This year, after a Big Four PPV, there has been a call up from NXT. After the Royal Rumble, we got Samoa Joe on Raw. After Wrestlemania, we got The Revival, Elias, Tye Dillinger and Shinsuke Nakamura. After SummerSlam, Bobby Roode and Asuka were the next ones up. Survivor Series weekend just ended and following the event, many thought Drew McIntyre or The Iconic Duo of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay were the next to be featured on weekly TV. WWE went the unpredictable route this time.
Over on Raw, the first ever NXT Women's Champion, Paige, made her return to Raw and immediately made her intentions clear; a major takeover of the women's division. Claiming she wasn't alone, Paige brought along Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose from NXT to completely destroy Mickie James, Sasha Banks and Bayley. Over on Smackdown, a similar situation happened but this time, it was Ruby Riot(t), Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan leading the charge, taking out 4 of the 5 women who have held the Smackdown Women's Championship in Naomi, Becky Lynch, Natayla and Charlotte. At the end of the day, for both women's divisions, NXT is standing strong.
Definitely not the call ups I was expecting. After her loss on Saturday, I was really thinking Peyton and Billie were next up. They would be a breath of fresh air for either brand's division. I'll have to keep waiting though. Regardless, it was a great decision by WWE. Sonya, Mandy, Liv, Ruby and Sarah weren't really doing anything in NXT. Sonya was going to get loss in the shuffle once Shayna Baszler started to appear on NXT. Liv was in NXT for years and wasn't being pushed. Mandy and Sarah wasn't even featured on TV that much. Ruby is the only one of the five that was featured the most. She had a strong fanbase and with Ember as champion, could have been the first feud for her but plans change.
NXT's women division, while losing 5 women in the matter of two days, will not suffer. We'll miss the girls but do you know how deep that division truly is? Let's see: we have the current champion Ember Moon, NXT vets Peyton Roye and Billie Kay, Nikki Cross of Sanity, Mae Young Classic winner Kairi Sane, Aliyah, Lacey Evans, the star of the MYC Bianca Belair, Abbey Laith, Dakota Kai, Rhea Ripley, Sage Beckett, Shayna Baszler, Zeda, Xia Li, that's such a deep list. While I'm sure they all won't be featured, if they just give Laith, Kai, Baszler, and Belair a chance, the division will be bright. Belair alone will run the division if given the chance. She's a star.
Let's see where this goes. The last time they had a three women team, it didn't go so well but it did spark the women's revolution. Reports state that Paige might be the one behind both attacks, which I hope is the case because two identical attacks by two identical looking teams of 3 from NXT is just too uncanny to not be featured in a storyline. I'm pretty pumped for this.
Absolution and The Riott Squad. Who's going to make a bigger impact?
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Takeover/Survivor Series weekend predictions
This is becoming a tradition! A Big 4 PPV comes on and we get a NXT Takeover event to start the weekend! This time, it's Takeover War Games and Survivor Series, emanating from Houston, Texas. Takeover has 6 matches on the card, one dark match while Survivor Series features 7, many featuring interbrand matches between Raw and Smackdown. Let's talk Takeover first.
First off, the live crowd will be treated to an absolute gem of a match as Pete Dunne will defend the WWE United Kingdom Championship against Johnny Gargano. HOW IS THIS NOT ON THE MAIN CARD!?!?! I'm legit upset. This could be a match of the year contender if these two go all out. Ugh...
Kassius Ohno will battle Lars Sullivan in the battle of the heavyweights. Sullivan is an absolute beast and will be the next major monster heel on the main roster. While I don't think Sullivan will become NXT Champion (none of the monsters heels seem to do) I do think he'll be a major player on the main roster. His NXT run is just getting started and by defeating Kassius Ohno, it will continue his dominant run. Sullivan with the easy win. This should be fun to watch.
Aleister Black will be facing The Velveteen Dream in a strange match up. Strange, because I feel like Black should be facing someone on his level. Dream is still relatively fresh in the company so this is more like a big match for Dream and not a big match for Black. I guess all the other guys were busy so this was the only other option. Black's first loss should not come from Dream. He needs to have a good showing, come close to beating him but in the end, fail and let Black's run continue. Black wins with the Black Mass.
Drew McIntyre puts up his NXT Championship against Andrade Cien Almas. Almas has had this coming for a long time. He was one of the big time talents NXT signed in the years after its big breakout but they really haven't used him to his maximum potential. Turning heel and aligning with Zelina Vega has done wonders for him and he's getting his first shot at the title here. McIntyre won't be having a short reign as champion. The person I see dethroning him is Adam Cole, who would eventually lose to Johnny Gargano, who would then be attacking by a returning Tommaso Ciampa to set up that mega match. Almas beating McIntyre would be nice as he should have had a run with the title or at least be in contention for it by now but now that McIntyre has been crowned the next face of the brand, Almas is just there to help make Drew looks good. McIntyre wins in a hard fought match.
