Update!

Hey! ... I gotta update this more frequently. So random stuff happened since my last post.

• I dyed my hair dark blue for our friend's Halloween party. Vince dressed as Bojack Horseman and I dressed as Diane Nguyen. Since a part of my hair was already lightened, that part of my hair came out bright blue. I kinda like it! Last time I had blue hair was when Vince and I went to the the Comic Con at Mandalay Bay.
  
  
• Later on that week, I hanged out with my coworkers for a late Halloween party. It's been a really long time since I hanged out with them outside of work. Got to see some familiar faces (i.e. the people who don't work at Pololu anymore), drink, played games, and have fun. I brought One Night Ultimate Werewolf and it was just absolutely fun to see everyone open up and debate about who to believe and stuff. I mean, I worked with them for 4 years now, I gotta hang out with them some time.
  
  
• I joined a gym! Fitness 19 is pretty close by to our house so I decided to join there and pay a little extra for 1 guest in case Vince wants to join me. It's pretty weird for me because I feel so intimidated by everyone and I have a bad habit of staring. On a plus side, it's comforting to find a few people that are just casually working out so I'm not alone. The reason I joined was because I was getting annoyed by Vince asking why am I not doing any exercises at home. He has free access to a gym at his work and I don't want to use the gym we have here at my work. Even though one of our rooms has temporarily converted into a gym, I'm not doing any exercises there because I just don't feel like doing it when I get home from work. Vince wouldn't be the shape he is now if he just worked out at home with just 2 sets of dumbbells and an olympic bar and weight set. It really helps to be in a different environment with right equipment to stay motivated.
  
  
• On the pro-wrestling front, I'm fully on Team Smack Down. I may watch some portions of RAW either on TV or with their youtube clips but like I said before, I can't invest 3 hours with the show. Smack Down is just easier to get through. Speaking of which, Ambrose and Styles are going to be headlining TLC (A Smack Down PPV) next month again and it might be the final blow-off to their feud. There's no major title defense match this month. Everything's sort of on hold for now because both brands are gearing up for Survivor Series next Sunday. It's also going to be The Shield's 4 year anniversary since their debut!

Update!

Hey! So, I have a bit of time to do a quick update. I haven't blogged as much because we moved! To a house! And it was fucking exhausting! And financially draining!

We had to do everything in a week. I'm actually grateful that my work was able to grant me 2 days off on such short notice. We basically had a 5-day Labor Day weekend to move. Highlights include:

• Moving some stuff we had loaded into our car on Wednesday night and driving straight to the house after work
• Being greeted by a neighborhood cat named "Kitty"
• Getting a rental truck and moving all the heavy stuff on Day 1 (Thursday)
• Moving the smaller stuff with NO ELECTRICITY on Day 2 (Friday)
• Finding out that we almost left on bad terms with the San Moritz management due to miscommunication from their weekend staff members. Jennifer apologized for saying that we don't have to pay the second $895 (October rent) until someone moves in. Her manager Judy wanted to make sure we were properly moved out since we were long-time residents.
• Our 3 cats, Hibiko, Ayumi, and Tsukiko, becoming enemies for a few days because Tsuki segregated herself, and smelled different to them
• All of the neighbors coming to us to introduce themselves. We look like the youngest couple in the neighborhood.
  

So we're all settled in. We have a bunch of house projects to do for the next few months. It's nice to have an actual home :)

Also...

AJ Styles is the new WWE World Champion

I'm a little sad that Ambrose dropped the title at Backlash (which was a pretty great Smack Down PPV) but honestly, Styles really deserved it. It's an amazing accomplishment for someone that was in TNA, ROH, and NJPW, and now part of WWE in under a year. Ambrose didn't have a terrible champ run but he was starting to slip after Summerslam (thanks Ziggler). He is back on the chase again and he is absolutely pissed. Aloof champion Ambrose was fine. Angry and relentless Ambrose is the guy I became a fangirl of.

Smack Down Live! (7/19/16)

I want to get this out of the way. Monday Night RAW's main event match with Ambrose and Rollins ended in a double pin, which means the Champ retains. Rollins didn't win and Ambrose didn't lose. The TV ending showed Stephanie declaring Rollins as the winner, while the Network ending had Shane and Daniel debating the ending, asking the ref to view the finish, and declaring Ambrose as the winner. As a result of the finish, Ambrose and Rollins are having a title rematch for tonight on Smack Down.

I think I'm going to stop doing Monday Night RAW recaps. It's not because of the possibility of Ambrose going to Smack Down (fingers crossed!) but it's due to the fact there is way way WAY more WWE content to keep track of. Seriously, look at the schedule this week.

• Monday: RAW
• Tuesday: Smack Down Live!
• Wednesday: NXT and CWC
• Sunday: Battleground PPV

Yeah, that is a lot of WWE stuff. So, I'm not going to do recaps. I'll probably just do the PPV recaps instead. Probably, I don't know. I'm just a little worried on what's going to happen tonight again. It's looking obvious that Rollins is the #1 pick for RAW and Ambrose is the #2 Smack Down.

Will Ambrose actually lose the title this time before Battleground? Will Rollins and Ambrose be champs before Battleground? Will Reigns pin either one to become the new champ for the brand at Battleground?!

I take wrestling way too seriously, according to Vince -_-

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HE LOOKS GOOD IN BLUE!

Also, Ambrose won clean over Rollins for the Smack Down main event. Rollins was doing his Falcon Arrow combo which Ambrose got out of and quickly hit him with Dirty Deeds. Now I really hope he retains on Battleground this Sunday.

WWE Draft?

Let me state upfront that I don't know how the drafts - or any sports drafts for that matter - works. I don't understand the value of having a first, second, or third round pick. From what understand so far, being a #1 draft pick is a big fucking deal, being in the top 5 picks is all right, and anything after #10 means you're not that important. Going by that limited comprehension, it would seem obvious for the WWE Draft that Dean Ambrose should be the first pick. He's the WWE Champion after all. Or will he still be a champion before the draft happens this Tuesday?

WWE used the above image on his Facebook page, not his current image where he's holding the WWE Championship title. And they have been teasing non-stop that there could be a title change on RAW to help hype up Smack Down when it goes live. I'm really not liking the idea of having Ambrose's title reign cut short for storyline sakes and ultimately affecting the Shield Triple Threat main event for Battleground. If it means that Ambrose can somehow win and be the first new champion of the highly rumored second WWE Championship belt being made for Smack Down, then fine, I'll be happy to see that.

