WWE

The Spotlight on Raw for 7/27/2015

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Monday Night Raw just went off the air and emanated live from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma tonight.  I think Raw did a good job in continuing down the road to Summerslam but before we get into some of the highlights on the show, there were some news bits that came out of Raw that set us up for the weeks to come in WWE that I’ll briefly touch on.  At the top of the show the Authority announced that WWE Summerslam will now be four hours long.  I know this was announced earlier in the day but I think it’s a great idea as it makes Summerslam a big deal and almost like the Wrestlemania of the summer.  I really think WWE can move Summerslam to a stadium show soon enough and wouldn’t be surprised to see Summerslam held at the Red Bull arena next year, or hell, maybe even Metlife Stadium.  Also on Raw it was announced that Stone Cold Steve Austin’s WWE Network Podcast will be returning after a one month hiatus.  His guest will be none other than Paige! I saw some stuff on Twitter surprised it wasn’t Sting or Undertaker (would have been a good time for Taker with Summerslam a few weeks away) but I think Paige is a really unique guest and I’m interested to see the chemistry between her and Austin.  If Austin is going to do these podcasts more frequently, it can’t be a top guy every time and with the give divas a chance initiative, I’m glad to see Paige as the choice here.  Truth be told, I believe that f4wonline reported that Hulk Hogan was supposed to be the guest this time around, and obviously that isn’t going to happen.  Let’s get into Raw!

Highlights

John Cena is Beyond Tough- First things first, I thought that Seth Rollins and John Cena had one helluva match and if this is the direction that they’re headed for Summerslam, then I for one can’t wait.  I wasn’t crazy about Seth Rollins tapping out but if the story is that Cena beat Seth when defending his title so he deserves a shot at Seth’s World Title, well then it made sense.  With that out of the way, kudos to John Cena for wrestling the last ten minutes of the match with a brutal looking broken nose.  His nose looked contorted with blood gushing everywhere from his nose after an errant knee to the face from Rollins.  Say what you will about Cena but he’s as tough as they come and showed that old school “the match must go on” mentality last night.  Even if Cena requires surgery, and I assume he’s going to, I don’t expect that anything is going to keep John Cena off of the Summerslam card.

The Opening Segment–  I loved the way that they did the opening segment last night as it reminded me of segments from back in the attitude era.  Having Triple H and Stephanie come out to set up the entire night full of matches (I believe they listed the four matches for the night) was a great idea as it gave the viewer a reason to remain tuned in and a lot to look forward to over the course of the show.  Say what you will about the Authority but when they’re on the screen, it does bring an extra added level of importance.

The Divas Revolution Is In Full Effect- Other than the main event between John Cena and Seth Rollins, the match of the night belonged to the Divas as Paige took on Sasha Banks.  I thought the match was very good and they ladies got about 14 minutes to really let their match unfold and the story develop.  It made sense for Sasha to get the win as it continues to establish her and doesn’t hurt the more established Paige to take the loss.  I also thought the tag match was very good in that Becky Lynch was profiled, I believe for the first time on Raw since being called up.  It was also cool to see Lynch (again no relation, sadly) get the win and then moments later WWE put up a graphic for a one on one match between Nikki Bella and Becky Lynch for this week’s Smackdown.  This made the whole room of people I was watching the show with go “oh wow set the DVR for Smackdown”, which has to be what WWE was going for.  All in all, the divas got about a half an hour of Raw and two matches again this week.  The divas division continues to have a renewed focus and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, i really enjoyed Raw this week as they continue to focus a good portion of Raw on more of the in ring product which is nice to see.  We also saw many of the stories going into Summerslam progress with Bray Wyatt cutting a promo reestablishing the Wyatt Family, the continued tease that perhaps Arrow will get involved in the Stardust and Neville feud, the buildup of the tag team division, the Kevin Owens-Cesaro feud and the Randy Orton and Sheamus feud.  I like the focus that WWE is putting on every match heading into Summerslam, it makes the show feel like the Wrestlemania of the summer.  I honestly had no problem with the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar not being on the show this week as the brawl from last week was so good that I feel it was OK to have a week reliving the brawl.  At the end of the day, Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker were both taken out of the building in handcuffs last week, so having them return this week would have been too much.  Besides, WWE already did a good job in promoting that Brock will be back next week, then you have Taker return the week after that and have both of them return the week before Summerslam.

