DVD Review: WWE Night of Champions 2013

The WWE PPV Night of Champions came hot on the heels of the very successful SummerSlam event and offered up a few opportunities for losing parties there to claim redemption.

SummerSlam had perhaps one of the biggest swerve turns of the year and here we get to witness the fall-out. Of course by now we all know that challenger Daniel Bryan was successful in his attempt to win the WWE Championship from John Cena at SS and yet he was then ripped off as special guest referee Triple H 'pedigreed' the new champ and allowed Randy Orton to win the gold in mere moments.

Night of Champions is an event that sees all of the WWE titles up for grabs and this year the event had an awful lot of momentum going for it. So what were we presented with here? Well of course we get to see Bryan take on Orton for the WWE Championship. There are also title defences by Alberto Del Rio, The Shield (WWE Tag Team Championship), Dean Ambrose (United States Championship), Curtis Axel (Intercontinental Championship) and AJ Lee (Divas Championship). 

We are also offered a handicap scrap between CM Punk and the combo of Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman. There is also a fine match-up involving The Miz and Fandango. 

This PPV event is a nice addition to the WWE calendar and one that did indeed achieve what it intended to do (rather than tread water). We get to see Daniel Bryan tackle the sneaky Randy Orton, ECW legend Rob Van Dam get his first title shot since his return to the company and Paul Heyman's luck run out as he has to step into the ring with his former client CM Punk.

All in all this is a show that ticks many boxes and offers up some nice storyline progression as well.

Extras wise we get the Tag Team Turmoil kick-off show match , featuring the Uso's, Primetime Player, Tons of Fun, Real Americans and 3MB (DVD), Blu-ray buyers will also get Randy Orton's coronation from Raw, CM Punk versus Axel Curtis, Daniel Bryan versus Dean Ambrose and some other segments from Raw.

Night of Champions is available now from www.wwedvd.co.uk and all good retailers.

RRP £17.99 (DVD), £19.99 (Blu-ray)

www.wwe.com

By Phil Allely

WWE DVD News: Hell In A Cell 2013 -dvd contents update

WWEDVD.co.uk is pleased to reveal that the exclusive DVD and Blu-ray extra content forHell in a Cell 2013. The DVD (and Blu-ray) will contain the Hell in a Cell Kickoff Show Match between Kofi Kingston and Damien Sandow, whilst the Blu-ray will include key highlights from RAW and SmackDown from the week preceeding the event. Check out the full list of extras below.

Hell in a Cell 2013 is available to pre-order now featuring the return of John Cenaas he takes on Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship in his first WWE match since his injury at SummerSlam! Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton collide again as they battle over the WWE Championship in the Cell, with his mentor, Shawn Michaels, acting as special guest referee can Daniel Bryan reclaim the WWE title? CM Punk takes on Ryback and his former best friend Paul Heyman in the Cell, can Punk finally give Heyman his just deserts?

DVD Extras

Hell in a Cell Kickoff Show Match

Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow

CM Punk Reflects on Hell in a Cell

Exclusive 1st Interview with John Cena since Returning From Injury

Blu Ray Exclusives

Monday Night RAW 14^th October 2013  

Shawn Michaels Promises a New WWE Champion at Hell in a Cell

No Disqualification Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes & Goldust

SmackDown 18^th October 2013 

CM Punk vs. Big E. Langston

Monday Night Raw 21^st October 2013    

Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton Contract Signing

SmackDown 25^th October 2013 

Michael Cole Interviews Triple H

WWE DVD Review: Money in the Bank 2013

WWE DVD Review: Money in the Bank 2013

The Money in the Bank matches first appeared  few years back and since then they have grown in stature and now even have their own pay-per-view as well. This years effort was a very well received one and here it is for us all to own.

This year we also got to see the WWE use the event to build up the hype for SummerSlam and reinvigorate a few storylines as well

MITB is a simple enough premise. There are two marquee matches on the card and in each the prize u for grabs is a metal birefcase that contains a contract for a shot at the Title (at any time). This leads to many interesting storylines and match-ups. The matches themselves are also multiple participant affairs and they pretty much always deliver on the action front.

