Post by Ross Report on May 27, 2019 10:37:26 GMT
I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but this week's SLAM! was another rip-roaring slobberknocker of a show, with plenty of big time developments on the road to Red, White & Bruised!
Things started off with Brock Lesnar heading to the ring and calling out Matt Taven, looking for revenge after "The Chaotic Idol" played a big part in denying Lesnar a rematch for the World Heavyweight Title during the "Beat The Clock" Challenge a couple of weeks ago! Unfortunately for "The Beast" (and perhaps wisely on the part of "The Kingdom's" leader), Taven chose not to respond "live and in person," but via the EWA-Tron instead. Can't say that I blame him given just how dangerous Lesnar can be when he's in this kind of mood, but at the same time, the longer he avoids a face-to-face, the worse it could end up being for Matt Taven. Especially considering Taven's not exactly known for his tact when dealing with other superstars, something that was pretty evident here as tensions between these two talented competitors rose to an all-time high!
Elsewhere, Goldberg followed up his debut win last week with another quick victory, making short work of the unfortunately named Bill Ding. It was another dominant display from "Da Man," who continues to steamroll through opposition without breaking a sweat.
Meanwhile, we got our second part of Todd Grisham's interview with Sasha Banks, which I found both enlightening and informative. If I could offer Sasha any advice going forwards, it'd be to ignore the trolls and naysayers and just focus on being you. Even if they tend to have the loudest voices, that doesn't mean they're in the majority. Trust me, I've been doing this Ross Report long enough to know what that feels like! Still, there's a real buzz surrounding the impending in-ring debut of "The Boss" right now, and I for one can't wait to see Banks mixing it up with our awesome women's division.
Judging by how hard-hitting the match between the Briscoes and the "Jersey Devils" ended up being, it's tough to imagine them ever being on the same side! I guess that just goes to show that not everything was right behind the scenes with the "nWo" even before John Cena decided to disband the group a couple of weeks ago. Still, this was an exciting battle that showed how strong the EWA tag division can be, culminating in "Dem Boys" from Sandy Fork picking up a huge victory over their former stablemates! It didn't come easy, but let's face it, Jay and Mark have been teaming together for years while Lethal and Janela are still relatively new to one another. There's no doubt in mind though that when things start clicking for the "Jersey Devils," they'll be shooting straight to the top of the tag team ranks!
After weeks and weeks of dicing with death, the truth has finally been revealed! After some prompting by JoJo, Colt Cabana admitted it was him who was out to get Santino, looking to remove "The Italian Stallion" as Al Snow's hand-picked replacement as leader of the "bWo" and take his place. And yet, the truth didn't seem to set any of them free, instead causing the "bWo" to find itself on the verge of imploding as Colt and Santino agreed to a match next week for the right to lead the group! Who knows what will happen when these two face one another this coming Sunday, but I look forward to finding out!
Powerful words from Fit Finlay this week, with "The Fighting Irishman" wisely taking a step back after falling victim to Marty Scurll and "The Horde" in previous weeks, instead telling a story about why his upcoming World Heavyweight Title opportunity means so much. You don't have a career as long as Finlay's without picking up a few regrets along the road, but it's to his eternal credit that Finlay's come out the other side as one of the most honorable and dedicated men I've had the pleasure of knowing during my 45+ years in the biz. With all due respect intended, the same can't really be said for Marty Scurll at this juncture in his still young career. Then again, perhaps this date with destiny against "The Belfast Bruiser" will be the wake-up call Scurll needs to cut out the underhanded assaults like we saw on Bryan Danielson, Brady Pierce and Brian Pillman Jr the week prior. There's a way to be a success in this business without it coming at the expense of other people's well-being, but that doesn't mean Fit Finlay won't fight like hell to stop Marty Scurll's reign of terror if it comes down to it.
Tamina Snuka and Rhea Ripley are two women who are built to go, displaying that with a highly competitive match that had the E-Arena rocking! Snuka obviously has some wrestling pedigree given her family connections, but don't sleep on the young lady from Adelaide, who is phenomenally talented for someone so relatively new to the ring. This was the kind of barnburner where it's almost a shame that someone has to lose, but ultimately, that's the name of the game in the pro wrestling business, and Tamina finally put her opponent away with an ode to her "Superfly" father. Consider me excited about the career prospects for both though! Between these ladies, Sasha Banks, and then the likes of Becky Lynch, Winter, Candice LeRae and Scarlett Bordeaux all on the periphery, the women's division feels like it's on the cusp of something really special right now.
