Last Week in Wrestling

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Talk Wrestling World, I hope you are all well and good! So it's the start of a brand new week! I hope last week was a good one for you, trust me it was a mad one for me! Over the next seven days I have a lot coming up and a lot to do so there may be a delay with posts including some days where posts don't go up until a little later in the day and others where I may not even upload  but I'm going to try my hardest to stay on top of things and find the time to write enough post, it may be a case of uploading one every other day. We kick start things off this week however with a post I love writing but one that I seem to forget to write all the time, a "Last week in Wrestling post". I started writing these a couple of months ago and they are actually a post idea that has gone down really well, not to mention the fact that I honestly do really enjoy writing them and so I really want to try and write and upload these a little more frequently. The plan at the moment is to start uploading a Last week in Wrestling post every Monday unless its a Monday following a pay per view where of course instead a review of that should would be going up instead. This may be a more frequent thing after SummerSlam just because I already have quite a few post ideas surrounding SummerSlam I want to upload during the build up to that pay per view. If you haven't read any of these types of posts I uploaded in the past its basically just a little catch up. This is where I go back and take a look at all the wrestling news and highlights from the week looking at not only the WWE but the wrestling highlights from all around the world including NJPW and Lucha Underground. I've spent all week catching up on the G1 Climax so I have a few little comments to make there about that! As always, any recent blog posts will be linked bellow and you can let me know what you thought of all the wrestling news we got this week by leaving a comment or by tweeting me over at @TezangiVictoria.

Battleground

We kick start things off this week by taking a look once again at the WWE Battleground pay per view. Last Sunday it was the turn of the Smackdown LIVE roster to take center stage as the two thousand and seventeen addition of the Battleground pay per view was presented. The main event saw Jinder Mahal successfully defend his WWE Championship inside the Punjabi Prison match where for a third time on pay per view he was able to score the victory over Randy Orton. The match was I far better than I was expecting it to be and while I know a lot of people were not a fan I honestly didn't believe it was all too bad. The pay per view also saw new champions crowned as The New Day became the first to hold both the RAW and Smackdown LIVE tag team championships defeating the Usos on Sunday night. An unpredictable match, this was one of many that really could have gone either way way but in the end it was Xavier Woods who closed in on a victory to be crowned new champions. Maybe this means they're going to introduce those new titles at SummerSlam... If you don't know what on earth I'm talking about, the WWE have started selling special New Day tag team championships which I actually love the design of!  We also saw Kevin Owens crowned the new US Champion after defeating AJ Styles in what was actually a pretty disappointing match. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it; Owens and Styles are two of the best wrestlers in the world and they went out there on Sunday night and put on a good wrestling match that had me entertained throughout, however, in comparison to what they could have done this didn't really feel as though it scratched the surface. The pay per view as a whole has received a lot of backlash. In all honesty it wasn't the best show of the year at all and I was a little disappointed but honestly I think everyone needs to calm down a little. It was a decent show with some decent matches, title changes and a couple of surprises so I can't really sit here and complain too much, however, was it worth staying up for? Probably not.

Returns and SummerSlam matches made Official

Returns 
As far as returns go this week saw The Great Kahli make a surprise appearance when he returned to the WWE assisting Jinder Mahal in the main event witch of course saw the champ retain once again against Orton. Apparently Jinder's push hasn't been as big of a success as the WWE would have liked and so the Great Khali has been pulled in to help out a  little. He's a much much much bigger name in India and the market is sure to latch onto the work more now he is involved. We also saw Chris Jericho return to action confronting Kevin Owens. Again, the return was a huge surprise and the main event triple threat match for the US title was hands down the mach of the week and saw AJ Styles Crowned the new champ. Both Surprises were massiveness unpredictable. There had been no rum ours of their of them returning  and it was amazing finally being genuinely surprised.

This week the road to SummerSlam really did kick start. The Battleground pay per view saw Natalya walk away with the victory in the women's fatal five way elimination match, meaning that she will now challenge Naomi at SummerSlam next month for the WWE Smackdown LIVE women's championship. Honestly, I have mixed opinions on this. The match itself was really not great and I didn't like it at all. I wasn't surprised to see Natalya win after hearing the rumors she had been picked to get the win hours before the show had started. You guys know how much I love Nattie. I've spoken about her plenty times before here on my blog mainly in posts that I have seen me talk about superstars I believe are seriously underrated and underutilized and I stand by all the comments I have made in the past. Natalya has been so poorly used thats its a joke. She's one of the most humble and talented in ring performers and superstars on the WWE roster today and the fact that the company have used her so badly is just a joke. Throughout the years shes managed to fit in a couple of really good matches especially down in NXT where she got to take on the likes of Paige and Charlotte but as far as the main roster goes there haven't been many opportunities given to her and she really has deserved way better for so many years. And so keeping all that in mind I'm so happy that she has finally been given a big time championship match at one of the biggest shows of the year, however, was she the right women for the job? I really don't think so. If you want to sell SummerSlam and give fans a big match that feels important and like a big deal than Charlotte was probably the women to go with here and looking at the comments online it seems as though a lot of you agree and believe the former RAW women's champion should have been booked in this match instead. I am going to remain positive and of course I''m very happy for Natalya.