It still sucks to see that all the hard work Ambrose has done since becoming a champ last month will be undervalued for his first title defense. At the very least, let him be a champ until Summerslam. I actually don't want Rollins to get the title back so quickly because he already had a long run with it, and that's not including the additional time he was out for his injury and recovery. And Reigns should be kept far away from the title scene. He's the top guy that got suspended for a wellness violation, he should not have a top spot like Ambrose and Rollins upon his return.

"MAKE DARREN YOUNG GREAT AGAIN!": Monday Night RAW (7/11/16)

Last week's Monday Night RAW was considered a throwaway episode. Even though it got one of its lowest TV ratings, it was still the most watched show on cable, even though there wasn't much progression with the storylines. This would be somewhat considered a go-home show for Smack Down (as far as tapings go) because next week it goes live. The results can be found here.

This was a surprisingly solid episode of RAW (except for the main event and final segment in the third hour). There was a lot of wrestling matches that actually featured a lot of the talent, a few in-promos and segments, and best of all, there was progress with the brand extension. Long story short, Stephanie will be the commissioner for RAW and Shane will be the commissioner for Smack Down (sadly relieving Shane from co-running RAW). Both have to choose their respective General Managers next week or else Vince will choose for them.

RAW kicked off with immediately with the Battle Royal, where strangely most of the contenders were made of tag teams like The Golden Truth, The Vaudevillains, The Usos, The Ascension, etc. The final 3 ended up being Darren Young, Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin. Crews clotheslined Corbin and both ended up going over the the top rope, leaving Young as the accidental winner of the Battle Royal. Young's win was such a wonderful surprise that he got a crowd chant, plus it was a treat to see Bob Backlund lift him up like he was nothing!

One interesting segment was The New Day's anticipated visit to the Wyatt Family compound. It was heavily inspired by Broken Matt and Brother Nero's "Final Deletion" match, drawing more on the idea of having an all out battle outside the ring and arena. It was a serious and thrilling displa, to see the New Day drop their positive act to take on Wyatt, Rowan, and Strowman, who legit looked threatening and monstrous without his tank top. Obviously, the Wyatt Family overwhelmed the New Day but that was beside the point. Bray Wyatt is finally believable as a cult leader and the "Wyatt Family" is not just Rowan, Strowman, and Harper (who was not included). They are truly a threat and it will be interesting to see how this visit affects the bond of The New Day.

The best match of the night goes to Cesaro and Kevin Owens, where Owens refused to even come into the ring unless Sami Zayn (who was on commentary) is kicked out. Stephanie listed to Owens' request and orders the referees to escort Zayn out. Their match was spectacular and there was also storytelling in the moves they were using. Owens was working on Cesaro's neck for nearly the whole match, so instead of using his signature Pop-Up Powerbomb to take Cesaro out, he uses a rarely used move to win the match. As Owens was angrily ranting in Byron Saxton's headphone about being the best, out comes Zayn from out of nowhere to jump him. He throws Owens into the ring and signals Cesaro to do his swing, which he happily obliges. Knowing that Owens and Zayn will be separated, they're really making the most of this feud.

The best segment of the night goes to Seth Rollins: Investigative Reporter, who debuted his new talk show, The Rollins Report, with an exclusive sit-down interview with Roman Reigns. I feared that Rollins was going to do the same bit where he interviews a picture of Reigns on the Titantron with Rollins mouth superimposed and speaking with his voice. Instead, it was Rollins in a suit asking questions with Reigns' answers taken out of context from his various sit-down interviews with Michael Cole. It was fantastic and funny. It was a new take on Rollins' campaign to remove Reigns and have a one-on-one match with Ambrose, which prompted the champ himself to show up and praise Rollins for having fun for once. He immediately calls Ambrose and his title reign a joke, and goes on to reiterate that he's the best member of The Shield. This is admittedly one of Rollins' best promos since his return and he's far away from being the chickenshit heel he once was last year. His rant sparked something in Ambrose, leading to what would be hands down the best promo of the night and the best promo of his career.

This was not goofy Ambrose. No, this was Dean "Fighting Champion" Ambrose and he gave 2 distinctly different promos. The first is addressing that he does like to have fun because he's the top man, and no matter who comes and leaves, who gets suspended, who "chases fantasies in some other sport," at the end of the day, he's the guy still standing there. If you want to see how easily Ambrose can command the audience, listen to how he got the arena to stop chanting as soon as he switched gears and focused on Rollins, leading to his second promo where he gets dark about how far he's come and how far he'll go to keep the title. Rollins is visibly shaken, even taking a few steps back as he went on. Ambrose basically accepted Rollins' challenge to have a one-on-one match and it will take place next week in the go-home show.

A lot of matches were set for Battleground and it's already looking quite promising. The one thing I'm worried about is what they're doing with Ambrose again. They're giving him his first title defense on RAW against Rollins, and they're already hinting that he may or may not be champion heading into Battleground. Here's the thing; if Ambrose retains, then he's most likely staying on RAW. They can't draft him to Smack Down if he's carrying what's basically RAW's title. So if he's going to Smack Down, Ambrose has to drop the title. I'm a little sad by this possible scenario, because of the fact that he cut an incredible promo and then he's going to lose, which has been a consistent pattern with Ambrose (MITB being the exception). The positive note is that Ambrose got to be a champ and fittingly, he's the last sole WWE champion before they introduce a second title belt. The last few champion have been a heel and most recently, in the sad case for Reigns, a tweener, as a reaction to the fans not accepting him as a champion, even though he's been putting on decent matches. The fact that they plan to cut short the first true babyface's championship reign is troubling.

"Happy Birthday America!": Monday Night RAW (7/4/16)

When they said this was a throwaway episode of RAW - as most episodes that fall on a holiday tend to be - they weren't kidding. The cold opening featured most of the locker room having a 4th of July dinner before a food fight broke out. Admittedly, this was a silly but fun segment. On a regular episode, any given match would've been the main event - WWE Champion vs IC Champion (with Dean Ambrose and The Miz hailing from Ohio), Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler (also from Ohio), or John Cena and AJ Styles quickly turning into Cena, Enzo and Cass vs Styles and The Club. No, this is America's birthday dammit, and they're going to make the main event a 16-man elimination match featuring Team USA (consisting of Big Show, Kane, Bubba Ray, D-Von, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger, and Apollo Crews) vs Team Multinational Alliance (consisting of Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn, Kevin owens, Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio, The Lucha Dragons, and Sheamus). The results can be found here.