Damien Sandow vs. Wade Barrett vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Fandango vs Jack Swagger vs. Antonio Cesaro

The opening encounter here was interestingly the MITB scrap for a World Heavyweight Championship shot.

This is a fun match that features a rather unique concept. That being the seven combatants were all heel characters, so the crowd had to decide who to root for themselves and the action was needed to keep our attention. The end sequence worked very well too.

Curtis Axel vs. The Miz

The Intercontinental Title has lost a lot of its prestige in recent years and whilst Miz and Mr Perfect's son (Axel Curtis) is a decent enough match, there was something lacking here. Axel is coming along nicely with this latest character and does his family proud by showing some true in-ring talent. Miz though in my opinion will inevitably always be a mid-carder. 

AJ Lee vs. Kaitlyn

The Divas division is one that I personally feel needs an overhaul. The WWE have some fine female grapplers and yet fail to utilise them to their best advantage. This was an average cat fight and saw the former best friends tackle each move with everything they had.

Ryback vs. Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho (someone we have interview many times) is a part-timer now in the WWE and this match really did showcase that his time may well be over as a main eventer. Ryback was once the unstoppable 'Goldberg' type character and at this point in time he was jobbing to many as well. So in reality this should be a match where the pair took it upon themselves to show their worth.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler and Del Rio do it again this review should read. Why? well after thier hugely popular match at Extreme Rules, the duo did it once again here. They had already switched places in the heel/face divide and now we were presented with a smart long-term piece of booking by the WWE. 

This match deserves repeat viewing, hence the need to add this to your WWE DVD collection.

John Cena vs. Mark Henry

Now forgive me Cena fans, but I am not sold on him and never was if i am honest. But you cannot fault his appeal to the masses and the sheer volume of merchandise he shifts. The other reason why this match should not have worked for me was the fact that the barely mobile Mark henry was in the ring with him. However you know what this actually did work. Henry's Philadelphia fan base helped as well. The match itself was a strong man type thin and showed both men to be tough, strong guys. Henry especially came across as a real bad ass.

Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam vs. CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus vs. Christian

The main event MITB scrap for the WWE Championship was of course the big one and featured a lot more a-list WWE names. It also saw the return of Rob Van Dam to the fold. The combatants really went for it here and made this the match of the night. RVD provided some highlights, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk paid their dues as well. The only odd man out for me was Christian, who perhaps needs to upgrade his character.

MITB 2013 is available now from Freemantle Media and all good retailers.

On the extras front we also get: The pre-show match (The Shield versus The Uso's). 

Blu-Ray buyers will also get some matches (Kane/Christian, CM Punk/Randy Orton, Sheamus/Randy Orton) and some confrontations between some key wrestlers.

RRP £17.99 (DVD), £19.99 (Blu-ray

By Phil Allely

TNA DVD news; Jokers Wild 2013

TNA: ONE NIGHT ONLY JOKER'S WILD

Friends and foes are thrown together in a battle of wills, motivated by money... TNA Wrestling presents “ONE NIGHT ONLY: JOKER'S WILD”

For One Night Only, TNA throws it's roster up in the air for Joker's Wild... Old partners will reunite and bitter enemies must collaborate in order to advance through the tournament, as tag teams are chosen at random and expected to work together to reach the penultimate main event. Once in the finals however, any friendships or forged alliances will quickly disappear as competitors will face off in a winner-takes-all gauntlet battle royale, where it's every man for himself and the winner takes home $100,000! Although in pairs, it's every man for himself.

Literally anything can happen in this mass mix up of iconic wreslting icons, who will be tagged with their greatest enemies? Who will be using strategies of their own to come out victorious? The hand has been dealt in Joker's Wild...

24 of TNA Wrestling's finest compete for glory and betray for riches, including:

James Storm, Samoa Joe, Booby Roode, Mr. Anderson, Al Snow, RVD, Christopher Daniels, Douglas Williams, Joseph Park, Matt Morgan, Hernandez, Rob Terry, Kid Kash, Devon and D.O.C.

TNA's One Night Only JOKER'S WILD is available from the 26th August 2013 online at www.amazon.co.uk andwww.TNADVD.co.uk.

