Ring of Honor/New Japan Pro Wrestling War of the Worlds Night 2 results

   I wasn’t entirely sure how this night would go, since I liked a lot of the night one matches more but this show was amazing, one of the best I’ve ever seen. The crowd was red hot all night long despite many on hand probably being at the show the night before.

Unsurprisingly, all the NJPW guys got huge reactions, even Watanabe who was doing jobber stuff last time he was in ROH. But to his credit, he’s changed up his look a lot since the last time I saw him and his in-ring stuff seemed a lot more on point than before.

There was some unexpected stuff – some good, some confusing. Moose was on hand and seems to be making his move into the World title picture, which I’ll get into later. And also in the World title match, Bobby Fish got a huge positive reaction, despite being the heel in the match while Briscoe was being hated on like crazy – way more than I ever saw before.

Also I took a bunch of pictures from this show but haven’t gotten them off my phone yet so be sure to check back here in a few days.

Dark match
Jay Diesel def Romantic Touch
Match was OK but no one was into it, being very eager to see the NJPW guys. As Touch left the ringside area, he was kissing everyone he saw, because he’s romantic or something.

ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds Night 2
The Decade’s Adam Page def. Takaaki Watanabe 
Solid match and Watanabe was hugely over. Page is still pretty young but he could be a top heel before long. He spit on his hand when Watanabe went for a handshake and The Decade got involved a lot, namely Colby Corino tripping up Watanabe and paying for it by getting powerbombed on the outside.

Michael Elgin def. Kushida 
Pretty good match but they didn’t really match up too well. Elgin seems to work a little bit slower of a style which really negated some of the more impressive stuff that Kushida can do, though that might be because Elgin has been working heel lately and he’s doing a pretty good job in that role. Elgin wins with a spinning Liger Bomb after a hard spinning backfist.

Tetsuya Naito def. Kyle O’Reilly 
This match was really fun and we got a lot of comedy spots, which I wasn’t expecting. Lots of eye pokes playing off the Naito pose and O’Reilly being “Sleazy Kyle.” But before too long it turned into a really great back-and-forth wrestling match with Naito picking up the win with a Phoenix Splash.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Jay Lethal, Mark Briscoe and Jushin “Thunder” Liger 
Briscoe and Lethal get good reactions and Liger gets an even bigger one. Then Nakamura comes out and redefines what it means to be over. The crowd exploded when The King of Strong Style made his way to the ring. Really good match but a little shorter than I thought it would be. Nakamura pinned Liger after two Boma Ye’s. 

The ref tells the rules to Swagsuke during the fatal fourway

Intermission next. Went to get a beer and saw AR Fox at the concession stand. Asked him if he was gonna be in ROH soon and he said he hopes so. Fox would fit in really well in ROH, since there’s really only ACH who can do the same kind of death-defying high-flying that Fox can

As intermission ends, Cheeseburger comes to the ring with some free stuff to throw to the crowd. He pulls out a t-shirt to throw but Brutal Bob Evans hits the ring, attacks Cheeseburger and takes the shirt, saying it’s his now. Cheeseburger attacks him but it’s not very effective and Bob puts an arm bar on Cheeseburger and staff comes out to break it up. Looks like Brutal Burgers is no more.

Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Roderick Strong 
Amazing, amazing match. Probably the best of the night, overall. Roddy gets busted open hard way from a Tana forearm (I think) and has color the rest of the match. I really thought Roddy had it won after a superplex followed by a Sick Kick. The entire crowd seemed to think that could be it. Tanahashi gets the win with a Slingblade followed by a High Fly Flow.

Definitely make sure you see this one somehow. Roddy has been one of the best guys in ROH and the indies for a long time now and this match he put on with arguably the best in NJPW proves just how talented he is.

Red Shoes and Tiger Hattori get really big pops throughout the night too (and Todd Sinclair gets huge boos). Red Shoes even caught a red streamer and tried to put it in his pocket.