That’s going to do it for me today but what did you think of Raw?  Are you excited for Summerslam?  I’ll be back later today with the Tough Enough Power Rankings.  Tough Enough airs tonight on the USA Network and it’s being promoted that Sasha Banks, Tamina Snuka and Naomi will all be on hand.

The Spotlight Tough Enough Power Rankings for Week 3

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Last Night the third episode of WWE Tough Enough took place live on the USA Network and it was a noteworthy episode to say the least. First it was revealed that Dianna had finally had enough of being away from her fiance while in the midst of planning their wedding and decided to drop out of the competition.  This was something that we mentioned as a distinct possibility and was a shame as she seemed to be one of the more athletic girls in the competition.  I was prepared to get all over Dianna for giving up the opportunity of a lifetime, it was revealed in an exclusive interview on the tough enough app that Dianna also left because one of her friends that worked at a bar that Dianna owned was attacked at the bar and left paralyzed.  Thus, if Dianna also left because of that unfortunate circumstance than I can’t fault her for that and wish her nothing but the best.  Dianna’s loss is somebody else’s gain as a new contestant Chelsea was able to enter back into the competition.  Chelsea is a student from Lance Storm’s Storm Wrestling Academy and is probably remembered by die hard WWE fans as Daniel Bryan’s physical therapist who claimed that her and Bryan were having an affair (in a storyline quickly dropped, I might add).  This is an interesting choice for a new contestant as I’m sure some viewers, like me, were either hoping to skip an elimination this week or that Ashley (who had the heart condition from the casting special) would be returning.  Regardless, if she was trained by Lance Storm she is probably going to be very good in the ring, just ask Tyler Breeze.

Also last night on Tough Enough, in a bit of a surprising move, Daria, was sent home.  (A quick side bar here, did you know that Daniel Bryan is a perfect 3 for 3 in that every contestant that he has placed in the bottom three, has gone home).  I thought honestly that Daria was better than a few of the contestants and she had a ton of heart, as evidenced by her “Save Me” speech this week and how crushed she looked going home.  It is obvious at this point that if it comes down to a fan vote and you’re in the bottom three with ZZ and Sara Lee, you can pack your bags.

Thus, after a noteworthy episode, ten contestants remain so let’s get into this week’s Tough Enough Power Rankings

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1) Patrick Clark Jr. (Last week #2)

After two straight episodes in which Patrick won the skills competition, he has finally jumped up to the top spot in this week’s tough enough power rankings.  One thing that I liked about Patrick this week was that he’s the only one who woke up to watch the Beast In The East Special at 530AM and was periscoping with fans right when he woke up.  The guy obviously respects the business and looks to really be living his dream with this competition.   I also really liked that Patrick showed that he was not going to be a push over this week by standing up to Tanner and coming right at him. Patrick also had a great answer when Tanner called him out for being a trained wrestler prior to coming on the show by saying tht his past training didn’t count as he’s here to learn WWE style.  With Patrick showing his depth this week as a performer in the entrance competion, the sky is truly the limit for Patrick.

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2) Tanner Saraceno (Last Week #1)

Tanner continues to be dominant in the athletic competitions and it really looks like it’s going to come down between he and his rival, Patrick as the competition continues.  One thing I’d start to worry about with Tanner is that he doesn’t seem to be reacting well to Patrick beating him in competitions.  His constant challenging of the other male contestants to fights may start to rub fans the wrong way, who in the end have the final say on the voting.  Tanner’s lack of love of the business is also starting to really show and that’s not good.

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3) Giorgia Priscina ( Last Week #11)

After plummeting last week all the way down to the lowest ranking for female contestants at number 11, Giorgia has really come into her own in the competion.  She has won the last two athletic competitions amongst the girls and showed off some of her personality in the entrance competition this week.  Giorgia is also the one girl to avoid all of the drama that so many of the other contestants have found themselves consumed by.

