5 Things To Expect on WWE Monday Night Raw 7/20/15

Welcome to this week's WWE Monday Night Raw preview brought to you by Condo On The Moon. Lot's to get to. We're coming off the heels from last night's WWE Battleground and now we're on the road to WWE SummerSlam. Tonight's Raw emanates from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. We're on the road to SummerSlam. A legend is back another is expected to be on the show tonight. In one of the five points in this article I'll give you my FULL review of last night's Battleground event.

1.) WWE Battleground PPV Review 

I enjoyed the R-Truth/King Barrett match. Despite the fact I didn't have that much interest in the feud I thought the match was pretty solid and thank god Barrett won the match. I thought the opener of Randy Orton and Sheamus was good and the crowd in St. Louis was great tonight. I think the Prime Time Players/New Day match was better then their one from Money in the Bank. Don't have a problem with PTP retaining here they continue to grow each week and they deserve a longer title reign sorry New Day fans (I am one too). The Roman Reigns & Bray Wyatt match was one of the best matches on the show and love the ending of the match and not only did Wyatt picked up the victory, but at the same time there's a Wyatt Family reunion with Luke Harper. The Divas three way was okay it was nice seeing Charlotte and Sasha getting that spotlight on a main roster WWE Special on the WWE Network. Thought they made the right decision letting Charlotte submit a Bella Twin. The John Cena and Kevin Owens match was great what else is new and no I don't think Kevin Owens is negatively effected by tapping out he's a HEEL AND HE'S SUPPOSED TO LOSE! The main event was I thought it was going to be and then Undertaker came out and I marked out I have no problem with Brock and Taker at SummerSlam. Overall I thought Battleground was one of the best PPV's of the year and I can't wait for SummerSlam.

2.) What's next for John Cena and Kevin Owens? 

John Cena and Kevin Owens had another stellar match last night and now everybody is losing their minds because they think it's all over for Kevin Owens. I have to disagree with that stand point. There was no way that Kevin Owens was buried. Cena obviously is up 2-1 in this series and I doubt that this feud is over. I think for Raw tonight Cena will have another US Open Challenge. I think this time Dean Ambrose will accept the challenge time or maybe Stardust that's my guess in case they actually do the open challenge tonight. I'm sure Cena will have a talking segment, but tonight is about planting the seeds for SummerSlam this year. There's many questions as to what we'll see from both Owens and Cena at this year's SummerSlam, but I think tonight we'll get a great talking segment with both guys tonight. Owens is not done. He's not buried. Take a chill pill and enjoy the ride.

3.) Wyatt Reunion 

Bray Wyatt defeated Roman Reigns in a very physical match last night and Luke Harper reunited with his Wyatt Family brother. In theory you would think that Reigns would try to go after Wyatt. I would think maybe we'll see Wyatt and Harper vs. Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam. There was rumors about Sting possibly coming in for SummerSlam this year and fighting Bray Wyatt and if that happens I'm fine with that actually I'll mark out for that. I think Wyatt's performance last night proved why he's in the position he's in the company. Wyatt can lose, but at the same time he's put on amazing performances and people still care about him. I'm really interested in what they do with this feud tonight on Raw. I think we may see Roman Reigns vs. Luke Harper, but besides that I don't think Bray Wyatt will be in a match on Raw tonight, but he will lay out Roman Reigns tonight.

4.) Divas Revolution 

Charlotte made Brie Bella tap out in the divas three way last night at Battleground. Shared a special moment with her father Ric Flair last night in the video above. I have a feeling that Nikki Bella will be defending her Divas Championship at SummerSlam against Charlotte or we can have whole malay and have that triple threat tag team match. I'm not going to be nit picky with this particular storyline because I want to sit back and see where they go with this because it's so subjective and there's so many different directions this storyline can go. Congrats Charlotte and let's see what happens on Raw tonight.


5.) Taker vs. Brock 

Short and sweet. It's pretty simple that Brock will take on Taker at SummerSlam. This about Taker getting not only revenge for his brother, but also avenging the streak. The next four to five weeks of TV will tell a great story about where we're heading to especially not only SummerSlam, but also WrestleMania. I'm sure Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar will have a lot to say tonight and hopefully we'll see Taker tonight.