I was about to say that there were no major storyline progressions but there actually was, it just has to be be done in promos as usual. For starters, AJ Styles and The Club made #BeatUpJohnCena a thing, where they planned out what they were going to do on each upcoming holiday for the rest of the year. As they beat up Cena, Enzo and Cass run in for the rescue, hastily setting them up in a 6-man tag team match for Battleground. This is good because it'll keep Styles and Cena II fresh, probably for Summerslam. Meanwhile, Charlotte and Sasha had a long, shouty promo about the women's title. And Becky got a quick win over Summer Rae, somehow setting her and Natalya for a match at Battleground as well.

In terms of interesting promos, that would go to The New Day vs The Wyatt Family feud, where Woods is doing the amazing character work. For once, someone is taking the Wyatt Family seriously and not even the Power of Positivity can stop Woods from worrying about Big E and Kofi and trying to keep them to stay away from them. Bray extended an invitation for the New Day to come over to their compound and this got Woods notably upset, even though Kofi and Big E were making making incest jokes about the Wyatt family earlier. The audience even got pretty vocal when Woods quietly walked away from them and left the ring, as if it was signaling the beginning of the end for the tag team champions.

Also interesting was Rollins cutting a long angry tirade of a promo on the announcer's table after his match with Ziggler, where he proceeded to talk more shit about Reigns (and get cheers because he's a heel??). Ambrose still remained neutral on the issue of removing Reigns from the main event but that doesn't stop him from messing around with Rollins. Even after his win over Miz, Ambrose psyched Rollins out by running back into the ring and walking past him to sit on the Spanish announcer's table to do commentary and promptly shutting up JBL. Ambrose also shuts up Rollins with Dirty Deeds on the Spanish announcer's table, to get back at him for last week. Sadly, Ambrose as a champ still isn't convincing a lot of critics (Vince McMahon fed a line to JBL on questioning Ambrose's stringy wet hair and he coolly reflected as him being naturally beautiful), which is making it more than likely that he's dropping the title at Battleground.

And finally, the main event, where it was expected that Team Multinational alliance would somehow turn on each other (thanks to Owens and Zayn), leaving Team USA to be the winner. I predicted that Ryder would be the last man standing for Team USA and I was half-right; Big Show tagged Ryder in to get the pin over Sheamus.

Battleground is being regarded as a low-level PPV, which is a dumb way of thinking considering that WWE has been trying to make every PPV matter following WrestleMania 32. The Shield Triple Threat is happening now because there's a good chance that all 3 would be separated (it doesn't really matter where Reigns ends up after the draft). Plus, it seems like a test run to see how good this feud can really get, now that Ambrose is the current WWE Champion.

"Dean Ambrose is a fighting champion!": Monday Night RAW (6/27/16)

Welp, they actually did it. They acknowledged Roman Reigns' absence for the next month. This was actually acknowledged by Seth Rollins who kicked off Monday Night RAW, who said he wanted to talk about it even though he was advised not to and yet a prepared screenshot of Reigns' apology tweet was put up on the Titantron. Ambrose interrupted Rollins and, being a babyface and a bro, said Reigns made a mistake and he owned up to it, but was still looking forward to the triple threat. This prompted AJ Styles and John Cena (who's celebrating his 14th WWE Birthday, prompting that wonderful Ambrose reaction gif) to come out, saying they should be added for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Stephanie came out and added to Rollins' complaint, saying that what Reigns did was an embarrassment but the bigger embarrassment was having Ambrose as their champion. She went into full Authority mode and set up Cena vs Rollins and Styles vs Ambrose as the main event, where Cena and Styles will be added to the Battleground main event if they win. The results can be found here.

This was another enjoyable RAW, although it was still a struggle to stick with 3 hours. There was less wrestling again and more promo time. It was nice to see 2 Women's matches again now that Sasha Banks has returned. The 2nd match with Summer Rae and Becky Lynch never happened because Becky just went over to beat the crap out of Natalya on commentary. Corporate Kane returned to plead to Stephanie for the general manager spot again and was interrupted by Miz and Maryse, fresh from filming "Marine 5." Kane decides to invoke the 30-day rule, where a champ must defend the title if they haven't done so. Seeing how RAW was taking place in Tampa, FL, there was a lot of speculation that someone from NXT - notably Finn Balor - might show up. The Demon did show up to challenge Miz for the IC title, only it was Demon Kane. The New Day and The Wyatt Family continue to build more intrigue as Kofi and Big E were up to their usual shenanigans of making fun of their opponent while their most vocal member, Xavier, appeared to be scared and wary of Bray.

Jericho hosted the highlight reel with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Zayn did his most passionate promo yet, being upset at Owens and himself for holding each other back in their careers. Owens came back with a vicious truth of his own, saying Zayn was never happy for his success all because he did it as his expense. They both agreed to have one final match together at Battleground because they know for sure they'll be drafted to different roster. Oh, and they both superkicked Jericho in the end.

Cena vs Rollins was a fantastic match, bringing memories of their feud from last year at Summerslam. I was rooting for Rollins to win, just so Cena doesn't get added to Battleground. Rollins wrestles like a babyface so you can't help but root for him. The match unfortunately had a stupid ending where Cena was distracted by The Club (decked out in noticeably new gear with Japanese kanji for their upcoming Japan tour this weekend) and Rollins taking advantage by using the pedigree on Cena for the win.

Styles vs Ambrose was the main event. This was probably one of Ambrose's best match in a while, where he was being technical against Styles and keeping up with him. Also, keep in mind that Ambrose had just wrestled 2 matches in 2 other cities the night before, so I was completely surprised to see him wrestling again. Gallows and Anderson showed up, making it look like Styles might win until Cena came to the rescue and Ambrose smoothly rolled up a distracted Styles to hit Dirty Deeds for the win. Rollins, who was on commentary, came up and Pedigree'd Ambrose while The Club beat up Cena to end the show.

Even though the thought of adding Cena and Styles sounded exciting for Battleground, I'm relieved that it's still going to stay as a Triple Threat. I'm also glad that WWE is not hiding Reigns' suspension and even integrating into a storyline. I did find it stupid - too stupid to even suspend belief - that Ambrose being a champion and current face of the company is the worst thing to ever happen than the company's #1 guy being suspended for a wellness violation. Also, said embarrassment is going to Hawaii and Japan this weekend to defend the title and still fly back to do RAW and Smack Down next week. Even if Ambrose is just a champ for this month until Battleground, he's setting a ridiculously high bar as their champion workhorse. I would have no problem if Rollins wins the title back but if Reigns gets it back, he better be a monster heel. Until then, it's up to Ambrose and Rollins to carry the feud again.

