezedango thing made no progress.  Khali made his triumphant return.  Natalya won an important match.  AJ jobbed like a little bitch.  I guess I gotta say that the AJ thing is still resonating with me days later.

 

  1.  Rate Battleground overall from 1.0-9.2

Russ:  Battleground was overall an ok ppv up and down the card.  It wasn’t spectacular and no matches were memorable, but none of the matches outright stunk up the place either.   

Rating: 4.8

Cece: 6.5

Kent:  4.82375….or 4.8 if you want a well rounded number.  I simply took the averages of everything.

All pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.

WWE Battleground 2017 Preview – 9 Deuce

Battleground is this Sunday, and we write about wrestling, so here we are, potentially begrudgingly.  Today, Keri is here, as usual, but we also have 2 familiar writers if you follow the other 9 Deuce blogs, Cece and Teddy.  Thanks for stopping by to offer some more opinions.  If you hate Bulgaria, this is the PPV for you!

Of course, we also did our podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

The 9

  1.  Tye Dillinger vs Aiden English

Keri:  Wait this match is a thing? (Quickly searches internet). Oh it’s the preshow match. Ok now it makes sense. Tye is the preshow match guy. I should have known.  

Prediction: Tye

Cece: I mean, okay, where was the build up? I definitely think it’ll be a squash match where Tye ends up beating Aiden.

Prediction: Tye.

Teddy: ugh can they stop squandering their talent with pointless matches? Then again I suppose its better than having Neville wrestle and still keep the title…

Kent:  There’s really no reason for this match to even happen.  There has been no interaction between these guys since the last PPV.  Aiden has a clean win over Randy.  Tye has a clean loss to Jinder.  We all know that I’m going to be wrong, but screw it.

Prediction: Aiden English with a cheap victory

  1.  Breezedango solves the mystery.  Who will be the culprits?

Keri:  I have no clue and that intrigues me. But if I had to venture a guess, I’m going to go with the Shining Stars/the Colons if they haven’t been released yet. They haven’t been seen on TV in a couple of weeks so it makes sense.

Cece: I honestly have no idea. It’ll probably be someone completely random, that we wouldn’t even think of. It could be one of those non-name tag teams that I don’t personally pay attention to… Or Zack Ryder bc he seems like a fake dick.

Teddy: I was hoping for an American Alpha heel turn but that was killed with Angle’s pointless and stupid announcement. Hopefully they don’t do a Big Cass/Enzo with these two because they’re actually holding the Tag team division up right now along New Day and the Usos. Maybe a tag team from NXT is called up? Idk honestly (Kent: Please don’t give the WWE any ideas.  They seem hellbent on splitting all teams.)

Kent:  Rowan will be involved.  I say get Luke in the mix as well.  The Hype Bros make very little sense, so don’t count them out entirely.  Rowan needs something, and he could make a perfect antagonist to Breezedango.  Luke needs to get back on TV so include him too.

  1.  Sami Zayn vs Mike Kanellis

Keri:  This should be an ok match with some more Maria shenanigans. Prediction: Mike because the Maria factor.

Cece: I think it’s stupid that they continue to put Sami in these awful matches. He’s a great wrestler and deserves good, quality matches. I’m sure he’ll lose to Mike so they can keep building this dude up. (Kent: In all fairness, they gave him like 2 months of beating Baron Corbin in the best non-KO matches of his main roster career.  They should have kept building him…but WWE.) 

Prediction: Mike.

Teddy: If they don’t stop putting Sami Zayn in pointless matches it would amazing. Mike and Maria’s gimmick is annoying and so is their music.

Prediction: Zayn will lose because of Maria’s interference because the WWE loves fucking over Sami Zayn.

Kent:  I like to think outside of the box, so I am making a very specific prediction.  At some point, Sami will accidentally bump into Maria, she will oversell it and Mike will get counted out carrying her to the back.  This will keep the storyline rolling for these two.

Prediction: Sami via Count Out

  1.  First Time Historic 5 Way Elimination Match to determine the Number One Contender: Charlotte, Becky, Lana, Tamina, Natalya

Keri:  As said on this week’s blog I’m kinda done with women’s wrestling at the moment. I’m sick of the same people getting pushed over and over again. With that said, I would like to see Natalya or Tamina win just for some variety. Prediction: #lolcharlottewins and I take a break until August 28th and the Mae Young Classic.

Cece: These ladies have been working their asses off (except Lana) for a while now at a shot at something. I’m glad Carmella is not involved, because she doesn’t deserve it either. (Kent: Carmella, along with Naomi, are the only 2 on that roster that have stepped up over the past 6 months.  Everybody else has gotten complacent (Charlotte & Becky), lazy (Natty), or never had it (Tamina).  Carmella has earned it.)

Prediction: Probably something stupid like Tamina helps Lana win. (Which I’d be furious) but I’d prefer Charlotte gets her crown back.

Teddy: Charlotte will win, and against Naomi Carmella will cash in stealing the title.

Kent:  Tamina has been booked very strongly lately, so eliminate her.  Becky just beat Charlotte, so get the fudge out of here.  That leaves 3 possibilities.  Smart money has to be on Charlotte because they made such a huge deal when she came to SD and has done jack shit since her arrival, and this is for Summerslam.  It seems like they will try to make a big match and Natalya doesn’t equate to a big match with Naomi.  I don’t want Charlotte to win though.  I will be picking Lana here, just know that Charlotte is going to win.  Also, is Ellsworth due back soon?

Prediction: Lana because just look at her.  

  1.  US Championship Match: AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens

Keri:  This should be a match of the night contender. I love watching these guys wrestle. They are not in fight forever territory yet but could be soon. That territory is currently reserved for Sami and KO (and Okada and Omega). (Kent: Those 2 are still feuding?  Damn!  That’s some Dean vs Miz shit right there.)  With that said, prediction: AJ retains and this feud continues.

