Monday Night Raw(7th August) - Winners and Losers

Raw was an odd one last night, there didn't seem much direction if any. However loads of stuff happened even if it felt like it was put together last minute.

So who were the real winners and losers from last nights messy affair:

Winners

Seems like Big Cass is getting a major push from creative

The opening segment with Enzo and Cass which ended up with a confrontation with Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens was brilliant. Even if it took a while to warm up, Jericho never disappoints. My slight problem with it all is that it is putting Kevin Owens in the mid carder section which he's way too good for but his time will come.

It also seems like they are really feeling out Enzo's ability in the ring even if his size does seem to hamper him. These two are one of the best things about Raw every week and a feud with arguably the two best heels in the company will be golden on the mic.

Another slight problem is that Enzo's promo this week felt a little rehearsed and scripted and that's not what makes him so great on the mic, it was still solid because his energy gets him through but can't always be relied on.

Cesaro

A rematch of last week's match was lazy at best from creative and despite the result still going Cesaro's way it wasn't clean and still holds his momentum back. He comes out as a winner this week because the man is simply unbelievable. In my opinion only Seth Rollins is hotter in the ring right now. 

Cesaro deserves a bigger push that he's been getting. It's obvious everyone knows it but clearly WWE doesn't think he has the look the company are looking for which is laughable. His in-ring ability is special and so is his persona, Just needs work on the mic and he's a future Champ for sure. 

He seems to be falling into the Kevin Owens territory where there's too many good wrestlers and not enough top championships. This match was another classic don't get me wrong. Both him and Sheamus being physical makes it exciting watching but it's set for a match at Summerslam and it's getting slightly overdone already.

Braun Strowman

Another week and another Squash match and the subtle change by giving his opponent a theme and an interview(if you can call it that) before hand made it look fresh. Once again he dismantled his opponent with ease and continues to look like a destructive machine.

My slight issue is that just like Ryback maybe it's time to up the difficulty or even include a lower card wrestler on there just to make it more competitive because it's only taking up 5 minutes at best right now.

Seth Rollins delivers another Vintage promo

Rollins continues to build his feud with Finn Balor with his ability on the mic and literally can do no wrong right now. It's a match we're looking forward to and it's being built up rightly so. 

With Balor still not great on the mic due to his accent partly, it's up to Seth to really promote. We did see a pre-recorded promo by Finn talking up his Demon persona but it's really not as effective had it been in person and in ring. 

Losers

Lana and Rusev

Lana and Rusev really were destroyed last night. Not only was Lana embarrassed with the whole cake in the face incident but the entire segment once again was used to make Roman Reigns look a million bucks.

Don't get me wrong for once I didn't mind Roman Reign's persona and his character just because he came across much more relaxed and not the so called face of the company. However Rusev was again decimated by Reigns and made him look weak which is the opposite how the past month has gone. 

It's nice to have a fresh feud and in theory it should work but it's not really bringing out the best in either and it's awfully booked. Also when has a wedding celebration ever worked, sorry no for me.

Darren Young and Titus O'Neil another dull match

Another poor finish to the Titus O'Neil and Darren Young match and it makes you think where is this really going? Obviously they've been paired together because they know each other inside and out but it's already becoming stale. 

I said last week that making Titus a bad guy just doesn't work and it all feels like filler right now throughout the show. There's no story and it feels like a pre-show match at Summerslam at best right now.

Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan once again get involved in the show

One of my biggest gripes right now is that the general managers are constantly getting involved in the show and not really developing a storyline. Especially since the brand split, Raw and Smackdown just seem intent on promoting each other and not fighting for viewing figures.

It's all became a little tame and there's no thought behind it. Daniel Bryan was on Raw and why exactly? To talk through Randy Orton invading Raw, then poaching Cesaro. There's no heat and it just doesn't feel right at all.

Raw was disappointing by usual standards. There were repeated matches and hardly any storylines were moved on. Seth cut a stylish promo and the opening of the show was exciting if the match wasn't a little dull. There was potential but not enough substance and it's disappointing.

They keep squeezing as much out of Daniel Bryan's popularity as well as Mick Foley's and it takes away from the new era ethos they keep trying to push. Dana Brooke lost a match against Sasha Banks so she's banned from ringside at Summerslam and even that felt awkward. 

Smackdown could profit from a pretty lacklustre Raw tonight and propel itself on a higher level. The whole brand split though hasn't created any animosity between both brands in fact it's coming across a little vague. 

