The Wrestling Examiner

I know this is weeks late, but I have to talk about Roman Reigns's shocking announcement on Raw. Leukemia is such a horrible disease and it was lovely to see wrestlers, fans, and others all rally around him. The man is a true fighter and I truly believe he will one day be back in the ring. Thank you, Roman. On a lighter note, I want to talk the Irish promotion. This week I saw two of their events: their Four Year Anniversary event and their 2019 WrestleRama event. I was introduced to some fantastic wrestlers such as Angel Cruz and LJ Cleary. However, the clear star was a man NXT UK fans know well: the Irish Ace Jordan Devlin. He may be a heel stateside, but in OTT he is their top face and known as the Import Killer. At WrestleRama, he and WALTER had a phenomenal match in which Devlin played the quintessential babyface (although I may give match of the week honors to Meiko Satamura and Toni Storm). He showed a ton of fire and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. Unfortunately, ...

Just like last week, I don't really have anything to say here, so let's just get started. Raw 6:  10. Dean Ambrose 1 (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 10, Peak: 9) 9. Authors of Pain (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 7, Peak: 9) 8. Bobby Lashley (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 18, Peak: 6)  7. Ronda Rousey (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 11, Peak: 6) 6. Finn Balor (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 65, Peak: 2) 5. Braun Strowman (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 68, Peak: 1) 4. Seth Rollins 3 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 79, Peak: 1) 3. Dolph Ziggler 1 & Drew McIntyre 1 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 20, Peak: 3) 2. Brock Lesnar (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 79, Peak: 1) 1. Roman Reigns (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 79, Peak: 1) SD 7 : Batista's promo was possibly the best moment of Smackdown 1000. It looks like we're getting a match between him and Triple H at 'Mania. Tha...

I have nothing really important to talk about in the introduction, so let's just get started. Raw 6:  10. Dean Ambrose 1 (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 9, Peak: 9) 9. Authors of Pain (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 6, Peak: 9) 8. Bobby Lashley (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 17, Peak: 6)- How great was Lashley's heel turn? It really revitalizes his character and ensures we don't forget about him.  7. Finn Balor (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 64, Peak: 2) 6. Ronda Rousey (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 10, Peak: 6) 5. Seth Rollins 3 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 78, Peak: 1) 4. Braun Strowman (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 67, Peak: 1) 3. Dolph Ziggler 1 & Drew McIntyre 1 (Last Week: 3, Weeks in Rankings: 19, Peak: 3) 2. Roman Reigns (Last Week: 1, Weeks in Rankings: 78, Peak: 1) 1. Brock Lesnar (Last Week: 2, Weeks in Rankings: 78, Peak: 1) SD 6 :  10. Jeff Ha...

In this week's intro, I want to talk about two shows: World of Sport's tenth episode and the fifth episode of the Mae Young Classic. In WOS's main event, Justin Sysum defeated Rampage Brown to become the promotion's new champion. For those not familiar with Sysum, check this match out. He put on the performance of a lifetime and has been one of the biggest breakouts of the British wrestling scene in 2018. As for the Mae Young Classic, let's give some to Rhea Ripley. No spoilers, but she was great in this episode and has a bright future ahead of her. However, she was overshadowed by that fantastic match between Meiko Satamura and Mercedes Martinez. This was without a doubt, the match of the tournament so far. Let's get started. Raw 6:  This seems like a good place to talk about the main event at Super Show-down (SSD), so let's do it. I hated that match. It dragged on for nearly 30 minutes and felt like it took twice that time. Neither Triple H nor The Und...

Just like I did last week, I want to use the intro to talk about this week's episode of the Mae Young Classic. I really enjoyed the opening match as well as the next match between Taynara Conti and Jessie Elaban. This was Conti's best showing and Elaban has a bright future. Isla Dawn also has a bright future and is full of potential. She's going to be a big part of NXT UK. I was a little disappointed with her loss to Nicole Matthews, as Matthews was pretty meh and did nothing to stand out. Let's get started. Raw 5: 10. Authors of Pain (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 9) 9. Dean Ambrose (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 7, Peak: 9) 8. Bobby Lashley (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 15, Peak: 6)- Joining up with Lio Rush has made Lashley infinitely more interesting. He's been a major disappointment since returning in April, hopefully, this new partnership can salvage him.  7. Ronda Rousey (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 8, Peak: 6) 6. Finn Bal...