Cece: These 2 are getting old. And by these 2, I mean KO. He’s had his time to shine. I suggest after this he steps aside and gives other people some time in the spotlight.

Prediction: AJ keeps belt.

Teddy: I would say AJ should keep the title. KO is getting Old as a heel and needs some new life. I wouldnt mind a WWE title push vs Orton because I am really sick of Jinder tbh.

Prediction: Styles wins but narrowly

Kent:  This is actually the toughest match on the card to predict.  KO may need the belt more because he is great as a belt holder, and he’s not getting the blue belt any time soon.  I think they want to have AJ continue this US Open Challenge thing and I think Cena vs AJ or Shinsuke vs AJ at Summerslam is the best matchup that they can really offer at this point.  Also, I don’t get where people are suggesting that these 2 are getting old.  They have had like 2-3 matches.  The Money in the Bank match happened.  I still like this feud immensely.  I think people may regret not wanting more of this.  It’s the 2 best wrestlers on the SD side.  Then you get tier 2 guys like Dolph, Shin, Luke, Randy, Cena, Sami, and possibly Corbin.  I say enjoy it while you can.

Prediction: AJ Styles

  1.  Baron Corbin vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Keri:  This has the potential of being another match of the night contender. This feud has surprised me and I’m enjoying it. I expect a good match here. Prediction: Nakamura wins

Cece: I am not sure how I feel about this match. I feel like it’s been put together very oddly and my hope, is that it ends up being a really good, long match to show everyone what these two guys are actually capable of.

Prediction: Baron Corbin.

Teddy: this is probably the match I’m most excited for because of the hard hitting nature of both of them. That being said I believe the should push Shinsuke in a sort of quick match so Corbin can cash in and steal the title from Jinder and Orton.

Prediction: Nakamura

Kent:  Baron has the briefcase, so he is going to continue to job.  Shinsuke isn’t in any rush to have a clean loss.  I fully expect this match to be fun and hard hitting.  This may actually be the easiest match on the card to predict.

Prediction: Shinsuke Nakamura

  1.  Flag Match: John Cena vs Rusev

Keri:  LOLCenawins. That is all.

Cece: Tired of seeing All-American VS. foreigner matches. This shouldn’t be what it’s all about. So, I think it’s sort of lazy writing. As for wrestling, I do hope it’s a good match bc Rusev has been out for a while.

Prediction: I do believe Cena will come out on top though.

Teddy: Kinda pointless to have this match, but Rusev and Cena are both amazing together in the ring. Given the nature of the match I don’t see Rusev winning.

Prediction: Cena because USA

Kent:  Do we really have to do this?  Like, really, does this match need to happen?  Both guys have just returned.  This sets such a bad precedence if Rusev loses, much like his beautiful bride has been since she started wrestling.  Smackdown was supposed to be a fresh start for both of them.  I hope Rusev gets some help from other Bulgarians.  I will contact my gal pal in Bulgaria, Tzvetalina Tzervoska, and check to see if she can get him some help.  I probably butchered the spelling of her name.

Prediction: Doo do do dooooooo

  1.  Tag Team Championship Match: Uso’s vs New Day

Keri:  Since WWE hates tag teams, this is a surprisingly good feud.  I expect we have a decent match from both teams and the feud continues. Prediction: Usos retain and we march to Summerfest

Cece: This has been going on for quite sometime. I think it’s maybe time for this to be broken up a bit. Maybe Uso’s should really hardcore and start becoming the alpha-heels of SD. So, I say they win.

Prediction: Uso’s in a really cheap way.

Teddy: I’m gonna say while I like the Usos gimmick I feel the New Day being SUPER over in this match.

Prediction: New Day Wins and rematch Vs Usos at Summerslam.

Kent:  I think a lot of people are liking this feud.  I am ok with it if the payoff is a heel turn here or at Summerslam for somebody in New Day.  They have gone past their fresh point, despite it only going for 2 months.  It’s not fun anymore.  Some feuds can hold together longer, but not this one.  This is the black Shield, so if Big E is Roman, and Xavier is Dean, that makes Kofi as Seth Rollins, and that means Kofi will turn on them.  Russ will officially have a new favorite on Smackdown.

Prediction: The Uso’s

  1.  Punjabi Prison Match: Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton

Keri:  I dislike this feud and feel this title reign is kinda meh. With that said, I highly doubt they take the belt off Jinder at this PPV with Summerslam so close.  (Kent: I have been wondering who’s fault it is for Jinder’s run as champ to suck so much.  Is it Jinder because his matches are lackluster?  Is it Randy because he’s not being given anything to really work with as he’s not a good sympathetic face?  Is it creative for doing another foreigner gimmick poorly?  I blame creative because this pairing never made  a lot of sense.)

Prediction: There will be no hindering of the Jinder.

Cece: This thing has been going on for far too long. I am sick of Jinder, and have been since he started this whole gimmick. But, I honestly see this being majorly entertaining in a way. Maybe it’s because of the prison part. I do hope there are other randoms who come out and try to help/stop things to make it more fun.

Prediction: Jinder will retain.

Teddy: This match is set up for Jinder to win, but I feel like we are gonna see more of the Legend Killer in this match. I feel like it could go either way because it feels like a Corbin is gonna cash in kind of night.

Prediction: Corbin Cashes in (Kent: I really hope that you’re right.)

Kent:  Jinder is most likely winning this, but it is his first big gimmick match.  On top of that, how much longer will WWE be backing Jinder as a champ?  Will they go 6 months so that he seems credible after the fact?  I don’t know if you can make his run feel credible at this point with these shitty stories.  Would WWE be better off having Randy win and then Baron immediately cash it in?  Randy vs Baron at Summerslam is a better main event than Jinder vs anybody, including AJ, plus it would most likely be Cena vs Jinder.    I know that Randy has been bland, but him chasing it from Baron is actually a really good feud and matchup.  Also, you should have to take a shot every time the announcers mention how nobody can get in the prison to interfere and then finish your beer when there’s interference.  Trust me, this will make the match way better.