"You deserve it!": Monday Night RAW (6/20/16)

For the first time in a long while, a babyface champ - a genuine underdog with organic and consistent fan support - graced Monday Night RAW. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose (that sounds really good to say) was greeted with "You deserve it" chants before addressing the WWE Universe. He talked about hard work pays off. Ambrose wondered aloud that if Seth Rollins is "The Man," Roman Reigns is "The Guy," does that make him "The Dude?" The crowd agreed and Dean liked it and said call me whatever you like but call me "Champion." Reigns comes out amidst boos to congratulate Ambrose and reminded him of his rematch clause. Then Rollins comes out amidst cheers screaming that he beat Reigns so he gets a rematch clause. Interrupting Shane O Mac sets up Reigns and Rollins as the main event, where the winner will face Ambrose at Battleground next month. The results can be found here.

This was an enjoyable Monday Night RAW, although more time was spent on promos again and there was less time for the wrestling matches. They also addressed the upcoming Raw/Smack Down Draft, which will take place when Smack Down goes live on 7/19. To further emphasized how important this draft was, the first match of the night with Zayn and Owens showcased why these bitter rivals needed to be separated. Zayn got a win but Owens continued to beat him down after the match ended and even when they came back from commercial break. There was also the addition of the RAW and Smack Down podiums on top of the ramp, meaning WWE will be welcoming back a number of former general managers vying for the position for each brand. Hell, even John "People Power" Laurinitis returned before Shane told him that he would be running Smack Down.

The one segment I was not happy with was the women's division, where for some reason, Charlotte is defending the title against Paige. It wasn't a 3-minute squash match but it felt poorly paced and was full of botches, notably from Dana Brooke. Paige loses to Charlotte and all of a sudden Sasha Banks shows up, coming to her aid to chase off Charlotte and Dana. Look, I like Sasha but I hate that they kept her away from TV for a long time and now she's gunning for the title again. Meanwhile, poor Becky Lynch is getting beaten up by newly turned heel Natalya.

Speaking of returns, Bray Wyatt returned with Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman. Luke Harper is still out with a serious injury. Wyatt was interrupted by The New Day, which prompted him to come up with a chant on his own: New Day... Falls. This is a very weird yet interesting match-up so if they really are going ahead with this feud, they need to find the right balance for both teams to make this convincing.

Reigns and Rollins' main event match had Ambrose sitting on commentary and man, he was on fire. He put his former brothers over and showed how fiercely protective he is of his title. "Karma's a bitch and I'm WWE World Heavyweight Champion." As for the match, it was actually better than their match from MITB, save for a failed spot where the table didn't break when Reigns tackled Rollins. The two were unable to get back into the ring before the 10-count, resulting in a draw. The crowd wasn't happy with that so Shane came out and said we still need a contender. Ambrose gets into the ring and tells Shane he'll take them both on right now. Shane admires Dean as a fighting champion and decides to set up all former Shield members in a Triple Threat as the main event at Battleground. Ambrose happily accepts and goes up to both of his exhausted brothers and starts trash-talking them. Reigns gets up and tries to talk to Ambrose, who quickly turns around hits him with Dirty Deeds, which actually scares Rollins. Rollins tries to Pedigree a weakened Reigns after Ambrose left the ring, only to be hit from behind as Ambrose hits him with Dirty Deeds too.

So on top of them finally building excitement for the draft, the big takeaway is that the "WrestleMania-worthy" Shield Triple Threat is actually happening. There's a lot of complaints that the event is being wasted on what's considered a B-PPV event. However, the brand extension is heavily hinting that Reigns, Ambrose, and Rollins might get separated, so Battleground might very well be their last time to be on the same roster together. This is going to be an interesting month for Ambrose, who's now going to shoulder the pressure and responsibilities as a WWE Champ and as the face of the company. He is going to get even more attention now. On top of that, his wonderful cheerleader of a girlfriend Renee is comfortably and proudly posting more pics of Ambrose. I'm not too worried about Ambrose if he ends up dropping the title at Battleground, I just want to see him have a good run as an official champ.

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HEY, SO BREAKING NEWS. 

ROMAN REIGNS WAS SUSPENDED.

HE'LL STILL BE AT BATTLEGROUND.

"Ambrose Asylum: Electric Boogaloo": Monday Night RAW (6/13/16)

This is it. This is the go-home show of Monday Night RAW. Usually go-home shows are notoriously bad for having significantly less wrestling matches, backstage segments, and promos and sadly, that was the case here - there was reportedly less than 1 hour of in-ring wrestling in the 3 hours of RAW. Still, this show did as much as it can to create hype for MITB this Sunday while also addressing the impending roster draft and brand extension. The results can be found here.

The New Day and Enzo and Cass kicked off RAW to a weird start, with Cass telling Xavier that Enzo has put his lips all over Francesca the other night. It resulted in an amusing argument full of double entendres, resulting in Xavier Woods yelling "I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO BLOWS MY GIRL!" at Enzo's face. The Vaudvillains and The Club (sans AJ Styles) would come out to argue, which lead to be the first match of the night. The New Day has reached a point where they don't need the titles anymore so there's a good chance that they're going to lose their tag team titles very soon with the brand extension coming up.

Ever since Seth Rollins' shocking return at Extreme Rules and immediately being made the main event for MITB, there was very little reason to invest in his and Roman Reigns' feud. It was hampered by the fact that Rollins was still a chickenshit heel, even though his WWE: 24 Documentary painted him as a sympathetic babyface. On top of that, Rollins and Reigns never wrestled in the ring since the announcement and their story was only explained in video packages. That task fell upon Dean Ambrose and his talk show (which was brought back by Shane) to hype up their feud. The trios on-screen dynamic was great to see again. It was an excellent segment that re-established their history as The Shield and reminded the audience why this main event is important. Even better, Ambrose presented him as a threat to both of them, saying that if he wins MITB, he could just cash in and be the new champ.

Funny enough, the match that truly feels like a main event is AJ Styles vs John Cena. There was a bit of confusion as to why there was a contract signing, despite no title being on the line. Turns out Cena presented 2 contracts for Styles to sign; Cena vs The Club (barring The Club from ringside) or Cena vs Styles. Prior to the signing, Cena talked up Styles in a respectful manner, even name-dropping PWG, ROH, and NJPW (TNA was not mentioned) from his body of work. Styles, on the other hand, said that if he had stayed with WWE, he would be the 15-time World Champion because and beat Cena's "K-Mart shopping ass." Even though Styles turned heel recently, this feud doesn't feel rushed at all. Chalk it up to Cena and Styles performance and past body of work to give his a "big fight" feel.

