My, oh my.
A lot of things have happened while I was floating in space in a time loop that sucked me through, and I couldn’t come back until today. So, here I am.
The biggest topics that come to mind are John Cena’s character change following the Elimination Chamber, the Street Profits finally winning gold, Naomi joining the dark side after she was revealed to be Jade Cargill’s attacker, Charlotte Flair’s ego hasn’t diminished, the Triple Treat match I’ve always wanted between Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and CM Punk, the strange orientation of the Bloodline… Regardless.
I’ve always been a John Cena fan. If someone were to ask me who’s my favorite wrestler, if they even knew what they were talking about, I would say John Cena. This might come as a shock, but I don’t care. I genuinely agree with what Cena has been saying about how biased and poisonous the WWE universe is. Y’all boo people very easily for being human, to have an opposing opinion, or a change in character. Babyface? Heel? What the hell is that? That’s not how it should be. They’re not who they are because of the fans, nor did they pursuit their dreams because of what the fans want.
If Superstars become more popular due to the admiration of the audience, that’s an eventuality, not a promise, or a state of law. I simply don’t appreciate when someone is condemned for speaking their mind and the truth, only to be discarded the way that the fans have done to Cena. So easily, so effortlessly, so… devoid of any realization. But hey, someone is bound to hate what I just said, too. I prefer to see the truth, than to be blind to a self-assertive narrative concocted by people how don’t actually understand, nor listen to me. The way Cena spoke his truth wasn’t entirely calm, but I understood him more than he thought possible.
Rey Fenix vs. Nathan Frazer
This match is Fenix’s debut on the blue brand against Nathan Frazer down on NXT. I wasn’t sure if the tale that Rey is Penta’s brother was true, but I saw some similarities with the graphics in which Fenix’s name is written as well as his ring gear and music theme.
Fenix has been leaving quite the impression in the eyes of everyone watching with that Goodbye Amigos kick as a counter to Frazer’s attack followed by a massively dominant pile driver that would have taken Nathan out if he didn’t have the resiliency to remain in the match a little longer. That looked painful…
After that, Nathan tried his best to stay out of Rey’s clutches with a step-up enziguri to the jaw of his opponent. Unfortunately, Fenix came back like nothing happened to deliver a Super Kick. Fenix came out victoriously with a MMB, a Mexican Muscle Buster.
Winner: Rey Fenix
Paul Heyman knew that the original Bloodline needed a fifth man to help equalize their chances, so he pleaded with CM Punk. Yes, Punk said yes, but not without getting something in return. We’ve yet to fully know what that is, but Heyman made the slight mistake asking for another favor. It was catered to all of us when he wanted to know the nature of CM Punk’s request, alas, he won’t say until Roman Reigns decides to show up because it will affect him. Ooh…
LA Knight vs. Tama Tonga
I don’t think LA Knight expected this level of wrestling performance from Tama Tonga, but he was doing a very great job dismantling the Megastar in the middle of the ring. I think Tonga has been fading into the background as of late, and I don’t like that. It’s weird because I never thought such a thing could happen with him. He has screen presence, so why underutilize it?
Knight made a comeback by planting a big boot against Tonga’s face. He continued with the onslaught by squashing Tama in the corner, followed by a kick towards the announcement table. Tonga managed to break free from the one-sided assault with a clothesline to the throat of Knight. That nearly decapitated the US Champion and stopping him cold.
All that momentum from earlier began to dissipate once Knight got the wind to blow in his direction when he forced Tama down to the mat with a BFT and a body slam. Tonga fought back, even with Solo Sikoa’s involvement, he came up short after suffering a Blunt Force Traumatic conclusion.
Winner: LA Knight
Motor City Machine Guns vs. DIY
Both these teams want another crack at the current Champions being the Street Profits, so here they are battling it out. Chris Sabin had a good handle on Tommaso Ciampa with that arm drag. Motor City play a double team versus DIY, leaving them reeling especially desperately.
Ciampa put his expertise to the test against two fiery opponents, but he continued to fall at their mercy with their high praised synchronization tactics. Sabin and Shelley didn’t win right there, however, they almost reached that point. Just when they were lining something up for Tommaso, out of nowhere, Johnny Gargano tripped Sabin from the top rope, forcing him to lose his balance.