Prediction: Randy wins and Baron cashes in

Bonus Deuce

  1. Pick the best and worst matches of the night.

Keri:  Best: AJ vs KO
Worst: Jinder vs Orton

Cece: Best: Shinsuke & Corbin
Worst: Cena & Rusev

Teddy: Best: Usos and the New Day
Worst: Aiden English and Tye Dillenger

Kent:  Best: AJ vs KO
Worst:  Cena vs Rusev as both will have ring rust

  1.  Which match are you most looking forward to? Which match as you least looking forward to?  

 Keri:  Most looking forward to: Shinsuke vs. Corbin. I think it will surprise me.
Least: Tie between Cena vs. Rusev and Women’s match due to ending predictability.

Cece: Im looking forward mostly to Shinsuke and Corbin.
Least: Aiden and Tye.

Teddy: Most: Definitely Shinsuke vs Corbin.
Least: Women’s match because I know it’s all set up to let Carmella cash in

Kent:  Most: Shinshuke vs Baron as it shouldn’t be too long, and should be a fun match
Least: Women’s match I think will be really messy with Charlotte taking on 2 women after the early eliminations of Becky and Tamina.  Sounds awful.

All pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.

The Wrestling 9 Deuce – July 17 & 18, 2017 – The Booing Bulgaria is Acceptable Edition

Welcome everybody to the only wrestling blog that is on strike after the cancellation of Talking Smack.  There’s a Battleground PPV which has the colors of the rainbow for it’s logo which strikes me as a tad odd.  Anyway, we also had the big Kurt Angle reveal, and boy was it EPIC, right Keri?

Of course, we also did our podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

  1.  Soooo, about that Kurt Angle announcement, how are you feeling about that?

Russ:  Very underwhelming.  This was just about the safest route they could go and I don’t see the point in doing it.  The whole thing leading up to the announcement made it seem like this was something that could be a problem.  How would having an illegitimate son when you were younger be career ending?  I had heard a lot of people saying that his son was going to be Chad Gable before the announcement.   In hindsight knowing that they were going this route it is obvious that Jason Jordan was going to be the choice.  He had been mysteriously absent the last couple weeks, while Chad has had a presences on Smackdown.  He is the right age and he kind of looks like Angle.  Looking for a silver lining I hope this means a major push of Jordan because I still have no idea why they would break-up a great tag team like American Alpha.  Sure they were being wasted, but that’s on WWE not AA.  

Keri:  Well that was something. I mean Jason Jordan as a long lost son makes sense. They kind of look alike. But still, they broke up a really good tag team for this long lost son angle. Wow, WWE you really are stupid. I really wish I didn’t buy tickets for RAW next week in DC. Maybe I still have time to sell them? But would anyone buy them? I guess I’m stuck with them so I guess I’ll go since I spent the money and all.

Kent:  Listen to last week’s podcast, and yes, I did say that Jason Jordan would be his illegitimate son.  Yes, it also involved nailing Sharmell, and yes, it also involved Chad, but still, I got it right.  So yes, I AM A GENIE!!!  Also, breaking up American Alpha and Enzo and Cass within 2 months.  The Ascension is starting to look better and better, as long as Konnor is wearing a white T shirt.

  1.  So do you think that we are getting a 4 way Red Belt match at Summerslam?

Russ:  First of all last night’s Main Event was a Sweatfest. Joe had done like 3 moves and was already in a rest hold and he was wetter than Roman’s hair on a normal night.  Was the AC Broken?  Now as for the question, II think it is damn well possible!  (Kent, I know you wrote these question in advance of the show.  Did you get Mr. Clio to help you?)  Again I’m going to stay positive about this.  These are 4 hoss’s all vying for the Title.  Each of them can be great in the ring.  So this should make for an interesting Main Event at SummerSlam.  On a side note: This match is a Vince McMahon wet dream!  4 big guys going at it and all of them are legitimate.  It’s a great time to be Vince.  He’s old so I don’t want to think of him getting off to this… (Kent: I want to comment that Russ is right on the sweat thing. That was something that was commented on at my place as well.  It was a lot of sweat.)  

Keri:  Yes, I think we are. I think that was made very obvious last night. Now, we can see three of the top guys get buried by Brock at Summerslam. And I can see the exact same thing next week when RAW is in DC. Yea on all accounts! Seriously, why did I buy tickets for RAW next week? I’m claiming temporary insanity.

Kent:  Yes, and it’s going to be one of the 5 best matches of the year when all is said and done.  Brock is dropping the belt and Joe is finally going to get the chance to be the man.  Brock and Braun will be able to stay fresh.  We are guaranteed some big spots.  What’s not to like?  It will be pure BLISS!

  1.  Should Bayley be back in the hunt for the RAW Women’s belt after all of her losses so recently, while others don’t get a chance?

Russ:  Neither Bayley or Sasha should be in the title hunt.  I’d like to see someone else go up against Little Miss Bliss.  There are a lot of good women on the RAW roster why do we keep going back to the Bayley Sasha well?  I definitely see this becoming a three-way dance at SummerSlam.  

Keri:  My short and sweet answer: NO!! I’m so sick of Bayley and Sasha. They need to go away for a long time or feud with each other. Yes, that would be something new and interesting. I’m declaring this now. No more commenting on women’s wrestling for me until August 28th. Then I will talk about the Mae Young Classic and nothing else. In the meantime, all responses about women’s wrestling questions will revolve around my excitement for the Mae Young Classic. Is it August 28th yet?