Speaking of which, our current reigning and defending Women's Champion hit the ring to announce her next challenger, only to try and pull a fast one on the EWA Universe by claiming there wasn't anyone worthy of a title shot! Perhaps unsurprisingly, that brought out JoJo, the woman who beat Charlotte Flair smack-dab in the middle of the ring the week prior, not just sticking up for herself but the entire division! It seemed to work as well, with Flair grudgingly accepting the challenge only to take JoJo out with a wicked Queen's Boot! As if that wasn't shocking enough though, when Irwin R. Schyster looked to break up the assault, he was then taken out by Lacey Evans and her Woman's Right! That's right, folks! It looks as if "Schyster Inc" is no more, as this freshly galvanized pairing of Flair and Evans declared themselves "The Dominion!" And to make matters even worse, Charlotte would then rescind her acceptance of JoJo's challenge, refusing to be dictated to by man or woman anymore! We'll have to wait and see how that pans out, but there's no doubt that this was a shocking development!
Following on from his "bait-and-switch" the previous week, sending Chris Hero out to do his dirty work, Samoa Joe decided to call out Pete Dunne on the latest SLAM!, challenging the "Bruiserweight" to come and find him if he wanted a fight. It's no surprise that Dunne would take "The Samoan Submission Machine" up on that offer...or try at least anyway, with EWA security on hand to keep these two sworn enemies separated! That almost played into Joe's hands though, as it looked as if his attempt to goad Dunne was for the sole purpose of Angelico being able to sneak attack the tenacious young Brit with a tire iron from behind! Fortunately for Dunne however, he somehow saw the assault coming and managed to wrest the weapon from "The South African Sensation," turning the tables and using it against him in an act of self defence! And from what I understand from my sources backstage, Angelico has suffered a nasty break in both his radius and ulna that is likely to keep him out of action for a long time as a result. It's no wonder then that Harry Smith finally had enough, laying down the law to both Samoa Joe and Pete Dunne by declaring that they will in fact go one-on-one at Red, White & Bruised! And what's more, they'll sign a contract for that match next week on SLAM!, after which the two of them will be barred from laying a finger on one another until July 7th! With all the constant clashes over the last several months, I have no idea how Dunne and Joe are going to be able to stop themselves from going at it over the next five weeks, but they'll have to find a way or else run the risk of losing their jobs!
Needless to say then, this entire scenario put Joe in a foul mood by the time his match with the debuting Jimmy Havoc started. Indeed, "The Destroyer" lived up to his moniker and then some! Havoc may be more of a "hardcore" wrestler, as evident by the weapons he brought to ringside that he was unable to use, but even his ability to sustain superhuman levels of punishment wasn't enough to survive Joe's onslaught. Could this be a sign of what's to come for Pete Dunne at the hottest show of the summer? I guess we'll find out in just over a month's time!
In other action, what a unique triple threat encounter between Aleister Black, Great Khali and "The Honky Tonk Man!" DW said it best when he mentioned on commentary that this is the kind of match you can only see in the EWA, and boy did it not disappoint! Ultimately, with Khali incapacitated at ringside and Black woozy after being blasted in the back of the skull by Jimmy Hart's megaphone, "Honky" was able to pick up the big time victory, keeping his winning ways going. However, while "The Boogie Woogie Baddie" might have had reason to celebrate, he was still left frustrated by the disappearance of his beloved guitar once owned by Carl Perkins himself! Except, now we finally know its whereabouts as my old broadcast partner Jerry "The King" Lawler appeared on the EWA-Tron with the guitar in his possession! Yes, that's right...it seems as if it was "The King" who took it all along, much to the chagrin of "Mr Shake, Rattle and Roll." Furthermore, he's apparently looking to bring the guitar with him to next Sunday's SLAM! for some kind of concert, and I think it's a safe bet that "The Honky Tonk Man" will be front row center for that one as he seeks to get back his prized possession!
