Top 10 Matches Of The month
10) Sasha Banks VS Naomi (Smackdown)
Since Sasha Bank arrived on the main roster last year, despite being teamed with her, plenty of people were desperate to see Sasha Banks VS Naomi one on one and I have to be honest, I sure as hell was one of them. These are two very very talented, very athletic female wrestlers. Two women who have throughout their careers impressed and redefined women's wrestling. Throughout the month Michael Cole in particular has spoken about how underrated Naomi is when that isn't the case what so ever.We all know how amazingly talented Naomi is and so the word he was actually looking for was underutilised. Naomi has been with the WWE for quit some time now and even though she has been labeled as one of the most athletic divas the division has ever seen and a seriously strong talent the WWE have never given her the divas championship witch to me is a joke. Banks VS Naomi is a match that was sure to be one to watch and even though I knew they were never going to get the eighteen minuets they deserved to wrestle I knew they were going to put on a fantastic performance and that is exactly what they did. A split match that saw both Naomi and Banks hit some great, impressive spots. They of course had great chemistry and told a strong story throughout the match up. They really did not disappoint what so ever and lived up to the expectations we all had of a one on one between the pair of them. If only they had even longer to compete than I'm sure this would have been much higher in the list this month.
9) Enzo & Big Cas & American Alpha VS Blake & Murpthy and Dash & Dawson
The NXT tag team division is something that continues to impress and continues to be very consistent. The past month has seen the division grow even more with a couple of changes here and there. On the seventeenth of this month we saw four of the biggest teams in NXT collide in a massive eight man tag team match. The team, Enzo and Big Cas and American Alpha on one side and the team of Blake and Murpthy and the current NXT Tag team champions, Dash and Dawson. All four of these teams generate some kind of reaction wherever they go and this night was no different. With Enzo and Cas, and American Alpha clearly the most over, the baby faces were both desperate to prove they were worthy of being crowned the new tag team champions. However, they had to prove themselves first and what better way to prove you deserve a championship match than pinning the current champions. Dash and Dawson are a tag team that I have spoken a lot about recently here on my blog. I'm not personally a major fan of there's but they have been grabbing my attention recently. Last night was another big night for the tag team champions. They may not have picked up the victory but their all round performance was amazing. If I'm completely honest, last night was the night that I really started paying attention to them and they honestly really impressed me. They worked amazingly well as a team, looking like a solid unit, and their work with Blake and Murpthy last night was solid as well. They dominated a good chunk of the match and proved why they are the tag team champions. For once I actually don't have a bad word to say about them in the slightest. I was very happy to see Blake and Murpthy in this match up. You guys know I'm a huge Blake and Murpthy fan, they're actually one of my favourite tag teams across all of the WWE and have been for some time. It's nice to see them booked in such good solid matches that allow them to prove why they are such a dynamic, entertaining, and arguably one of the best tag teams in both NXT and WWE. They too had a decent showing last night but let's be honest, this match was all about the opposing team. When you put Enzo and Cas and American Alpha in the same ring at the same time your going to get fireworks and that is exactly what we saw last night. The crowd went absolutely crazy for both these teams and retained completely loyal to them throughout. It was almost impossible to tell witch team was more over than the other. Of the four superstars it was Chad Gable who spent most of the time in action, taking a serious beating but with the crowd firmly behind him Gable was able to continue fighting on and eventually make the tag. There was a certain moment in this match were Cas and Jordan just exploded and you could feel the energy from the arena burst through your screen. It was such a great sight translated onto TV that I can't imagine how amazing it must have been to have actually been in the arena at that moment. Now, the booking for this match was very very clever and I absolutely loved it. What I realised throughout this match was even though the two teams of four worked amazingly well together this felt like it was every tag team for themselves. They all wanted that moment to shine and they got just that. There was a great moment where Jordan and Gable went n for the victory closing up with their finisher but it was broken up by Dawson witch allowed Enzo and Cas to make the tag and pick up a massive victory over one half of the ta team champions,
8) Kalisto VS Alberto Del Rio (Fastlane)
The month of February saw Kalisto continue standing tall as another four strong weeks passed for the Lucha style wrestler. He's feud with Alberto Del Rio continued this month with the two going one on one at the Fastlane kick off show. I mentioned in my Fastlane review and reactions post witch will be linked bellow at the end of today's post, that I was really disappointed to see this match feature on the kick off show and not the main show. This was such a promising match and solid feud that it just made no sense to put on the pre show, something that not everyone actually watches. What I am hopeing is that people have heard plenty of good things about this match and have gone back to check it out because it honestly really does deserve to be watched. Throughout the past couple of months we have seen some fantastic performances from Del Rio and Kalisto, working amazingly well together to put on great one on one matches against one another. The match on this night was just another to add to the list. The start of this match was very split. Alberto showed that he's size advantage was really going to be something he uses throughout this match and would benefit him greatly however Kalisto had a counter waiting around the corner almost every single time Del Rio shot something at him. The height of Kalisto amazed me so many times throughout this match. He moves around the ring with such ease and grace everything he does looks beautiful and effortless. The first fall did go to Kalisto after Del Rio used a chair causing a DQ. I'll be honest, I was't expecting that at all but I liked it. I thought it was really clever and made a lot of sense. Using the chair allowed Del Rio to gain control and stay in control long enough to pick up the second fall. After being hit with that chair, Kalisto really did struggle to get back in the game and get back in control of the match. He was like rag doll being tossed around the ring and outside of the ring like dead weight. Throughout this match Del Rio really did show how ruthless,viscous and barbaric he is and I loved that! He had some amazing spots that translated onto TV amazingly well. There was a clear story throughout this match and I really did find myself strongly backing Kalisto. I felt this match really did kick off the night amazingly well. I enjoyed it so so much! Both superstars had a fantastic performance and like I said, I really do think it should have been on the main show. Kalisto did walk away still the United States champion after a quick roll up and I couldn't be happier. A well deserved victory.