For the first time in a year and a half (19 months to be exact), we will have a new NXT Women's Champion. Four superstars will compete for the right to call themselves the 6th NXT Women's Champ. They are Peyton Royce, one half of the Iconic Duo, Nikki Cross, a member of Sanity, Ember Moon, Asuka last opponent in NXT and Kairi Sane, the winner of the inaugural Mae Young Classic. It's easy to look at the four competitors and say we know the winner. Kairi has been booked as another hard hitting resilient female wrestler from the land of the rising sun. Asuka left a lasting impression on NXT and it could be that WWE wants to keep a dominant Japanese star as champion. While I think Kairi winning the title should happen, I don't think it needs to happen this quickly. She's been on TV for NXT for about 2 months. She doesn't need to win the Mae Young Classic and the women's title in her first two months. It's like overkill. I don't like this version of Nikki Cross in NXT. I would have preferred her Best in the Universe gimmick opposed to the craziness of Sanity. She has a strong chance of winning due to her group already holding onto the tag titles. Adding one more title wouldn't be a bad thing to show their dominance. Ember Moon, in all reality, should have defeated Asuka at Takeover Brooklyn III. I know they wanted Asuka to remain undefeated for her main roster debut but now I'm nervous anytime she wrestles. I don't want her streak to end because of some dumb main roster hi-jinks. Moon should have gone over but she gets another chance here and of the four, she's one I feel like should do it, based on the fact she gave Asuka two hard fought matches. Peyton Royce has been in NXT the longest, dating back to her tryout in 2014. Peyton and Billie Kay have found their niche as apart of the NXT women's division, being two mean girls ala LayCool or the BFFs. It works for them and could lead to title gold for Peyton and an eventual feud with Billie Kay.
Of the four, I'm pulling most for Peyton because of that. I think we need a heel champion to run the division at this point. Let Ember, Ruby, Nikki and Kairi chase Peyton until Mania season. I'm going with Peyton Royce to win her first NXT Women's Championship at Takeover, thanks to Billie Kay.
The main event of Takeover Wargames is....the WarGames match. It will see Sainty, The Authors of Pain and Roddick Strong and The Undisputed Era in one massive match with two rings and one cage. This will be the first WarGames match I will see live as I wasn't into WCW when they were doing it 20 years ago. This will be a fun main event but like the TLC main event, there's nothing really on the line. Even though Sanity are the tag champs, the titles will not be defended. Again, should be a great and chaotic main event, especially with all the major talent but at the end of the day, it won't progress anything, except maybe Adam Cole to a NXT TItle shot. The Undisputed Era wins, Cole will face McIntyre at Takeover Philadelphia. Hopefully...
Survivor Series started off as a basic Big 4 PPV but has since become a major event, featuring all champion VS champion matches, a dream match and a lot of major WWE stars in the men's elimination match. Let's talk!
Enzo and Kalisto. Yawn. I hate Enzo in the Cruiserweight division. Yes, he brings exposure but not technical ability. We need guys like Cedric Alexander, Neville and Gran Metalik as the faces of the division. Enzo can compete but not be the top guy when there are dozens of other great talents. Enzo wins because.......yeah.
Originally, The Usos were going to take on Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins in what was definitely set to be the best match on the card. As is the theme with the PPV, plans changed and now, Cesaro and Sheamus will get the nod to defend Raw in the battle of the tag team champions. This is a great change. Yes, those four would have tore the house down but Sheamus and Cesaro have been the best Raw tag team all year. They deserve to get this slot. And don't sleep on them either, as they've put on some of the most hard hitting tag matches of the year. This will be exciting, hard hitting and fast paced. Expect superkicks, uppercuts and fists. As great as a team SheCesaro has been, there has been no team better than The Usos in 2017. Their claim of putting the tag division on Smackdown on lock has been true and they will prove they are the best team on Sunday. The Usos will defeat Sheamus and Cesaro, winning the match for Smackdown.
Mid-card champions will clash when Raw's Intercontinental Champion The Miz will face Smackdown's United States Champion Baron Corbin. Though it's a heel VS heel match, Miz is more of the babyface with more of the fans behind him, simply because he has put in the work for the last few years. Remember when everyone said Miz wouldn't amount to anything? Here we are, with Miz having held the IC Title on 7 different occasions and is the third longest reigning champion with combined reigns. I'm a fan of both men but Miz is the superior champion in this situation and needs a win after taking losses from The Olympic Shield and The Original Shield. Miz wins, maybe with the help from his cronies and gets a big win for Raw.
One of the two traditional Survivor Series matches will feature the women of both brands. Raw will have Team Captain Alicia Fox with Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, Bayley and Asuka facing Team Captain Becky Lynch with Naomi, Tamina, Carmella and now, thanks to Charlotte winning the Smackdown Women's Title this week, a fifth member yet to be determined. Based on elimination, it should be Natalya or Lana but obviously, let's start speculation that Paige will be the last member or hey, even Nikki Bella. There's a lot of names I guess....Anyway, looking at Raw's team, it's kind of a bomb squad. You have the always intimidating and dominant Nia Jax, the unpredictable Alicia Fox, who's a former Divas Champion in her own right and the last three women to have held the NXT Women's Title in Asuka, Sasha and Bayley. Asuka is also undefeated AKA hasn't been pinned. They just have a better team. It really depends who is going to be the last member of the Smackdown Team. If it indeed is Paige or Nikki, Smackdown will win with one of them being the surviving memeber. If it's Natalya, Raw will win. Based on last year, one brand will win each of the men and women's traditional matches and Raw won last year in this one. I just don't see the point of putting Asuka on the team and them NOT winning. I could see Asuka going down 4-1 or even 5-1 and then coming back to look as unstoppable as possible. I'd love to see Smackdown win here but they can only get the W if they have Paige or Nikki and I'm not holding my breath. Team Raw wins with Asuka in some way being one of or the lone survivor.