The Addiction def. Kazuchika Okada and Gedo 
Awesome match. Addiction demanding to be called the “World Tag Team Champions of the World.” Okada easily got the second biggest pop of the night behind Nakamura.

Gedo doesn’t let Okada shake hands with the Addiction. A “F*ck TNA” chant breaks out, which is even more apt because Okada was in TNA early in his career and they did nothing with him but now look at him. Afterward, Okada takes out Kaz and Daniels with a dropkick, tombstone and Rainmaker clothesline.

Kazuchika Okada makes it rain at the ECW Arena

Moose confronts Jay Briscoe after Briscoe's match with Fish

Jay Briscoe def. Bobby Fish to retain the ROH World Title 
Despite Briscoe being the current World champ, a dominant world champ and being unpinned for the last two years, people in Philly did not care for him at all. Fish got a huge reaction, including “next World Champ” chants. Fish kicks out of a Jay Driller but Briscoe then DVD him on the apron and hits another Jay Driller for the win.

Really good match overall but because of the odd hate for Briscoe, it felt a little flat. After the match Moose comes out and confronts Briscoe but leaves. He comes back and surprises Briscoe, leveling him with a spear and raising the World title belt. Before Briscoe leaves, he gets on the mic and addresses the crowd saying you can like or hate who you want but doesn’t change that he hasn’t been pinned in two year.

Moose is way over and it’s pretty cool he’s getting into the World title scene. Definitely like that this means Veda Scott will be around more often too.

Adam Cole wants the Bucks to 2 Sweet him but AJ stops them

The Kingdom def. Bullet Club in six-man tag 
Adam Cole returns and gets a big pop but nothing like the Young Bucks or AJ Styles gets. Lots of great action in this one, I’ll definitely need to rewatch this (and all these matches) at some point to take them all in.

Several times, Cole tries to get the Bucks to 2 Sweet him. Once, Styles stops them and 2 Sweets the Bucks and another time Cole tries it then pokes them in the eye with the 2 Sweet. Lots of PWG chants and Mount Rushmore chants when the Bucks and Cole go face to face. (Not familiar with Mount Rushmore? Read all about them in an article I did here!)

Kingdom gets the win after Bennett hits a Jackson with a title belt. Looked like Bullet Club was going to win and go for a double Meltzer Driver but Maria tripped them up and got triple super kicked for it. Incredible stuff from everyone in the match, especially Cole’s heel work being on point.

I’ve also seen reports on the internet that ROH is coming back to the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia for Final Battle on December 11 and 12 but it’s not set in stone. I’d guess the Friday show is a TV taping and Saturday would be a PPV or iPPV.

NXT, Lucha Underground and Indy Wrestling Minute - Your Weekly Source for Independent Wrestling News

NXT, 4/8

NXT showcased the events of WrestleMania Axxess, showing the mini-tournament for a spot in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The quarterfinals are Balor/Corbin, Dempsey/Breeze, Itami/Jordan, Neville/Kalisto, though they only showed the semis and finals.

Starts with a wrap up of media talking about WM in the Bay Area. Showcasing lots of NXT stars at media events alongside main roster guys. Breeze in a golf tournament with R-Truth was not something I ever expected to see.

Recaps of first round. First ever meeting between Balor and Corbin. Balor surprises Corbin with a crucifix. Breeze defeated Bull with a Beauty Shot. Itami defeated Jordan with a running single leg dropkick. Neville defeated Kalisto with a Red Arrow in a match I would’ve liked to see the entirety of.

First match of the show, Adrian Neville vs Hideo Itami in a first time meeting (in NXT but possibly ever). Think it’s funny how they have “Previously recorded” in the top right corner, like we don’t all know NXT is always pre-taped.

Looks like a pretty big crowd for these Axxess matches. They get in each other’s faces right away, Neville avoiding the kicks from Itami and they start off trading holds.

After Neville jaw jacks with some fans, Itami takes control. He lands a big penalty kick and clotheslines Neville to the outside, who uses 9.9 seconds to get back in the ring.