Kent:  No, Emma is getting screwed, and not by Mr. Woo Woo Woo.  Bayley should be in the back of the line.  Dana and Emma don’t get any follow up on their angle.  I’m sure Emma wil be released soon enough.  Fuck you WWE!

  1.  Is this really the best use of talents such as Seth, Dean, and Miz heading into the second biggest PPV of the year?  What is the best case scenario?

Russ:  This is certainly not the best case scenario.  However, we still don’t know how this is all going to flesh out.  Are we going to have a Tag Match at SummerSlam?  All signs point to yes, but I’m going to give the best case scenario. WARNING:  Seth Rollins is going to be heavily pushed in this fantasy booking.  You’ve been warned.  So after Dean and Seth’s victory over The Miztourage next Monday.  The two of them will square off for a #1 Contendership for the IC title.  During the match Elias will interfere, because he will have moved on from Finn,  and take out Dean.  This will leave Seth to face The Miz at SummerSlam.  There Seth will win the IC title and become the GREATEST IC Champion EVER!!! (ok, that is really overdoing it.  I’ll settle for top 10.)  

Keri:  What other options really do they have for both Seth and Dean? Nothing really. They have the following options: have them feud with each other, have them feud with each other and Miz over the belt, or no feud for the belt and have it Seth and Dean vs. the Miztourage for the next month. Either way, don’t we the fans lose? I mean we’ve seen all of this before and I don’t know about all of you but I don’t want to see it again.

Kent:  Yes, this is definitely the best use of all of these guys to get Bo and Curtis over. Duhhh.  Best case scenario is Bo Dallas as IC champ.

  1.  Who would benefit most from a victory over The Hardy Boys at Summerslam?

Russ:  The Revival.  The main reason is that it would be a great passing of the torch and who better to get that moment than The Revival.  Seriously, the story writes itself.  The Revival are all about going hard.  While the Hardly’s are all about Air and Flash.  The Revival don’t like how them Hardly’s fly around the ring and they reckon to teach em a lesson!  Simple, fits both teams perfectly and if it ends up being a great match it will instantly elevate The Revival.  

Keri:  Gallows and Anderson. They are the only team left in the “division” that hasn’t been booked strong. By having the Hardy’s put over Gallows and Anderson, perhaps Gallows and Anderson can start digging themselves out of the hole they have been booked into by Creative. The Revival honestly do not need the win. They already look strong and should be deemed a threat for Sheasaro.

Kent:  Some team that goes hard. That and the Cracker Party (Ginger Rhynos).

  1.  Are you starting to get the feeling that Rusev can win his match against Cena at Battleground?

Russ:  It would be a hell of a troll to have Rusev win.  Since WWE likes to troll its fans, yes I have the feeling he is going to win this.  

Keri:  Are you kidding? Rusev is going to get buried by Cena yet again. Le Sigh.

Kent:  Yeah, if Sunday is Opposite Day, Hell freezes over, and I grow hair all prior to the match.  So what I am saying is that there’s at least a 3% chance.

  1.  If you had to completely dismiss 2 of the 5 women in Sunday’s match, who would they be?

Russ:  I look at this in two ways:  1.  Dismiss those I just don’t want to win: Charlotte and Tamina.  Charlotte needs TO STOP! ACTING so ENTITLED! THINKING she NEEDS to always BE ON TOP. Just read that in Charlotte’s voice and feel the rage.  2. Dismiss those who have no chance:  Lana and Natalya. I mean come on if one of these two wins I’ll miss a full week of wrestling.  I’m willing to go that far!  We all know missing wrestling is terrible so this is a real punishment.  

Keri:  Tamina and Lana. Neither woman deserves a title shot. Also, is it August 28th yet?

Kent:  Tamina has been on a tear lately.  Becky won her match.  There you go.  Those 2 may brawl on the outside and get eliminated simultaneously and leave Charlotte to fend off the vicious duo of Natalya and Lana.  Oh bloody hell.  Just look at Charlotte’s ass and feel better about life.

  1.  Is there any benefit in having the New Day win the tag team championship?

Russ:  Sure!  They can be a great champions for a short run.  They are great on the mic most nights and they can help put over a young heel team like… the… Ascension (ok, WWE needs to get more young heel teams on Smackdown.)  Should they win it at Battleground?  FUCK NO!  The Uso’s are doing great as champs!  However, the question didn’t ask that.  

Keri:  Not at all. They held the tag team championship belts for over a year not that long ago. Why do they need the title again? There are plenty of other tag teams you know like Breezedango, the Ascension, and American Alpha (oh wait a minute, nevermind) that deserve a title opportunity more than the New Day.  

Kent:  Nope, no benefit.  New Day will have the big heel turn Sunday.  Summerslam will feature Hype Bros vs Uso’s so we can get that split going because NXT teams must be split up quickly upon making the main roster.  On the plus side, Breezedango has a real chance after that, and either way, The Authors of Pain will get the call up eventually….just like Asuka.  Oh boy.

  1.  What are you looking forward to the most on Sunday: Baron vs Shinsuke, Aj vs KO, Breezedango concluding their search, or Game of Thrones?

Russ:  Wrestling has been a mediocre pile of trash lately so of course Game of Thrones is way more important.  Take that out of the equation I’m really looking forward to Baron vs. Shinsuke.  Both guys have been on top of their games and I can’t wait to see what they can do in the ring together.  I’m really hoping Baron wins, but typically, the MiTB holder sometimes go through a major loss cycle before cashing in and since Shinsuke never freaking loses, I’m a little concerned.  

Keri:  Breezedango concluding their search since I don’t watch Game of Thrones until Monday evening. But if I could watch Game of Thrones Sunday night, I would be looking forward to that and  would be watching that instead of Battleground.