TNA Destination X 2013 Review

TNA Original unseats World Champ Bully Ray

By Phil Allely

This past week on TNA's flagship show Impact (broadcast last night on Challenge in the UK/Ireland) current X Division champion Chris Sabin gave up his X Division Championship for a shot at Aces and Eight's president Bully Ray in the main event of the X Division themed Impact TV taping.

Sabin has been with TNA for ten years so far and held the X Division gold multiple times, he also formed a formidable team with fellow high-flyer Alex Shelley for many years too.

Recent years have seen Shelley leave TNA and Sabin undergo major surgery on both his knees.

Those surgeries gave many critics the opportunity to write off Sabin as a serious competitor for any title any time soon. However here he was now poised to face off against one of the most sadistic and brutal performers in the world of wrestling and he not only stood up against him, he beat him at his own game too.

In the past Destination X was an X Division only themed PPV, that saw the companies mid-card roster members take to the big stage. This year of course due to the reduction in PPV events TNA opted to take the event down the Impact route instead.

Sabin was subjected to a huge amount of brutal offence from the A&8's head honcho here and you did really feel he was set for failure throughout. But the dogged enthusiasm and energy he offered up made you believe in him.

The match itself saw Ray unleash all manner of hurt on his foe. Chris sported some serious marks on his body form the get go. This was a hard-hitting scrap, we saw A&8's interfere, the Main Event Mafia even things up and for once justice prevailed.

Sabin pulled off the shock win after a number of run-ins and he used the much-used hammer to swerve events his way.

Elsewhere we saw Austin Aries beat Bobby Roode in a Bound For Glory series encounter. We also saw former TNA star Sonjay Dutt best Homicide and Petey Williams for a shot at the now abandoned X title. Taking himself to the same spot was the former Suicide (now Manik), who overcame the duo of Chavo and Kenny King. Next up we saw three younger TNA stars compete for the last X Division title match spot. The UK's own Rockstar Spud was on fine form here, but he did have stiff competition. Spud and Greg Marascuilo worked well with Spud, Marascuilo pulled off the win too.

The Destination X Impact show worked well and having less time than a PPV things progressed faster too. For the most part the matches worked well and the main event finish git many of us by (pleasant surprise).

TNA may be taking a gamble by making a man with such weak knees a World Champ, but this confidence in a company original shows they are one who are more than up for challenging their nay sayers.

I for one look forward to seeing were TNA and Sabin take things now.

William Regal: I'm celebrating my 30th year in wrestling on the UK 2013 Raw Tour

William Regal: I'm celebrating my 30th year in wrestling on the UK 2013 Raw Tour

BY Phil Allely

WWE superstar William Regal has revealed he is set to celebrate his 30th year of wrestling by participating in the upcoming UK/Ireland tour.

Regal (Darren Mathews) is currently a commentator of WWE show NXT and has had a memorable in-ring career to date. The 44 year old has overcome battles with drugs, illness and heart issues to become a very valuable part of the WWE family. 

Many fans would love to see Regal take his mic work to either Smackdown or Raw and inject some of his humour and knowledge into those programes too. Fans have also been vocal about the fact that the veteran has been taken off the active roster (unless he is needed to fill-in for an injured star).

Those UK-based fans will be relishing this new announcement by Wiliam on twitter 'I've been told I will be on the UK Raw tour this April. Spoil yourselves and come see my almost 45 year old carcass in trunks. I'm thinking of having a 30th year anniversary (it will be 30 years since my first match this coming August) T Shirt made for this tour.'

Veteran Regal worked his way up from low-paying UK shows in the golden age of ITV wrestling, to taking up an offer by WCW, there he made a name for himself with countless hard-hitting matches against many of the companies top names. His feud with Ireland's Fit Finlay and Chris Benoit are stuff of legend.

Regal progressed to the WWE where various substance abuse problems unfortunately halted his progress. Regal did however get the opportunity to return to WCW and rebuild his career. This time when WWE came calling again he was fit and ready to join their roster. Although he has never won a world title Matthews has held gold in in the WWE, WCW and for UK promotions. Many of his matches have gone down in the history books and he is still a very valuable member of the roster. 