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4) ZZ Loupe (Last Week #3) 

ZZ drops a spot here this week, although if this competition continues to be decided by fans voting, he’s going to win the show as he continues to dominate in all of the fans votes at the end of the episodes. ZZ was called out for acting, what Billy Gunn perceived to be, silly during the entrance competition when he came out in a red, white and blue headdress and his underwear when he was supposed to be dressed as an American hero.  I thought this was good for ZZ, however, as it allowed him to show off his more serious side.  ZZ was offended that Billy felt he wasn’t taking the competition seriously and quickly spoke up about how bad he wants to win this competition.  Lastly ZZ didn’t back down from his costume as he said that he felt he was portraying a hero because a hero could be many different things to many people.  He said he was getting the fans out of their elements and getting them to believe in what he was doing.  At the end of the day ZZ proved that his best quality is the support he has from the fans as he got the most again when in the bottom three.

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5) Mada Abdelhamid (Last week #6) 

I hate to be so male contestant heavy but I’m really not impressed with too many of the female contestants yet.  I was actually most impressed with Mada this week to the point that I thought he won the character competition.  It’s taken Mada a bit to show some of his personality but now that he’s showing off some of it and getting more comfortable, I think he has a shot to do well.

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6) Amanda Sacaranato ( Last Week #4) 

Mandy continues her desecnt down the power rankings as she really hasn’t showed me too much from week to week.  I thought she did alright during the character competition but had one of the easier characters to emulate.  I give Amanda credit for trying to ignore some of the things that Gaby says about her, which are basically that Amanda couldn’t be more phony if she tried, until shecf but she has to show more during the episodes or she isn’t going to be around too much longer.

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7) Joshua Bredl (Last Week #9)

Joshua seems to have improved over the past two episodes.  I liked that he was uncomfortable with the British Brawler character but he did his best with it and ended up doing a good job.  He also seems to be getting better in the athletic competitions.  While he remains a step behind Tanner, he seems to be giving it his all to get closer to beating him.  I don’t think it’s smart of him to continue to go against the beloved ZZ (by telling ZZ that he’s just upset because the judges didn’t like his entrance when ZZ seemed really down about how he was treated) and I still cotnsider him to be the weakest amongst the five remaining men, but it’s good to see him improving nonetheless.

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8) Sara Lee (Last Week #5)

Readers of my rankings know that I support Sara but truth be told she really hasn’t impressed in any of the competitions whether it be athletic or in personality. That said she continues to show her realism factor that the other female contestants are lacking. She is honest about struggling but working hard to improve. She has also survived two straight bottom 3’s so it’s obvious that she has the fan support which is key.

9) Chelsea Green (Last Week N/A) 

It would be really easy to put the new contestant on the bottom but Chelsea is a trained wrestler and it seems that WWE is leaning more towards women’s wrestlers as opposed to the divas.  Likewise, I’m sure if she does well enough, she won’t be put into the bottom three as she’d be at a distinct disadvantage being so new.

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10) Gabi Castrovici (Last Week #10)

Gabi is gorgeous, but unfortunately that is where her good qualities start and end.  Gabi continues to cause drama with the other girls in the house and really bullied Amanda, so much so, that I expected her to be kicked out of the house.  Furthermore, I question how bad Gabi actually wants this as she continues to spend time away from the Barrocks with her husband.  The main part about Gabi though is that she really lacks likability which means that if she’s ever in the bottom three, she won’t get the votes needed to stay.

That’s going to do it for me this week but as always if you disagree with my power rankings, feel free to let me know where I was wrong.  Be sure to catch WWE Tough Enough live tonight on the USA Network at 8Pm EST.


