WWE SummerSlam 2020 Thoughts

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE SummerSlam 2020. 

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Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE GBOF 2017.

WWE Extreme Rules 2017 Thoughts

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE Extreme Rules 2017.

Elimination Chamber 2017 Thoughts

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE Elimination Chamber 2017.

WWE TLC 2016 Thoughts

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE TLC 2016.

My Top 5 WWE Fantasy Matches

With WWE’s Survivor Series event hyping the “fantasy” matchup of Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg II, I thought that this would be a good time to share five fantasy bouts of mine. Some of these matches have a slight chance of happening while others can only take place in the world of WWE video games. For the sake of variety, I will not repeat wrestlers for this post. Without any further ado, here are my top five WWE fantasy matches.

5. Brian Pillman vs. Dean Ambrose

Being a Greater Cincinnati native, I would love to see the two most famous wrestlers from the Queen City square off in the middle of the ring. Pillman’s high flying maneuvers that earned him the nickname of “Flyin’ Brian” combined with his “loose cannon” gimmick would make for a very interesting wrestling mash up with Ambrose’s hardcore reputation and “lunatic fringe” character. As I said in my introduction, some of these matches can only take place in video games, and this match is one of them as Pillman tragically passed away in 1997.

4. Randy Orton vs. The Rock

This is a bout that I have played many times on my WWE video games. The “Viper” and the “Brahma Bull” would no doubt tear the house down if they ever met in a ring for a one-on-one match. They did have a previous encounter at Wrestlemania 20 in a 3-on-2 tag team match when Evolution took on the Rock ‘n Sock Connection, but these two third generation wrestlers have never battled each other in a singles match. Orton’s slow and calculating approach would clash wonderfully with the charismatic and electrifying tactics of the Rock. This match has a pretty good chance of taking place as Orton is still an active wrestler, and the Rock usually comes back to the WWE once a year.

3. John Cena vs. Hulk Hogan

I think this match is a no brainer as Cena, the self-proclaimed “face that runs the place,” is today’s version of Hulk Hogan. The similarities between their two characters are obvious as Cena’s mantra of “hustle, loyalty, and respect” is a modern twist on Hogan’s motto of “training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins.” Both are notorious for turning matches around in their favor with Hogan “hulking” up and Cena utilizing what have become known as the “five moves of doom.” These two teamed up with Shawn Michaels in 2005 on an episode of Monday Night Raw with Hogan going on to face Michaels instead of Cena later that year at Summerslam. A matchup between these two wrestling titans likely will not happen due to Hogan’s back issues and the fact that he is currently not with WWE.

2. Goldberg vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Two of the biggest names to come out of the Monday Night Wars of the late 1990s and early 2000s have never exchanged fists inside the squared circle. Goldberg was arguably the biggest star in WCW, and the same can easily be said about Austin in WWE. Both of their onscreen characters were legitimate tough guys, and their look, wrestling style, and appeal to wrestling fans are eerily similar. Unfortunately, Austin’s history with neck injuries has made this matchup impossible to happen. These two just missed squaring off in 2003 as Goldberg made his WWE debut the night after Austin had his final match at Wrestlemania 19.

1. Sting vs. The Undertaker

To me, this is the ultimate dream match. Sting and the Undertaker were the two cornerstones for their respective companies during the Monday Night War. The stinger never left WCW, and the dead man remained loyal to WWE. Both of their characters evolved during this era of professional wrestling with Sting transitioning from a colorful surfer like wrestler to a silent vigilante reminiscent of “the Crow,” and the Undertaker morphing into the sinister leader of the “Ministry of Darkness” and eventually the intimidating reaper who rode motorcycles to the ring. After WCW was bought out by WWE in 2001, everybody thought that Sting and the Undertaker would finally meet. However, Sting would not appear in a WWE ring until 2014 when he made his WWE debut as the silent vigilante at Survivor Series. During Sting’s absence, the Undertaker had gone back to his dead man character, and these two wrestlers with similar gimmicks seemed destined to clash at the “Showcase of the Immortals.” It looked like the dream match between the Undertaker and Sting was on the verge of becoming a reality at Wrestlemania 31, but Sting faced Triple H and the Undertaker battled Bray Wyatt. A neck injury then forced Sting into early retirement, making this dream match just that, a dream. Sting has hinted that may have one more match left in him, but a bout between the icon and the phenom will most likely never happen.

Those are my top five WWE fantasy matches. I think that each match would be an exciting bout to watch and would easily be a match of the year candidate. There are more dream matches that I would like to see such as D-Generation X taking on the New World Order or Austin and Hogan meeting for the first time, but as I said in the introduction to this post, I was only listing one wrestler per match for the sake of variety. Hopefully one of these matches does indeed happen in the future, but until then, I will continue to play out these bouts in the form of video games.