Neville getting lots of boos in this match. Not really working heel but I guess Itami is just that beloved. Neville slowing it down a little, keeping Itami on the mat and in the corner, hitting a big kick and big chops.

Itami ducks a head kick from Neville and locks in a sleeper then transitions to a dragon sleeper but Neville gets to the ropes and Itami hits a fisherman suplex and gets a 2.

Itami teases the GTS but Neville wiggles out. Itami hits a few kicks and secnds Neville into the corner and sets up for a dropkick but Neville pulls himself up and hits a super kick. Neville positions for a REd Arrow but Itami moves lands a kick and puts Neville in the corner and lands the corner drop kick. Sends him off the ropes and hit the single leg drop kick and pins Neville.

He’ll meet winner of Breeze/Balor.

Breeze ducking Balor at first, laying on the top rope and telling the ref to back off Balor. Balor then mocks him laying on the top rope and throws up a quick Too Sweet as Breeze rushes in and Balor evades and rolls him up for 2. Balor lands some big chops but Breeze stops him with a knee to the gut.

Balor hits the slingblade then sends him into the corner with the shotgun dropkick. Balor goes to the top and lands the Coup De Grace double stomp for the win. Balor meets former tag partner Itami in the finals.

More Dana Brooke hype videos. They’re really pushing this girl hard. I hope she doesn’t disappoint. She’s got a great look and seems to have good charisma. If she’s good in the ring they could really have something with her. She’s good looking, blonde and fit but not as muscular as Beth Phoenix or Kaitlyn. Seems like she’s angling to be on Total Divas too. She debuts next week.

Some behind the scenes looks at the NXT show at San Jose State University as well as scenes from the show itself. (“NXT sold out in Ohio. NXT sold out here in under an hour. NXT is the hottest thing on the planet today because of one person and his name is Kevin Owens!” - Kevin Owens)

Itami vs Balor finals in the middle of the show, 25 min left. What will they end this episode with?

Start off quickly exchanging holds and reversals. Go to punch each other but hold up since they are friends.

Crowd split for these guys. Neither can really gain an advantage for a bit but Itami lands some kicks and locks in a rear chinlock on the mat.

Balor reverses the single leg drop kick with a sling blade and sets up for the double stomp but Itami surprises him and sets up for the GTS. Balor wiggles out and rolls up Itami for 2. They stand up and Balor rushes in and Itami lands the single leg kick and pins Balor for a spot in the Andre the Johnson. Balor and Itami shake hands and hug afterwards and Balor raises his hand.

After the match, they show a Hideo Itami mini-documentary, highlighting behind the scenes look at his path to WWE and taking part in the Andre the Johnson.

Hideo has two kids apparently and the older one messes with Tyler Breeze while Breeze is playing a video game, looking to continue the family feud.

Showing highlights from his NXT San Jose match against Tyler Breeze and hitting the GTS. The crowd erupted when he hit the move and obviously, his GTS is way better than Punk’s.

Lots of WWE guys talking up Itami, especially Seth Rollins who said that within 6 months Itami came into the company and is at WM, which took him years. Big Show also congratulates him and says he looks forward to working with him more.

WWE.com article about several new NXT students

http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/wwe-performance-center-welcomes-new-class-of-recruits-27287363

Multinational crew of highlighted new guys like Cassie McIntosh and Jessica McKay from Australia, Nhooph Al-Areebi from Canada, Axel Tischer from Germany, Oscar Vasquez from Mexico, Radomir Petkovic from Serbia, Peter Howard from England, Kenneth Crawford, Thomas Kindgon, Sesugh Uhaa, Levis Valenzuela Jr. from America.

Lots of the already have some in-ring training but obviously the one I’m most looking forward to seeing is Uhaa Nation. For someone as hugely muscled as Nation, he does some of the most athletic stuff I’ve ever seen. I haven’t watched much Dragon Gate (where he gained a lot of exposure) but I have seen YouTube clips and some matches in PWG. When you see a dude who is like 250-260 pounds of pure muscle doing a standing moonsault followed by a standing shooting star press, you’re gonna take notice. If he has competent mic skills, he’s gonna be a star in WWE.