Speaking of MITB, the entrants all got involved at the end of RAW with Ambrose vs Jericho as the main event, Cesaro being the ring announcer, Albert Del Rio being the timekeeper and Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens on commentary. It was wonderfully chaotic after Ambrose got another win over Jericho, who wisely grabbed a ladder and set it in the middle of the ring to grab the briefcase.

There are other matches and segments that happened but it's not really worth looking into. I mean, Sheamus and Apollo was just added as another pre-show match. And the women's division was represented in another rushed match where Paige got a win over Charlotte, thanks to Dana interfering. The women's title is not on the line, it's just a 4-women tag team match. Oh, and the IC title is not on the line either because The Miz is filming "Marine 5."

So that's the card for this Sunday. Seriously can't wait to be there! I'm pretty convinced that Ambrose isn't going to win (he's never won a match at MITB) but I won't stop cheering for him.

• Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
• John Cena vs. AJ Styles
• Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho vs. Cesaro vs. Alberto Del Rio in a Money in the Bank ladder match
• New Day vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. The Vaudevillains in a four-way for the WWE Tag Team Championship
• Rusev vs. Titus O’Neil for the U.S. Championship
• Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch and Natalya
• Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin in a Kickoff Show match
• Sheamus vs. Apollo Crews in a Kickoff Show match

"This is important": Monday Night RAW (6/6/16)

Monday Night RAW kicked off with the most unique opening segment I've ever seen in a long time. Rather than the usual shot of the venue with the pyro going off, it started with Dean Ambrose walking towards the ring, where all 5 of the MITB entrants are perched upon 6 tall ladders, surrounding the MITB briefcase. They all had a funny banter on who was going to win, with Jericho reminding everybody who created this match before it devolved with everyone getting down from the ladders and beating each other up. This lead to a surprise appearance by the infamous former Smack Down general manager, Teddy Long. He tossed out interesting ideas for tag team matches before Stephanie McMahon interrupted him to get all entrants in 3 singles matches (Jericho vs Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio vs Sami Zayn, and Ambrose vs Kevin Owens). The results can be found here.

The other best segment of the night was the banter between AJ Styles, and John Cena. It was not just a typical heel talking down a face. There was a sense of truth in their promo, such as Cena calling Styles a dud for coming to WWE despite being heralded as the "hero of sports entertainment" and Styles flat out saying to Cena that "guys like you bury guys like me." Cena has somehow enlisted the help of The New Day to help him out, which makes sense considering Gallows and Anderson started feuding with them. Speaking of tag teams, thanks to a wonderful idea by Teddy Long, Stephanie added another match for MITB. There will a Fatal 4 Way for the title with The New Day, The Club, Enzo and Cass, and The Vaudevillains.

The absolute worst segment of the night goes to, no surprise, the women's division. Charlotte uncharacteristically issued an apology to the WWE Universe on how she treated her father but still maintained why she had to do it. She mentions that she took in Dana Brooke to be her protege, which saddens me that they had to go this route with her since Emma is still injured. Natalya and Becky came out to try to sway Dana from siding with Charlotte and of course, it doesn't work. There was dead silence for this segment and it pretty much showed that this whole Charlotte and Natalya feud is quickly getting stale. In a 3 hour show, there was no room for any women's wrestling. Not even for freaking Sasha Banks.

Neither Reigns or Rollins made an appearance tonight, which meant the world title was taking a break this week in favor of the MITB feud and Cena vs Styles. They ran 2 lengthy video packages that revisted their history together as The Shield as well as the beginning of their feud from their perspective. Rollins' video package incorporated some segments from his WWE: 24 documentary, which actually made Rollins come off a little different now than his chickenshit heel persona before his injury. No longer backed by The Authority, Rollins wants to prove that he can beat Reigns and he's been waiting 2 years to do it. Reigns video package, on the other hand, conveniently skipped his first 2 title reigns and his reliance on Ambrose and The Usos, despite him saying that he now stands alone. They even showed his WM 32 moment where he holds up the title to a thunderous applause that was clearly edited in. This was a great to build up their feud (and prevent Reigns from getting booed for cutting another promo) than that silly silent treatment they did last week.

To be honest, despite how this episode got mixed reactions by AV Club, I personally enjoyed it. Well, most of it anyways. I do want to note that Ambrose is being heavily featured again. He had a quick backstage segment with Owens, where he noted that Ambrose seems to be going off at the deep end more than usual. In addition to making another appearance on Sports Center with Coach, he has a scheduled match with Jericho on Smack Down. And the previous cancelled Ambrose Asylum (the talk show, not the cage match) returns for the go-home show with 2 very special guests. Once again, Ambrose is being positioned as the favorite to win MITB and they're making it obvious. It's funny that everyone wants to see this happen and knowing WWE, they'll go in a completely different direction and delay pulling the trigger on Ambrose. If he doesn't win, I'm fine with Owens, Zayn or Cesaro walking away with the briefcase.

Memorial Day Weekend Recap (5/27/16 - 5/30/16)

Friday (5/27):

• Went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner
• Walked around Target for bit
• Played L4D2 with Dan and Corinne
  
  

Saturday (5/28):

• Went to IKEA, it wasn't terribly crowded. We bought a new door mat, a container for plastic bags, and a splatter guard.
• Ate at Suzuya, this small Japanese dessert cafe
• Went to 169 Market to buy ingredients to make Bicol Express. It was a minor success.
• Bought Overwatch and played for a bit

Sunday (5/29):

• Watched "The Nice Guy" starring Russel Crowe and Ryan Gosling. We opted for this move over "X-Men: Apocalypse" (we never wanted to watch the movie anyways). This was a great buddy film.
• I wanted to eat at this Guam restaurant, Red Ricem, for lunch. Vince couldn't find his wallet so we had to go back to the theaters to get it. When we got back, I saw that they were closing early. We went to Hot N Juicy Crawfish for lunch and ran into Joel, Pam, John, and Jonathan, who also just got out from Hot N Juicy crawfish earlier.
• We walked around Town Square and Fry's for a while before heading home

Monday (5/30):

• We stayed home the whole day
• We gave Yumi and Tsuki a bath
• I got restless and decided to go to the gym early, which was nice
• Got home to watch Monday Night RAW on Taima, which was pretty much a throwaway episode, save for a few segments and the main event match. Nope, I'm not making a Monday Night RAW post.