Hope you enjoyed this week's WWE Raw preview. Hope you enjoyed Battleground

You can follow me on Twitter @JoshLopezCSR

Check out my radio show the Pro Wrestling Experience every Wednesday on Chicagolandsportsradio.com from 10am-1pm CT

5 Things To Expect on WWE Monday Night Raw 6/15/15

Hope you guys and girls had a good weekend. Welcome to this weeks Raw preview article brought to you by Condo On The Moon. We're just coming off the heels of the Money in the Bank PPV. In this piece I'll give you my thoughts on the PPV and also five things you can expect to see on tonight's Monday Night Raw from Cleveland, Ohio. Let's do this.

Money in the Bank Review: 

For the most part I thought the Columbus crowd exceeded my expectations especially with being a guy that covers just about every single WWE show the Columbus crowd tends to be one of the worst in the WWE Universe. I thought that Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler had a great outing on commentary, but JBL has to go to. He drags down every single Raw, SmackDown, PPV and etc. I thought the WWE did a phenomenal job paying tribute to the late great Dusty Rhodes with the video package and the ten bell slatue. I'm interested in seeing if they do the same thing tonight for Raw, or they'll just go on with the tribute special that will be on the WWE Network immediately after Raw. 

Maybe to a fault I look at the positive and big picture aspects of professional wrestling too much. I just never wanted to be "THAT GUY" who acts like he knows everything about the business and just being the wrestling verison of Roger Ebert. I thought the Money in the Bank Ladder was good, I was really surprised that Sheamus captured the briefcase and you know what? I don't have a problem with this. It came out of nowhere and that's what you usually expect in these MITB Matches, so just because my guy didn't win doesn't mean the match sucks. We as fans play that card way too much. I thought the Divas Championship match was good both Nikki and Paige really beat the snot out of each other. Shenangians insued in the finish, but I knew Nikki was going to retain no matter what. I thought the Ryback/Big Show match was disappointing, but it is what it is. I thought the Cena/Owens match was awesome. There's not much that needs to be said about that because the match and the storyline speaks for itself. Congrats to the Prime Time Players becoming the new Tag Team Champions more on that in our Raw preview. The main event was awesome. Overall I really enjoy the show despite JBL, but if I had to grade the show it would've been a B+ or A-. 

1.) John Cena vs. Kevin Owens Fallout 

The series is tied at 1-1 and this feud has been far more entertaining then the NBA Finals in my opinion, but hey NBA isn't a work right? ;)! I don't think Owens is "buried" lets put a end to that arguement. He's not going to become a Wyatt, a Ryback, a Rusev, etc. Say what you want about John Cena and I'm not part of Cenation, but you have to respect the guy. Owens powerbombs Cena on the ring apron after the match last night, so here's the question. How long will Cena be out? Will this feud brew over Battleground or will Cena take some time off and then we have the rubber match at SummerSlam? For tonight I can expect to see another promo between both guys unless Cena will not be on the show. By the way if your saying Owens is buried by losing to Cena last night you don't know anything about wrestling. Owens is not going to be like the other guys who were supposely "buried" by Cena because they were heels and the baby face is never supposed to beat the bad guy. 

2.) WWE Divas Title Picture + IC Title Shenangians 

Here's a scenario I have for the Divas Title Picture with WWE Battleground coming up in 5 weeks. It's time. It's time to bring up Charlotte. It all makes sense with Raw being in Cleveland, Ric Flair loves LeBron James, and if you listen to this promo. The Bellas were born this way and Charlotte is genetically superior. Bring up Charlotte you can have Paige and her team against the Bellas at Battleground and Charlotte will take the title from Nikki at SummerSlam. For the IC Title Picture I think we'll see a beginning of a three way program with Miz, Ryback and Big Show. Not sure how I feel about, but there is history between all three guys even before the PPV last night. I can see maybe Miz vs. Ryback or Big Show tonight. Maybe you can even have ShowMiz come back and take on Ryback in a handicap match. 