Lucha Underground, 4/8

LU opens in Dario Cueto’s office. He’s talking to Konnan and Prince Puma and telling them he wants the Trios Titles to be an important part of his temple, almost as important as the title Puma has, which is why he wants his biggest stars vying for them. He tells Puma he needs to find two partners to face a team next week Cueto has personally assembled – King Cuerno and two guys who will join him at ringside later. Oh and the title is on the line tonight.

The opening match is a Trios tournament match. Ivelisse, Son of Havoc and Angelico take on Drago, Aerostar and Fenix. Dueling Son of Havoc/Ivelisse chants. Drago/Aero/Fenix is a pretty stacked team. Fenix getting a big reaction and Catrina isn’t with him.

Fenix and Drago working over Angelico early. Ivelisse tags herself in at one point but Angelico tags himself back in quickly.

Fenix hoists Aerostar on his shoulders for a big splash from the top but Drago pulls him off and tries to make the cover. Clearly these dudes still have issues from their ongoing series and won’t be able to work together. Fenix is trying to separate them.

No wanted tags from Angelico, Havoc and Ivelisse, all blind tags and tagging themselves in. But they are working over Aerostar well. Tornado DDT from Aero who goes to tag Fenix but Drago tags himself in. Hits a tornado DDT of his own and tags in Fenix, who launches  Drago onto Angelico. Fenix sets up to dive but Aero tags himself in and hits a corkscrew springboard dive to the outside.

Havoc working against Drago and Aero and finally breaks free and tries to tag Ivelisse but she jumps off the apron and leaves him hanging. But Drago and Aero can’t decide who should take advantage and start pushing and shoving each other. Aero rushes in and Havoc bumps him up over the top to the outside. Drago rushes in and eats an enzugari and Havoc hits a SSP to win and advance his team. Ivelisse and Angelico look very surprised that they advance to the finals (I guess there’s gonna be 3 or 4 teams in the final match? That’s a little much)

Konnan tells Puma he’s found the perfect partner for his team – Hernandez – and says they only need to find one more person. But Johnny Mundo is there and tells Konnan Puma has already found another partner and they do an epic bro handshake. Mundo says King Cuerno is sneaky and Mundo has his back tonight. Konnan doesn’t look happy about Mundo and says they can trust him. But if he gets out of line, Hernandez or Konnan with his cane will split his wig. 

Next match, Sexy Star and Super Fly have to face each other since they lost.

Super Fly gets the jobber entrance and is already in the ring before Star comes out.

But before the match starts, Cueto interrupts them. He says he knows they’re friends since Star helped save Super Fly from Pentagon last week. That was an act of mercy and he wants them to have no mercy tonight so he’s giving them something to fight for – so he’s decided to make it a mask vs. mask match.

They start off chain wrestling and showing respect but Super fly kinda cheap shots Sexy with a kick, apparently he doesn’t want to lose his mask.

Eventually Star starts working back into the match and getting momentum and hits a big cross body from the top rope to the outside.

Sexy Star avoids a moonsault from Super Fly and rolls him up with a mahistrol cradle for the win. And Super Fly has to unmask. They shake hands and Super Fly asks her to take his mask off of him. But she really doesn’t want to since it goes against lucha libre tradition to take a luchadore’s mask. A lucha de apuesta match (mask vs mask or mask vs hair) usually only happens as the finish to a longstanding feud or hatred between two wrestlers, not just a normal stipulation because the mask is a huge part of the lucha libre tradition.

But as Star is leaving the ring, Pentagon Jr. runs in and knocks her off the apron and attacks Super Fly with the Package Piledriver and then breaks his arm.

In the main event, Prince Puma comes to the ring mocking King Cuerno, wearing a puma pelt and head on his head.

King Cuerno comes to the ring followed closely by his teammates – Cage and Texano! Damn, that’s gonna be a crazy Trios match.