What to expect for Tuesday Night Smack Down!:

Ha, I had to make this because we had a 3 day weekend. Seeing how Monday Night RAW was incredibly disappointing, I'm hoping Smack Down will step up this week, especially now that they addressed Smack Down going live and each brand having a unique roster. Money In The Bank is shaping up to be an even bigger PPV with those feuds carrying into the draft.

The biggest and newest angle to happen, which looking back now was wasted on a holiday episode, was having AJ Styles and John Cena in a program. What was thought to be a friendly face vs face rivalry turned into The Club vs Cena. Yup, Styles officially aligned with his good brothers to be, well, The Club, but for reals this time. Funny how this feud is the New Era vs The Old Guard when Cena and Styles are both in their late 30s. I was excited for the heel turn but Vince wasn't because they just killed off the hottest babyface opposite Reigns, who they still refuse to make him into a full-blown heel.

Despite what was advertised last week, they didn't feature a 7th MITB qualifying match. Instead, they had a 6 man tag team match with Ambrose, Zayn and Cesaro vs Jericho, Owens, and Del Rio. Team Indy Darlings won, with Ambrose pinning Owens after Dirty Deeds for the win. Speaking of which, it was mentioned on commentary that Ambrose was the odds-on favorite to win MITB. And as much as everyone wants to see the Shield Triple Threat happen, I personally think it's too soon for it. Rollins and Reigns need to build up their feud and Ambrose needs to get more wins again to get out the mid-card. Then again, they can't afford to hold it off and another freak injury happens by then. So I see another heel like Owens or Jericho winning it, or Zayn or Cesaro winning it. 

I don't have faith in WWE to push Ambrose again :/

"DAE think Ambrose is dull?"

So. It's finally happened. Fans are turning against Ambrose. Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken this long. And it's quite sad to not only see it happening but knowing the exact point when it started going downhill.

His match against Lesnar at WrestleMania was the make-or-break match for Ambrose, coming off from losing his IC title on RAW, losing at Fastlane, and losing at Roadblock. Realistically, Ambrose physically couldn't defeat Lesnar so everyone expected the two to go all out with their match, use the weapons that Ambrose picked up a few nights earlier, and maybe at the end, earn some form of respect from Lesnar and Heyman for being tenacious. This match had high expectations and it sadly became one of the most disappointing and forgettable matches coming out of WrestleMania 32. Lesnar dominated Ambrose easily and the only weapons used were chairs, a kendo stick, and a fire extinguisher. Neither Foley's Barbie or Funk's chainsaw were used by Ambrose and there was no blood, even for a match involving Lesnar.

Immediately following the aftermath, with no acknowledgement from Ambrose on his match against Lesnar, he entered a feud with Jericho. He resumed a program that was once hinted last year, when Jericho was Ambrose and Roman Reigns' third man against The Wyatt Family at Night of Champions. Jericho emerged from WrestleMania as the top heel after defeating AJ Styles in the rubber match (which seriously confused and pissed off everyone). Their feud was rebooted over Jericho's talk show getting cancelled by Shane and replaced with the Ambrose Asylum. After the death of Mitch the Plant and Jericho's $15k jacket, the two would go on to have matches for Payback and the first (and probably last) Asylum Match at Extreme Rules. Although Ambrose has won over Jericho twice now, the victories no longer mattered.

To date, Ambrose has had 3 back-to-back disappointing matches. It's hard to admit that, and it's getting harder and harder to defend why he should be worth investing when there are better, edgier babyfaces like AJ Styles and Sami Zayn on the main roster, new NXT talent getting called up, and a number of talent like Seth Rollins and John Cena coming back from injury. It looks like WWE is trying to build up Ambrose again, as he's 1 of the 7 qualified competitors for the MITB ladder match. He and Kevin Owens are big favorites to walk away with the briefcase, although most want to see Ambrose win so that they can build towards the much anticipated Shield Triple Threat match that was suppose to happen at WrestleMania before Rollins' injury. Even Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer admitted that "Ambrose's star has fallen after the Lesnar program."

This past week, WWE revealed that they are reintroducing the brand split. A draft will take place on July 11 before Smack Down goes live on July 19. My first thought was that Ambrose should absolutely go to Smack Down. Since WWE will never see him as a top guy for RAW, he and other talent will have a better chance at Smack Down. Besides, Ambrose seems to be given a lot more to do on WWE's B-Show, which seems fitting seeing how he has been headlining the B-Show team for the weekend live events for the last few months.

It's selfish but I want to see Ambrose win MITB. I would love to see either Owens or Zayn walk out as Mr. MITB but Ambrose needs this badly for his character and credibility. I can't see him feuding with Jericho again or anybody else. It'll be even better if he and Rollins are both chasing Reigns' for the title. It's just so weird that The Shield is heralded as the beginning of the New Era and yet Ambrose has to work his way to the top and fall back down whereas Rollins and Reigns are given those opportunities to stay at the top.

"A Title I Never Lost": Monday Night RAW (5/23/16)

Seth Freaking Rollins kicked off the special 1200th episode of Monday Night RAW because of course he would. Rollins went at length about how he's back to take back the title he never lost and that even though he got a lot of loving fan support, he doesn't need anybody to win (plus he threw all the fan letters in the trash and set it on fire!) His former brother, Roman Reigns would show up with the title, prompting Shane McMahon to come out and quickly setting both Reigns and Rollins as the main event for the upcoming Money In The Bank PPV. The rest of the show focused on 5 MITB qualifying matches. The results can be found here.

Want to know the best part of Rollins' return? They significantly downplayed Reigns. Yes, Reigns came out with the title and trash talked (off mic) with Rollins but other than that, he didn't say a word. He didn't even cut his usual "THE GUY" promo. All the talking was done by Rollins and Shane, who had to give a rundown for the audience on what Rollins has accomplished prior to his injury. Rollins reappeared in a backstage segment with Renee but got distracted when he saw Stephanie. He went in for a hug but Stephanie stopped him, saying that a lot has changed and so has their business relationship. Rollins did state he didn't need anybody, so it was telling how sad he looked when he didn't get a warm welcome from his "mother."

Unlike last year's MITB, which drew criticism for hastily putting in Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Neville, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Kane, this year, they made the effort to have those entrants earn those spots in qualifying matches. 5 spots were filled tonight with 2 heels and 3 faces. No word if the remaining 2 spots will happen on Smack Down or next week's RAW.