The Fairytale Ending DIY inflicted on Chris Sabin would have been enough if Shelley hadn’t broken things up. Naturally, Ciampa threw him outside. Back inside, Sabin narrowly avoided Meet Me in the Middle by fighting both men at the same time until Shelley came in with the assist. They went for Skull and Bone a second time, yet Gargano messed that up again. When Ciampa had Sabin covered, the referee noticed he was using the middle rope for pressure, resulting in the discontinuation of a three count. That allowed Sabin to shove Tommaso into the exposed turnbuckle and gain a victory for his team to face the Profits.
Winners: Motor City Machine Guns
After choosing Tiffany Stratton as her WrestleMania 41 opponent, Wade Barrett asked Charlotte Flair for further depth as to why she chose Stratton and if that was the right decision. I mentioned Flair’s ego earlier and now, it just kept elevating itself even high when she said that she hasn’t done much charity work lately, so she’s the gift that keeps on giving to a “desperate” Tiffany and reestablishing that there’s no comparison. Stratton’s response is that Charlotte is an indecisive whiner who will always be second best to her father. Because of the amount of booing, Flair allowed Stratton to have the final word.
Naomi vs. B-Fab
B-Fab just so happens to be another individual caught between Naomi and Jade when she got beaten up by the former Miss Glow. B-Fab has been bringing a lot on intensity during this grudge match, but she’s going against Naomi of all people. She made sure to remind B-Fab of that when kicking her leg while caught up in the corner. Naomi’s much more aggressive combative prowess are working well for her as she performed a winning modified Longblower maneuver.
The match was over, yet Naomi still felt like calling Cargill out, and she was met with a boot to the chest and a near execution of Jaded until security showed up. Nick Aldis made the smart decision to officiate a WrestleMania match where Naomi and Jade fight in the ring. They both got what they wanted.
Winner: Naomi
We’ve talked about the insanity, the odd and the abrupt tonight. Now, we have to address the saddest part. As we etch closer to the Showcase of the Immortals, Kevin Owens came to the stage with bad news. He’s neck has been acting up, a price all combat sports fighter have come across, so now it’s his turn. He unfortunately won’t be able to attend WrestleMania and fight Randy Orton because he’ll be needing surgery. I can only hope he’ll get better soon.
Before he could leave, Randy Orton had something to say when he arrived to the stage. At first, we couldn’t tell if he showed up out of sympathy or something else. Disbelief is surely an emotion on his face. This opens a hole in the fightcard schedule, so much so that Orton delivered an RKO to Aldis.
Braun Strowman vs. Jacob Fatu – Last Man Standing match to face LA Knight at WrestleMania 41
Fatu was baited in by Strowman as he ran towards him near the timekeeper’s area and collided with a chair to the face. Braun added more salt to the thousands of cuts on Jacob’s body with the bullet train of ramming the Samoan Werewolf clean through the barricades. It took a while, luckily, both men beat the ten count.
Strowman had to come up with another idea to keep Fatu down, so he suplexed Jacob through some tables stationed somewhere else in the arena. The crowd’s reaction was accurate in shock. Back inside the ring, just as Braun was trying to get back up, Jacob came rushing with the hip attack, shoving Strowman through a table. Triumphantly, that was enough to be the last man standing.
Winner: Jacob Fatu
CM Punk said earlier that he will only mention what his favor is when Roman Reigns arrives. Well, the Tribal Chief has answered the yelling and instead Seth Rollins’ theme started playing. Rollins wouldn’t miss this for anything in the world, hence the abruptness of his presence. This union affected him as well, so it’ll be strange if he wasn’t here, too.
You know, the favor sounded a little underwhelming… What CM Punk wanted was for Paul Heyman to be in his corner when he main events WrestleMania. That notion made Reigns laugh because he’s so convinced that Heyman loves him so much that he wouldn’t leave Roman for anything seemingly better. Honestly, Roman made Heyman sound like an obsessive blood-sucking parasite. Reigns is his lifeforce or something. I called Paul a weasel, a snake and a rat at one point, but parasite works, too. Ha! What an upgrade.
Heyman made a promise to Punk way before he teamed with Reigns, so when Roman instructed him to let Punk down easy… the silence that followed said too much. The crying, too. Seth Rollins was enjoying every little moment of this, laughing his ass off on his knees. There was a poll on YouTube a few days ago, I think, where someone asked fans what Punk’s favor was. There were four options, but I can only remember two: a title opportunity or take the wise man with him. I predicted that Punk will take Heyman, low and behold, he did.
Go to sleep till WrestleMania, Roman. You’ll feel better.
TOP PHOTO: CM Punk and Roman Reigns talking. Courtesy of WWE
