WWE Payback predictions

I can't say that I'm looking forward to this PPV it seems like a little bit of a throw away PPV. But...but
it does have potential. So we will see what happens. Now on to the predictions:

Roman def. Braun via DQ
Samoa Joe def. Seth Rollins
Randy Orton def. Bray Wyatt
Kevin Owens def. Chris Jericho
Hardys def. Cesaro/Sheamus
Alexa Bliss def. Bayley
Austin Ares def. Neville
Enzo/Cass def. Gallows/Anderson

Wrestlemania 33 predictions and NXT reaction

I usually tweet my predictions, but this is WM. And also because WM is going to be around 6 hours long, including the pre show. This seemed easier.

First, NXT. While it was a really good PPV. And it did have new belts revealed before the title matches started. I gotta say overall. It was a little disappointing. Not the matches themselves, but the out comes. Not one title changed hands. NOT ONE! I expected at least one, but by the time the main event came around. You kind of figured that title wouldn't change hands either. I give the PPV  a grade of B.

Now on to my predictions for WM 33.

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal: Mojo Rawley
Smackdown Women's Championship: Naomi
Raw's Women's Championship: Charlotte
Rollins def. Triple H
Undertaker def. Roman Reigns
AJ Styles def. Shane McMahon
John Cena/Nikki def. Miz/Maryse
Austin Ares def. Neville
Raw Tag Team Championship: Enzo and Cass
Kevin Owens def. Chris Jericho
Baron Corbin def. Dean Ambrose
Bray Wyatt def. Randy Orton
Goldberg def. Brock Lesnar

WWE Royal Rumble and NXT Takeover 2017

It's a good start to the new year when both PPVs are good. NXT was better, but that's not to say that the RR was bad. It was long and surprising there wasn't any filler, that I can remember. I did forget about the cruiserweight match, before it started, but that match was good as well.
The only thing that I can't understand is, why Seth wasn't on the rumble...at all. So he was band from the building. Like that's stopped people before. Apparently it did last night. No Rollins sightings anywhere. He was on Takeover, but that's it. Very odd decision/booking.  Also Randy Orton winning the RR. Didn't see that coming. And no big returns or surprises in the RR, save Tye Dillinger. I was hoping for Samoa Joe, but that didn't happen. Oh well.
Overall I grade NXT takeover an A- and the Royal Rumble a B.

Pro Wrestling in 2016

Now that we are well in to the new year. Let's take a quick look at 2016. I say quick cause a lot happened in 2016. We saw the birth of Broken Matt Hardy and brother Nero. There was the curserweight classic. All of the NXT takeover PPVs. Lucha Underground season 3. Ricochet vs. Ospreay. The brand split (again). And of course women's wrestling particularly WWE.
2016 was a great year to be a wrestling fan. Of course there were some low points. There always is, especially in wrestling. But overall, it feels like it's been a really good year. When I have trouble deciding what the match of the year was. That's a good thing.
We'll see what 2017 has in store; let's hope that goes up from here.

Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg II

Sometimes I wonder what they are thinking up north. I only say that because I think they believe that the fans have long term memory loss or something. Because if you watched wrestling when these two meet up at WM 20. You remember how bad that match was. It had all kinds of hype behind it and for good reason. Two Goliaths going at it on the biggest PPV of the year. It practically wrote itself. And then the match happened.
If you have the WWE network or YouTube watch it(again) and see what I am talking about. And then realize that those men were in their prime at that time and that's the best that they could do...or wanted to do.
Now fast forward to the present. What does the sequel have to offer? Both men or older, both have limited moves, and both are not the best wrestlers and never were. Brock was a better wrestler when he was younger, but why wrestle when you can get over with a suplex..?
It's not looking good for the sequel and it's not feeling like a good kind of sequel like The Dark Knight or Terminator 2. No, this feels more like Hangover 2 or Transformers 2 type sequel.

2016 Hell in a Cell review

Last night was RAW's PPV; Hell in a Cell. Which if you didn't know by now, had three different matches take place inside the cell. How was it? Pretty damn good, actually. I didn't know how exactly WWE was going to pull it off. It wasn't that hard of a concept, but they never have done it before, so there was room for failure. But they didn't. First off, titles changed hands. Which is great, but if your a Sasha fan (like myself) not so great. 

But overall the matches, even the pre show match were good to excellent. A few botches here and there, but nothing SO big that it took you out of the match. One odd thing to me is the crowd's reaction to the cruiser-weight matches on RAW and PPV. The matches themselves are very good, in my opinion, but the overall crowd doesn't seem to be interested. I don't know why exactly. It's usually the best part of the show, but maybe the style is so different people have mixed emotions about it...?

But I digress. Overall I grade Hell in a Cell a B+

Long title reigns a good thing....?

I've been pondering whether or not long title reigns are good or bad. How long is long? Well, too me 9 months- 12 months is long, especially now when wrestling is on nearly every night of the week. Whether it is WWE, TNA, ROH, or New Japan. Wrestling is nearly always on; and when you add the internet. It IS always on.

A long title reign does solidify the talent's spot in history, but is it good in the present? As of this post the NEW DAY in WWE, are champions and have been for over a year. Not that they don't deserve to be champions, but what about the rest of the division? Are THEY not worthy of a title run?
Same could be said for the WWE Women's division when Charlotte had her first reign. Or when Jay Lethal was ROH champion for more than a year. Does no one else get to hold the belt? Can no one else put asses in seats? I don't believe so.

After awhile it feels a little stale. The matches themselves can be great, but if I'm 90% sure what is going to be the outcome. I'm not really sucked in. It's not as interesting after a certain point.

Don't get me wrong; Playing hot potato with the titles is not good either. 1-2 days or 1-2 weeks title reigns...? Yeah, no thanks. IT would keep it exciting, but it doesn't make the talent look strong if the company had so little faith in him/her that they would give him/her a title "reign"for a short period of time. Injuries aside of course.

There should be a balance and for me, a good title reign should be 3-6 months. I think that keeps the product fresh and interesting and if the stars line up right. You could have 4 different champions in 1 year, instead of just one. 4 is great than 1, at least that's what they taught me in school :-)