Kent:  Wow, that is tough.  Well tough to figure out who finishes a distant second to Game of Thrones.  I’m going witH Baron vs Shinsuke because it should be about 5 minutes of intro and 10 minutes of fun brawling match.  I’m not asking for much.

Bonus Deuce

  1. Rate RAW

Russ:  I had the pleasure of being able to fast-forward last night so the night didn’t seem to drag on for me.  There was some good stuff on the show:  Reigns vs. Joe and Braun interrupting and wreaking havoc was great.  I liked that WWE used logic in the Dean and Seth relation (A rare thing for WWE to follow.)  Also, I like that we may finally see Bray vs. Finn at SummerSlam, though what will they do with poor Elias?  A decent amount of focus on the Cruiserweights which was nice and I love what they are doing with Titus WorldWide!  OF course you can’t talk about RAW without running into garbage and there was some.  I’m sick of Bayley and Sasha,  Kurt’s angle ended up being very meh on RAW after weeks of decent intrigue and build up.  

Rating: 5.5  (being able to fast-forward helped a lot!)  

Keri:  Well, other than Angle’s love child announcement, it was pretty much the same RAW as last week and the week before and the week before. It was predictable and boring. WWE, you have one week to get your shit together for next week’s RAW in DC. I’m paying for a good show and I expect one, okay? But, based on what I’ve seen week after week,  I have a feeling that I won’t. Oh well. Rating: 2.9 for lack of creativity.

Kent:  I don’t remember much.  If I give it a 3.5 for the Angle announcement, Revival winning, Joe vs Roman, and half a point for Elias killing Finn with that guitar.  That sounds about right.  More Bliss you fools!

  1.  Rate Smackdown

Russ:  This was an average show.  Nothing too special occurred, but nothing was too awful.  I enjoyed the Fashion X Files,  Lots of matches some decent.  Unfortunately, this was a go home show and average isn’t good enough.  The show before a PPV is supposed to get you excited about the PPV.  This show failed to do that for the most part.  Rating: 4.3

Keri:  Overall, this week’s show was better than RAW. It wasn’t as predictable and we got to see some new stuff. We also got a legitimate build for this Sunday’s PPV which is something you don’t get on RAW unless you are in the main event or Reigns is involved. Therefore, my rating is: 4.5.

Kent:  I had forgot most of what happened aside from the main event, which was fun, and the Fashion Files.    I think Smackdown had less positives than RAW, but it was an hour shorter.  Still, it’s getting a 3.2 as too much talking that wasn’t good.  2 points for main event, 1 for Fashion Files, and 0.2 for Lana and Rusev.

Final Thoughts

Russ:  WWE is wasting the most talented roster it has ever had.  It boggles the mind, we should be in a renaissance of wrestling right now, instead everything just seems tedious and boring.  This is tough to watch lately.  So much talent and so little pay off it just isn’t worth the time commitment that wrestling takes every week.  

Keri:  Overall, with PPVs every other week and the same old storylines on RAW and sometimes Smackdown week after week, I think I have wrestling fatigue. A fatigue that is making me a lot snarkier than usual. Hopefully, next week, when RAW is in DC the show is better or at least seems better because I’m watching it live. But either way, with everything else that is out there in terms of wrestling, I think WWE has lost a viewer because their product is officially crap.

Kent:  Thanks WWE for cancelling Talking Smack.  I will be bitching about this for the foreseeable future.  You cancelled the best show that you have.  The only show that consistently gave talent a forum to get their characters over.  That show has a large part of why Smackdown has been so successful since the brand extension.  Performers like Miz, Baron, Alexa, Jinder, AJ, and the Uso’s have had opportunities to showcase their characters.  Rhyno was Santa.  Eric Rowan scared Renee.  KO spilled water on Renee’s phone.  Daniel got to shoot a bit.  So, congrats on screwing  the fans and, more importantly, the talent.  You complain that nobody grabs the brass ring, but you push Roman.  What the fuck has he ever done to grab a brass ring aside from look good?  This is why the fans are so disgruntled with your product.  BUT I do want to finish this on a positive note.  There’s a female on RAW that we never get to see, but I understand that she’s a great wrestler.  Her name is Emma.  Here’s a new bikini shoot featuring her from WWE.  That’s what she is used for now, her looks, not her talent.  SHAME!  SHAME! SHAME!

Emma Bikini Shoot

All pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.

The Wrestling 9 Deuce – July 10 & 11, 2017 – AJ vs Cena….Nah, Just Kidding Edition

Welcome everybody to the only wrestling blog that hopes that the Dean Ambrose and Miz feud never ends!  We also discuss Alberto and Paige.

Of course, we also did our podcast, Are You Not Kentertained, where we discuss some of these topics and others, plus do our weekly segments.  It’s like a verbal companion to the blog. Please check us out at facebook.com/9deuceblog , on Twitter @official9deuce, or Instagram at Official9Deuce.  Share this, like this, write us an email with a question at wrestling@9deuce.com.  Thank you.

The 9

  1.  Let’s start off with the biggest wrestling news story of the week.  Alberto (El Patron/Del Rio) and Paige are back in the news.  There appears to have been a domestic situation, a fight and argument of some sorts.  The audio is out there for the world to hear.   Alberto is the #1 champion in TNA/Impact/GFW. And Paige is still a WWE employee.  Give us your thoughts without being terribly redundant.

Russ:  Their relationship is toxic and bad for both of them.  Alberto is quick to anger as has been said in the back and shown by him on several occasions.  Paige isn’t perfect in all of this either, but she really should get herself out of this relationship before she does something brash and Alberto doesn’t like it.  As for TNA/Impact/GFW they should have seen this coming a mile away.  They have no one to blame except themselves to be stupid enough to put the belt on someone as unreliable as Del Rio.  