They start chain wrestling but it breaks down quick. Cuerno escapes the ring and Puma goes to dive on him but is caught by Cage and Texano who toss him up into an assisted neckbreaker by Cuerno. Mundo and Hernandez come over to try and even the odds but Texano holds them off with his bull rope.

Cuerno takes control back in the ring after getting help from Cage and Texano, keeping him on the mat stomping on his knees and ankles to keep Puma grounded.

Puma starts gaining momentum, hitting some big kicks on Cuerno and a huge tope con hilo over the top rope. Cage and Texano move in to check on Cuerno and to make sure there’s no funny business, Mundo hits a rolling dive over the top taking out Texano and landing on Cuerno. Cage and Hernandez start trash talking each other and Cage rolls Cuerno back in and Hernandez just yells at Puma to get up and into the ring.

Cuerno avoids a 450 and hits two Germans and a vertival suplex but only gets a 2 count. Cuerno picks him up for the Thrill of the Hunt but Hernandez distracts Cuerno as the ref moves to tell Cage to get off the apron. Cuerno drops Puma and Hernandez boxes his ears and Puma hits a head kick. Puma yells at Hernandez to get down, that he can do this himself and hits a 630 senton to pin Cuerno.

Hernandez gets into the ring and brings Puma his title but Puma is still upset with Hernandez. But before long, Cage attacks them and Mundo gets in to even the odds and everyone is brawling. Their Trios match is next week and will face Ryck/Mack/Killshot and Havoc/Ivelisse/Angelico in the finals.

Ring of Honor

A few stars have been announced since the last show for the ROH/New Japan joint shows – Takaaki Wantanabe, Kushida, Gedo and some guy named SHINSUKE NAKAMURA.

Also make sure to check out ROH TV this week which showcases two big matches from Supercard of Honor 9 – Jay Briscoe vs Samoa Joe for the ROH World title and Jay Lethal vs Jushin “Thunder” Liger for the TV Title.

ROH also announced today that the Bullet Club will also be at War of the Worlds/Global Wars. The graphic only showed AJ Styles, The Young Bucks, Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson and Doc Gallows. So unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga or Yujiro Takahashi are coming. I was really holding out hope that Omega would be coming over but it doesn’t seem like he will be. At least we’re getting Shinsuke.

CZW Best of the Best 14 results

I was at CZW’s Best of the Best 14 on Saturday at the Flyer’s Skate Zone and it was actually a pretty good show. I haven’t been to CZW is a long time but BOTB is usually a pretty good show since they bring in lots of outside talent to make the one-night tournament interesting.

I took some quick notes during the show to go along with the results:

Tommy End advanced, defeating Aaron Williams and Caleb Konley

Konley was sporting a different look than I remember seeing him last time and looked like he was putting on some more muscle too. It was also the first time I’ve seen British wrestler Tommy End, though I’ve heard a lot about him. Good opening bout.

Jonathan Gresham advanced, defeating Tracy Williams and Trevor Lee

Lee has been blowing up on the indies lately and he got a huge response on his entrance (even though he used “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift as his theme music which you’d think would immediately get sh*t on by CZW fans). I haven’t seen Gresham in a long time either and he has this weird heel gimmick right now, going by “The Octopus” Jonatham Gresham. Was a decent opening round match but it kinda deflated the crowd when Gresham reversed a small package to eliminate Lee.

CJP advanced, defeating Joe Gacy and Joey Janela

BOTB was CJ Parker’s second indy date and he probably got the biggest heel reaction of the night. Though at first, it seemed like the CZW legit hated him being there and wasn’t just booing him because he was a heel. Tim Donst accompanied CZW Wired Champ Joe Gacy to the ring and David Starr came out to trash talk him, that he can’t wrestle anymore and shouldn’t be taking up time from active wrestlers. He got involved later, going after Donst with a chair but Gacy stopped him and got hit with the chair, causing his elimination. Also, I’d never seen Janela work before but he has a great personality and will definitely be a big star in the next few years.