The Money in the Bank Winner Is…

Money in the Bank is one of WWE’s best events of the year. It is usually filled with great matches, and its results set the tone for SummerSlam. The biggest and most influential match at Money in the Bank is the bout that the event was named after in that the results of it are what people care about the most. The winner of the match receives a contract for a WWE Championship match whenever and wherever the victor wants, and when the cash in happens, the crowd usually erupts in excitement. So who should win the event this year? I believe that Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens are the most deserving to win this match. Let’s start with why I think Owens should win.

Kevin Owens has been absolutely incredible ever since he was called up to the main roster from NXT. His rivalry with John Cena was one of the best of 2015, his matches are generally some of the best on the card, and his mic skills as a heel are fantastic. He is so good at being a heel that he gets face reactions. He is currently involved in a great feud with Sami Zayn, and if Owens wins the Money in the Bank ladder match and claims the briefcase for himself, then his rivalry with Zayn could be taken to the next level as the two could be battling it out for Money in the Bank contract. The crowd would also go crazy if Owens cashed in on Reigns, and the rivalry between these two could be epic.

Dean Ambrose also deserves to win the Money in the Bank ladder match in my opinion. He is one of the best talents in WWE today. He is solid in the ring, he is great on the mic, and despite WWE booking him in a questionable manner, he is still over with the fans, receives huge pops every time he enters the arena, and his rivalries with Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Bray Wyatt, and Brock Lesnar have been very entertaining. If he wins the Money in the Bank ladder match, then things in WWE could get very interesting. With Seth Rollins returning to the WWE after his injury and Roman Reigns in the middle of a WWE Championship reign, an Ambrose victory could finally mean that we get the long awaited Shield triple threat match. Also, Ambrose is my favorite wrestler, and I would love to see him win the match and hopefully the WWE Championship with a successful cash in on Reigns, Rollins, or whoever the champion may be.

In conclusion, that is why I think Owens and Ambrose each have equal claim to the Money in the Bank contract. They are both great in the ring, on the mic, and get really good crowd reactions. If either of these guys wins the match, the crowd will cheer and the arena will definitely explode whenever they decide to cash in their contract. While I am a fan of Owens and would really like to see him win, I will be pulling for Ambrose and hope he climbs the ladder, grabs the briefcase, and takes his first step to becoming WWE Champion.

Let’s go Ambrose!

No Wyatts Please

 Please note that this post was written before the March 28, 2016, episode of Monday Night Raw. As a result, the elements from that episode that affected the street fight match between Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose were not taken into account during the writing of this post.

Wrestlemania 32 is days away, and the match I am looking forward to the most is the street fight between “the Beast,” Brock Lesnar, and the Cincinnati’s “Lunatic Fringe,” Dean Ambrose. The storyline leading up this match has been exceptional as it has had the best buildup when compared to other bouts on the card. What started as a brief encounter in February during the buildup to WWE Fastlane 2016 has morphed into a compelling wrestling story that has captivated audiences everywhere. Lesnar has lived up to his “Beast” moniker and Ambrose has become arguably the biggest face in WWE today as his “never say die” attitude, charisma, and wrestling skill has gotten him over in a huge way with wrestling fans.

People knew these the two had chemistry the moment Ambrose went face to face with Lesnar back In February. It was the most electrifying segment on Raw in 2016 up to that point, and the fans responded in a positive way. WWE captured lightening in a bottle and proceeded to run with it as the street fight between the most over guy on the current roster in Lesnar and the most over face on the current roster in Ambrose could steal the show in front of a crowd of over 100,000 people. It should be a great match. My only problem with it is the Wyatts.

The Wyatt Family has seemingly been inserted into the Lesnar versus Ambrose storyline with the purpose of interfering during their Wrestlemania 32 street fight. Whenever Ambrose or Lesnar is on screen, the Wyatts make an appearance. It was reported that WWE originally had Lesnar taking on Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania 32. Personally I was not a fan of that decision as a match between the “Beast” and the “Eater of Worlds” did not and still does not really excite me. That is why I was thrilled when it was announced that Ambrose would take on Lesnar instead.

When WWE started to throw the Wyatts into the mix, I thought that it was to keep Ambrose busy when Lesnar was not appearing on WWE television for the week and as a way to book Lesnar for the Roadblock event. I have since been proven wrong. WWE is strongly hinting at a Wyatt Family interference, and that is something that I do not want to see.

The buildup for the match between Ambrose and Lesnar has been really good. It focused on Ambrose wanting to prove that he can go toe to toe with the best in the business and Lesnar wanting to extract revenge for Ambrose knocking him out of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Number One Contender Triple Threat Match at Fastlane 2016. Now that the Wyatts have been added to the equation, I feel like it has taken away from what had been a great storyline.

I hope that Lesnar and Ambrose have an epic clash that blows the roof off AT&T Stadium without interference from the Wyatts. This has the making of a match of the year candidate and could be a bout that is talked about for years to come. In order for that to happen, the finish must be clean. No swerves. No screw job finish. No Wyatts. Just the “Beast” and the “Lunatic Fringe” squaring off at the showcase of the immortals.

WWE Hell in a Cell 2015 Thoughts

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE Hell in a Cell 2015.