Keri:  I just don’t know where to begin with this story. This is just tragic is a capital T. This is no longer a case of just puppy love and severe daddy issues. No it has gotten way more serious than that. Alberto has all of the textbook elements of an abusive boyfriend. He’s a hothead, he’s rich, an alleged alcohol and drug abuser, and he knows Paige is too young and naive to do anything about it. I’ve listen to the audio and it sounds like Paige knows she needs to leave but is to scared to leave him. Either that or she has tried and the creep is stalking her. You know the thing that bothers me is that the story (and her family) says that he is abusing her and she allegedly said that herself during the argument, according to the witness who recorded the audio tape. If that is the case, why is nobody helping her? She needs to find someone who will stand up for her and get her out of this situation before it ends very badly for her. I seriously fear for her safety at this point.

Kent:  I grew up in an abusive household.  Listening to the audio clip sounded all too familiar to me.  There is some bad shit going on here.  Alberto is definitely in the wrong here, and I suspect Paige is too.  Everybody tends to want to give the female the easy pass, but I bet she does plenty of things to push his buttons to get such a reaction.  This is what happens in toxic relationships.  We have feared for Paige’s, and possibly Alberto’s life for months now.  They do not have any children, and whatever assets that they may own jointly are totally replaceable with the money that they have earned.  Paige is a beautiful young lady who can still have a great 10-15 year run in WWE because of her age.  Alberto can still be a great asset to GWF for the next 3-5 years.   More importantly, they need to be value themselves appropriately because this relationship is killing their stock and probably wearing on them mentally, emotionally, and quite possibly, physically.  So to them, I hope they pull a Shinedown and Cut The Cord because there comes a point in a toxic relationship were no matter how hard you try, you are mentally conditioned to be unable to get out, much like that awful “horror film” of last year.I still say that Paige will be dead in 2018, and I feel horrible for even suggesting that.

  1.  How is Roman Reigns eligible to be #1 contender when he just lost his PPV match against Braun?  Who should face Brock at Summerslam?

Russ:  You know when you rule the yard you can do anything you want.  I love this!  He lost, so give him a championship opportunity.  Giving him a chance to be #1 contender after what he did to Braun and not to mention lost the previous match makes it really hard to suspend belief. In the world of wrestling attempted manslaughter is rewarded with a chance at the Red Belt.  WWE makes it hard to be a fan sometimes.  As for who should face Brock I’d say it should be Bray Wyatt.  He beat Seth Rollins twice in two nights.  He lost his belt and was never granted a rematch, so he should be granted one of equal or lesser value on the show (in this case much much lesser value, FUCK YOU RED BELT. )  (Kent: Huh….I’m readily agreeing with Russ.  What’s the temperature in Hell again?)

Keri:  I can answer this question in four simple words. Because he is Reigns. Haven’t y’all learned at this point, he doesn’t need to earn a title shot he just gets one. I’m not saying the guy isn’t talented and deserving but after years and years of getting him shoved down our throats you can understand why I’m saying what I’m saying. This guy was not built organically and the fans hate him for it. With that said, we will see him and Brock face off at Summerslam and we will need to deal with it. Or we can go with my plan and watch other promotions because that is far more interesting to me at this point then being insulted by weekly RAW and Smackdown programming.

Kent:  WWE logic time, so everybody gather round.  Have a big PPV Ambulance match, then lose aforementioned Ambulance match, then break the law and try to kill your opponent, and show up the next night to have an opportunity to be the #1 contender.  Seriously, that’s what just happened.  It should be Braun vs Joe.  Had they started out with that and then said that because Braun is physically unable to compete, there will be a match to determine the new #1 contender, that would have worked.  I hate being a wrestling fan.  By the way, nobody looked better in that segment than Samoa Joe.  Just waiting for his inevitable burial.  My bold prediction is that somebody convinces Vince to do the right thing.  Next week have the Joe vs ROman match and have a bandaged Braun come out to distract Roman, give Joe the win and then put the belt on Joe at Summerslam.  That or just make it a 4 way elimination match, because that match would kick a lot of ass.

  1.  We had the Mizzies awarded on RAW and Dean and Seth interrupted the festivities. Discuss this segment and anything else related to it.

Russ:  I was not kentertained by this segment.  I thought the whole thing was boring and predictable and there wasn’t really anything funny.  I seriously hope that the way they are interjecting Seth is a way to pry Dean and The Miz apart, because I really don’t want to see these two wrestle again for at least a year.  

Keri:  I felt that the Mizzies segment was funny at points but to be honest I’m getting bored with funny heel Miz segments. They are all the same. Say something nice about Maryse and now Bo and Axel. And then we insult Ambrose and oh look Ambrose comes out. Oh joy. This feud needs to end and I don’t think it will for another month or so. Also, what is the point of this Seth and Bray thing? I didn’t understand it pre GBOF and I don’t understand it now. This is so stupid and insulting. I think need a RAW break. Smackdown you better impress me or I’m on hiatus.

Kent:  Set to an all time favorite tune by Air Supply.  Millennials, just move along.

I’m all out of fucks, this feud has lost me
I thought I was right in Bo-Lieveing for so long
Creative is all out of ideas, they failed with Dean
They were too late to save this feud from going so wrong

Seriously, turn Dean, pretty please.

  1.  Is Finn Balor simply not right for the WWE?  On the main roster, he hasn’t matched up well with many of his opponents, and at some point, one must consider all possibilities.

Russ:  I don’t know if it is a case of not being right for the WWE, but if they are properly utilizing Finn.  Ever since his return, the WWE seems to have forgotten how to use him and at some points they simply forgot him.  He wasn’t on Great Balls of Fire.  Why?  They started a feud with Bray and then dropped it. Now he is going up against Ellias.  I hope the WWE doesn’t screw this up.  I hope both guys get time to shine in a decent 15-20 minute match at SummerSlam.  Instead I know what is really going to happen:  Finn will beat Ellias in about 3 minutes in a quick curtain jerker.