In a match I didn't know I wanted until the seeds were planted last week, The Original Shield will face The New Day in a 6 man tag match. The Shield have been one of the best groups in WWE history, all holding titles together and then all becoming WWE World Champion after their split. The New Day have been tag champions four times, while their 2nd reign as WWE Tag Team Champions is the longest in the company's history. It's the two best and most successful trios in one massive match that could only take place at Survivor Series. It's a smart move. I wanted to see Ambrose/Rollins and The Usos badly but I want to see this even more. Being this is The Shield's 2nd match back together, the first on PPV in 3 years and it being the 5 year anniversary of their debut, there's no way The Shield can lose. This will be one hell of a match but The Shield will win and continue their reunion tour.
The two most dominant female wrestlers of the past two years will do battle at Survivor Series with Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss facing the new Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair. It's the best match the two shows could do besides another Sasha/Charlotte match. This is another match that got changed from its original iteration but it's only for the better. If Alexa Bliss can win this match, she will own victories over each member of the WWE Four Horsewomen in one year. I don't think any other woman can say that. With Raw taking all the victories in my predictions, I don't think she'll get to claim that just yet. Charlotte will make Alexa tap out to get a big victory for Smackdown.
The men's traditional Survivor Series elimination match is a massive one, featuring the cream of the crop in talent and big names. Team Raw has Captain Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor and Triple H. Team Smackdown has Captain Shane McMahon, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, Randy Orton and John Cena. THIS is a SS match. The men combined have a total 50 WORLD TITLE REIGNS. 50. That's not a typo.You have three of the four top guys in World Title reigns. There's Cena and Flair with 16, Triple H with 14 and Randy Orton with 13. I'm not even counting Joe and Angle's World Title reigns in different companies. It's ridiculous. There are SO many dream match ups in this match. Let's see...Cena/Strowman? Check. Angle/Nakamura? Check. Joe/Orton? Check. Triple H/Roode? Check! And you can just mix and match them from there. So many great storylines can start from this match to the Road to Wrestlemania. Notably missing are Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Jinder Mahal but don't rule them out just yet.
I expect Randy Orton to be the last man remaining for his team. It's his thing. EVERY team he's been apart of, whether he won or loss, he was the last member standing. He's won 5 of these matches, including three in a row at the start of his career and last year's Raw VS Smackdown affair. He's Mr. Survivor Series. While I think Orton will be the last guy for Smackdown, I don't think that will equal a win for Team Blue. It's pretty clear that Zayn and Owens don't give a damn about this brand supremacy crap and as a way to stick it to Shane and Smackdown, I can see them costing Orton the match and starting a feud with him for the next few months. Maybe it will come down to Joe and Orton and Orton will get distracted by the two, get caught by Joe and forced to submit. Maybe it won't even happen like that. Regardless, I'm looking forward to a lengthy match. Last year's contest was 52 minutes. It doesn't have to be that long this year but I'd like it close to the 45 minute mark. I don't know how or exactly what is going to go down but I have Team Raw winning this one. They haven't won a men's elimination match yet against Smackdown. That needs to end.
The main event was originally going to be WWE Champion Jinder Mahal facing Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in a match virtually no one wanted to see but thanks to our savior AJ Styles, we instead get a once in a lifetime dream match as Styles will now challenge The Beast at Survivor Series. Will this be a competitive match? That's the biggest question going into the event. Styles is definitely the most talented star that Lesnar has faced in this Suplex City version of Lesnar. I just don't see WWE putting the title on Styles just to make Lesnar look good. Obviously, with the plans in place, WWE won't be having Lesnar lose. He can't lose any matches until Golden Boy Reigns defeats Lesnar at Wrestlemania 34. Styles will definitely put up a convincing fight but it will end like all Lesnar matches have ended in 2017, with Lesnar the victor. Lesnar will win after catching AJ from a Phenomenal Forearm into a F5. Raw will win the final match of the show.
So I have Raw winning the show 5-2, with only Charlotte and The Usos winning for Smackdown. I think that's better than the obvious 4-3 barely winning edge.
Regardless, it's all going down this weekend! I'm really looking forward to both shows!
First off, the live crowd will be treated to an absolute gem of a match as Pete Dunne will defend the WWE United Kingdom Championship against Johnny Gargano. HOW IS THIS NOT ON THE MAIN CARD!?!?! I'm legit upset. This could be a match of the year contender if these two go all out. Ugh...
Kassius Ohno will battle Lars Sullivan in the battle of the heavyweights. Sullivan is an absolute beast and will be the next major monster heel on the main roster. While I don't think Sullivan will become NXT Champion (none of the monsters heels seem to do) I do think he'll be a major player on the main roster. His NXT run is just getting started and by defeating Kassius Ohno, it will continue his dominant run. Sullivan with the easy win. This should be fun to watch.
Aleister Black will be facing The Velveteen Dream in a strange match up. Strange, because I feel like Black should be facing someone on his level. Dream is still relatively fresh in the company so this is more like a big match for Dream and not a big match for Black. I guess all the other guys were busy so this was the only other option. Black's first loss should not come from Dream. He needs to have a good showing, come close to beating him but in the end, fail and let Black's run continue. Black wins with the Black Mass.
Drew McIntyre puts up his NXT Championship against Andrade Cien Almas. Almas has had this coming for a long time. He was one of the big time talents NXT signed in the years after its big breakout but they really haven't used him to his maximum potential. Turning heel and aligning with Zelina Vega has done wonders for him and he's getting his first shot at the title here. McIntyre won't be having a short reign as champion. The person I see dethroning him is Adam Cole, who would eventually lose to Johnny Gargano, who would then be attacking by a returning Tommaso Ciampa to set up that mega match. Almas beating McIntyre would be nice as he should have had a run with the title or at least be in contention for it by now but now that McIntyre has been crowned the next face of the brand, Almas is just there to help make Drew looks good. McIntyre wins in a hard fought match.