Let's hope for something a bit better next week especially with Brock Lesnar and of course Paul Heyman being on the show. The fact it's the last Raw before Summerslam means there needs to be a big push next week. A lot of storylines need to be pushed through and almost picking up the pieces from this week too.

Thanks for Reading, See you in the next one.

Daniel

Garry Monk - The Leeds United Effect

Garry Monk for me will always be a Swansea legend, regardless of how it ended and how easy that word is thrown round these days. My respect for him will never leave not because of what he's done for the club but the way he's done it. Especially after the way he was sacked which I believe was the right decision at the time.

A testament of a man is not how he reacts when he achieves greatness it's how he responds after each setback. Monk was classy in every interview thereafter, which sums up his entire playing career. Honest, modest but with a particular style.

In June, Monk was appointed as the new Leeds manager, a job he not only deserves but will thrive in. Massimo Cellino will hopefully give him the time he needs to mould the squad he has. Leeds are possibly a top half side but with the right additions particularly defensively it could be a special season.

Monk will be a success at Elland Road

Leeds in my opinion have always been too big a side not to be in the best league in the world. Their average attendances and the sheer size of the club merits matching success on the pitch. 

The facilities are there for him and the youth products continue to make their way into the first team. Even with Lewis Cook leaving, Alex Mowatt and Charlie Taylor show more potential than most players in Premier League academies. 

There needs to be a clear direction which should follow a wipe of the slate. Leeds will always be overshadowed by their rich past but also their miserable recent turn of events. Hopefully Monk can be the man to start a blank page and create a new piece of history.

QPR 3 Leeds United 0

Interestingly I kind of saw this result coming, QPR at home is no easy proposition that's for sure. The R's definitely deserved this result but watching it with a Leeds hat on there were so many positives believe it or not.

0 shots on target from the away side clearly show there's a bluntness still apparent from last season. Only scoring 50 goals altogether. Stuart Dallas is a clever player and was playing on the wrong side and so was Kemar Roofe although he should have been up front.  

With the introduction of Pablo Hernandez, this opens up Roofe to play down the middle where he thrived so much for Oxford United even if it was playing off another striker. Pablo is an astute signing and delivers more often than not. 

The Championship is the toughest league in the world but Chris Wood would have been more effective back on holiday than he was today. So little impact and often getting in the way of his attacking midfielders.

Matt Smith showed for Fulham that use a target man well and he can deliver but he was also poor despite his goal on friday night. You need more mobility if you're going to play one up top. Burnley had Andre Gray playing off Sam Vokes last season and Leeds might have to follow that blueprint.

Don't restrict Kemar Roofe's ability to float

Monk won't do that he rarely changed from his 4-2-3-1 at Swansea and that was often his downfall. His resources are slightly limited here. Matt Grimes is another who looked invisible today and was hooked off around the hour mark. Either play Roofe there and have him flutter around Wood or even let Hernandez play there, he has the ability and positional awareness.

Address The Problems At The Back!

Losing 3-0 it's pretty obvious there's an issue still at the back and I don't think Rob Green is the man to martial the back four either. Taylor and Berardi are brilliant going forward but a little naive going the other way. Both very young of course and Taylor is a special talent and Leeds will do well to keep hold of him.

Now the partnership of Sol Bamba and Kyle Bartley, I'm going to put it nicely and say one of them has to drop out of the team if not both. Bartley in particular showed why Swansea were so comfortable loaning him out. His Marking was all over the place and his lack of pace and positional awareness continues to hinder him. Bamba wasn't helpful either, it's a recipe for a plethora of goals conceded. 

There needs to be a commanding centre half coming through the doors this window with a powerful voice ironically Garry Monk would have been perfect, 5 years ago. All foundations are built from the back and I'm sure he knows this and hopefully we should see some development on that front. 

A reserve keeper from the Premier League would be ideal who wants a chance to prove himself, maybe Swansea can be raided again for recent Aussie signing Mark Birighitti. 

I actually thought Ronaldo Viera was pretty effective today despite conceding the penalty. His physical presence with be a perfect match once he gains plenty of experience. Perhaps someone a bit more diminitive alongside him to protect the back four as well. Leon Britton would be perfect for his old manager. 

The style of play today was a work in progress but there were enough combinations slowly being made to suggest that this could easily be a successful season but there needs to be a few more recruits and we will know a little more about Monk's squad come the end of August. 