7) Bayley VS Carmella ( NXT 10/2)
Twenty Sixteen has kicked off amazingly well for the Princess of Staten Island, Carmella. Scoring a number of impressive victories in one on one action and winning the first ever NXT Women's Battle Royal to be crowned the new number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship. Winning the Battle Royal mean that Carmella was going to have to face her best friend Bayley and was finally being given the opportunity to take home that championship. NXT did a fantastic job creating a really strong, entertaining storyline between these two that allowed me to really anticipate this match up. Throughout the build up Carmella was very impressive, picking up strong victories to build momentum, cutting decent promos, and showing more to her arsenal. I have mentioned it already and even had Carmella in my list of sixteen superstars to watch in twenty sixteen, that she has seriously improved over the past year. No one has earned the right to a championship match more than Carmella and facing off against Bayley really was going to be the test of all tests for Carmella. It was her chance to show everyone just how far she has come. On the night, despite not picking up the victory was extremely impressive and I was left an even bigger fan of hers than I started out. She held her own against a top name perfectly and gave Bayley a real fight. She told the story perfectly well throughout and remained in character in the best way possible. You could tell throughout not only the match up but the build up just how passionate Carmella is about wrestling and how much NXT and becoming champion means to her and thats something you want to see in every WWE Superstar. She was a strong stand out of the night and took her main event match so so seriously. I honestly, throughout the past month have not stopped talking about Carmella. Her performance in this match really showed everyone just how talented she is and that one day she will have a championship wrapped around her waste. As for Bayley, this was another fantastic showing that proved once and for all that Bayley is an NXT all time great.
6) Chris Jericho VS The Miz
One of the feuds I have been enjoying the most over the past thew weeks has without a doubt been Chris Jericho VS AJ Styles with the addition of the Miz of course who has found himself as the third wheel of this feud. I have said a thew times here on my blog already so I wont ramble on too much about it but I really am so happy that the Miz had had such involvement in this feud. We all know how talented The Miz is and how underutilised he has been over the past couple of years or so. It's refreshing seeing him involved in something that is actually interesting, entertaining and allows him to showcase he's skills for once. For this particular episode of Smackdown the Miz was scheduled to go one on one with the one and only, Chris Jericho. With Miz having stronger bookings recently and actually being involved in something really good I was looking forward to this match last night. It did end up being one of my favourites of the night. I was actually surprised at just how much I got into this match. I felt at though they both worked amazingly well together. It was a true back and fourth bout with both superstars struggling to put each other away with near full after near full. The closing moments how ever finally saw Chris Jericho pick up the victory after getting the Miz to tap out. This was the perfect match to prove once and for all why Miz deserves more than what he has been getting over the years. He put on a fantastic fight last night against Jericho and really delivered. I was so so so impressed and so delighted that he was given the opportunity to showcase he's talents to the full. It's been great seeing the Miz booked stronger over the past month. This match against Jericho really allowed him to prove why he deserves a lot lot better and why he should be pitted against bigger names on a more frequent basis. This was easily one of my personal favourites of the entire month hence the reason I have had to place it so high in the list this month.