For the first time in a year and a half (19 months to be exact), we will have a new NXT Women's Champion. Four superstars will compete for the right to call themselves the 6th NXT Women's Champ. They are Peyton Royce, one half of the Iconic Duo, Nikki Cross, a member of Sanity, Ember Moon, Asuka last opponent in NXT and Kairi Sane, the winner of the inaugural Mae Young Classic. It's easy to look at the four competitors and say we know the winner. Kairi has been booked as another hard hitting resilient female wrestler from the land of the rising sun. Asuka left a lasting impression on NXT and it could be that WWE wants to keep a dominant Japanese star as champion. While I think Kairi winning the title should happen, I don't think it needs to happen this quickly. She's been on TV for NXT for about 2 months. She doesn't need to win the Mae Young Classic and the women's title in her first two months. It's like overkill. I don't like this version of Nikki Cross in NXT. I would have preferred her Best in the Universe gimmick opposed to the craziness of Sanity. She has a strong chance of winning due to her group already holding onto the tag titles. Adding one more title wouldn't be a bad thing to show their dominance. Ember Moon, in all reality, should have defeated Asuka at Takeover Brooklyn III. I know they wanted Asuka to remain undefeated for her main roster debut but now I'm nervous anytime she wrestles. I don't want her streak to end because of some dumb main roster hi-jinks. Moon should have gone over but she gets another chance here and of the four, she's one I feel like should do it, based on the fact she gave Asuka two hard fought matches. Peyton Royce has been in NXT the longest, dating back to her tryout in 2014. Peyton and Billie Kay have found their niche as apart of the NXT women's division, being two mean girls ala LayCool or the BFFs. It works for them and could lead to title gold for Peyton and an eventual feud with Billie Kay.
Of the four, I'm pulling most for Peyton because of that. I think we need a heel champion to run the division at this point. Let Ember, Ruby, Nikki and Kairi chase Peyton until Mania season. I'm going with Peyton Royce to win her first NXT Women's Championship at Takeover, thanks to Billie Kay.
The main event of Takeover Wargames is....the WarGames match. It will see Sainty, The Authors of Pain and Roddick Strong and The Undisputed Era in one massive match with two rings and one cage. This will be the first WarGames match I will see live as I wasn't into WCW when they were doing it 20 years ago. This will be a fun main event but like the TLC main event, there's nothing really on the line. Even though Sanity are the tag champs, the titles will not be defended. Again, should be a great and chaotic main event, especially with all the major talent but at the end of the day, it won't progress anything, except maybe Adam Cole to a NXT TItle shot. The Undisputed Era wins, Cole will face McIntyre at Takeover Philadelphia. Hopefully...
Survivor Series started off as a basic Big 4 PPV but has since become a major event, featuring all champion VS champion matches, a dream match and a lot of major WWE stars in the men's elimination match. Let's talk!
Enzo and Kalisto. Yawn. I hate Enzo in the Cruiserweight division. Yes, he brings exposure but not technical ability. We need guys like Cedric Alexander, Neville and Gran Metalik as the faces of the division. Enzo can compete but not be the top guy when there are dozens of other great talents. Enzo wins because.......yeah.
Originally, The Usos were going to take on Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins in what was definitely set to be the best match on the card. As is the theme with the PPV, plans changed and now, Cesaro and Sheamus will get the nod to defend Raw in the battle of the tag team champions. This is a great change. Yes, those four would have tore the house down but Sheamus and Cesaro have been the best Raw tag team all year. They deserve to get this slot. And don't sleep on them either, as they've put on some of the most hard hitting tag matches of the year. This will be exciting, hard hitting and fast paced. Expect superkicks, uppercuts and fists. As great as a team SheCesaro has been, there has been no team better than The Usos in 2017. Their claim of putting the tag division on Smackdown on lock has been true and they will prove they are the best team on Sunday. The Usos will defeat Sheamus and Cesaro, winning the match for Smackdown.
Mid-card champions will clash when Raw's Intercontinental Champion The Miz will face Smackdown's United States Champion Baron Corbin. Though it's a heel VS heel match, Miz is more of the babyface with more of the fans behind him, simply because he has put in the work for the last few years. Remember when everyone said Miz wouldn't amount to anything? Here we are, with Miz having held the IC Title on 7 different occasions and is the third longest reigning champion with combined reigns. I'm a fan of both men but Miz is the superior champion in this situation and needs a win after taking losses from The Olympic Shield and The Original Shield. Miz wins, maybe with the help from his cronies and gets a big win for Raw.
One of the two traditional Survivor Series matches will feature the women of both brands. Raw will have Team Captain Alicia Fox with Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, Bayley and Asuka facing Team Captain Becky Lynch with Naomi, Tamina, Carmella and now, thanks to Charlotte winning the Smackdown Women's Title this week, a fifth member yet to be determined. Based on elimination, it should be Natalya or Lana but obviously, let's start speculation that Paige will be the last member or hey, even Nikki Bella. There's a lot of names I guess....Anyway, looking at Raw's team, it's kind of a bomb squad. You have the always intimidating and dominant Nia Jax, the unpredictable Alicia Fox, who's a former Divas Champion in her own right and the last three women to have held the NXT Women's Title in Asuka, Sasha and Bayley. Asuka is also undefeated AKA hasn't been pinned. They just have a better team. It really depends who is going to be the last member of the Smackdown Team. If it indeed is Paige or Nikki, Smackdown will win with one of them being the surviving memeber. If it's Natalya, Raw will win. Based on last year, one brand will win each of the men and women's traditional matches and Raw won last year in this one. I just don't see the point of putting Asuka on the team and them NOT winning. I could see Asuka going down 4-1 or even 5-1 and then coming back to look as unstoppable as possible. I'd love to see Smackdown win here but they can only get the W if they have Paige or Nikki and I'm not holding my breath. Team Raw wins with Asuka in some way being one of or the lone survivor.
