Tag Archives: NXT

Review: NXT Takeover: Philadelphia

NXT always starts out the weekend the right way for the ‘Big 4’ WWE pay-per-views. There hasn’t been a bad one yet, so NXT Takeover: Philadelphia had a huge task of living up to all the past Takeover events…and it exceeded expectations.

WWE keeps raiding NXT for talent and Triple H keeps finding great indie wrestling talent to mix with the young guys they have down there starting from scratch. Many thought the entire brand would go down a few pegs after wrestlers like Shunsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode and Asuka were promoted the main roster, but this Takeover event was up there with the best all-around NXT shows of all-time.

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Possible Surprise Entrants in First-Ever Women’s Royal Rumble

WWE announced that for the first-time ever, the women will get their own Royal Rumble match at the 2018 ‘Royal Rumble.’

It was unknown how many women would appear in the Rumble at first. Most assumed they wouldn’t get the same amount of entrants as the men (30), but the early word is that they will get 30 spots in this year’s Rumble.

The WWE’s RAW & Smackdown Live brands don’t have anywhere near 30 women on those rosters, so there will be some surprise performers getting in the match. I assume NXT may get a couple spots. but this list will not try to guess those. There are plenty of young, talented ladies down there in NXT and those who aren’t signed, but appeared in the ‘Mae Young Classic’ last year, will end up in this match.

We made a list of some former WWE women superstars (or divas) that could appear as a surprise entrants in the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble…and the likelihood of their appearance.

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Top 10 Pro Wrestling Matches of 2017

A couple weeks ago I started to put together a list of the best pro wrestling matches of 2017. I realized that the WWE didn’t have many spot on the list, so I compiled a list of best WWE matches of 2017.

Since I got that post out of the way for American mainstream wrestling fans, I finished my original list that is unsurprisingly heavy on New Japan matches.

Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito are the three-best wrestlers in the world and had impressive matches in New Japan this year. They take up a good portion of the list.

Which Okada/Omega match tops our list?

Here are our top ten pro wrestling matches of 2017 (and a few honorable mentions).

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Top 10 WWE Matches of 2017

I started to compile a list of the ten best wrestling matches of 2017. The list of contenders was loaded with New Japan matches, a couple from Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and not many from WWE.

This year has just been an insane year for great matches all over the world. I decided to save that list for later this month and just focus on WWE with this post.

I was surprised there weren’t many top matches with women wrestlers in WWE. The top ten matches in WWE the last two years had plenty of contenders from the women’s division. I think when you have a belt on Alexa Bliss for most of the year (on Smackdown and RAW), and every brand PPV usually only has one women’s match (usually just the title match), you’re cutting down the opportunities for women to have great matches.

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Sports Crush: Mandy Rose

We’ve written over a dozen ‘Sports Crush’ posts since we launched AmericasWhiteBoy.com. We have spotlighted a ton of WWE Divas (Becky Lynch, Lana, Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan and others). The readers keep viewing those posts, so we will keep delivering new female wrestlers like recent WWE main roster call-up, Mandy Rose.

Rose (Amanda Saccomanno) was a contestant on ‘Tough Enough’ and finished as the runner-up. She was then on a season of ‘Total Divas’. I am usually good about putting posts up of an NXT female wrestler before they are called up, but Mandy surprisingly appeared with Paige and Sonya Deville on RAW.

Rose was a fitness competitor and from what I’ve see of her, is a very good athlete. I’m excited to see what she does on the main roster.

Check out why we are crushing on Mandy Rose with our picture gallery, and a very special .gif.

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 55

I’m a self-confessed vintage toy nerd. I collect vintage wrestling action figures from the 80’s & 90’s. I started purchasing some vintage toys out of nostalgia. Well, WWE and Mattel sucked me into their new stuff. I now buy a few figures a month. You can view photos of my collection on my Instagram account.