Keri:  I don’t think it’s a question of whether or not he is right for the WWE. I think it’s a question of what happened between when he was in NXT and now. The answer to that question is booking. He matched up well with KO, Joe, Shinsuke, and others in NXT and put on phenomenal matches with all of those individuals. As a matter of fact, he was the face of the NXT brand for the better part of a year.  Let’s keep in mind that his initial match with Seth on the main roster at Summerslam (injury aside) was also very good. He is talented and he has provided that throughout his career in other promotions. Honestly, I think he is on the wrong brand. He is getting lost in the shuffle on RAW. Perhaps, moving him to Smackdown will help put him a place where he can shine like he did on NXT.

Kent:  Finn matched up ok in NXT with Samoa Joe.  I’m trying to give other examples but even his KO feud was on the mediocre side.  On the main roster, he’s had a solid match or two with Roman.  His match with Seth was pretty decent.  On the flip side, most of his matches have been wholly underwhelming.  His stuff with Miz and Elias haven’t made him look good at all.  They seem hesitant to really feature him.  He’s been back since Mania.  He has been off the main card for 2 of the PPV’s.  That tells me that either he’s not fully healed or somebody is not 100% sold on him.  To further that point, I’m not sure who else he matches up with terribly well on RAW aside from possibly Bray.  He really could use a trade to Smackown.  Feuds with AJ, Shinsuke, Dolph, Baron, Cena, Rusev, Randy, and even KO and Jericho all seem scintillating to me.  I’m not willing to give up on Finn, but he needs to hit the reset button, much like most of the RAW roster.

  1.  Which WWE tag team had the best week?

Russ:  I’m giving this to Sheasaro.  They participated in the best match of the week.  They elevated to the next level as a tag team after that match (it’s just too bad they have no one to feud with now.)  

Keri:  I’m going to have to say it’s a tie between Gallows and Anderson and the Revival. Both teams looked very strong Monday night. G&A got a much needed win. The Revival reintroduced themselves to the fans and reminded all of us that they go hard.

Kent:  I haven’t seen Smackdown yet, but I feel confident that my choice will come from RAW unless a member of a tag team lays his Wood to a piece of paper in a book and turn it over.  This is tough.  Sheasaro won the hurt Matt.  Gallows and Anderson got a clean win over the Hardly’s.  The Revival made their return and destroyed the Hardly’s after this match.  I hate to say this, but I think I’m going to say the Hardly’s.  They are going out and keep toying with the broken catchphrases.  They helped steal the show Sunday.  Over the course of approximately 24 hours, they put over 3 young and hungry teams to help elevate the tag division as a whole.  It was very incredible.  How can I not give it to the Hardly’s?

  1.  AJ Styles won the US Championship from Kevin Owens in MSG this past week.  Was this a good decision?  Are we destined for another AJ vs Cena match?  Did you miss the KO and Rusev tag team?

Russ:  I do believe that it is a good idea to sometimes have championships change hands at home shows.  It is just good for business.  If you want people to attend your non-televised live events then they need to know that anything can happen at that show.  That will generate excitement and more people would be interested in going to these shows. Now WWE just has to do it at a small time place say like Albany to give us all that feeling of hope and possibility.  Thought the tag match was well done!  KO and Rusev make a good team!  

Keri:  Given the way PPVs have been lately, I would have to say it doesn’t really matter. We are getting RAW and Smackdown level matches during PPVs so why shouldn’t we get a title change at a house show. It’s not a good decision or a bad one. It’s just a representation of the status quo in today’s WWE. With that said, yes we are destined for another Cena vs. AJ matech and we will probably not mind it. Someone should put on a match of the year caliber match at some point shouldn’t they? I like the KO and Rusev tag team. It worked given the current storyline but I doubt we will see it again.

Kent:  Rusev and KO tagged a lot last year especially against Roman and Seth.  They are a very good tag team, despite being singles stars.  They have great chemistry.  I recommend keeping an eye out for more of them.  I don’t like the title change.  With depleted rosters, the US Open challenge won’t be as successful  Furthermore, until they decide to make PPV’s feel special again, please don’t whore the US belt at a house show, even if it is THE house show.  Cena vs Styles part 5 works for me.  They are incapable of having a bad match apparently.

  1.  Well, WWE has made an historic, first time ever, 5 woman number 1 contenders match for Battleground.  Feel the history.  Give the fans one good reason why they should watch the match aside from history.

Russ:  So we can all see Becky fail one more time to the “truly” deserving Charlotte Flair. WOOOOOOOO!  

Keri:  Damn you WWE and your overuse of those two words. They really do use them everywhere. Even in NXT which I recently started watching again. They hired professional writers don’t they? You would think that they could come up with something better than historic or first time ever. So stupid. There is nothing I can say that should sell anyone on this match. There is going to be nothing historic or first time ever about it. The ending ladies and gents is lolcharlottewins. Now I’ve saved you all 10 minutes next Sunday. Don’t everyone thank me at once. (Kent: No thank you.)

Kent:  Lana and her entrance music.  It’s catchy damnit!  She’s also going to win and piss a lot of people off when she sneaks in after everybody hits their finishers.  Admit it, you didn’t consider her winning and now that I have said it and described it, you know that there’s a 40% chance of that scenario happening and it’s better than most of the other options.  If not Lana, then please give it to Tamina.  Also, if Carmella isn’t going to get a match and neither is Naomi, they should be on commentary.   You’re welcome for this.

Lana Bikini Shoot

  1.  Did Tye’s match with Jinder help or hurt him?  

Russ:  I’m going to say helped.  Any time on TV is good I suppose.  Especially, when you are given a match.  Tye has all the pieces to be a great mid-carder, but he has to hone those skills still.  The fans love him, he isn’t that great in the ring yet, but he has promise so anytime he gets a match to work and improve is a good thing.  