In a match I didn't know I wanted until the seeds were planted last week, The Original Shield will face The New Day in a 6 man tag match. The Shield have been one of the best groups in WWE history, all holding titles together and then all becoming WWE World Champion after their split. The New Day have been tag champions four times, while their 2nd reign as WWE Tag Team Champions is the longest in the company's history. It's the two best and most successful trios in one massive match that could only take place at Survivor Series. It's a smart move. I wanted to see Ambrose/Rollins and The Usos badly but I want to see this even more. Being this is The Shield's 2nd match back together, the first on PPV in 3 years and it being the 5 year anniversary of their debut, there's no way The Shield can lose. This will be one hell of a match but The Shield will win and continue their reunion tour.
The two most dominant female wrestlers of the past two years will do battle at Survivor Series with Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss facing the new Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair. It's the best match the two shows could do besides another Sasha/Charlotte match. This is another match that got changed from its original iteration but it's only for the better. If Alexa Bliss can win this match, she will own victories over each member of the WWE Four Horsewomen in one year. I don't think any other woman can say that. With Raw taking all the victories in my predictions, I don't think she'll get to claim that just yet. Charlotte will make Alexa tap out to get a big victory for Smackdown.
The men's traditional Survivor Series elimination match is a massive one, featuring the cream of the crop in talent and big names. Team Raw has Captain Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor and Triple H. Team Smackdown has Captain Shane McMahon, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, Randy Orton and John Cena. THIS is a SS match. The men combined have a total 50 WORLD TITLE REIGNS. 50. That's not a typo.You have three of the four top guys in World Title reigns. There's Cena and Flair with 16, Triple H with 14 and Randy Orton with 13. I'm not even counting Joe and Angle's World Title reigns in different companies. It's ridiculous. There are SO many dream match ups in this match. Let's see...Cena/Strowman? Check. Angle/Nakamura? Check. Joe/Orton? Check. Triple H/Roode? Check! And you can just mix and match them from there. So many great storylines can start from this match to the Road to Wrestlemania. Notably missing are Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Jinder Mahal but don't rule them out just yet.
I expect Randy Orton to be the last man remaining for his team. It's his thing. EVERY team he's been apart of, whether he won or loss, he was the last member standing. He's won 5 of these matches, including three in a row at the start of his career and last year's Raw VS Smackdown affair. He's Mr. Survivor Series. While I think Orton will be the last guy for Smackdown, I don't think that will equal a win for Team Blue. It's pretty clear that Zayn and Owens don't give a damn about this brand supremacy crap and as a way to stick it to Shane and Smackdown, I can see them costing Orton the match and starting a feud with him for the next few months. Maybe it will come down to Joe and Orton and Orton will get distracted by the two, get caught by Joe and forced to submit. Maybe it won't even happen like that. Regardless, I'm looking forward to a lengthy match. Last year's contest was 52 minutes. It doesn't have to be that long this year but I'd like it close to the 45 minute mark. I don't know how or exactly what is going to go down but I have Team Raw winning this one. They haven't won a men's elimination match yet against Smackdown. That needs to end.
The main event was originally going to be WWE Champion Jinder Mahal facing Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in a match virtually no one wanted to see but thanks to our savior AJ Styles, we instead get a once in a lifetime dream match as Styles will now challenge The Beast at Survivor Series. Will this be a competitive match? That's the biggest question going into the event. Styles is definitely the most talented star that Lesnar has faced in this Suplex City version of Lesnar. I just don't see WWE putting the title on Styles just to make Lesnar look good. Obviously, with the plans in place, WWE won't be having Lesnar lose. He can't lose any matches until Golden Boy Reigns defeats Lesnar at Wrestlemania 34. Styles will definitely put up a convincing fight but it will end like all Lesnar matches have ended in 2017, with Lesnar the victor. Lesnar will win after catching AJ from a Phenomenal Forearm into a F5. Raw will win the final match of the show.
So I have Raw winning the show 5-2, with only Charlotte and The Usos winning for Smackdown. I think that's better than the obvious 4-3 barely winning edge.
Regardless, it's all going down this weekend! I'm really looking forward to both shows!
Friday, November 3, 2017
My wallet....
(Note: I started this post in late August and have failed to get this out when I wanted to due to life. For the games that have already released, I updated them, which, is now ALL of them.)
As the summer begins to wind down, the fall and winter seasons are upon us, which means major video game releases. While September, November and December are relatively light, at least for me, October looks to be a soul crushing, wallet grubbing month but we'll get to that. Let's go month by month.
In September, while everyone will be delving into the world of Destiny 2, I'll be exploring the worlds of two major Japanese series and finally playing one game that was one of my most anticipated games on the Xbox One.
First up, on September 12th, is Ys VIII, the eighth main series entry in the storied Ys series. I was first introduced to this series with Ys VI on PS2 and that was an average game looking back at it but everyone afterwards has been top notch, especially Ys: Memories of Celceta. I got to play the demo for VIII and it plays exactly like MOC so I'm really looking forward to a massive adventure come September. Need a little hack n slash JRPG goodness to start off the gaming releases. I don't know much of the story or much else and that's how I like to enter most games. No spoilers here! Ys VIII lives up to what I needed, a fantastic hack and slash action RPG experience.