• Zayn defeated Sheamus (who randomly started to feud with Apollo Crews)
• Cesaro defeated The Miz
• Jericho defeated Apollo Crews (who no sold the beatdown he got from Sheamus backstage)
• Ambrose defeated Ziggler (in a technical match)
• Owens defeated AJ Styles (CLEAN!)
  

This lineup is already interesting for several reasons: Cesaro is going to put on a spectacular show as usual. Owens and Zayn are involved so there's a damn good chance they're just going to find any opportunity to beat each other again. Ambrose and Jericho are squaring off again, meaning there's a scary chance Jericho could screw Ambrose over and win the match he created 11 years ago.

• RAW also marked the much-welcome return of Big Cass' tag team partner, Enzo, which meant they were resuming their feud against "Bub and Devon Dud." Enzo addressed the concussion and said it was a hard sneeze. I'm now extra worried for Enzo.
  
  
• Not sure if this is will be an actual feud, or it might be WWE's way of trying to quickly move on from Adam Rose being released, but the Social Outcasts attacked New Day as they were celebrating Raw's 1200th episode. Oddly enough, there were signs of The Vaudevillains.
  
  
• Charlotte, Dana, and Ric came out for an in-ring segment about the state of the Women's Title. It got off to a very shaky start, mostly because Charlotte got annoyed with the crowd chants, but Charlotte finally split from Ric Flair. She addressed the issues of how everyone thought she couldn't win without Ric and she wanted to prove them all wrong. This prompted Ric to cry of course and tearfully leave. Looks like Charlotte is making her own version of the BFFs with Dana on her side.
  
  
• Styles and Owens was the main event qualifying match. Before it started, Styles came out to praise Reigns for being a worthy opponent (the audience booed of course) but he also talked down about Gallows, Anderson, and The Usos for interfering and costing him the match. Gallows and Anderson came out to confront Styles and ended with him breaking up with The Club. Gallows and Anderon didn't take this split amicably.

This was a great episode of RAW that's quickly establishing the next PPV with matches and storylines that will organically build towards it. Now the biggest question is who will win the briefcase. Prior to Rollins' return, the popular choice for getting the briefcase was Owens just so he can screw with Zayn and Reigns. But when JBL mentioned on commentary about the possibility of all 3 Shield members being in the title picture, now it's shifting to Ambrose to be the favorite to win.

Speaking of which, Ambrose seems to have a slight attitude change following Extreme Rules. His match against Ziggler was technical, just like their previous match for the Survivor Series WHC tournament, and he looked quite serious. His fallout interview however showed Ambrose coming off quite indifferent. Seems to foreshadow something here.

WWE Extreme Rules 2016 PPV

Last night was WWE's Extreme Rules, the 2nd PPV to quickly follow Payback in the month of May. This was a more satisfying PPV than Payback and best of all, no on-screen injuries occurred! The results can be found here.

Rusev won over Kalisto to become a 2-time US Champion. RuRu came out looking like a monster heel again with his newly modified and brutal looking Accolade. I didn't think resetting him (and Lana's) character would do him any good but it turns out did.

The best match of the night was hands down the IC Title Fatal 4 Way match. Zayn and Owens' hatred for each other was the backdrop for this match, which probably wouldn't have been interesting if it only involved Cesaro and Miz. There were so many great spots, so many nearfalls, and Miz didn't look out of place at all amidst these former indy stars. I was really rooting for Cesaro to win, so I was a bit bummed when he didn't. Miz retaining makes sense because this leaves it open for other guys to go after the title and it frees up Owens, Zayn, and Cesaro.

The Asylum Match was the longest match of the night, clocking in at 26 minutes. It turns out that a short segment was cut from the show and added to Ambrose and Jericho's feud, resulting in an unfortunately long and drawn out match. I'll be honest here; I was bored watching this drag on. I didn't like that every "weapon" they grabbed was literally used once. It wasn't until Ambrose spilled thumbtacks unto the ring that it started building up. Ambrose dropped Jericho unto the tacks AND did Dirty Deeds on him to get another win. I have serious respect for Jericho, who went above and beyond to help put Ambrose over when WWE or Lesnar couldn't for WM 32. This one spot saved it from being the worst match of the night.

No, that goes to the Women's Title match with Natalya and Charlotte. Their match was actually quite good but due to the Asylum match running longer than it was suppose to, their match was shortened to under 10 minutes. Natalya looked like she was winning until she was distracted by Flair's entrance theme playing with Dana Brooke (poorly disguised as Flair) entering the ring to distract Natalya. Charlotte does the Figure 8 and forces Natalya to tap. Charlotte, Ric, and Dana all celebrate in the ring. Another title defense for the new Women's title that ended with Flair interfering.

The main event with Styles and Reigns was fantastic. They brawled outside the ring, unto the kickoff show's glass table, destroyed tables and barricades. Gallows and Anderson and the Usos showed up towards the end of the match and everyone was doing everything to make sure they're guy would win. Styles even went berserk and hit The Bloodline in the back with a steel chair. Just as Styles was getting ready to hit the Phenomenal Forearm, Reigns tackles him in mid-air with a spear for a definitive win. It was expected that Reigns would retain and he was getting showered in boos.

AND THEN CROSSFIT JESUS RETURNED

Rollins came back way earlier than anticipated, probably as quick as Cena's return (which is next Monday). He's going to get such a huge pop on Monday Night RAW. We're all cheering for a returning heel and are actively booing the company's top babyface champ. If Reigns is being intentionally built to be this kayfabe powerful, then it would make his defeat even more satisfying. There's no other person than can take him down a notch than the former champ who never lost his title.

"Extreme Payback": Monday Night RAW (5/16/16)

The go-home show for Monday Night RAW was split evenly between actual wrestling matches and promos and segments, which was effective but somehow underselling Extreme Rules this Sunday. The results can be found here.

The major highlights were:

• The Miz and Cesaro vs Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. This was a seriously fun match that played up both of the respective heels and faces either refusing to cooperate or trying to one-up each other. This is also the first time in a long while since "Steenerico" teamed up years ago. The match ended with Zayn pinning Miz and winning the match, only to end with Owens superkicking Zayn in the face. Owens vowed to take back his title.
  
  
• Dana Brooke vs Becky Lynch. Due to Emma's badly-timed injury, Dana stepped up to carry on the feud with Becky. While I can commend Dana for taking over, it really puts a damper on Emma and Becky's feud, which was building up quite nicely from last month. And Dana, who I thought improved the most on NXT before getting injured, didn't look too confident in the ring either.
  