“Speedball” Mike Bailey advanced, defeating Andrew Everett and “Dirty” Buxx Belmar

This was the best opening round match by far. Any of them seemed like they had a good chance of advancing but Bailey got the win after a shooting star knee drop on Everett. If I remember right, Everett eliminated Buxx with a 630 senton, which I’m surprised he was able to pull off given CZW’s extremely loose top rope. Buxx is a great talent and his gross-out gimmick works really well in CZW so it’s great to see him getting over in the Dub.

After the match, DJ Hyde came out and said that next month, Andrew Everett will face Trevor Lee and Everett agreed, if Hyde tightens his top rope.

The Deej also announced the first Tournament of Death participants – Josh Crane (a student of Drake Younger) and Matt Tremont. TOD 14 will be on June 13^th at 2 p.m. in Townsend, Delaware.

In the Deathmatch Trial Series (which I think is a series of deathmatches “Wrench” Conor Claxton has to go through to join the Nation of Intoxication), Devon Moore defeated Claxton after diving off the scaffolding onto a barb wire board laid on top of Claxton. Pretty decent deathmatch, though it took way too long to set up two barb wire boards and wheel out the scaffolding, not to mention there was an intermission right after the match.

Afterward, Moore asks DJ Hyde to put Claxton in TOD and the Deej says ok – as long as Claxton faces him in the first round. And next month, Claxton faces Danny Havoc in a panes of glass match.

In the first semifinal match, Gresham defeated End by Figure Four to advance to the finals. I’m not sure if it was because Gresham is working slower because he’s a heel or if their styles didn’t mesh but this match never seemed to get going. It was slow and nothing seemed to really work.

In the second semifinal match, Bailey defeated CJP in what was probably the match of the night. CJP cut a great heel promo when he entered the ring, trash talking CZW and the fans. Though Bailey won with a shooting star knee drop from the top, CJP got a great reaction at the end of the match and legit won over people who had no interest in him being there earlier in the show. And he played it great too, acting like he was really appreciative of their reaction but then flipped everyone off as he left.

Lucky 13 and Danny Havoc challenged OI4K for the CZW Tag Team Titles in what was probably the worst match of the night. I’ve never really been impressed with OI4K as a team and they continued to underwhelm me here. One of the Crists was trash talking a fan to start the match, saying he banged his mom and other gross stuff. Then he said the guy’s mom was dead. So he was basically saying he banged a corpse. Then the guy said his joke took an hour and Crist kept doing the Steve Austin “What?” at him so, yeah great way to start the match. After a lot of brawling outside the ring with chairs and stuff, some dude (don’t even know who it was) ran in to help OI4K and the match ended in a DQ. Devon Moore came out to help his NOI teammates and OI4K threw fire in his face then kept beating everyone up and one of the Crists started taking his clothes off and before he was able to take his briefs down, wrestlers from the back ran out to chase them off and acted hugely concerned for Moore’s face burns, even though they did nothing about it during the 5 minute beatdown after his face got burned in the first place. So yeah as the old saying goes “Sh*t don’t make no sense.”

  

This was followed by Alexander James and two security guards coming to the ring and James complained about his CZW Junior Heavyweight title being stolen. Suddenly the lights went out and Dewey Donovan was in the ring and from nowhere NICK F’N GAGE makes his return to CZW after four years in prison. Gage hit James with the chokebreaker followed by a boot scrape and James hightailed it before he got beat down more.

Gage trash talks people in the crowd who clearly don’t know who he is and then Matt Tremont comes out and they have a stare down. Gage says he sees who Tremont has been fighting and he’s not impressed. But then CZW Champ Sabian (Blk Jeez, whatever) comes out and this already long segment gets even longer. He talks trash on both of them challenges Tremont. But Gage then tells Tremont next time he sees him, he’s taking down the ropes and putting up barb wire and before he leaves he says he wants his title back.

Also, Gage is looking jacked. I guess that’s what four years in prison will do for you.