Keri:  I say this match helped Tye. Keep in mind that during the battle royale he was one of the final 3 along with AJ and Sami. If the company didn’t have faith in the guy that wouldn’t have happened nor would they have put him in a match with the champ. It looks like they may see something in Tye so I say let’s wait and see how it plays out.

Kent:  I say this hurt him.  Tye is a guy who needs wins.  Look at NXT.  He could have been a headliner, but they never gave him the wins.  The WWE hasn’t learned from NXT’s mistakes.  Some people are brought up to be midcard fodder at best.  Yes, Tye connects with the fans and that’s awesome.  Tye is my guy and has been since I first saw him in NXT.  I just fear that his glass ceiling is significantly lower than it should be.  He’s on the wrong roster to make a move up the midcard ladder.Tye vs Mike Bennett strikes me as interesting quite frankly, as does Tye vs Baron.  Baron works better with smaller guys.  I think he likes the challenge of trying to keep up with them and he has learned to sell a smaller guy’s offense.  

  1.  For the little bit of time that we got Baron vs Shinsuke, did you feel that they may have hit the right combination for both men?  Also, who stole Breezedango’s horse?

Russ:  I like the pairing. It’s different, both guys have a hard hitting style and this week really solidified that fact.  I’d like to see more of these two in the future and I hope that Baron comes out on top for all of our sanities sakes. As for who stole the horse I hope it was Aiden English, because he is looking for a good tag team partner.  He goes out with the horse as his partner and then starts going on a winning streak.  I’d buy that for a dollar.  (Kent: Smash TV reference and an idea of Aiden winning with a horse partner….sold.)

Keri:  At first this feud made as much sense to me as Bray and Randy but watching everything last night, I’m finally coming around on this pairing. This is going to be a brutal matchup and it’s going to be fun to watch. As for the horse, I’m not sure who stole it but that poor horse. Also, I think we are forgetting the most important takeaway from Smackdown. And that is Sami wow wow? Really gable? Yeah that also happened.

Kent:  Baron and Shinsuke didn’t make a ton of sense initially.  Last week on Are You Not Kentertained, I suggested that this may work for 2 guys who like a harder hitting, strong style.  Now we have seen a glimpse of their potential, and it’s going to work.  Man, I’m a Genie!  I hope against all hope that Mike Bennett has stolen the horse.  Think about Breezedango dressing up as those 2 and the hilarity of it all.  Mike needs a partner though.  Who (who? who?) could that be?  Aiden English or Andrade Cien Almas would both be fun.  I would also consider Tyson Tomko if he is still in shape or someone like that.  My apologies to Keri for forgetting about Sami Wow Wow.  My bad………?

Bonus Deuce

  1. Rate RAW

Russ: This was a show that had some moments were good and some that weren’t so good..  Thought the Bray Rollins match was good.  I don’t like how they portrayed Cass.  I want him to be a big bruiser not a big bitch!  The Mizzies were a miss.  The Hardly’s getting their asses handed to them was a great spectacle.  I honestly don’t remember much else.
Rating: 4.5

Keri:  This wasn’t a bad show or a good show. It was just a show. Yes, we got a match that should have happened the night before in the PPV. Two tags teams had a good night. But as usual this show just bores me. RAW I’m taking a break from you. My weekly rating: 3

Kent:  Well it was great to get 2 matches on RAW that we should have had on the PPV in Finn vs Elias which was mediocre, and Truth vs Goldust which was less than adequate.  We got the Hardly’s getting got.  The women’s division showed no promise this week and no follow up on the Emma and Dana story.  This never ending Kurt angle….yeah I did that, is finally going someplace next week.  Big Cass has sole ownership as the most underwhelming wrestler on the main roster, much to Sin Cara’s chagrin.  Oh, Seth vs Bray apparently was the main event.   I got bored and started reading and was waiting for the next match and then RAW ended.  Which brings me to the worst of the worst.  Dean and Miz are still fucking feuding.  Stop it, please.  It appears that we will get Dean and Seth vs the Miztourage at Summerslam, possibly with a stipulation that if any member of the Miztourage loses, they lose the belt.  That could also lead to a heel turn for Dean.  Really, he needs one.  Hopefully that opens up Bray vs Finn and Elias can feud with……well Elias is fucked unless him vs APollo could happen, which i am all for.  That feud actually sounds great.  I give RAW a 3.2 for failing to hold my interest for over an hour.  I think that is fair.

  1.  Rate Smackdown

Russ:  As always I enjoyed the fashion files this week and we added a new wrinkle to the mystery.  I just don’t care about what is going down with the women right now because all signs point to #LoLCharlottewins.  KO and Rusev are great together and Rusev looks even handsomer (he’s my Man”Machka” of the week!)  At least we got to see Tye this week.
Rating: 5.2

Keri:  This show was slightly better than RAW but not by much. What happened to the good old days when Smackdown writing was decent? Oh well. At least this show has things I look forward to Handsomer Rusev, the Fashion files, Sami wow wow, and good wrestling. I actually didn’t not fall asleep while watching the show. That is important folks since RAW can’t keep me awake at all. Therefore, my weekly rating is 4.5.

Kent:  Pros: Fashion Files, Sami Wow Wow, Baron vs Shin, AJ vs Cena tease, KO & Rusev as a team, Mike & Maria, Chuck Norris. Cons: Underwhelming Jinder vs Tye, all women’s division segment, Charlotte’s peacock attire, Charlotte, only 4 real matches, Xavier vs Uso didn’t help the feud at all.  Overall, if RAW was a 3.2 then I give Smackdown a 4.4.

All pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are property of WWE and wwe.com.