The Spotlight On Raw for 7/13/2015

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First off I like to apologize for being off the grid these last few days. I’ve been a bit under the weather really since last Wednesday and it just got worse until finally kicking my ass all weekend. I’ll get more into that on tomorrow’s Daily Spotlight but thankfully I started feeling a bit better just in time for a great Raw (and an awesome Home Run Derby, which I’ll also get into tomorrow morning). As for Monday Night Raw, it emanated live from Atlanta, Georgia and was the final stop of the road to WWE Battleground. Without any further ado, let’s get right into some of the highlights of the show… 

Highlights: 

1) Divas Get Their Chance- Tonight’s Raw didn’t only see one call up from NXT but rather saw three call ups as Charlotte, Becky Lynch and NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks all made there Raw debut tonight. The segment was probably the greatest womens segment since Paige debuted and beat AJ Lee for the women’s title the night after Wrestlemania 30. This was really a relaunch for the women’s division in WWE as Stephanie McMahon showed up to introduce the three ladies from NXT. What made the segment even more special was that the crowd absolutely exploded with “This Is Awesome” chants and showered the ladies with praise. It was really a telling sign as to how far NXT has come that the NXT women were instantly reconized and admired for their athleticism and past accomplishments. If you only have time to check out one segment from this week’s Raw, its this segment right here. 

2) The U.S. Title Open Challenge- What else is new? These segments are great every week and it is nice to see that each week more and more people continue to come out and challenge John Cena. The U.S. Title has become the most prized possession in WWE & it’s great to see how John Cena has brough prestige back to that belt. Cesaro continued his streak of having the best match on Raw as he and Rusev (and for a little while Kevin Owens) had a great, nearly , 24 minute match. It was great to see that Rusev is back showing his aggressive side and it was nice to see him, not only, getting a big win over Cesaro but also to see him getting a DQ victory over Cena. Kevin Owens costing Rusev the match ,after taking himself out of the three way, added some heat on Owens. Owens is obviously respected and, by a certain percentage of the audience, adored. The problem with that is that he’s being counted on to be a top heel in the company so by having him taking himself out of matches and then also costing the fans the opportunities to see clean finishes, (with Cesaro and now Rusev) the crowd may be more inclined to boo him. WWE has done a good job over these past few weeks of adding Cesaro and Rusev to the Cena and Owens story. They’ve used a hot feud like Cena-Owens to create new contenders for the US title in Cesaro and Rusev and giving both of those guys a rub in the process. Good stuff all around. 

3) The Champ Stands Alone…Confidently?!?– This week Brock Lesnar continued his destruction of the Authority by taking out Kane after previously taking out J & J Security. This set up the showdown between Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins well in that now, theoretically, Rollins is all alone to face Lesnar. In the process, however, I felt that Rollins cut his best promo to date in that he claimed not to be afraid of Brock Lesnar while also rediculing  Kane.  He  also, correctly, pointed out that while Lesnar had gotten better of all of his past challengers, he never did get the better of Rollins. I felt the end of Raw did a good job in setting the stage for the Battleground main event and a number of possibilities moving forward. If Seth Rollins proves he doesn’t need anyone and defeats Brock Lesnar retain the championship, he’s a made man. If Brock Lesnar wins back the championship and Triple H doesn’t come out to help Rollins or fails to help when he does, this starts issues between Rollins and Triple H. Lastly, it’ll be interesting to see where Kane goes from here after being verbally undressed and humiliated by Rollins to end the show. 

4) Stardust Returns- While I was surprised to see Stardust return as a heel (presumably to continue his program with Stephen Amell), it was great to see Stardust back on Raw for the first time since the untimely death of Dusty Rhodes. I thought Stardust cut a great promo to hype his return prior to his match with Neville and seemed incredibly passionate. It was nice to see him get such a warm reaction from the crowd and it’ll be interesting to see just how long WWE will be able to keep Stardust a heel. 

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I think Raw was a really good show, perhaps the best since the Raw the night after Wrestlemania. The show did a good job in building towards Sunday’s Battleground and even beyond. It’s interesting to note that with only Smackdown remaining before the Battleground show, Dean Ambrose (who’s main evented the past two pay per views), Cesaro, Rusev and the Divas are not on the Battleground show. I’m sure some will be added but since Battleground is, likely, part of the larger Summerslam picture, it’s ok not to have everyone on every pay per view. 

That’s going to do it for me but I’d love to hear your thoughts on tonight’s Raw. Until then keep your eyes pealed for a new Daily Spotlight in the morning, updated Tough Enough power rankings prior to tomorrow’s show and a whole lot more right here on thedailyspotlight.com!

The Spotlight On Raw 7/6/15

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WWE Raw just went off the air and I have to say I really enjoyed this show as it did a good job in continuing the build for Battleground while also delivering with a great main event. Let’s get right into some of the highlights of the show. 

