Thursday, June 4, 2015

The Mid-Week War Correspondent (6/4/15)

Subscribe to the Mid-Week War podcast on iTunes, or go to WrestlingMayhemShow.com. You can also get my random thoughts on the wide world of professional wrestling by following me on Twitter @MainstreamMat.

Let me just start by saying that 5 hours of professional wrestling on a single night is a terrible idea. I like to think of myself as a voracious consumer of the product in all its many, wonderful forms, but even I was overwhelmed. That said, here are my thoughts on the first night of the newly expanded Mid-Week War.




This is the best professional wrestling program on television today. This week, the standout was Vampiro, who was sharing all sorts of knowledge early in the show - explaining the origin of the Spanish word "gringo", and informing me that Argenis and Myzteziz are brothers.

The education continued as we finally got confirmation that Matanza is indeed a reference to Dario Cueto's brother, who he keeps locked away in the basement of The Temple. As for that cheesy backstage fight scene involving Black Lotus, the less said the better.
In the ring, Jack Evans impressed again. This time he not only got a win, he got one of Dario's mysterious medallions as well. You also had to be impressed by Cage and Big Ryck doing a handoff on a delayed suplex.

The main event was really good. The fact that Sexy Star can be believable in a match against Pentagon Jr. is impressive. I'm also grateful for a submission match that ends with someone actually submitting. 

However, I think I have an issue with Vampiro running in to stop Pentagon from breaking Sexy's arm after the match. Lucha goes to all this trouble to treat Sexy as an equal to the male luchadors, but Vampiro never got out of his seat to save any of the guys from Pentagon. Only the female in peril drew him out of his seat. It's a little thing, but it stood out to me.



This week's episode of NXT was fine, which seems to be NXT's standard mode of operation when it's not putting on a Takeover special. The opening match between Tyler Breeze and Adam Rose was solid, but it also raised a lot of questions for me. Is Breeze a face now? Is Rose starting to revert back into Leo Kruger?

The live promo with Eva Marie was really unique for NXT and interesting to watch. She's so naturally unlikable, and I hope the creative staff milks that for all it's worth. Those online videos that have been going around suggest she's improved vastly in the ring. If she turns out to be on par with the incredible female talent on NXT, will the fans start to cheer her?

They also announced Kevin Owens will defend the NXT Championship against #1 Contender Finn Balor during a live special on the WWE Network on July 4th. The show will be broadcast from Tokyo, Japan's Sumo Hall, starting at 6:30 a.m. Balor came up short last time, but he's promising to bring the demon with him to Japan, where he's sure to be wildly popular. 



The debut episode of Ring Of Honor on Destination America was far from ideal. The action was solid, but some of the wrestlers aren't ROH regulars. As a starting point, it's not the worst thing. There's not really anywhere for ROH to go but up.

I've liked Silas Young, and his "Last Real Man In Professional Wrestling" gimmick for a while. I also thought the match between Moose and Colby Corino was very effective, although it left me questioning how good a father color commentator Steve Corino is.
ROH's production quality has improved greatly over the years, but airing next to Impact Wrestling doesn't do it many favors. ROH comes off looking like a very good independent promotion, but I guess that's essentially what it is at the end of the day.



Many may disagree, but Impact didn't embarrass itself on its first Wednesday night. The future fate of TNA the company probably rests on Ethan Carter III.

He's undefeated. He's banging on the door of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, and he could be a company-carrying star. Unfortunately, TNA hasn't shown a track record for actually grooming these types of talents. Perhaps they've finally learned from the mistakes made with A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe and others.


 The angle with James Storm apparently pushing Mickie James into the path of a train is ridiculous. As many noted, Storm walked away from at least an attempted murder. Yet, later in the show, Angelina Love (doing the most low-rent wannabe Stephanie McMahon imaginable) was arrested for striking a "fan". That's some serious inconsistancy in the rules that govern this wrestling universe.

I don't like the real-life relationship between Mickie and Magnus being paraded around on television either. Using reality as a crutch for your storylines suggests the creative minds behind TNA can't come up with anything on their own.


Another major pet peeve of mine: the Dirty Heels. This may be the worst name ever conceived for a tag team in what's supposed to be a major wrestling promotion. I'd roll my eyes if I got fed this at an indy show. I feel bad enough typing insider terms like "face" and "heel" here on my blog. I don't want to see it on my wrestling shows!

Impact Wrestling isn't all bad, but the TNA brand is so damaged it never gets the benefit of the doubt. Lucha Underground killed someone in a storyline last week. Viewers like me thought it was edgy and cool. Impact appears to kill someone this week, and I shake my head and say it's stupid. There's no trust in the product, and I don't know if it can ever be won back. At least the move to Wednesday nights gets TNA back into the conversation.
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