Two weeks later, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony releases for PS4 and PS Vita, a first for the series after the first two entries only released first on the Vita. I have three favorite visual novel series, Phoenix Wright, Zero Escape, and Danganronpa. PW is still going strong, the Zero Escape series wrapped up last year with a fantastic third entry and now it's time for Danganronpa to take the spotlight. Danganronpa mastefully mixes visual novel aspects with a murder mystery. The gameplay takes cues from Phoenix Wright and it makes for one impactful experience. Both games were so riveting, I binge played them, putting heavy hours into each gaming session I had, neglecting all real world obligations to play through the fictitious world and find out who killed who, how and why. There were some really creative killings in the game and I can't wait to see what else is in store. I've played it for 5 hours and I have to say, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS killing the supposed main character within the first chapter was mind blowing. Really threw me through a loop EARLY in the game. Let's see if it gets deeper than that.
And it definitely did with the whole, you're playing a game, that's INSIDE a game. It was really Star Ocean 3-ish but it worked. I can see others may not like it but it did the job for me. It was a fantastic series, one that rivals my love for the Zero Escape series. I do feel, though, as with Zero Escape, the third entry is the weakest in the series. I'm not saying that to condemn the game but compared to the second ones in each series, they didn't live up to hype. Great games and I loved D3 ending compared to Zero Time Dilemma. Just saying, but that is a conversation for another post...
On the last Friday in September, Cuphead will finally be released for Xbox One. Cuphead, the only exclusive title I will have played all year on Xbox and I've been waiting for it since E3 2014. Cuphead is a throwback to games of old and is a run and gun game featuring plenty of boss battles. The game looks like a cartoon from the 1930s and looks absolutely beautiful. I can see why it took so long to finally release. This was one of the only games I wanted when I first got an Xbox One so I can't wait to finally see what the game is hitting for in September.
After playing Cuphead over its release weekend and completing the game for the first time, I can honestly say it's the best Xbox One exclusive I've played in years, maybe since Ori and the Blind Forest. Everything about it feels original, even though it's clearly inspired by Contra and cartoons of the 1930s. Every boss battle feels daunting and new and there were many battles where I was struggling for long periods of time. Nothing over an hour but some bosses kept me glued to the screen for much longer than I thought I would. Some bosses, specifically the first one with the Root Pack and the medusa inspired one, were over before they started but out of Cuphead's 19 bosses, (28 counting the 9 in the casino game boss rush inspired by Gunstar Heroes) they were the only ones. Cuphead is a game that demands you be better. You can't slack off and expect to win battles. You must master the movement and patterns of the bosses, parry when you need, select the right type of shots you want, it's all apart of the Cuphead experience. If you own a Xbox, you NEED to play the game. It has the best art style of any game this year and the gameplay to match many of the heavy hitters that have already been released.
October is the busiest month in gaming this year, with 8 major releases coming out in a 17 day span. Middle Earth: Shadow of War on October 10th, Evil Within 2 on October 13th, WWE 2K18 on October 13th or 17th, depending on what edition you buy, South Park: The Fractured But Whole on October 17th, Fire Emblem Warriors on October 20th, and on the single biggest release day in video games this year, October 27th sees the release of Wolfenstein II, Assassin's Creed Origins and Super Mario Odyssey. Of the 8 releases, I'll be playing all 8 definitely but only getting 6 because, hey, I still have to live. Of the 6 I'm getting, I'm definitely most excited for Evil Within 2. EW1 was such an amazing survival horror experience and succeeded in where games like Resident Evil 5 and 6 failed. I expect more of the same with this one. Low ammo. a lot of creatures stalking me and more of those creepy boss battles. Wolfenstein II is a sequel I didn't realize I wanted but there's just something about these old school shooters that I love. Wolfenstein was a surprise for me and I didn't think I would get as into it as I did but the visceral feeling and the storyline kept me coming back. Doom was more of the same so I have high hopes for Wolfenstein II. Super Mario Odyssey will be the first main entry Mario game I will buy on release day. I've gotten many of the RPGs ones on day one but not any of his platforming adventures. I've bought just about EVERY Zelda game since Wind Waker at launch but Nintendo's plumber is a different story. While I've played each console outing Mario has had in the past 20 years, I've never bought one on release day, probably because I'm not the biggest Mario platformer fan (Paper Mario 2 is my favorite Mario game for the record) but Odyssey looks amazing and is returning to the open world feel of Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, two of my favorite Mario games. Besides, my Switch needs the love. I've played like 4 games for Switch; Zelda, Has Been Heroes, NBA Playgrounds and Mario + Rabbids. That's it. I need to show it some attention. Regardless of your gaming tastes, October has a game for everyone.
