Kane carries an injured AJ away as she smirks behind him. Throwaway match between David Otunga and Brodus Clay. They did an okay job of getting over Clay's injury during the bout, but the count-out finish felt unnecessary. I understand they might want to keep the rivalry going, but there's no reason to protect Otunga at this point. Solid match with World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus successfully defending his title against Dolph Ziggler. The bout featured some pretty good storytelling and got over Ziggler in a big way. Although it was predictable that Ziggler wouldn't leaving as the new champ, he looked very impressive in defeat. Sure, this was a hot opener, but it shouldn't have occurred so early in the night. The finish felt a bit anticlimactic for this viewer. Comedic match between United States Champion Santino Marella and Ricardo Rodriguez. It may have entertained some, but the live crowd's "boring" chants didn't help matters obviously. It was pretty much what'd you expect from these two, and merely used as a time killer in between matches. On a side note, if Marella isn't going to even bother defending his U.S. title, then why even be champion at all? The strap is treated as such a joke and should really be moved onto a wrestler more deserving of holding it. Good match with Intercontinental Champion Christian successfully retaining his title against Cody Rhodes. Sadly, the live crowd wasn't alive for a majority of this match, and I can't blame them since they weren't given an incentive to really invest in this feud. However, it's a shame, too, because these two have great chemistry and deserve better. The final series of maneuvers woke the crowd up, and made for a cool finish. Hopefully, Rhodes moves on to bigger and better things from here. Fun Fatal 4 Way tag team match the Prime Time Players defeating the Usos, Primo & Epico, and Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd to become the new number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championships. The crowd may have popped for the big spots, but they didn't seem to care overall due to most of the competitors being regulars on WWE Superstars and NXT. Personally, I enjoyed the action as well as the swerve that Abraham Washington is now with the Prime Time Players. I'm not sure if this turns Primo and Epico babyface, but I don't think the audience cared regardless. Effective promo from Triple H. He got straight to the point of challenging Brock Lesnar to a match at SummerSlam, and I like the idea of building this blockbuster match two months in advance. However, the segment felt rushed and wasn't one of the Game's better promos. I was hoping we'd get an appearance from Paul Heyman, but no such luck. They're probably saving Heyman for a later date in order to draw out this feud, which is a smart strategy.
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The following piece was contributed by avid wrestling fan and analyst JR. Follow him on Twitter at @StarNinja99.
Tonight marks the return of No Way Out, once the event that held the Elimination Chamber. While this year it has been revamped into a different format. We shall have to see if it becomes a staple once again, or a sad revamped attempt like Vengeance was last year. So, lets get started with Good Ol' JR's predictions for No Way Out, and it can only be found here, at Next Era Wrestling! Pre-Show: David Otunga versus "The Funkasaurus" Brodus Clay Ah, the Youtube pre-show, a free to view Internet version of Heat. Sadly, the quality has not quite stacked up to Heat, but it is indeed free. Well, this one is a pretty easy prediction, even with they (Kayfabe) injury angle. Brodus will win this, but unlike most of his squash matches, Otunga will at least attempt to put up a fight, mostly on the leg. Still, its obvious we're going to see The Funk on a roll with a win tonight. Ricardo Rodriguez versus Santino Marella in a Tuxedo match I want to avoid myself and all of you the pain of focusing on this match for more than a paragraph. The fact that this match was even suggested by the creative team is an insult to our intelligence. Worse, Ricardo may actually have some wedge of talent, but we are never going to actually see it. Take it for what it is, a stupid gimmick match. Santino with the Cobra for the win. End of statement. Beth Phoenix versus Layla for the Divas Championship I'm not really upset with this match occuring again. There aren't many women on the roster who can actually wrestle on the card, but these two can. Lets hope we can squeeze some time out of this card to let these ladies put on a proper match. I see Layla retaining here, mostly because they seem to want to hold the title on her until Kharma's return. Speaking of the wrestler formerly known as Awesome Kong, don't put it outside the realm off possibility to see her make her way down that ramp tonight, purely based off the images she leaked over twitter. Its slim, but possible. CM Punk protects AJ from Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero. Strong segment to kick off the show featuring all the stars of this Sunday's WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship matches. I was pleasantly surprised to see AJ be the first one to appear, and she continues to flourish in her current character. The verbal exchange between Punk and Ziggler was humorous, and Sheamus wasn't that bad here either. Solid tag team match with Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan defeating World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus and WWE Champion CM Punk. It featured some great action and had the perfect outcome with Ziggler getting the pin over Sheamus. Kane's appearance was a nice touch, and it was an intriguing way to end the segment with AJ and Kane making eye contact. My only complaint is that AJ now seems to be the focus of this feud rather than the WWE Championship. Throwaway match between Brodus Clay and Heath Slater. It was practically over before it even started. However, having David Otunga attack Brodus Clay following the bout was smart moving. This would be the first pre-show match for a pay-per-view that's actually received some type of build-up, and this was an efficient way of doing so. Clay rarely looks this weak, so it gave Otunga nice heat. Brief match between Beth Phoenix and Alicia Fox. Having Divas matches go under a minute seems to be the norm these days as usual, but it's better than not featuring them on television at all. They've hardly built this feud between Layla and Phoenix in recent weeks, so I don't think many people care about their upcoming title match regardless. Great promo from Big Show. He's had some passable promos since turning heel last month, but this was easily the best of them all. Not only did I love how he mentioned his WCW past, but his entire story made sense. He showed good intensity and is playing the card that he's finished doing what the fans wanted him to do. X-Division Champion Austin Aries The following piece was contributed by avid wrestling fan and analyst JR. Follow him on Twitter at @StarNinja99. The X-Division. Once the pinnacle of all things TNA. The thing that sorted TNA out from the rest of the pack. It made the struggling program a must watch for all pro wrestling fans, and catapulted them into the Television scene more than anything else on the shows programming. Who can forget The two Thirty minute iron man match classics between AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels? Samoa Joe's undefeated streak and rise to the top of the division? The debut of the Ultimate X match? And above all else, the three way Unbreakable match that is perhaps the best performance in the companies history? Today, we have Austin Aries as the X-Division title holder. He is indeed a deserving champion, and one of the most promising wrestlers the independent circuit has seen in years. But what of the rest of the X-Division? Today, I intend to break down the current lay out of this Division, the titles recent history, and the way it seems, in this writers eyes, the title has fallen from prominence. And you'll only find this article on Next Era Wrestling! First, lets take a look at the current shape of the X-Division Roster. You have the above mentioned Austin Aries, a seemingly untouchable leader of the division. Then you have Kid Kash, who has not been on TV since March. Jessie Sorenson, a promising individual indeed, is out on a very serious injury, and will not be back anytime soon. Then you have two rookies in Mark Haskins and Zima Ion, who seem to have talent but have yet to have that breakout match in TNA. Add to that Chris Sabin, formerly of the highly successful Motor City Machine Guns, and that about fills out your roster. Before the return of Chris, the only man that came close to a level where they could challenge for the Title was Alex Shelley. But, along with Ric Flair, Alex left TNA to seek greener pastures. Then you have to take out X-Division originals such as AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and the like, as they have all moved up the ladder or fallen into very saddening mediocrity due to TNA creatives lack of angles for these very talented individuals. The X-Division was the centerfold of TNA for most of its decade long run, until mid-2010n when the now infamous Immortal Angle took shape. With this inception, a slow decaying of the division took place, culminating in Abyss taking the title from Brian Kendrick in the Summer of 2011, when the ever-hated Eric Bischoff attempted to end the group for good. |
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