Playard Wrestling Post

Hello, my fellow wrestling fans and welcome to the 5 news week. The post where I report 5 major or minor pro wrestling news, rumours and spoilers of the week that I don't have time to do it separately.  Without further ado, here are the 5 news week.  First EVER NXT Takeover 2.0!? Ever since NXT: colour vomit edition rolled around a few months ago, it seemed like the brand was moving away from its traditional Takeover specials that fans know and appreciate……. until now?  A man who will always be smarter than me, Branding Thurston of wrestlenomics, has noted on Twitter that the "Tryna get rid of all you haters and you busters" brand has a Takeover show coming up next month specifically December 5th.  However, Thurston isn't sure whether WWE would retain the "Takeover" name going forward.  I'm interested as to how the Takeover specials are set up following the reboot.  Will the standard of the NXT 2.0 episodes (which has been a hit or miss for me) decrease...

Smackdown this week was pretty enjoyable which hasn't been the case for several weeks now.  Images via WWE.com   Roman Reigns Is Back At The Opening Segment.  Roman Reigns said, "I take one week off and Smackdown sucks. It's almost as bad as RAW".  If this statement was viewed by young wrestling fans on a Twitch livestream, they'll spam the word, "BASED! BASED!"  Jimmy Uso was fed up that Xavier Woods is the king and how there's one true head of the table.  Out came The New Day and they proposed a challenge to Jimmy Uso. If Uso defeats Xavier Woods then Woods will acknowledge the tribal chief.  If Mr James Uso over here loses then Uso should acknowledge Woods' kingship.  I say "when" because the king was right on the money regarding who wins his match with Jimmy Uso.  After the match, Jimmy was about to put his knee down for Woods until Roman Reigns gave The New Day an a** whopping.  It's crazy how a character addition like Roman Re...

The red brand delivered a solid episode this week just like the rest of the recent episodes as of late.  I don't know if the white ring ropes had something to do with the recent quality of episodes or not.  Either way, I'll consume it, I guess.  Images via WWE.com   Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair For The RAW Women's Championship.  A match that should've main evented the show given the performers and even the championship itself.  To the surprise of no one, Becky Lynch retained the raw women's championship due to Lynch pushing Belair onto the top turnbuckle followed by a roll-up.  The finish was kinda bleh to me. Don't get me wrong, I like the match and I don't hate Belair taking a loss at some point because, in professional wrestling, a wrestler either wins or loses (unless your name is Shayna Baszler in that you lose pretty much all the damn time).  But, After all of the build-up and the intrigue surrounding the match, the finish felt so flat and u...

T he blue brand has been really mediocre in recent weeks and this episode was no exception.  Images via WWE.com   Charlotte Flair Was Like, "I'm Done Facing Sasha Banks. It's Time For Newcomers"  That newcomer is Shotzi Blackheart or just Shotzi as she's now known and she got a number one contender's match against the champion herself which is another trope that I absolutely dislike especially since we just saw a number one contender's match as the main event attraction in the latest episode of RAW.  The match between Shotzi and Charlotte, ended with Shotzi losing the golden opportunity for being in the championship picture.  Post-match saw Shotzi's frustrations getting the best of her as she absolutely gave Banks a beating, signalling a heel turn in the process.  Banks doing the beating instead would've fit the scenario a lot better than what I've seen here because that heel turn is as unnecessary as putting oil in boiling water for pasta maki...

The 2021 edition of NXT's Halloween Havoc event didn't live up to last year's show which is why the show felt like an episode of Smackdown back in 2013/2014 with Halloween decorations. This ain't a Halloween Havoc show without the presence of Chucky (aka Chunky if you're grammarly.com) and pretty much, he just gave the rundown for the show's match card.  Images via WWE.com Toxic Attraction vs Io Shirai And Zoey Stark vs Persia Pirotta And Indi Hartwell For The NXT Women's Tag Team Championship In A Ladder Match.   An enjoyable opening match although Io Shirai took a nasty fall on the ladder that was set up between the announce table and the ring. Hoping she's fine and well.  NXT continues to build the so-called "momentum" for the Toxic Attraction as Gigi Dolin climbed up the ladder to win the tag belts for the very first time.  I mean, considering the division has no tag teams, why not give them the belts besides Zoey Stark and Io Shirai are be...

Was Monday Night RAW's new set of characters, made the show as lacklustre as Smackdown a few days back?  For the most part, I'll say no. This week's episode was actually watchable and the 3 hours flew by so quick, Quicksilver was jealous.   Images via WWE.com Big E Had Fresh Challengers To Engage With. Aka the "one wrestler after the other stating why they should be number one contender" cliche.  The segment that involved Finn Balor, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, led to a brawl because of course, it did.  A four-way ladder match was pencilled in for the main event and if I had to rate this in the "Siskel and Ebert" format, it's two thumbs up.  Sethy Rollings emerged victorious which means he's facing Big E for the championship hopefully at the upcoming Survivor Series PPV because I'm getting sick of the "RAW vs Smackdown" concept like two Smackdown intros ago.  The Street Profits vs Alpha Academy vs Dolph Ziggler And R...

Hello, my fellow wrestling fans and welcome to the 5 news week. The post where I report 5 major or minor pro wrestling news, rumours and spoilers of the week that I don't have time to do it separately.  Without further ado, here are the 5 news week.  Some images via wwe.com Vinnie Massaro On Training Cain Valesquez.  Vinnie Massaro is one of those performers in the business where you didn't know his fingers have shaped up some of the most well-known competitors.  One of those competitors is Dominik Mysterio's God son, Cain Valesquez.  During an Interview with Last Minute Wrestling Podcast's Frank Mandolini , Massaro described how he trained Velasquez:  "When I got him, he had like literally nothing so he didn't know anything about pro wrestling. I taught him a lot more of the basic stuff.  I showed him a couple of things here and there, some arm drags and stuff like that.  But, once he got to Mexico, I think he got in the ring with some of those L...