You can catch up with William Regal on WWE NXT shows and as part of April's WrestleMania Revenge UK/Ireland Tour.

Royal Rumble 2013 - Live Review

WWE Live Review: Royal Rumble 2013

The Royal Rumble serves many purposes in the world of the WWE. The very nature of the event itself see's it stand out from the rest of the company's PPV output. This is after all a show that features a (usually) exciting over-the-top-rope battle royal style match-up. This scrap see's 30 wrestlers (inc. some surprises) battle it out and win a World Title shot at that year's WrestleMania. The Rumble is also not only the first WWE PPV of the year, but it is also what we fans like to call 'the first step on the road to Mania'. 

The Royal Rumble is normally the place where the first seeds are sown as to what we may look forward to at the WWE's biggest show of the year WrestleMania. Last year of course we all knew that we were to expect a Rock/John Cena bout at that very event. However this year we were still in some doubt as to what may unfold at the Rumble and what effect it may have in relation to Mania.

First of all there were hints at a Rock/Cena re-match and of course we all want to know if Undertaker will make his annual appearance to defend his WrestleMania winning streak.The good news is that one of these questions was (pretty much) answered at the 2013 Royal Rumble.

Royal Rumble 2013 was kind of overshadowed by the main event encounter between (Hollywood action star) The Rock and the WWE's best bad guy CM Punk. 

But the rest of the card was well worth a look too. The dark match (ie for live fans and DVD viewers only) saw United States Champion Antonio Cesaro battle The Miz. Your reviewer may not be a fan of Cesaro, but for what it is worth he did fare well here and his win over former world  champion The Miz bodes very well for his character. Miz's face turn seems to be coming along well too.

World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio then kicked things off proper by beating The Big Show in a 'Last Man Standing' encounter. Show and Del Rio worked well together here, using the available weapons to the best of their ability and also pulling off a few nice stiff moves. Show's chokeslam through a table looked great and the finish was well worked. Del Rio retaining over his much larger foe shows the WWE's faith in him and his tenure as champ.

Team Hell No (WWE Tag Team Champs) then successfully defended their belts against the formidable and fun combo of The Rhodes Scholars. Am I the only one amazed that Cody Rhodes moustache can at times receive more attention than him? The match here unfortunately wasn't much to talk about. We have all seen this before and we also get the idea that the WWE will keep the gold with Kane/Danielson until they feel they have lost their charm. 

The Royal Rumble itself had its moments and whilst much of the 30 man match was predictable. There were some nice touches and some pleasant surprises too. First up were surprise entrants Chris Jericho (a man who we have interview here and reviewed his rock band Fozzy too), Goldust and The Godfather. Jericho entered the match at number 2 and he lasted almost 50 minutes. Goldust had a memorable few moments and his exchanges with his brother Cody may lead to a match down the line. Godfather did his usual nostalgic thing and it went down a storm too. There were also a few returns by formerly injured stars , Rey Mysterio, Santino Marella and Sin Cara all received a nice pop when they made their entrance. The final four saw Ryback dispatch Randy Orton and Sheamus with ease, he then as we feared fell to John Cena to see Cena move one step closer to a rematch with The Rock.

Speaking of that result. The Rock did indeed best WWE Champion CM Punk in the main event of the show. Punk's recent knee injury did not seem to slow him down here and even though he lost his beloved title, he did leave the match without too much tarnish to his name. With only a few mistimed moves, this was a fine outing for both men (considering Rock's long in-ring lay-off and Punk's injury). 

Royal Rumble ended with us now knowing that Cena could very well (or may have by the time you read this) decide to challenge Rock for the title at Mania. Hopefully Rock/Punk will get a re-match at Elimination Chamber to address the few faults we saw at the rumble and maybe now we almost have one half of the main event, we will see Punk challenge Undertaker to a match.

Royal Rumble 2013 was very good in parts and the Ruble itself had some extremely fine points and moments. The build up to WrestleMania is now in full swing and I cannot wait to see what else we get along the way. We also have the Hall Of Fame coming up too, so far Mick Foley and Bruno Samartino have been given the nod and of course many more will follow.

www.wwe.com

By Phil Allely