  
• The New Day had a time machine segment (actually it's just a giant refrigerator box with stuff glued on) to make fun of The Vaudevillains' bygone era. They briefly stopped in 2009, where Kofi emerged to his old theme song and spoke with his Jamaican accent. Kofi cried out "2009 was my best year!" before they dragged him back in and emerged in the past, where everything was black and white, where Booty-Os are named Derriere Squares, and there were no video games. The Vaudevillains ruined the fun segment and stood tall over The New Day.
  
  
• Ambrose (sporting a shiner) called out Jericho and challenged him to having a rematch at Extreme Rules, which Jericho accepted. While Jericho was doing his "Gift of Jericho" pose ("Drink it in, Deeeeeeeeean."), Ambrose said he had a gift for him as well and gazed up as a black steel cage was lowered to the ring, complete with cheesy horror music and strobe lights. Ambrose suddenly went into menacing Moxley-ish mode and introduced the first ever Asylum Match, where there will be no escape and Jericho will never be the same again.
  
  
• The Usos defeated Gallows and Anderson, because of course they would. The Usos have started dressing in darker clothes and darker face paint, which complements Reigns' current tweener persona. The most surprising part was seeing Styles finally giving into temptation and using the steel chair to attack Reigns. AND THEN PERFORMING THE STYLES CLASH ON ROMAN ON SAID CHAIR. It was a amazing spot. Which makes it all the more frustrating knowing that Styles will not be a new champ this Sunday.
  
  
• Kalisto vs Del Rio was looking like one of their usual matches until Sin Cara and Rusev got involved in a backstage segment that spilled into the ring. Del Rio won the match and quickly left as Rusev went into the ring and dominated over Kalisto. Rusev looked like a monster heel again and it was fantastic.
  
  
• The main event ended with Charlotte and Natalya doing a contract signing with Shane and Stephanie in the ring. Charlotte was not happy seeing that the contract officially included banning her father from ringside, so Ric had to sign as well. A furious Ric Flair threatened Shane, who said he respected him too much to try to fight back, but it didn't stop Stephanie from slapping him. Charlotte was ready to lunge at Stephanie but Nattie caught her and did a sharpshooter. Ric and Charlotte slithered away and Raw ended with Nattie holding up the Women's belt up high.
  
  

So that's that. There's still Smack Down and two house shows left before Extreme Rules. Here is the complete card:

• Pre-Show: Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin in a No DQ match
• WWE World Title match: Roman Reigns vs. A.J. Styles in an Extreme Rules match
• Asylum Cage match: Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho
• Women’s Title match: Charlotte vs. Natalya in a submission match
• U.S. Title match: Kalisto vs. Rusev
• IC Title match: The Miz vs. Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
• Tag Title match: New Day vs. The Vaudevillians

Note: I'm actually more worried for Ambrose's match than I thought. To me, it seems nearly parallel to his feud against Lesnar in WrestleMania, where it had a great buildup and a lackluster match and ending. If they're going through the effort to have Ambrose be the poster boy for Extreme Rules with a match tailored for him, he better win this match. Then again, Ambrose has been known to lose in most gimmick matches...

"The New Error": Monday Night RAW (5/9/16)

This was another somewhat enjoyable episode of Monday Night RAW. I say "somewhat enjoyable" because a majority of the matches, while entertaining, had finishes that didn't make sense. I get that they have 2 more weeks left before Extreme Rules. It just seems like 50/50 booking is at play again. The results can be found here.

So here are the weird finishes to the following matches:

• Ziggler lost to Corbin
• Charlotte (C) lost to Paige
• Miz (C) lost to Zayn
• Rusev (#1 Contender) lost to Sin Cara
• Ryder lost to Owens
• New Day (C) lost to Dudleyz
• The Club lost to The Family via DQ
  
  

All the champs - with the exception of Reigns of course - just randomly lost in their respective matches. Corbin winning shouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for Ziggler randomly winning at Payback. Rusev lost to Sin Cara - SIN CARA - thanks to Kalisto interference. Miz lost to Zayn, making the IC title match a fatal 4-way. Ryder lost to Owens, once again reinforcing Ryder's almost pointless WrestleMania moment as a 1-time IC Champ. The most baffling is the third hour, which saw The New Day losing to The Dudleyz and the last-minute main event with Chris Jericho and Big Cass, set by Stephanie McMahon at the beginning of the show, never happened due to Ambrose's surprise appearance. The only other surprise was Dana Brooke making her main roster debut backstage in a segment with Emma and Becky Lynch.

The Reigns and Styles storyline is getting better and better each week. It's actually getting harder to tell if Styles would remain the steadfast babyface when everyone is using every opportunity to destroy each other. I mean both teams were nearly booed last night, though Reigns and The Usos got a much louder reaction. Speaking of which, it's important to note that the Bullet Club is now present across several promotions. The original leader, Finn Balor, is in NXT, "The Club" with Styles, Gallows, and Anderson is in WWE, and the remaining Bullet Club faction is strong in both NJPW and ROH, along with new additions Adam Cole and Adam Page.

I want to point out something quite odd here. The show started off with Jericho bragging about destroying Ambrose AND Mitch The Plant, whose death saddened the Twitter/Tumblr fans last week. WWE is not one to ignore something like this so they had Jericho display a quick montage of all the screenshots of everyone crying over Mitch, all while emphasizing numerous times that he severely injured Ambrose. When Ambrose returned, he destroyed Jericho's light up jacket which apparently costs $15k. Ambrose is exacting revenge on Jericho... over a potted plant. This was humorous to watch - and props to Jericho and Ambrose for doing their best to make this silly feud serious -  but it robbed the audience of a totally new main event match with another NXT newcomer against a legend. Did WWE intentionally move Reigns and Styles to the 2nd hour so that The New Day, The Dudleyz, Ambrose and Jericho will close out the third hour, where their ratings normally tank? AV Club thought their silly feud was the "shining star" of the show and F4W thought it was building up their feud well enough, while others have understandably thought this was getting sillier and stupider.

To be honest, I don't fucking care. I'm just happy see Ambrose every single time, regardless if he wrestles or not. It's easy to lose faith in the guy with how he's being booked and all but I can't not be entertained by him. Let's see how the go-home show next week will reverse all the 50/50 booking leading up to Extreme Rules. Also, I'm getting that damn poster... unless Ambrose is featured in Money In The Bank, I'm getting that too.