After playing 6 of the 8 games I've discussed (I got ACO instead of WWE thanks to Amazon not shipping the game), all I can say is WOW. This month has been the best gaming month of my lifetime or at least since I've been gaming. The amount of heavy hitters is astounding and they've all lived up to the hype. South Park is the one I've given the most time to and I was able to complete it this past week. It's addicting. The new battle system is 10 tens better the Stick of Truth's and I love the parody of the superhero craze. It's a masterpiece of an RPG but I think only South Park fans will truly enjoy it as it's filled with many of the series ongoing jokes and gags. I legit cried when SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS you have to face Jared from Subway in a boss battle. SO offensive but it was hilarious. The Evil Within 2 is open world, which was a bit of a shock to me, and it gives you side quests and such to do as well as the main mission. Though I care always craft ammo, I still feel just as helpless in this one as I did in the original and that's a good thing. That's survival horror. I've enjoyed the two boss battles I've experienced as well and can't wait to rescue Sebastian's daughter. Hopefully. I haven't really delved too deep into Shadow of War. It feels a little too similar to its predecessor and I got distracted by EW2 once the comparisons were clear. Super Mario Odyssey is massive. I knew it was sandbox but this is not what I was expecting. And can we talk about how many Power Moons are in the game? 883! There were only 120 stars in SM64. I think it my first two hour play of Odyssey, I got between 25-35 Moons. That's it! This is going to be a long run. Wolfenstein II is vicious, violent and awesome. Seriously, one of my favorite FPSs ever. The story is so human like, it's so gritty. You actually feel like you're living in this alternate history America and it's terrifying. 7 hours in and I love it. If I had to rank the top three I've played, it would be South Park, Wolfenstein II and Evil Within 2.
November is light for me, which is a good thing because I'll need time to delve into the 6 games I'll be playing. Originally, Crackdown 3 and Ni No Kuni II were going to be released but their delays until 2018 is a blessing in disguise. I might pick up .hack for a good JRPG fix (I did, stupid me as I'll have NO time to play it) and The Impatient for a good VR horror experience but again, between killing Orcs in Shadow of War, running from supernatural creatures in Evil Within 2, hitting finishers in WWE 2K18, laughing at obscene jokes in South Park, killing Nazis in Wolfenstein or jumping around New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey, I won't have a lot of time to spare. SOW will probably last me 20 hours, Evil Within 2, 15, South Park another 20-30 (wrong, only 15 and that includes defeating the optional super boss), Wolfenstein 15 and Mario 20+. I need to complete all or most of them by December.
December 1st marks the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 AKA one of the reasons I knew I had to get a Nintendo Switch. I haven't had an expansive JRPG experience since Persona 5 and that took 80 hours of my life between April and May. The original Xenoblade is an amazing game, one that took over my life twice, once on the Wii and once on my New 3DS, which I bought just so I could finally finish the game years after getting to the end and not completing it. Xenoblade Chronicles X was fun for a weekend but with no real story, it didn't capture me like the first. I'm glad to see 2 is going back to the roots and will feature a turn based, story based game. I don't know anything other than that and I want to keep it at. I'm hoping for lengthy adventure, optional bosses and fun combat. December is going to the month of Xenoblade, that is, if I can finish Wolfenstein, Evil Within and Mario by then. Shadow of War and Assassin's Creed will wait...
Best gaming year ever? Maybe, if you combine it with the absolute onslaught from the beginning of the year, including Game of the Year contenders Nioh, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Whatever your preference, 2017 has a game for you, especially in the last few months.
Happy gaming all!!!
As the summer begins to wind down, the fall and winter seasons are upon us, which means major video game releases. While September, November and December are relatively light, at least for me, October looks to be a soul crushing, wallet grubbing month but we'll get to that. Let's go month by month.
In September, while everyone will be delving into the world of Destiny 2, I'll be exploring the worlds of two major Japanese series and finally playing one game that was one of my most anticipated games on the Xbox One.
First up, on September 12th, is Ys VIII, the eighth main series entry in the storied Ys series. I was first introduced to this series with Ys VI on PS2 and that was an average game looking back at it but everyone afterwards has been top notch, especially Ys: Memories of Celceta. I got to play the demo for VIII and it plays exactly like MOC so I'm really looking forward to a massive adventure come September. Need a little hack n slash JRPG goodness to start off the gaming releases. I don't know much of the story or much else and that's how I like to enter most games. No spoilers here! Ys VIII lives up to what I needed, a fantastic hack and slash action RPG experience.
Two weeks later, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony releases for PS4 and PS Vita, a first for the series after the first two entries only released first on the Vita. I have three favorite visual novel series, Phoenix Wright, Zero Escape, and Danganronpa. PW is still going strong, the Zero Escape series wrapped up last year with a fantastic third entry and now it's time for Danganronpa to take the spotlight. Danganronpa mastefully mixes visual novel aspects with a murder mystery. The gameplay takes cues from Phoenix Wright and it makes for one impactful experience. Both games were so riveting, I binge played them, putting heavy hours into each gaming session I had, neglecting all real world obligations to play through the fictitious world and find out who killed who, how and why. There were some really creative killings in the game and I can't wait to see what else is in store. I've played it for 5 hours and I have to say, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS killing the supposed main character within the first chapter was mind blowing. Really threw me through a loop EARLY in the game. Let's see if it gets deeper than that.
And it definitely did with the whole, you're playing a game, that's INSIDE a game. It was really Star Ocean 3-ish but it worked. I can see others may not like it but it did the job for me. It was a fantastic series, one that rivals my love for the Zero Escape series. I do feel, though, as with Zero Escape, the third entry is the weakest in the series. I'm not saying that to condemn the game but compared to the second ones in each series, they didn't live up to hype. Great games and I loved D3 ending compared to Zero Time Dilemma. Just saying, but that is a conversation for another post...
On the last Friday in September, Cuphead will finally be released for Xbox One. Cuphead, the only exclusive title I will have played all year on Xbox and I've been waiting for it since E3 2014. Cuphead is a throwback to games of old and is a run and gun game featuring plenty of boss battles. The game looks like a cartoon from the 1930s and looks absolutely beautiful. I can see why it took so long to finally release. This was one of the only games I wanted when I first got an Xbox One so I can't wait to finally see what the game is hitting for in September.