In the finals of BOTB, Mike Bailey defeated Jonathan Gresham in a pretty good match. It took a little while to get going and Gresham was working Bailey’s knee a lot, taking away his kicks and high flying. He put the Figure Four on Bailey twice and the second time, I was legit worried Bailey would tap out. But he ended up winning with a shooting star knee drop and all was right with the world. Bailey looked beat to sh*t after the long night and cut a great face promo to send everyone home happy.

  

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla

The most recent PWG show “Don’t Sweat the Technique” is up for sale (pre-order) on the PWG merch site. And, unsurprisingly, it looks amazing.

Also, PWG announced the annual DDT4 tournament will take place on Friday, May 22.

Announced teams are:

Team Tremendous

Fourth Gunn (Drew Gulak and Biff Busick)

Beaver Boys

World’s Cutest Tag Teams

Inner City Machine Guns

Monster Mafia

Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee

Love Gun (Matt Sydal and Chris Sabin)

Two non-tournament matches have been announced:

Johnny Gargano vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey

PWG World Title match:

Roderick Strong (c) vs. Brian Cage vs. Chris Hero

PWG also announced its events for the summer:

Rock and Shock the Nation – June 26

Threemendous IV – July 24

Battle of Los Angeles – August 28-30

WrestleMania 31: The Intercontinental title ladder match

The treatment of the Intercontinental Championship in WWE has become something of a running joke among fans over the past few years. The way the championship has been treated in the past few years has diminished its value in the eyes of the fans thanks to it being traded between wrestlers in meaningless title changes and often times completely ignored or forgotten.

For example, take the current Intercontinental champion – Bad News Barrett. He was on the shelf from late June 2014 and returned to TV in January 2015. In his first match back, he defeated Dolph Ziggler for the IC title. That right there is a red flag – why would a returning wrestler get a shot at the IC belt and why would he be booked to win it? If you remember, it was in a 2-out-of-3 falls match where The Authority beat down Dolph prior to the match, so the title change was mired in shenanigans from jump.

Next, Dolph never got a rematch. If the belt is important and WWE wants fans to view it as important, why would the former champ NOT want or get a rematch? Makes no sense.

On top of that, Barrett has looked ridiculously weak since returning and winning the IC belt. Let me run some numbers by you.

Since returning and winning the IC title, Barrett has wrestled 39 times (including live events). Yet out of those 39 matches – he’s only won 12. If you take away live events, he’s only won FIVE TIMES. This is the Intercontinental Champion, the guy who is supposed to be a step below the World champion, who is supposed to be the gatekeeper to the main event scene, has been made to look like an utter chump while holding (what is supposed to be) the second most prestigious title in the company.

And this is only the most very recent IC title champ situation, not even touching The Miz’s several one-day reigns with the IC title or the forgetful reigns of Big E (currently a jobber) or Curtis Axle (currently a jobber – an entertaining jobber, but still a jobber).

But lately, thanks mainly to Dean Ambrose, the Intercontinental Championship is being built back up a little bit. It’s not in the greatest position yet, but it is slowly becoming more important again.

Initially, I had designs on running down the entire WrestleMania 31 card, but I think I’m going to stick with analyzing a few matches – namely the IC title ladder match and the Bray Wyatt vs. Undertaker match (in another article). The entire WrestleMania 31 (aka WrestleMania Play Button) card is so adjace, it physically pains me to think too long on the rest of the matches so I’m only focusing on the ones that interest me.

But the Intercontinental Title ladder match has the chance to be one of the brightest spots on the card – for a few reasons.

It’s a ladder match

Obviously, the stipulation alone means that we’re in for a crazy, physically intense and enthralling contest. WrestleMania has a history of epic ladder matches (Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon, WM11; Edge/Christian vs The Dudleys vs The Hardys, WM2000; or the first Money in the Bank match at WM21) and this contest has all the elements needed to be seen among those memorable matches. Not much else needs to be said about why a ladder match with those six (spoilers - seven) wrestlers could steal the show.

