I want Wrestlemania to come so badly! I‘m bored as hell and also don‘t really wanna do everything else but watch wrestling right now. sure, watching NXT Takeover New Orleans might tide me over a bit, but it‘s not gonna be enough!
Let‘s see, why don‘t I review it! Complete with predictions, ratings, rankings and all of those good things!
Yes, that sounds like an incredible idea!
Takeover New Orleans Predictions:
Okay, here we go!
Six men Ladder match for the North American Title (too many to list):
Ricochet! No way anyone else even stands a chance here, I mean, it‘s Ricochet in a ladder match! No way they will have him lose. Although I wouldn‘t mind EC3 or Killian Dane winning either, Dane would be my dream pick, but I‘m not sure he‘s ready for a title just yet.
Oh, crap!
I totally forgot about Velveteen dream, yeah I would prefer if he won actually!
Tag Titles Triple Threat match: Authors of Pain vs. Undisputed Era vs. Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong:
My pick would be Dunne and Strong, but I have a feeling they will just let Undisputed Era retain somehow. They are really playing up the fact that Cole is in the Ladder match as well, so that would be a good story-line to just have them retain against all odds. This would legitimize their reign even further.
Women‘s Title match: Shayna Baszler vs. Ember Moon:
The one match I can‘t give one flying fuck about! I just don‘t like Ember Moon. She has no real personality and I don‘t care about Shayna either. The whole too cool for school because of MMA thing she does just gets lame after a while.
I think Moon is gonna retain here, I‘d prefer Baszler, just because it‘s not Moon, but still, I think Moon will win.
NXT Title match: Aleister Black vs. Andrade Cien Almas:
Oh, Andrade is gonna win here, no questions asked! He‘s been an amazing heel champ so far and his reign needs to continue. I‘d be fine with Black though, he‘s growing on me!
Unsanctioned match: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa:
I almost forgot about that killer match, can you believe it? Yeah, I think this is Johnny Wrestling‘s Farewell and he will appear on the main roster shortly after. Ciampa‘s gonna win this one, catapulting him into the title picture while also making him a top heel in the process. Storytelling here couldn‘t be more on point! (Wouldn‘t mind if Johnny won though, either.)
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NXT Takeover New Orleans Review:
Hah, what a nice feeling to have the predictions done. Now I can finally watch this thing! I‘m hype, what about you?
I opened up with the band Cane Hill performing. Pretty cool live show, but the vocals weren‘t loud enough.
An amazing way to kick off your biggest show of the year. I really enjoyed watching it.
1. : Six men Ladder match for the North American Title (too many to list):
They‘re starting us off with the Ladder match, because of course they are! Get one match for Cole out of they first, so that he has enough time to recover a bit. Also, start the show off with a bang!
I forgot all about Velveteen Dream, and now that I remembered, he‘s my dream pick (pun absolutely intended).
I have to admit though, that I got chills during Ricochet‘s entrance, the fact that he‘s in a WWE ring is just insane! I‘m so looking forward to seeing him perform, he‘s just one of the craziest High-Flyers in the world. His moves are really acrobatic. Only that one dude from NJPW is crazier than him. Can‘t remember the name right now, it seems to escape me, but he‘s nicknamed the cat. You know who I mean! Will… Ospreay! Yes, that‘s it! Will Ospreay!
Holy Shit! What an exhilarating match! Just one explosive hell of an half hour ladder match!
First up, everyone was insane here! Everyone got their spots in and then some! It was way better than I expected! The MVP of the match, without a doubt, was Velveteen Dream. He was just on fire!
Unfortunately, he didn‘t win, but I could have never seen coming who did end up winning! Adam Cole Baybay!
Wow, what an opening match! Gotta say, everything that comes after this on Mania weekend weekend has gotta work really hard to keep up!
I‘m pretty sure it‘s gonna be the match of the weekend. Go and proof me wrong Takeover and Mania, I dare you! Please proof me wrong! But if you can‘t, then there‘s no shame in it because this match was insane! Easily a 5 out of 5 star rating from me! This was awesome!
Edit: Yeah, considering every other match they put on let‘s give this one a 4 instead of a 5.
Also, no, no it wasn‘t the match of the night. Not by a long shot.
2.: Women‘s Title match: Shayna Baszler vs. Ember Moon:
Joy! My least anticipated match is next, great! Ember moon comes out first and they have a live performance of her theme song during her entrance, which is a nice touch. It‘s apparently performed by the vocalist of Halestorm, which explains why I like it. I like me some Halestorm! The band, not the natural phenomenon.
Well, her entrance might be cool, but I still don‘t like her.
Look at that, I was right and wrong at the same time! The match was bad and Shayna won.
It was fortunately a rather short affair and she won by having Ember pass out due to her submission finisher.