After playing Cuphead over its release weekend and completing the game for the first time, I can honestly say it's the best Xbox One exclusive I've played in years, maybe since Ori and the Blind Forest. Everything about it feels original, even though it's clearly inspired by Contra and cartoons of the 1930s. Every boss battle feels daunting and new and there were many battles where I was struggling for long periods of time. Nothing over an hour but some bosses kept me glued to the screen for much longer than I thought I would. Some bosses, specifically the first one with the Root Pack and the medusa inspired one, were over before they started but out of Cuphead's 19 bosses, (28 counting the 9 in the casino game boss rush inspired by Gunstar Heroes) they were the only ones. Cuphead is a game that demands you be better. You can't slack off and expect to win battles. You must master the movement and patterns of the bosses, parry when you need, select the right type of shots you want, it's all apart of the Cuphead experience. If you own a Xbox, you NEED to play the game. It has the best art style of any game this year and the gameplay to match many of the heavy hitters that have already been released.
October is the busiest month in gaming this year, with 8 major releases coming out in a 17 day span. Middle Earth: Shadow of War on October 10th, Evil Within 2 on October 13th, WWE 2K18 on October 13th or 17th, depending on what edition you buy, South Park: The Fractured But Whole on October 17th, Fire Emblem Warriors on October 20th, and on the single biggest release day in video games this year, October 27th sees the release of Wolfenstein II, Assassin's Creed Origins and Super Mario Odyssey. Of the 8 releases, I'll be playing all 8 definitely but only getting 6 because, hey, I still have to live. Of the 6 I'm getting, I'm definitely most excited for Evil Within 2. EW1 was such an amazing survival horror experience and succeeded in where games like Resident Evil 5 and 6 failed. I expect more of the same with this one. Low ammo. a lot of creatures stalking me and more of those creepy boss battles. Wolfenstein II is a sequel I didn't realize I wanted but there's just something about these old school shooters that I love. Wolfenstein was a surprise for me and I didn't think I would get as into it as I did but the visceral feeling and the storyline kept me coming back. Doom was more of the same so I have high hopes for Wolfenstein II. Super Mario Odyssey will be the first main entry Mario game I will buy on release day. I've gotten many of the RPGs ones on day one but not any of his platforming adventures. I've bought just about EVERY Zelda game since Wind Waker at launch but Nintendo's plumber is a different story. While I've played each console outing Mario has had in the past 20 years, I've never bought one on release day, probably because I'm not the biggest Mario platformer fan (Paper Mario 2 is my favorite Mario game for the record) but Odyssey looks amazing and is returning to the open world feel of Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, two of my favorite Mario games. Besides, my Switch needs the love. I've played like 4 games for Switch; Zelda, Has Been Heroes, NBA Playgrounds and Mario + Rabbids. That's it. I need to show it some attention. Regardless of your gaming tastes, October has a game for everyone.
After playing 6 of the 8 games I've discussed (I got ACO instead of WWE thanks to Amazon not shipping the game), all I can say is WOW. This month has been the best gaming month of my lifetime or at least since I've been gaming. The amount of heavy hitters is astounding and they've all lived up to the hype. South Park is the one I've given the most time to and I was able to complete it this past week. It's addicting. The new battle system is 10 tens better the Stick of Truth's and I love the parody of the superhero craze. It's a masterpiece of an RPG but I think only South Park fans will truly enjoy it as it's filled with many of the series ongoing jokes and gags. I legit cried when SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS you have to face Jared from Subway in a boss battle. SO offensive but it was hilarious. The Evil Within 2 is open world, which was a bit of a shock to me, and it gives you side quests and such to do as well as the main mission. Though I care always craft ammo, I still feel just as helpless in this one as I did in the original and that's a good thing. That's survival horror. I've enjoyed the two boss battles I've experienced as well and can't wait to rescue Sebastian's daughter. Hopefully. I haven't really delved too deep into Shadow of War. It feels a little too similar to its predecessor and I got distracted by EW2 once the comparisons were clear. Super Mario Odyssey is massive. I knew it was sandbox but this is not what I was expecting. And can we talk about how many Power Moons are in the game? 883! There were only 120 stars in SM64. I think it my first two hour play of Odyssey, I got between 25-35 Moons. That's it! This is going to be a long run. Wolfenstein II is vicious, violent and awesome. Seriously, one of my favorite FPSs ever. The story is so human like, it's so gritty. You actually feel like you're living in this alternate history America and it's terrifying. 7 hours in and I love it. If I had to rank the top three I've played, it would be South Park, Wolfenstein II and Evil Within 2.
December 1st marks the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 AKA one of the reasons I knew I had to get a Nintendo Switch. I haven't had an expansive JRPG experience since Persona 5 and that took 80 hours of my life between April and May. The original Xenoblade is an amazing game, one that took over my life twice, once on the Wii and once on my New 3DS, which I bought just so I could finally finish the game years after getting to the end and not completing it. Xenoblade Chronicles X was fun for a weekend but with no real story, it didn't capture me like the first. I'm glad to see 2 is going back to the roots and will feature a turn based, story based game. I don't know anything other than that and I want to keep it at. I'm hoping for lengthy adventure, optional bosses and fun combat. December is going to the month of Xenoblade, that is, if I can finish Wolfenstein, Evil Within and Mario by then. Shadow of War and Assassin's Creed will wait...
Best gaming year ever? Maybe, if you combine it with the absolute onslaught from the beginning of the year, including Game of the Year contenders Nioh, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Whatever your preference, 2017 has a game for you, especially in the last few months.
Happy gaming all!!!
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