Highlights:

1) Chicago Made- It’s not easy for me to admit it, as a proud New Yorker, but the best WWE fans belong to the city of Chicago. This crowd was into everything on the show and remained lively for the whole three hour show. The crowd was a lot more than CM Punk chants as they showed support for everyone and respect for everyone not named John Cena (though I think with Cena its a little tongue in cheek and he won the fans over in the end). I hope WWE also heard the support for Bo Dallas. As I say on a weekly basis, they have something in that guy, I just hope they realize it.,

2) What a Main Event- Another week of raw, another show where the John Cena US Title Open Challenge has stole the show. John Cena and Cesaro tore down the house for over a half hour pulling out innovative moves and reversals while going move for move with each other. In the end I found myself torn as, while I wanted to see Cesaro get the win, I don’t want to see the John Cena Open Challenges end. Cena continues to reinvent himself with new opponents each week and knows how to work a crowd like none other. He knows he’s hated in Chicago and has no problem embracing the hate as a bit of a heel. I also like the nice tough of Cesaro wearing the Candian armband out of respect to Tyson Kidd. A very classy touch from Cesaro, who I hope to only see grow from here. 

3) Brock Lesnar Vs The Cadillac- Right when Seth Rollins rewarded J & J Security with a brand new Cadillac last week, you knew it was only a matter of time before Brock Lesnar got his hand on the $55,000 automobile. Well this week Brock didn’t disappoint as he destroyed the car as only Brock could. I also liked that he was able to take out Noble and Mercury. They’re doing a great job in building up the Lesnar-Rollins title match at Battleground as Brock continues to take out Seth’s support system. 

4) Rusev Crush- Maybe it’s just me but ever since Dolph Ziggler started hooking up with Lana, I started to feel a bit bad for the Bulgarian Brute. Every week Rusev would show up to Raw, broken foot and all, and every week he’d have to see his ex girlfriend kiss another man. This week when I saw Dolph and Lana kiss right in front of Rusev, I was hoping Rusev would take him out..and did he ever! Thankfully, Rusev revealed that he had healed and destroyed Dolph (Who did a stretcher job to boot). Maybe Rusev isn’t supposed to be the baby face here but I like the shades of grey of all the characters involved here that allows fans to support who they’d like to. This slow build between Rusev and Ziggler can lead to a fun match at Summerslam either with just the two or a mixed tag with the ladies involved.

Closing Thoughts:

You know as much as I loved the period in May and June where every two weeks there was another pay per view, WWE has done a good job building Battleground with a little extra time to do so. We’ve known the big matches for that show for a while and each week of television has nicely built to those matches.  This week was no exception as if you have some extra time, I’d suggesting checking out this weeks Raw as it was a really fun show. On top of the highlights mentioned above, you also had a nice return by Randy Orton and I also thought Titus O’Neil, of all people, did a great job on commentary during the New Day-Lucha Dragons match. 

That’s going to do it for me but I’ll be back with the Tough Enough Power Rankings and a whole lot more tomorrow. Until the. Let me know what you thought of this week’s Raw in Chicago and be sure to subscribe to the Daily Spotlight below. Thanks for all of your support!

The Spotlight On WWE Beast In The East

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 Good Morning and Happy 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans.  I just got finished watching a live WWE Network Special “Beast In The East” which aired live from Tokyo, Japan and I have to say, this show was a lot of fun.  It was really fun to wake up before the sun came out here in New York at 5AM, run out to get bagels and coffee and enjoy a WWE show to start my Independence Day.  I might add that before the show began, I watched the Finn Balor “The Demon Revealed” special that aired on the live feed right before The Beast In The East and it was fantastic.  If you haven’t seen that documentary go out of your way to watch it as it is a perfect prelude to the Beast In The East Special.  However, that’s another discussion for another time, let’s get into some of the highlights of WWE: The Beast In The East.

