Tag Archives: smackdown

Wrestling

Buddy Matthews Wins Gold…Kinda

Leave a comment

Congratulations to Buddy Matthews for winning the AEW…..TNT…..FTW…..ROH…..the MCW World Heavyweight Championship. Yes, you read that right folks. Buddy Matthews, one of the most talented wrestlers on the planet, just won the MCW Championship…. yikes.

I remember a time, not too long ago, when Matthews was in the WWE destroying everyone in the Cruiserweight Division and then went to the main roster, teamed with Seth Rollins and was released. THEN, showed up in AEW and teamed with Malakai Black and Brody King to do essentially nothing. Am I crazy for thinking Matthews is a superstar talent? Is it possible that these big named companies are just dropping the ball on him?

I’d like to read a quote from Matthews after winning the championship when he was asked when he will be returning.

“It’s all about the travel – it’s how many times I want to jump on a plane and travel 30 hours. To see my family is everything, and my WWE schedule was very hectic. Not that this one isn’t, but AEW – I’m very fortunate to work for a company that allows me to go and see my family. Pop over, and help these guys. It’s really cool to come and do that”

Translation:

Thank you AEW for giving me a contract where I have to wrestle 17 times a year and get to go to the indies and across the world to put together an audition tape for the WWE, Impact Wrestling and NJPW. If Tony Khan can’t find a way to make Buddy Matthews a relevant star in AEW, then he doesn’t deserve to have him.

Where do you think Buddy Matthews should go?

Picture from Dream by Wombo AI

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

Reigns vs Zayn: Not Over Yet?

Leave a comment

I said many times that I have a Love/Hate relationship with Brock Lesnar. I’ve seen many fantastic matches where he fought Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Triple H and others, but there have been a lot of terrible matches with Lesnar as well. the bad matchres consist of German Suplexes followed by an F5 and sprints to the finish of the match. A lot of high spots that get a quick reaction, but nothing long lasting.

This match was a bad Lesnar match in reverse. Slow, painfully slow. To the point where I questioned if Sami Zayn is even a good wrestler anymore. Zayn’s last couple of years in the WWE have been more theatrical than focusing on in ring ability. Yes, he was great in NXT, but I would say the most impressive thing he did on the main roster was his feud with Braun Strowman in 2016, which was 7 years ago. Since then, he has been bottom tier on the roster, lackluster feuds and essentially struggling to hold any type of spotlight. This could very well be the first time watching a wrestler be elevated to potential WrestleMania Championship match based on emotional storytelling and not in ring ability.

All this match did was show that Roman Reigns can command an arena doing very little wrestling. Roman yelled at the crowd, yelled at Zayn’s wife, mouthed off to Zayn’s father, yelled at the crowd again. Every now and then Zayn caught Reigns monologuing and took advantage, but not for long. It felt like watching a retirment match where Zayn’s career was on the line and we saw glimpses of great moments from his past.

Of course the referee went down, bringing in Jimmy Uso to Superkick Zayn until the ref woke up. The Jey Uso hesitation with the chair was interesting, but makes me wonder if this is leading to Jey and Zayn winning the tag titles, which wouldn’t surprise me, but would be an immense letdown of storytelling. Zayn winning the title from Reigns is the only outcome that makes sense. Anything else is a massive letdown.

So what did this match accomplish? That Zayn isn’t at the level that Reigns is? That the fans will chant for you more if your parents had unprotected sex in that city? This feud is over to me. Obviously, we have WrestleMania and an unfinished Jey Uso moment of truth, but this is now Cody Rhode’s time.

Did they bring back Rhodes to win the Royal Rumble and not be the focal point. That we are getting a Triple Threat Match for the titles that again reiterates the fact that Zayn can’t win the big one? So now, they’re sacrificing Rhode’s potential WrestleMania moment for Zayn, when his moment should’ve been in Canada. What a waste.

Art work from Dream by Wombo AI Art

Simptastic Joe

Wrestling

NXT Spring Breakin’ 2022 Prediction

Leave a comment

Grayson Waller vs. Nathan Frazer

Grayson Waller is who NXT should be building up as champion. I think Nathan Frazer is a good opponent, but shouldn’t be the focal point of the future of the 2.0 division. Waller is getting lost in the shuffle compared to his War Games teammates. I would’ve argued that Waller shoudlve been moved the main roster before WrestleMania in a match against AJ Styles, leading to a partnership between the 2 men.

Winner: Grayson Waller

The Creed Brothers vs. The Viking Raiders

The Creed Brothers have been sensational recently. I disagree how they won the titles, but if I had to put the belts on someone it would be them. The team is a more athletic Authors of Pain and even though they are very similar, you can see uniqueness in their moves. The Viking Raiders were a fantastic team on the main roster, I just don’t think they had the right opponents to create instant classics.

Winner: Creed Brothers

Natalya and Lash Legends vs. Cora Jade and Nikita Lyons

Nikita Lyons is the future of the Woman’s Division. This match will be focused on her mostly and the other women just adding her dramatic win.

Winner: Nikita Lyons and some other girl

Cameron Grimes vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Carmelo Hayes for the NXT North American Championship

Is the Bloodline going to interfere in this match? Is this all part of Roman Reign’s  proficy to get all the gold in the WWE? I think it’s the perfect time for it. the Bloodline and Reign’s title run can only last so long. Sikoa needs to get himself in that group as soon as possible to make sure he gets proper screentime.

If this doesn’t happen then Carmelo Hayes is my favorite to win. The future ids bright for Hayes and I don’t believe in Cameron Grimes. I feel like he is a filler champion and that NXT really doesn’t know how to write him.

Winner: Solo Sikoa

Bron Breakker vs. Joe Gacy for the NXT Championship

Love Joe Gacy, but now isn’t the time to hold this belt. I think they’ve been playing title hot potato too much between Bron Breakker and Dolph Ziggler with all their matches. Fight for the title on a PPV and then it changes on RAW? Kinda weird to me.

The only way I see Gacy winning this match, is if we unveil a new teammate for him. Harland has been released, and Gacy needs a big on his team. I see Gacy as the new Bray Wyatt and needs to start recruiting the future faction of NXT.

Winner: Bron Breakker

Wrestling

Jay White Vs The Best Friends

Leave a comment

After Jay White beat Trent in his AEW debut, I saw something that really annoyed me. The camera panned over to Orange Cassidy before the show cut to black……is AEW seriously going to give us Jay White vs Orange Cassidy? Are they really going to push a fight between White, who I say is top 5 in the world, against one of the least imposing threats in AEW? Not only that, I can see White fighting the entire Best Friends group, probably ending in a multi man tag match.

I figure this might be a good idea for a feud in theory, White is very popular overseas, but if you don’t watch him on YouTube then you probably never heard of him. My problem is that this feud is a waste of time, especially for White. I would have White attack Cassidy before he enters the Face of the Revolution Ladder match this weekend. Attack him backstage, knock him out of the match and get White in that match against the best the company has to offer.

You can have Cassidy interfere and cost White’s chances of winning the match, setting up their feud. But having Cassidy in that match is such a waste. Cassidy isn’t equipped to be the face of the company ever, but White is. Maybe White running through all the Best Friends might buy him time until some of the other feuds are finished and he can get inserted into the main title picture or against a higher profile talent like Hangman Page.

Simptastic Joe