I'm almost two months behind, I don't have time for an intro. Let's get started. But... I do want to talk about the Mae Young Classic really quickly. This week was Episode 3. I'm a huge  fan of Jinny, so it was a little disappointing to see her do very little in her WWE programming debut. She and Toni Storm barely scratched the surface here. Xia Li, on the other hand, got a lot of time to shine in her match against Karen Q. She's got a very bright future. Raw 5: 10. Dean Ambrose (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 6, Peak: 9) 9. Authors of Pain (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 3, Peak: 9) 8. Bobby Lashley (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 14, Peak: 6) 7. Finn Balor (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 61, Peak: 2) 6. Ronda Rousey (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 7, Peak: 6) 5.  Seth Rollins  3 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 75, Peak: 1)- Rollins has such a beautiful frog splash.  4.  Dolph Ziggler 1  & Drew McIntyre 1...

Most people don't watch the weekly ROH TV show, which is understandable. Nothing of note really happens there and the match quality is usually bettered by the PPVs. That being said, one of the best singles matches in recent memory took place on ROH TV this week and you should definitely check it out. Of course, we'll talk more about it later. Let's get started. It wasn't a great week outside of that one ROH match and New Japan's Destruction in Hiroshima show, so there are only three Wrestlers of the Week this week. Raw 3: Raw has been deathly dull for many weeks now. Case in point, I genuinely disliked this show's first hour. Nothing truly interesting happened and no one stood out. That all changed at the beginning of Hour 2 when Triple H showed up. WWE did an excellent job promoting his match with 'Taker. I only wish they could do the same for their current stars. Also, the Mick Foley segment did nothing for me. 10. Authors of Pain (Last Week: 10, We...

This was a pretty big wrestling week across the board. The second Mae Young Classic began, EVOLVE held two shows, we had three New Japan shows, and some straight fire on Smackdown. Let's get started. Raw 3:  Low point of this show? The Bellas vs. Riott Squad. High point? The segment between Shawn Michaels and The Deadman 10. Authors of Pain (Last Week: NR, Weeks in Rankings: 1, Peak: 10)- AOP takes B Team's spot after debuting a new manager and squishing a couple of jobbers. 9. Dean Ambrose (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 9) 8. Ronda Rousey (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 5, Peak: 8) 7. Bobby Lashley (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 12, Peak: 6) 6. Finn Balor (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 59, Peak: 2) 5. Dolph Ziggler &  Drew McIntyre 1 (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 14, Peak: 4): McIntyre was great on this entire episode, especially in the Raw Tag title match.  4. Seth Rollins 2 (Last Week: 4, Week...

There's not a whole lot to say here, I hope you enjoyed the new Wrestler of the Week format. Let's get started. Raw 2:  Side note: the Bellas backstage segment at Summerslam was cringe-inducing and awful. 10. The B Team (Last Week: 8, Weeks in Rankings: 10, Peak: 7) 9. Dean Ambrose (Last Week: 10, Weeks in Rankings: 3, Peak: 9) 8. Ronda Rousey (Last Week: 9, Weeks in Rankings: 4, Peak: 8) 7. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre (Last Week: 7, Weeks in Rankings: 13, Peak: 4) 6. Bobby Lashley (Last Week: 6, Weeks in Rankings: 11, Peak: 6) 5. Finn Balor (Last Week: 4, Weeks in Rankings: 58, Peak: 2) 4.  Seth Rollins  2 (Last Week: 5, Weeks in Rankings: 72, Peak: 1)- Is there a more consistent wrestler in the world than Rollins? This week on Raw he had an excellent match against Kevin Owens that genuinely looked like it could go either way. His performance in that match means he is the first wrestler to be named Wrestler of the Week tw...