My disappoint as far as SummerSlam matches go continued over to Monday night RAW. This week saw Sasha Banks and Bayley go head to head with the winner becoming the new number one contender for the RAW women's championship and facing current champ Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam next month. The match was okay but of course we have seen better between these but honestly I've pretty much forgotten what the match was like totally because of the end result. Back at the Great Balls of Fire pay per view we saw Bliss and Banks put on a really strong match with an ending that promised this feud would grow and develop over the following weeks seeing them collide at SummerSlam once again in a title match. However, his weeks Bayley was able to score the victory over Sasha meaning she will in fact challenge for the title in four weeks. I love Bayley, we all do, but I don't know anyone who's happy with this result. Bayley's work on the main roster so far has been so poor in comparison to what we were seeing from her during her time in NXT and while I believe things will improve for her in the future I really don't feel as though she should have been booked in this SummerSlam match. Bliss and Banks work far better together and I really do feel s though they had the potential to put on an amazing match! Not happy at all, complete wrong decision.

The SummerSlam announcement I did like however came from the opening of this weeks RAW which saw Kurt Angle faced with a difficult decision. Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Samoa Joe all had a valid argument as to why they should be the man to face the best at SummerSlam for the title and with Angle needing to give Lesnar an opponent he was faced with a difficult decision, however, in the end the match we were all expecting to be announced was announced and it was made official, at SummerSlam Brock Lesnar will defend his WWE Universal Championship in a fatal four way. Of course I totally saw this match coming and I'm not angry at all. This is a match I really did see being booked and I don't have problem with it. I really do feel as though this is going to be a really strong match and a brilliant main event at SummerSlam. This could so easily steal the show and I love how unpredictable it is. I won't be writing a full prediction post for this match because  I have already touched on this in a previous post which will be linked bellow.

Other News and Highlights

In other news, there has been a lot of talk that the WWE are planning another superstar shakeup set to take place after SummerSlam. It doesn't feel that long ago that the first one took place and I do think its a risk but in all honesty there are superstars that need to be moved as long as the right decisions are made then I really don't have a problem with another one taking place. Later this week I'm going to be uploading a post where I list five superstars that need to switch brands after SummerSlam. Little spoiler: the likes of Seth Rollins, Sasha Banks, and Anderson and Gallows spring to mind but check out my up and coming post to get the full list! There has also been a lot of talk in regards to WWE Superstars moving over to NXT. There are plenty of names including stars such as Dolph Ziggler and Curt Hawkins who right now are doing nothing and have no big storyline coming up in the near future and would work better as big names down in NXT. It'll also be really cool to see them help put over new up and coming stars. Plus, I don't know about you, but Id love to see Dolph Ziggler VS Roderick Strong for example. Again, this is something else I'm going to be talking about in more detail. Rumors around GFW having an interest in Jack Swagger are also still surfacing.

G1 Climax

This past week I have dedicated my life NJPW and the G1 Climax. In recent blog posts I have spoken about wanting to learn more about New Japan and start tuning into the shows more often. In the past I have dipped in and out watching shows here and there but never really paying a lot of attention. This year however it has been a completely different story. While it is so so so difficult trying to keep up with all the wrestling the world has to offer I've made sure to try my best to keep up with all things NJPW and that includes the G1 Climax. Honestly, this has been the perfect introduction to NJPW for me. While I have loved watching events like Best of the Super Juniors and Wrestle Kingdom, the G1 has allowed me to discover talents I haven't really paid attention to before or even heard of and I have to say that so quickly I have become the biggest fan! There have been so many matches I have loved and been completely entertained and captivated by. I am a couple of days behind. I'm writing this post on Friday morning and at this point I'm on day six so I have a couple of days to catch up on but over the weekend hopefully I would ave managed to have watched a couple of the days in one and catch up just fine.  I do have my favourites, these include, Sanada, Okada, Kenny Omega, Tama Tonga, Evil and Michael Elgin just to name a few. I am planning on dedicating an entire week to blog posts all about the G1 including some of my favourite matches so far, the talents that have stood out the most for me, what I have learnt and more! I'm not sure when I will start uploading these posts but it will be soon! It has been a week of brilliant wrestling thanks to the G1. It's such an amazing wrestling event and I'm honestly loving it. At the moment things are looking pretty tied. Remember I'm writing this on Friday and the results so far are looking a little likes this:
Keep in  mind that I will be uploading a more updated version of the standings soon!

Block A
Tetsuya Naito 6
Zack Sabre Jr. 6
Hiroshi Tanahashi 6
Hirooki Goto 4
Bad Luck Fale 4
Kota Ibushi 4
Tomohiro Ishii 4
Togi Makabe 4
YOSHI-HASHI 2
Yuji Nagata 0

Block B
Kazuchika Okada 6
Kenny Omega 6
EVIL 4
Minoru Suzuki 4
Juice Robinson 2
SANADA 2
Tama Tonga 2
Toru Yano 2
Michael Elgin 2
Satoshi Kojima 0

9 Wrestlers I'm Completely obsessed with Today Part 2