After successfully defending the Tag Team Titles along with Cesaro the previous week, Nick Aldis made it clear what he thought of John Cena's solo challenge, and it wasn't too complimentary. Not only that, but "The National Treasure" also made sure to reiterate a point from several weeks ago, considering Samoa Joe's rivalry with Pete Dunne entirely his own problem and nothing to do with Aldis. I'm sure Joe won't take too kindly to those comments but can "The Kings of Wrestling" afford to become fractured at this point, especially with Angelico seemingly on the shelf indefinitely?
Either way, it'll be interesting to see who are the next challengers for the Tag Team gold currently held by "The Kings" under "Freebird" rules. You'd have to put the Briscoes in the conversation after their win earlier in the night, but "Mustache Mountain" are undoubtedly right up there with them as well. Indeed, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven had to overcome some tough undefeated opposition in "Monster Mafia," with both Josh Alexander and Ethan Page making them work damn hard for that victory! In the end though, the two lads from "British Strong Style" continue their hot streak, as they edge ever close to a shot at the gold! But will Trent Seven's pre-existing friendship with Nick Aldis stand in the way of that match from happening? Who knows!
If we're talking about deciding new title contenders, the National Title scene just got a whole lot more interesting as well! With Marty Scurll absent this week, Jake "The Snake" Roberts took the lead for "The Horde" by hitting ringside to preach about the tenets of family. Funny that, considering I've never known a family to kick their members to the curb quite like "The Horde" did last week, but then again, what do I know? Still, after Roberts tried pulling the same trick that we saw from Charlotte Flair earlier in the evening by declaring there wasn't any worthy contenders to his title, he soon found himself interrupted! Now, if you want an example of a real family, I'd go so far as to suggest that "The Flamingo Family" fit the bill a lot more than "The Horde," but maybe that's just me. The point is though, Johnny Flamingo volunteered Buh Buh for a shot at the gold following his win over Jack Evans a couple of weeks back, although it has to be said that the Dudleyville native was perhaps a little more reticent about being given such an opportunity, at least at first. That then opened the door for "Filthy" Tom Lawlor to get in the mix, with the MMA veteran suggesting he should be Roberts' first challenger instead following his debut win over Mike Mizanin. Well, if you've ever watched pro wrestling at any point in your life, it was almost inevitable what was going to happen next, with a match being made official for next week's show pitting Buh Buh Ray Dudley and Tom Lawlor against one another for the right to then challenge Jake Roberts on the SLAM! following that! I'll tell you what, folks...this is exactly the kind of simple storytelling I love to see, with challengers stepping up and issues being settled in the ring, like they belong! No doubt about it too, whether it be Dudley or Lawlor, "The Snake" is going to have his hands full when he defends the National Title for the first time!
With SLAM! just about covered then, let's take a look at my picks for this week's top three movers and shakers:
1. Samoa Joe
2. The Dominion
3. Tamina Snuka
Top spot goes to "The Destroyer," who looked downright dominant in his win over Jimmy Havoc, while also attempting to spring another trap on Pete Dunne. While that might not have paid off exactly as planned, it has set the stage for one of the most anticipated matches of the year as Joe versus Dunne is now confirmed for Red, White & Bruised! At number two, Charlotte Flair and Lacey Evans may not have competed this week, but boy did they make a big splash by taking out JoJo as well as ditching "IRS" in dramatic fashion, setting up "The Dominion" in the process! And last but not least, big props to Tamina Snuka for picking up a huge debut win over an extremely game Rhea Ripley in a match that certainly turned a lot of fans' heads! There's great things on the horizon for both these women going forward, that much I'm sure!
We already know that next week will see Buh Buh Ray and Tom Lawlor duking it out for a shot at the National Title, as well as Colt Cabana and Santino Marella fighting over the leadership of the "bWo," but there's plenty more to lock forward to! From the contract signing between Samoa Joe and Pete Dunne, to Brock Lesnar's continued hunt for Matt Taven, to the continued jockeying of challengers in both the women's and tag team divisions, and the inevitable return of our "esteemed" World Champion, Marty Scurll, I'd say that our next episode of SLAM! is shaping up to be unmissable! Until then,
BOOMER SOONER!