The lineup in WWE Elite series 55 is the second series with the new packaging. The lineup is a bit underwhelming. New collectors will enjoy the ‘American Badass’ Undertaker flashback, but it’s too much like the Elite 18 figure. Also, Enzo and Cass have had too many elites in the last year, so these might sit at retail, especially Big Cass.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 55 are Neville, James Ellsworth, The Undertaker, Enzo Amore, Big Cass & Brock Lesnar.

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Toy Crazy: 2017 Ringside Fest’s WWE Mattel Announcements [PHOTOS]

There are only a few times a year when Mattel announces and debuts upcoming WWE action figures. San Diego Comic-Con and Ringside Fest are the two of the biggest events with the most upcoming WWE action figure reveals. This year’s Ringside Fest in NYCC did not disappoint.

We already saw some of the figures at San Diego Comic-Con, so I’ll skip most of those in this post. I want to focus on the figures we didn’t know anything about or figures we haven’t seen in prototype form.

We already know that Target has NXT basics and elites and Hall of Fame elite exclusives, Walmart has the ‘THEN NOW FOREVER’ elites and basics, as well as an occasional Build-A-Figure line and Toys R Us has a multiple exclusives per year. It looks like WWE Shop will also get in on the Elite exclusive fun this upcoming year.

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 54

The lineup in WWE Elite series 54 is the second series in a row without a single flashback figure. It’s a smart move by Mattel, since there are plenty of other elite lines that they could throw old school wrestlers in these days. Walmart’s ‘Then, Now, Forever’, Target’s ‘Hall of Fame’ and even the Toys R Us ‘Network Spotlight series can be used to do just that.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 54 are Charlotte Flair, Rich Swann, John Cena, The Usos and Bray Wyatt.

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 53

The lineup in Elite 53 is the first full lineup without any flashback figures in a long time. It’s a smart move by Mattel since there are so many exclusive lines that are only flashbacks. They will eventually run out of older guys if they include two or three per series. Also, it feels like we are a bit behind on elite of some of the guys that appear on TV more since the brand split.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 53 are Alexa Bliss, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, The Miz, Big E and Heath Slater.

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Sports Crush: Toni Storm

We’ve written over a dozen ‘Sports Crush’ posts since we launched AmericasWhiteBoy.com. We have spotlighted a ton of WWE Divas (Becky Lynch, Lana, Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, Emma and others). The response has been great. This women’s wrestler isn’t technically signed by the WWE, but Toni Storm is in the WWE’s Mae Young Classic tournament.

Storm was born in New Zealand, moved to Australia at a young age and then moved to England when she was 13. She immediately started wrestling school and debuted soon after in 2009.

She has been a huge part of the resurgence of women’s wrestling in Japan and Europe. She is the current SWA champion in the all-female Stardom promotion. She is also the titleholder in PROGRESS, AAW, British Empire and other promotions.

WWE’s Mae Young Classic was fun to watch and showcased many of the top female talent all over the globe, Storm was one of those women.

The WWE needs to sign her soon. She could be a huge star for them. She’s got the look they love and she can hold her own with the best in the world.

Check out why we are crushing on Toni Storm with our picture gallery, and a very special .gif.

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Review: NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III

NXT Takeover events are almost always the best show of that weekend. WWE main roster will have a hard time beating NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III when they have Summerslam later today.

Every match was competitive and you can tell every guy wanted to steal the show. Even the guys who lost looked like a million bucks. No one got buried, and a surprise debut, made the show fresh. NXT is in a better place than it was after Shinsuke Nakamura and a few others were brought up to the main roster a few months ago.

On paper, there have been better NXT Takeover shows, but this one kept the crowd’s attention the entire night. The crowd didn’t have any chants that made me think they were bored. I’m sure we will hear a few tonight at Summerslam.

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 52

The lineup in Elite 52 is pretty good. It updates some current guys and two long-awaited flashbacks from the Attitude Era.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 52 are Braun Strowman, Ken Shamrock, D’Lo Brown, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Seth Rollins.

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