Highlights:

 The Demon Rises: I’ll be honest, when I heard that NXT Takeover would be in Brooklyn, I wasn’t 100% sure that they would do the title change here but, looking back, it was absolutely the time to do it.  One of the coolest things for me was to see the entrances of both Balor and Owens with the ladies presenting them with the flowers, to flooding the ring with streamers (which is the first time I’ve ever seen this at a WWE show) it just felt like such a big match feel for the NXT championship.  Kevin Owens was immediately established as big time heel by throwing the flowers into the aisle way and doing all he could to win the match by countout.  The crowd was solidly behind Balor from the beginning until they finally got the moment of Balor winning the title which was a feel good crowning moment for Balor.  This was the best match on the card (though Jericho and Neville was close) as there was such a good build throughout the match and so many good false finishes, including Owens kicking out of the coup de gras and Balor kicking out of the top rope senton.  With Balor now the NXT champion, Owens can make the full transition to the main roster and Balor can lead NXT into the future. The title change also added to the importance of the show, especially because the NXT title is changed so infrequently.   It was also a nice tough to see Hideo Itami in the crowd, showing support and having Tatsumi Fujinami coming out to crown the triumphant Balor.

 Brock Lesnar: Brock Lesnar came off like a really big deal on this show as he returned to Japan for the first time, as a WWE Superstar, in 12 years.  The show was build around Lesnar from the name of the show to Brock entering the building being shown as if he was the biggest star in the company to the great video package showcasing Lesnar.  I was actually surprised to see the fans get behind Kofi as much as they did, it really shows me how much traction the New Day is getting. The match itself was complete domination, which I expected that it would be, however, I would have preferred to see Xavier Woods face Lesnar as I feel they’ve done a good job protecting Kofi since the New Day formed.  That said, John Cena and the Undertaker both got destroyed by Brock Lesnar so there is no shame in that whatsoever.

 The Main Event: I was surprised to see that the tag match closed the show here as the show was built around both the NXT title match and Brock’s return but, say what you will about John Cena, he was absolutely adored by the Japanese crowd who reacted as if Cena was the huge star that he is.  I felt that this was a unique tag match in which all four men worked really hard.  It’s cool that WWE continues to have Cena and Ziggler loosely related as they’ve had each others’ backs for a while.  It reminds me somewhat of Tugboat and Hulk Hogan from back in the day.  I also thought it was nice to see Bad News Barrett get a main event spot and look good doing it.  A fun match that sent everyone home happy and ended a strong show the right way.

 44 Years Young: Holy cow did Chris Jericho and Neville tear down the house to kick off this show.  The two went back and forth for over twenty minutes in a great match.  Chris Jericho, in particular at 44 years old, did a great job in keeping up with the younger Neville and there’s still so much that he can contribute to the business, even in a limited capacity.  From doing small things like demanding that the referee “Ask Him!” while performing every wristlock or chinlock to coming up with innovative reversals, Jericho was on fire tonight.  I feel that Chris has taken some criticism lately and I’m not sure why because he does a great job in making the younger stars look great every time that he returns.  I know some will complain that Jericho won but the loss didn’t hurt Neville at all.  If anything, it felt like a star making performance for Neville that he was able to hang with a legend like Jericho in the way that he did.  Making stars doesn’t mean that you have to lose every match you’re in because by doing so it gets to a point where victories don’t mean as much against that guy taking the loss.  Kudos to both of these men and I would love to see the two work a program if and when Jericho makes a return to WWE.

Closing Thoughts:

 In the end, I really enjoyed this show as top to bottom every match was good to great.  There were only five matches on the broadcast, which meant that everything got to get time to develop.  From the divas to the main events, it was clear that everyone worked hard for the respectful Japanese crowd.  It was also nice to see the unique setup from to the different pieces of raw footage from the city of Tokyo showcasing the fans dressed as the Superstars to the different look and feel to the show, it was cool to see.  I have to add that I really enjoyed the commentary on this show, which I assume was recorded live in WWE Headquarters as I didn’t see the announcers at ringside, as both Byron Saxton and Michael Cole worked hard and did a great job. Lastly, the Japanese crowd was also very respectful, they did what you’re supposed to do in a classic sense, being behind the good guys and booing the bad guys, which was actually refreshing to see.  I hope that WWE continues to showcase different live events from unique settings like this in the future.

All Photos courtesy of the WWE Network