White Ranger Mattel Seth Rollins

I bought this today, had to. It was my San Diego Comic Con WWE PPV weekend present to myself. It's Battleground 2016 on Sunday. Triple threat match for the World Heavyweight strap, the New Day against the Wyatt Family; and Kevin Owens vs. Sammy Zayn. 

I watched the 2016 WWE Draft the other night half dead from strep throat, so it will be interesting to see the first PPV since that's taken place and what the ripple effect will be. 

WWE Payback 2016

I'm writing a little bit about the "pay per view" tonight, the fallout show from Wrestlemania 32, WWE Payback. 

Enzo & Cass v. The Vaudevillians 

Uh, I thought Enzo actually DIED, I ran to twitter since this is the replay and he apparently just had a concussion. Seriously, it looked like that match in which Rey Mysterio Jr. killed a man when Enzo's head snapped against the bottom rope and he was breathing funny. It scared the shit out of me. 

Kevin Owens vs. Sammy Zayn

Nice opening segment with Zayn and Owens' rivalry being replayed and how far they go back. My guy Owens begins the match dominating, big rally by Zayn. Huge clothesline on Owens. They have to let Owens go over clean here, right? Owens with some insane moves following near falls. Frog splash tribute to Eddie Guerrero, two cannon balls with Zayn sitting int he corner. Near fall off a Zayn counter with Owens going for his finisher. Owens counters with Sammy going for the tight-rope. Crowd was going nuts during the match with pops while both guys laid on the ground. Backdrop after exchanging blows on the apron. Insane move by Zayn outside the ring through the second ropes for a DDT. But Owens catches him with a kick inside the ring and the pop up powerbomb to finish it. 

The Miz vs. Cesaro (Intercontinental Title Match)

Owens stays down at ringside for commentary after pulling Byron Saxton into the ring after his win. Cesaro has the shoulder thing on, and Owens points out that he injured Cesaro's shoulder. 

Wrestlemania 32

My Wrestlemania 32 Thoughts:

• Ladder match did not have enough Kevin Owens. I really wish he could have had a 1 on 1 match. Owens is my favorite talent on the roster right now overall, and I would like to see him start getting some one on one battles 
• My favorite part of the night was when The Rock told Bray Wyatt he had it all, all the talent to be a top guy. Thought that whole segment was extremely entertaining. It seems like WWE knows they have something in Bray Wyatt yet have absolutely no clue how to utilize him. 
• The main event with HHH and Roman Reigns just lacked sizzle. I want to be into this but can't. That's how many of the last few Wrestlemania I've had to watch old HHH be in the main event mix? It's ridiculous. 
• Shane McMahon's bump off the Hell in a Cell against Undertaker was completely insane. 

There are also these images of my boy Owens in Elite 43 from Mattel, along with two of my childhood favorites. 

Elite 41 Finn Balor MOC

This is definitely the best figure that Mattel has ever made. 

Cannot wait to see Balor on the main roster to see what he can do. I am hoping it comes this Sunday in the Royal Rumble.

NXT Takeover: London

I turned this event on live on WWE Network in time to see the main event; Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor for the NXT Heavyweight Championship.

Balor came out in his typical Demon attire for a big match but added a tophat in honor of London and perhaps the Christmas season. But would he play Ebenezer Scrooge to Samoa Joe's title hopes?

I just had to get a cool close up screen shot of Balor with the top hat and the belt for maybe the last time. 

Joe seemed to have a following in London, many of the fans chanting the typical "Joe's gonna kill you" and mixed 'Lets go Balor - Lets go Joe' going back and forth. 

The match featured quite a few counters and submission holds. 

In the end, Balor held onto the belt in the best Finn Balor match I've ever seen. Any plans for Balor to be in the Royal Rumble are obviously on hold with him retaining the belt with a top rope Coup de grace. This was NXT traveling overseas for the first time ever, and it was a historic ending.

ECW and Mainstream Music Examples

God, I wish we could go back to this time in life....

November to Remember - Guns N' Roses, November Rain


Terry Funk - Desperado

Survivor Series 2015

This could have been my last Survivor Series. I guess it was mostly met with disappointment. I'll recap with some screens.

Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose met with a match that most said should get high reviews. Of course, Owens lost. He's also sporting a new t-shirt. I thought Owens had a chance tonight; but with the turn of my head all hopes were lost. He's still in IC champ. But an angle with Owens as the corporate champion while he's hot would have fit much better than... well we'll get to that.

Dolph Ziggler came out channeling his inner Shawn Michaels with a new wardrobe. And he lost to Tyler Breeze. Ziggler is pretty much irrelevant these days. Oh, what could have been (yet again). 

The Wyatt Family match vs. Undertaker and Kane was next with disappointment number three on tap. I figured that Bray Wyatt had a chance to score a victory over the Undertaker and Kane because it was a tag match. But again, I gave WWE Creative a little too much credit. They have no imagination. 

Undertaker's entrance was of course; as epic as ever. As JBL said on the announce table "it's like watching Wyatt Earp walk into Tombstone". 

Let the record state that Bray Wyatt hit the Sister Abigail on Undertaker in this one with what I thought would be the win, but Kane jumped in and made the save. And then a double choke slam to the Wyatts and a Tombstone piledriver later, and Undertaker and Kane were the victors. 

The title match wasn't what everyone thought it would be. Reigns goes over clean on Ambrose in the middle of the ring. The confetti starts to fall and it's seemingly like Daniel Bryan winning the title, including HHH coming out to the ring and spoiling the party. 

At the end of the day, with Sheamus walking away with the belt, no one wins. A real fuck finish and once again I'm left feeling as I usually do with WWE pay per views. It had so much promise and potential and WWE just kind of went with the 'blah' from start to finish.