5) Chris Jericho VS The Miz
One of the feuds I have been enjoying the most over the past thew weeks has without a doubt been Chris Jericho VS AJ Styles with the addition of the Miz of course who has found himself as the third wheel of this feud. I have said a thew times here on my blog already so I wont ramble on too much about it but I really am so happy that the Miz had had such involvement in this feud. We all know how talented The Miz is and how underutilised he has been over the past couple of years or so. It's refreshing seeing him involved in something that is actually interesting, entertaining and allows him to showcase he's skills for once. For this particular episode of Smackdown the Miz was scheduled to go one on one with the one and only, Chris Jericho. With Miz having stronger bookings recently and actually being involved in something really good I was looking forward to this match last night. It did end up being one of my favourites of the night. I was actually surprised at just how much I got into this match. I felt at though they both worked amazingly well together. It was a true back and fourth bout with both superstars struggling to put each other away with near full after near full. The closing moments how ever finally saw Chris Jericho pick up the victory after getting the Miz to tap out. This was the perfect match to prove once and for all why Miz deserves more than what he has been getting over the years. He put on a fantastic fight last night against Jericho and really delivered. I was so so so impressed and so delighted that he was given the opportunity to showcase he's talents to the full. It's been great seeing the Miz booked stronger over the past month. This match against Jericho really allowed him to prove why he deserves a lot lot better and why he should be pitted against bigger names on a more frequent basis. This was easily one of my personal favourites of the entire month hence the reason I have had to place it so high in the list this month.
4) Kevin Owens VS Dolph Ziggler (Fastlane)
Throughout the past month we have seen Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens battle it out in a series of one on one bouts on both RAW and Smackdown and after Owens picked up the Intercontinental Championship in a fatal five way a title match between the two was made official for the Fastlane pay per view. Since the start of the year the bouts between these two superstars have been ones to be noted and sure to go down as some of the best of the year when we reach the middle point of twenty sixteen. The pair have divided the WWE universe massively with half team Owens and the team Ziggler making this a must see feud. Adding the Intercontinental Championship to the picture only added to the competitiveness of this already heated rivalry. With Ziggler already scoring two clean victories over Owens he had earned the right to face off for the IC championship at the final pay per view stop before Wrestlemania. Owens had a clearly strategy throughout this match, he made sure to use he's power and strength advantage to just that. He made sure to keep the pace of the match slower to allow himself to ware down Ziggler neutralizing the former world champion. We all got a little insight as to just how powerful Owens is when he countered an Irish whip and threw the Show-off into the corner with a seriously devastating force. As time went on and Owens continued to beat down on he's opponent, Ziggler was learning deal with the punishment being inflicted, storing all he's adrenaline. Eventually Ziggler was able to get some of he's own offence going evening up the odds. However, the damage to the shoulder of Ziggler had already been done and Owens was able to use that to he's advantage and as a serious of super kicks and near falls accrued Owens soon hit the pop up power bomb to score the victory and keep hold of he's Intercontinental Championship. This was such a high intensity, fast paced, action packed, strong wrestling based match up. I may not be the biggest Dolph Ziggler fan in the world but I enjoyed this match so so much and it had to feature in this months top fifteen. A fantastic match with both superstars pushing each other to their limits and bringing out the best in one another.
3) Samoa Joe VS Sami Zayn ( NXT 17/2)
The main storyline dominating NXT this past month has been the road to crowning a new number one contender for the NXT Championship. What should be a simple task has turnt into a complicated storyline. At the start of the month it was announced that Baron Corbin, Samoa Joe, and Sami Zayn would compete in a huge main event to crown the new number one contender. After what was a fantastic battle between three very different superstars the closing moments saw both Zayn and Joe put Baron Corbin in a submission hold at the same time, and so when Corbin tapped out the referee wasn't sure who he was rewarding the victory to. This led to another huge match being announced; Sami Zayn VS Samoa Joe one on one. After a fantastic triple threat and these two having the big names that they have their one on one match had high expectations and personally I was beyond excited to see this main event.Both superstars of course received a huge reaction from the crowd with Zayn coming across as the most over as expected. Personally, I love both of these guys and so I didn't find myself really on one side of one superstar massively. I didn't actually know who I wanted to win and so it made it so great for me to just sit back and enjoy this one. I didn't know what to expect as an end result and it just made it so much more fun to watch. These are two of the best superstars in the whole world, it was a serious treat to watch them compete. It was Joe that went for that early kick wanting to get the upper hand straight away and he did just that. The start of this match was very slow paced. The two superstars barely let go of one another and it was a back and fourth battle as the two slowly started to scout one another. Eventually it was Zayn who was able to speed things up and change the pace after sending Joe out of the ring. It was then that the action really started and the intensity grew even more. There is a clear size advantage for Joe and throughout the match last night we saw that really come into play as Joe used he's size to gain control and stay in control. But we all know Sami Zayn. We know that fire that Zayn has, the will power, the resilience, and that was a vital part of this match. There were so many times that any other competitor would have fallen flat but Zayn continued to fight on like always. He fed off the crowd and fought on like the fighter we know Zayn to be.I find it amazing that this far into he's career and knowing what he is capable of Sami still comes across as the underdog in this match. The ending to this match was pretty amazing. Another controversial ending after what was a fantastic match. Both superstars' shoulders were down when the ref counted. An interesting ending but I liked. Yeah, I'm desperate for a number one contender now but this was such a great main event, we've been left waiting even more, the suspense is building and everyone is talking about it how can you not love this.