Submission styles can be fun to watch, just look at Samoa Joe to see what I mean, but this was painful. to watch. it was probably painful to be in the match as well. It was slow and just boring. Ember moon had one or two rope jumping spots but that was it. Shayna was basically dominating the whole time.
No, I didn‘t care much for this one.
1.5 Stars out of 5 from me.
Preview for Fighting With My Family:
Next is a snippet from the upcoming movie about the Life of Paige (as if anybody really wanted that) and it‘s introduced by Paige herself.
The actress they choose to play her looks nothing like Paige and she‘s not even attractive. Missed oppurtunity if you ask me. They could‘ve let her play herself. she still looks the same, and because she‘s a wrestler she does have acting experience.
The Rock is in this Scene, and he‘s always great, so I‘ve got nothing to complain here. The movie looks okay, pretty generic,but I‘ll check it out on Blu-Ray because of the subject matter and the Rock being in it.
Backstage Segment with Adam Cole and Kyle O‘Reilly:
We now see a beaten and bruised Adam Cole who‘s examined by a medical staff member. He doesn‘t look too good.
They ask if he can cancel the upcoming Title Defense and this is most likely a ruse and he turns out to be fine in the end. After all, that‘s what Undisputed Era does.
3.: Tag Titles Triple Threat match: Authors of Pain vs. Undisputed Era vs. Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong:
The match itself was standard, but the ending elevated it to a memorable affair. But before I talk about that, let‘s just say that AOP destroyed Kyle O Reiley, who did the heavy lifting for undisputed era cause of Cole‘s involvement in the Ladder match earlier in the night. That deserves a cookie. Nice work by both Kyle and the Authors Of Pain.
Unfortunately Strong and Dunne didn‘t do all that much except for the ending, which was one of those holy shit moments.
Dunne was about to pin Kyle O‘Reilly when Strong kneed him in the head and dragged O‘Reilly on him so that he could pin him. Roderick Strong turned heel and joined Undisputed era!
Pretty amazing way to have them retain, I couldn‘t have written that better myself.
No matter how hard Strong tried he couldn‘t do it by himself. So he decided to join with the Undisputed Era after all.
His betrayal on Pete Dunne also has UK title match written all over it and I couldn‘t be more excited for that.
Expected match, but unexpected and insane finish.
3.5 out of 5 stars in my opinion. Without the finish it would‘ve been a 2.5 only, but they had the finish, so 3.5.
4.: NXT Title match: Aleister Black vs. Andrade Cien Almas:
I was confused by the placement of this match on the card, but I guess it makes sense to have theUnsactioned grudge match close out the show. Could you imagine how exhausted the fans would be after Ciampa vs. Gargano?
The match was really great, a lot of fast paced moves and Sofia Vega was certainly the MVP here. She took several bumps and ultimately cost Andrade the victory.
The beginning was a bit slow for my taste and it could have lasted a few more minutes, but all in all another good match on an already awesome card.
4 out of 5 stars.
And if it feels as if I just rushed through that match you‘d be totally correct! I can‘t wait for the main event. oh boy, this is gonna be nuts!
5: Unsanctioned match: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa:
Every once in a while there‘s a match that makes you rethink everything you know. It‘s the kind of match that enables you to point at it and say: „See that? This is why we watch Wrestling!“
This is such a match.
It‘s very likely that it will actually be the match of the year when all is said and done. At least it‘s a more than solid contender!
It was absolutely brutal, chokful with insane spots and moments!
At one point Ciampa stole crutches from a most likely planted fan and from here on out the crutches became a symbol for their previous friendship. I‘m pretty sure the match lasted almost 40 minutes.
It was just insane!
It had me hooked and invested from the word go! There was no dull moment, even when they took their time to breathe it made the match somehow even more intense. It was just brilliantly paced.
And then, at the end Gargano somehow managed to win this thing!
This war.
It was nuts!
Ciampa attempted to hit him with his knee brace and then Gargano forced him to tap out by wrapping the same freaking knee brace around his head.
When he had won he didn‘t appear to be happy, because he had just gone to war with his former best friend.
This was wrestling story telling at it‘s very finest!
A master class of a match! And I‘m pretty sure I saw at least 2 teeth fly out of mouths.
Brutal! What a match! To quote Mauro Ranallo: Mamma Mia!
So, what else could i actually give this match other than a 5 out of 5 rating? Do you even have to ask?
Just wow!
Before we get to the overall Rating let‘s rank the matches:
1: Unsanctioned match: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa:
2: NXT Title match: Aleister Black vs. Andrade Cien Almas:
3: Six men Ladder match for the North American Title (too many to list)
4: Tag Titles Triple Threat match: Authors of Pain vs. Undisputed Era vs. Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong
5: Women‘s Title match: Shayna Baszler vs. Ember Moon
Overall Rating:
Two completely insane matches, two incredibly good matches and one dud. It‘s not a perfect show, but it easily earns the rating of 4 out of 5 stars!
Great show!
Wrestlemania has a lot to live up to!