By Graham "GSM" Matthews Neville def. Sheamus in a King of the Ring Semifinals Match I enjoyed their encounter on SmackDown slightly more, if only because you knew Dolph Ziggler's distraction was coming here. Why didn't he cost him the win in the first round instead of helping him advance to the next round? That aside, Neville and Sheamus worked a good match and it's great to see Neville's sensational skillset continued to being showcased, especially against notable names. It was a big win for Neville and the feud between Sheamus and Ziggler was effectively furthered, but this should have taken place after the next tournament match as it made the finals predictable. Bad News Barrett def. R-Truth in a King of the Ring Semifinals Match Please, somebody, anybody, give me one good reason why R-Truth was in this tournament, much less made it to the semifinals. As previously noted, his presence in the semifinals made this match extremely predictable, and they it was a decent bout, but as I say constantly, it's incredibly difficult to care about anything involving Truth. The pre-match promo about spiders gave me a headache. Is they're going back to his 2011 "scared of spiders and heights" shtick, why not just go all out and turn him heel again? At least it'd make him slightly more interesting. Bad News Barrett def. Neville to Become the 2015 King of the Ring Similar to Sheamus vs. Neville, I thought Neville and Barrett had a better bout on the Extreme Rules Kickoff Show, but this was still quite good. Barrett, for as badly as he's been booked for months on end, is a great worker and Neville provides something new and innovative every time he's in the ring. As I mentioned in my Extreme Rules review, I'd love to see more from these two down the line as they work extraordinarily well together. I was very happy to see Barrett win the King of the Ring and his gimmick is perfectly fitting of the crown, but the focus is on the aftermath. Sheamus embarked on a losing streak after becoming "King Sheamus" in 2010, and Barrett couldn't be devalued any more than he already is, so hopefully this means they're finally pushing him at the level he deserves to be at. Overall Show I realize WWE has done the King of the Ring tournament all in one night before, but it would have nice if they stretched this out for a few weeks, possibly leading to the finals being held at the Payback pay-per-view. Regardless, I love the tournament being WWE Network exclusive and I hope we can get more of this kind of content in the future. The three matches were all good to great and the pre- and post-match promos were all excellent, making the tournament mean more than anything else WWE did prior to this point. Fingers crossed this is back as an annual event on the Network and won't be put back into retirement for another five years.
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By Graham "GSM" Matthews Randy Orton and Roman Reigns Interrupted WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins Is it bad that Rollins' gloating promos are a primary reason to look forward to Raw? He was glorious once again here as he bragged about Kane doing next to nothing during the match, further teasing tension between the two. Orton obviously has unfinished business with Rollins, so I wasn't surprised to see him come out. Reigns was welcome as it makes sense for him to get back into the title picture after being screwed out of his one-on-one match at WrestleMania. Kane saying that he'd have the fans decide who Rollins' opponent would be for Payback was a nice hook for the remainder of the show. Bad News Barrett def. Dolph Ziggler in a King of the Ring Quarterfinals Match As I've said time and time again, despite how badly booked Barrett has been these last few months, take nothing away from his incredible in-ring ability. He can have a good match with just about anybody, and Ziggler is always excellent. They worked a nice match and Sheamus' interruption, albeit predictable, was a wise way of protecting Ziggler in defeat. A solid way of kicking off the tournament. By Graham "GSM" Matthews #AskGSM is a weekly Q&A video where I, Graham "GSM" Matthews, answer fan questions from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in regards to the world of wrestling. Nothing is off limits, and this week’s edition touches upon a variety of topics including:
By Graham "GSM" Matthews Neville def. Bad News Barrett (Kickoff Match) I wasn't surprised to hear Daniel Bryan was pulled from the event because there have been too many rumors recently that have indicated he is not in good health, but I hope he's healed up quickly and is back at 100%. That said, Neville was the perfect person to replace him as he didn't already have a match on the pay-per-view and Neville pinned Barrett this past week on SmackDown. As I knew figured they would, Neville and Barrett contested a very fun match and it was great to see them get as much as they did instead of it running short so they could fit another match on the Kickoff Show. This was further proof that Barrett is a great worker with heavily damaged credibility, though I'd love to see these guys work together again in the near future. Dean Ambrose def. Luke Harper in a Chicago Street Fight This was an ideal way of opening the event and Ambrose and Harper took full advantage of the opportunity by having an enjoyable street fight. The incorporation of weapons was well done and it was cool to see them live up to the stipulation by actually taking their brawl to the streets of Chicago. I appreciated it was something different when they left the building only to return and resume the match an hour later, but I was hoping we'd get footage of them fighting around Chicago as we saw with Roddy Piper and Goldust at WrestleMania 12. Still, it was a fun match and Ambrose was long overdue for a win on pay-per-view. |
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