2) Chris Jericho VS AJ Styles
Heading into a highly anticipated contest, both AJ Styles and Chris Jericho held one victory over one another with Styles defeating Jericho in he's debut RAW match and Jericho scoring a victory over Styles in their Smackdown rematch, the third bout between these two was a guaranteed must see. A feud that has been anticipated by wrestling fans for years, everyone had high expectations of this match up including myself and with so much on the line for both superstars it truly was anyone's game especially with Wrestlemania just around the corner. There was a clear story within this match. Styles is the newcomer here in the WWE. Yes, he has had great success across the world throughout he's career but he has never held gold in the WWE and is still in the days of witch he must prove he belongs in the WWE. The epic third showdown stared out with both superstars testing the waters, both trying to scout the other and make quick covers here and there. A slower start allowed us fans to gain more and more interest as time went on and added to the already high intensity of the match. If you ever want to know what a true back and fourth match up looks like all you have to do is go back and give this one a watch. Both had their time in control of the match, you hear the phrase "a game of chess sin a wrestling match" a lot now days but this really was that style of match. Jericho did show why he is a future hall of famer. There was that teacher VS Student vibe with Jericho giving Styles a real introduction to the big leagues. Throughout the match was saw Jericho dominate Styles both in and outside of the ring all of he's surroundings to he's advantage and to punish the new kid. Styles however had he's own high-intensity offence to respond with, unleashing a series of high impact manoeuvres, Styles was able to lead he's way to several near falls keeping everyone on the edge of their seats. This was a very physical and intense match difficult to call. Both superstars pushed each other to the the limit brining out the best in one another throughout. When put together the close calls, the near count outs the physicality, the athleticism, and the story telling, you have a fantastic match one worthy of being noted as a future match of the year candidate. I loved that Styles picked up the victory via submission. It was he's first submission victory in the WWE and it once again showed he's versatility and showed how wide he's arsenal is. There was a great moment after the match that saw Jericho show he's respects towards Styles adding the perfect ending to this feud tying the storyline together the way it should have been.
1) Brock Lesnar VS Dean Ambrose VS Roman Reigns (Fastlane)
And finally, my February match of the month goes to the Fastlane main event that saw Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns square off in a massive triple threat match for the chance to face Triple H at Wrestlemania for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The moment this match ended I knew this was going to be my match of the month, topping it was close to impossible. Admittedly it wasn't the best wrestling match I had ever seen but the fact that I was so interested, so entertained and so hooked throughout meant that this had to take the number one spot this month. Roman Reigns was left walking out of Fastlane with a second chance however it did not come to him easily what so ever. Faced with both a beast and he's brother, Reigns was left fighting with all he's strength to walk into the Wrestlemania main event. Taking an F-5, a serous of chair shots, and a handful of German suplex's, Reigns certainly earned he's place in the Mania main event but lets not
forget about Lesnar and Ambrose who arguably had the better all round performances. Lesnar of course kick started this match in full control. Heading straight for Ambrose the best charged into the ribs of the lunatic fringe sending him out of the ring. He then focused on Reigns sending the former world champion straight to suplex city giving Reigns a little flashback to Wrestlemania last year. Throughout the first half of this match Lesnar remained in full control, dominating both Ambrose and Reigns. Eventually, the former Shield brothers found themselves left with no option but to work together to take out the beast. The realised that if either of them was to make to Wrestlemania they were going to have to first take out Lesnar and then go brother VS Brother for the chance to head to the grandest stage of the all. However, sending the beast through not one but two announce tables proved to not be enough with Lesnar still finding the strength to power on. However. in what was a fantastic closing two minuets, Reigns was able to hit a spear on Ambrose to pick up one of the biggest victories of he's career. This was a very predicable match with a very predicable ending but that didn't stop me seriously enjoying the action. I found myself so entertained and so hooked, I didn't take my eyes off of the TV screen for a single second. Ambrose in particular was seriously impressive and he really did prove that he is not only main event material but world champion material also. A fantastic triple threat bound to be noted as a potential match of the year candidate.
Top 10 Superstars of the month
TNA Review and Reactions
NXT Review and Reactions
#GiveDivasAChance One Year on
WWE RAW Review and Reactions
Top 10 Superstars of the month
TNA Review and Reactions
NXT Review and Reactions
#GiveDivasAChance One Year on
WWE RAW Review and Reactions
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