There's plenty of potential, there always has been. I hope Monk will replicate the closeness and team ethic he had at Swansea particularly early doors. More mobility in attack and more defiance in defence is needed to return this club where they richly deserve to be.

Thanks for Reading, See you in the next one

Daniel

Smackdown Needs to Rediscover Itself

Smackdown Live was supposed to be competitive and a direct rival to Monday Night Raw but it still feels like the sister show and it's not being helped by Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan.

It doesn't help that both shows have opened with them when it's supposed to be about the superstars. Take a leaf out of Raw's book and let your biggest stars open the show.

Also can I add that the opening theme doesn't look or sound anywhere near as good as Raw, which is disappointing.

The opening segment continued to make The Miz look really weak. He's a heel that's fine but constantly undermining him to gain heat doesn't work. He seems to be champion only because of the fact he's in movies right now.

The unveiling of Smackdown Live

The same went for them lecturing Randy Orton on his appearance on Raw, Both of them seem desperate for the airtime and trying to cement their status as faces isn't fair on the rest of the roster.

As much as I respect them both, Shane has done the same thing ever since he's returned. And Bryan has been underwhelming to say the least. 

My favourite part of the night was the confrontation between Dolph Ziggler and WWE champion Dean Ambrose. I'm a huge DZ fan and always thought he deserved a big push, he's a pheunomenal worker and showed his impressive mic skills as well which built this feud up even more. 

The misuse of Bray Wyatt is one of the most frustrating things to watch. Ever since his debut with the Wyatt Family he's always been over with the fans but booked terribly. No serious victories and nowhere near a serious main title shot either. 

Ziggler beating Bray Wyatt in the main event with the Superkick

The main event was a good idea. Aside from Cena and AJ Styles, these two provide the most pulling power on the card and are fairly over with the crowd too.

The execution however was just awful, Ziggler won the match clean, Eric Rowan attacked him from behind to boost his own push and Ambrose tried to help but got taken out as well. Bray Wyatt was made to look weak again and The Show Off got leveled despite winning. There wasn't a real winner from it all.

American Alpha debuted and looked predictably strong against forgotten men, The Vaudevillains. It wasn't as exciting or impactful as they would have hoped especially with the tag division looking bare on the show. They've got a catchy theme and gimmick but without competition and a possible heel turn it could go stale very soon.

In other news, Apollo Crews became the number one contender for the Miz's championship defeating Baron Corbin and Kalisto which showed the lack of real stars in the Smackdown roster. 

John Cena and Styles delivered an in-ring promo which seemed to last forever and did little to propel both. A lot of the stuff said just got oversaid and repeated and even with Styles insulting the Cenation it still felt a little dull and unimaginative. It's going to be a great clash at Summerslam but there needs to be more creativity in their feud.

Carmella's debut was ruined again this time by Natalya, It was a bad idea to not have her be with Enzo and Cass on Raw especially when most of the crowd don't get her gimmick. She's been awfully booked regardless and is already at the bottom of the pile, Smackdown again.

We all saw through Eva Marie's fake injury especially when Fandango did the same before he debuted. It's not clever now and it wasn't clever then. I get that it's to get her more heat but it just felt pointless and another kick in Becky Lynch's momentum. 

I'm struggling to find many positives for Smackdown, if any at all. The new era feels exactly like the old era, almost forced and without conviction.

I'm glad Ziggler is getting a push, everything he said on the mic is true and he deserves it more than most. Bray Wyatt needs some sort of push as well but not at the expense of Ziggler.

The Women's division is an absolute mess right now and lacks credibility without Sasha and Charlotte. This needs to be addressed soon as possible. 

Lastly if i'm honest there needs to be more star power and perhaps possible returns on Smackdown because there's a few stars but the draft really didn't help make the brand competitive.

Thanks for Reading, See you in the next one.

Daniel

Raw Recap - 1st August 2016

Both shows were a mixed bag this week, so much promise but very little execution and more is to be expected in the coming weeks. Raw particularly has so much talent right now that it's becoming a worry, how to use them all.

It  was nice to have Raw start with superstars instead of management. Which Smackdown chose to do again... Sasha Banks and Charlotte's feud continues to heat up and the addition of Chris Jericho and Enzo Amore in the segment and following match helped draw more attention which is still very much focused on Women's wrestling.

The continuation of squash matches are making Braun Strowman and Nia Jax look terrifying and I actually like the fact that Byron interviews their opponents before the match. Evan Anderholm doing it for the money made sense.

