Red's Wrestling Blog

Matches from NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night Two 1.NXT Cruiserweight Title Unification, Ladder Match: Escobar(c) vs Devlin(c) ***3/4 2.NXT Title: Balor(c) vs Kross ***1/2 3.Unsanctioned: Cole vs O'Reilly ****1/2 Thoughts: While I am still catching up on content from the start of the year from various sources, including WWE, I am also moving forward thanks to #SNSM and for fluidity sake, especially as I watch with the kiddos, it's time to catch the second night of the latest TakeOver as well as Mania. These are the three that caught my eye. (Poppy's performance was fun, by the way.) Up first, Escobar and Devlin, both holding Cruiserweight Championship because of a stupid move from WWE, competed in a ladder match to unify them back down to one belt. Fantasma, one of my favorite active workers, and Devlin is a great worker. He's allegedly an abusive piece of shit and PROGRESS released him for that reason, so keep that in mind. I considered skipping this completely

My kids have a John Cena action figure but have seen basically none of his work. So, I decided that, since they are loving the playlist format of #SNSM, I'd go ahead and start a new show called ICON. It will air once a month, in playlist form like Saturday Night Slam Masters and the upcoming Hudson River Power Hour, and will feature a match that I chose to showcase a specific talent or team each time. The first edition, as you might have figured, spotlights Cena. Like SNSM, admittedly this is mainly something I am doing for the kiddos but I still hope it is enjoyable to some folks.

Matches: 1.Lashley vs Cedric NR 2.McIntyre vs Corbin NR 3.Danhausen vs Johnson NR 4.KUSHIDA vs Dunne ***3/4 5.North American Contender Gauntlet Eliminator ***1/2 6.NXT UK Title: WALTER(c) vs Ciampa ****1/4 7.NXT Tag Titles: MSK vs Grizzled Young Vets vs Legado del Fantasma ***3/4 8.NXT Women's Title: Io(c) vs Raquel **** 9.Jurassic Express vs Bear Country NR 10.TNT Title: Darby(c) vs JD ***1/4 11.Conti vs Bunny NR 12.Omega, Good Brothers vs Moxley, Young Bucks NR 13.Sabin vs Deaner NR 14.Omega, Good Brothers vs Swann, Mack, Edwards *** 15.Andre the Giant Battle Royal NR Thoughts: This week, I was admittedly exhausted after a trip across the country mixed with a load of other personal engagements. I also expected a big drop in views thanks to how loaded the weekend was with Mania related shows. As a result, the format change I have planned did not happen this week. My kids, who are a big reason why I make this playlist format series, still loved it, though. First, Raw coverage start

Matches from Dynamite Episode #78 1.Kenny Omega vs Matt Sydal **** 2.Lucha Bros, Laredo Kid vs Young Bucks, Brandon Cutler ***3/4 3.AEW TNT Title: Darby Allin(c) vs John Silver ***1/2 Thoughts: Thanks to my new series, #SNSM, I am UTD on AEW...except for this episode of Dynamite! Sydal was elevated here, showing he's still more than capable of greatness, against Kenny Omega with both working hard and putting in a for a fantastic match full of quality athleticism and nice near falls. I sincerely enjoyed this and hope we see more Sydal matches like this in the near future. Baker's promo, following her amazing display against Thunder, was fucking great. I look forward to seeing her as champ, which I hope happens some time this year. The trios match was great and it's especially nice seeing Laredo Kid back in an AEW ring. The dude is having a career peak right now and it's long overdue! Everyone played their roles well and even odd man out, Cutler, did well enough here. Aft

Matches: 1.Savage vs Kurasawa ** 2.Mr. JL, Guerrero vs Malenko, Benoit ***1/4 3.Luger, Sting vs Harlem Heat *1/2 Thoughts: The booking for this one was another spit in the face of common sense but fuck it all, right!? Up first, Savage and Kurasawa worked a decent match but I have no idea why it was set up. Savage came back from behind to win but was getting beaten down for about seven minutes beforehand. The dude is scheduled for two matches, one a big match, at Halloween Havoc. This, being the go home edition of Nitro, made me question why that seemed like a good idea. Sure, Savage won, but he was beaten down by a dude that was still a virtual nobody in the Nitro-verse. Oh well, it was entertaining at least even if it never broke out of second gear and Kurasawa looked great in his second Nitro match. We then were given some acid in our drinks, clearly, as the Nitro debut of The Master followed. He was sitting on an elevated throne, shouting some shit that a drunk teen would say, and s

Matches: 1.Lashley vs Benjamin NR 2.McIntyre vs Ricochet NR 3.McIntyre vs Ali NR 4.Pure Rules Gauntlet ***1/2 5.Storm vs EY NR 6.Raquel vs Stark NR 7.Gauntlet Eliminator Qualifier NR 8.Christian vs Kaz ***1/2 9.Shida, Conti vs Rose, Bunny NR 10.Omega, Good Brothers vs Laredo Kid, Lucha Bros **** 11.Arcade Anarchy ***3/4 12.Street Fight: Bryan vs Uso *** Thoughts: I've considered a few different options on how to do this, but landed on this method. Admittedly it might be a cheaper method, considering it works to promote a playlist style series I'm doing on YouTube, but whatever. Cheap plugs are part of the game, right? So, each Saturday at 6:05 pm you can head to The RWB Channel  for a new installment. Most wrestling fans have a hard time watching the abundance of pro wrestling content each week, including myself. This format should make it easier for some folks that don't mind the style to keep up to date. I will also post + style reviews here, which means that I'll tal