The competitors

Right now, six men are entered in the ladder match – Bad News Barrett, Dean Ambrose, R-Truth, Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler and Stardust. On Smackdown this week (spoilers) Daniel Bryan announces that he is also taking part in the match.

Now before you go crying “Burial! Bryan’s being buried!” – hear me out.

In the far away land of Japan, lives a wrestler named Shinsuke Nakamura who wrestles for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Nakamura has held the biggest title in New Japan – the IWGP Heavyweight Championship – numerous times, but is currently the IWGP Intercontinental Champion. Nakamura is one of the most popular wrestlers in the company but he is also one of the most prolific IWGP IC champions of all time. He’s brought a great amount of prestige to the title and many view it in just as high regard as the IWGP Heavyweight championship. Nakamura's matches are exciting and fast-paced and he has an odd yet magnetic charisma to him. Does that sound like anyone else you know? (I was alluding to Bryan but it could also describe Ambrose as well)

Dean Ambrose (left) bearing a striking resemblance to Shinsuke Nakamura (right).

 

It's not outside the realm of possibility that Daniel Bryan (or Dean Ambrose or Dolph Ziggler) could accomplish the same thing with the WWE IC title if given the chance. If WWE isn’t on the pulse enough to have one of their most (if not most) popular stars in the World title picture, let him use that popularity and starpower to raise the profile and status of the IC title. Who knows – maybe one day WWE fans will view the IC title the way New Japan fans view the IWGP IC title.

But let me not forget the man who kicked off the current drive among so many stars to win the IC belt – Dean Ambrose.

It was, I think, after the blizzard episode of Raw that Dean Ambrose had the sudden desire to win the IC championship and has been on the warpath to take it from Bad News Barrett. When he didn’t win it from him at Fastlane he did the next best thing – he took it. But throughout all his actions, it showed a desire and reverence for the IC title that so many champions before him never displayed. It wasn’t just another prop and he didn’t take it for granted – Ambrose has gone out of his way to take possession of the title one way or another, which is more than you can say many former champions have done to possess the title

Which brings me to my last point…

The build

Ever since Ambrose has begun hounding Barrett for the IC championship, more Superstars have joined the hunt as well. Ambrose was the first to steal it from Barrett but it’s resulted in R-Truth stealing the belt numerous times and handing it off to other contenders, as well as seeing former champions like Dolph Ziggler and Luke Harper join the hunt as well. Stardust eventually stole the title and now, former WWE champion Daniel Bryan is in the mix too.

I’ve heard lots of people complaining that this isn’t helping the profile of the title – that the constant stealing of the title and hot-potatoing it around only make it seem like a joke, like it’s the Hardcore title of the Attitude Era. But I would argue the opposite.

How long has it been since this many Superstars at once have shown interest in the IC title? How long has it been since this many Superstars have been fighting it out to try and get their hands on the IC title? It may seem a little too zany for some, but the fact alone that 7 different guys (including former World champions) have been battling over holding the IC belt and will fight in a ladder match to win it is, hopefully, the beginning of presenting the IC title as something important and worthwhile.

You could even say that the IC ladder match has had more of an interesting build than the WWE World title match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. Every week, multiple guys are at odds with each other over holding the IC title, going out of their way to take possession of it and are willing to take part in a dangerous ladder match to win it. While the World title picture literally only has Lesnar and Reigns in it and those two have barely faced off or made mention of the other. Paul Heyman is practically the only person advancing the World title picture at this point (and I’m hesitant to call it a feud because Brock is barely ever there and Roman seems to have no desire to be the champion, outside of having won the Rumble).

It goes without saying that the Intercontinental Championship ladder match at WrestleMania 31 is the match I’m looking forward to the most. Outside of featuring all the wrestlers I really want to see, it promises to deliver some of the most exciting action on the entire card.

In other words, if you can’t get excited for this match and you don’t see the hope for a better future for the IC title after WrestleMania 31, you may want to reevaluate why you’re a pro wrestling fan.