Balor is hot property right now but Rollins is a special talent

Finn Balor and Seth Rollins screams money, we all know it. Both are unbelievable in the ring and although Balor needs work on the mic to be at the same level as Rollins, There's so much potential in this feud and Rollins is the hottest property in the company right now and he knows it.

The return of Brock Lesnar is always a cause for celebration with manager Paul Heyman in fine form as usual. We kind of expected Randy Orton to appear at some point, but it was impeccably timed. Let's hope that it doesn't lend itself to superstars appearing on rival shows in the future though.

Rusev is slowly getting his momentum back which was cruelly taken away from him by John Cena and co. He continues to dispatch everything that comes his way and looks more and more like the monster he was built up to be before. Not the Kalisto losing Bulgarian of a few months ago.

Gallows and Anderson haven't been booked right at all but it's nice to see them getting the push they deserve without AJ Styles in their corner. Even if it come at the expense of poor Xavier Woods in front of his family.

Give this man a contract, and yes the guy on the left

Heath Slater is pure entertainment, always has been and always will be. He's practically Zack Ryder but without the build and push behind him. Another brief appearance which the fans enjoyed again.


Those were the positives from Monday's Raw however overall the show didn't match the previous week and had some very poor booking and here are just a few things which might seem small but it clearly had an impact on the ratings and need to be addressed.

• Turning Titus O Neill heel just doesn't work, the man does plenty of work with charities and children and just doesn't feel right at all. His feud with Darren Young has promise but no clear reality of who to support.

• I have no idea, and still don't get why Jinder Mahal was given a contract, whether it's for the commercial value or not. Heath Slater deserves better.

• The Cesaro and Sheamus matchup was so vague that it didn't really help either. It gave the Swiss Superman the win and momentum but he continues to be wasted.

• The Shining Stars and the ever green Mark Henry were huge disappointments despite the prior's win over the Golden Truth. The Pokemon Go segments are already becoming stale.

No matter how these two are repackaged it just doesn't work.

Raw continues to press on with this new era but still the same problems arise. Especially the 50/50 booking situation. It didn't live up to last weeks and some decisions were baffling but there is plenty of room for improvement in the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading, See you in the next one.

The Rise or Fall of Swansea City

It's been a while since I've been able to post, due to the site being hacked and just being extremely busy but it's good to be back and so much has happened at the Liberty in the last few months.

I'd rather not get into last season because I could probably write a novel on it so let's just delve straight into the last month or so and what the future entails.

Swansea cannot let this man go - Ashley Williams

I never thought I'd see the day when Swansea even thought about selling the heart of the club let alone accepting a bid. Whether the bid is speculation or not, the noise coming out of SA1 isn't great and fans are rightly left confused. 

With the new American owners there was promise of a new future and exciting times ahead but to me it feels like we've gone back a few steps, which is astonishing considering progress behind the scenes. 

I don't want this to be a rant at Huw Jenkins or the higher powers down at Swansea but I think I speak for all fans when we want reassurance. Silence speaks volumes and it's uncomfortable.

If we lose Ashley Williams it will be devastating not because of the fact he's the captain and a leader amongst men. That's just the simple part of it, it's a message around the dressing room and potential new recruits. A statement of intent was needed this summer and it's not been delivered yet.

Huw Jenkins - The buck starts and ends with you so start spending money and stop hiding and give the fans at least answers if not solutions. That squad right now isn't good enough to stay in the league and more fool Francesco Guidolin if he thinks so. 

With rumours of Andre Ayew being wanted at West Ham it seems another transfer window rather unlike the Swans. No reassurance and bids being put in for our own players and no early business done aside from bargain buys which doesn't improve the first team.

Sevilla's Fernando Llorente on the Swans radar

It's less than two weeks until the season opener against Burnley and right now there's no real cause for optimism among fans because there's been no reason too. There's a real sense of panic and fear which we've not had and it stems from Garry Monk's dismissal last season there's been no stability since.

The next month could be the biggest month in our history and it comes down to ambition and desire. We can't keep breaking records on shoestring budgets whilst other teams strengthen around us. We need to keep hold of every player right now because it's down to bare bones. There's the obvious need for strikers that's been painfully obvious for some time but the squad needs strengthening with players of top quality. 

We've all become tired and annoyed that we sign players who are just content to sit on the bench or end up going on loan. There's comfortably 20/30 million plus just sitting there so go out and make a statement before it's too late.

This man might be the first step:

Wilfried Bony needs to return home

Thanks for Reading, See you in the next one.

Daniel John