3.) PTP vs. The New Day 

Congrats to Titus and Darren on becoming the new WWE Tag Team Champions! With Kidd & Cesaro out of the picture with Kidd's injury and the Usos on the shelf. I think we can see a fun three month program between these two tag teams maybe the titles go back and forth, but that's not really a bad thing if done right. I expect for tonight we'll see New Day requesting a rematch for the Tag Team Championship. 

4.) Sheamus + Roman Reigns/Bray Wyatt feud, What's next for Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler and Neville?

This point will be shorter then the most here. I think Sheamus and Randy Orton can continue their feud if they want to especially with Orton trying everything he can to get back in the WWE World Title Picture, I'm intrugied about the Bray Wyatt/Roman Reigns feud I'll keep it to that because I'm not really sure what's going to happen here and that's what's great about this upcoming feud. Wyatt does remind alot of a darker verison of Mankind and Undertaker. Yes I understand he's lost some of his feuds, but the guy is like underlying power of the Authority whenever the Authority needs someone to take the World Title away from Ambrose and Reigns or anybody else here comes Bray Wyatt. For Dolph and Neville that's the interesting question. Not always in favor with just throwing two guys together for the sake of a having great wrestling matches unless the storyline was about "Oh I'm better than you, you call yourself the Showoff, but I'm the new Sensation and I'm here to stay." 

5.) Seth Rollins & Authority Back Together 

This is out of left field and if it happens I won't gloat about it ;), but I have this thing feeling where Rollins and HHH were buddy buddy now and Rollins will celebrate with The Authority on Raw tonight in the main event segment and I think we see either Kane pick Rollins in the air and Triple H drops the thumb down and the Authority destroys Seth Rollins. I also think you can have Rollins out there and Brock comes back and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. Either way I think it's interesting scenarios, but also who knows does Ambrose gets his third shot at the title or does he go away for awhile? 

That's a wrap for this week's Raw preview. I hope you guys enjoy Raw. Let me know what you think about the piece on Twitter @JoshLopezCSR. 

Go Blackhawks!!!!!

NXT Report: March 4th 2015

This is likely long overdue but welcome to the first ever NXT Report here on Condo on the Moon. If you have listened to our podcast, you know how much I love NXT in fact who doesn’t love NXT. It is a big weekend for the WWE’s Developmental brand, as they will be appearing at the Arnold Classic on the weekend. This will be the first venture outside of Florida for NXT as a whole. A big step as Triple H has stated he wants to see NXT expand and tour doing some live events in the future going forward.

A couple of notes on this new venture it will be spoiler free for the most part and follow what is going on with the product based on the most recent T.V. Any reference to future events are just speculation and is not based on info gather from spoilers.

So, here are some thoughts based on this week’s episode of NXT:

We had a couple of squash matches featuring NXT Tag Team Champions Blake and Murphy who have flipped the script to being heels. They are being positioned to face the much-loved team of Enzo and Big Cass. Who cut a promo with Carmella declaring their intentions to become #1 Contender to the tag team titles. Not sure if it was Blake or Murphy, but one of them hit a pretty nice frog splash covering 3/4 of the ring to get the win.

The other jobber match saw Baron Corbin squash some poor sap with The End of Days. The NXT crowd tried to do their counting gimmick but it appeared they were trying to kill that by have a long pause before Corbin and his prey locked up. Corbin has definitely had a noticeable drop in his buzz since his brutal match with Bull Dempsey. It was a horrible match and exposed Corbin for being not ready for prime time.

Solomon Crowe had a match over the aforementioned Bull Dempsey and came out on top. I wasn’t blown away with his in ring work but maybe Bull Dempsey just makes people look bad at the end of the day.

Segments of note on this show included Bayley wishing Charlotte luck in here title match with Sasha. After which Emma came along and suggested to Bayley that acting nice was what got Emma back in NXT. Some might say it was a terrible pairing with Santino, a shoplifting incident at a Walmart and a general failure to get over but let’s go with she was too nice for sake of storyline.

Sami Zayn had a taped promo that he claimed was taped from his home in Montreal. He talked about not being mental right to compete right now. He stated he has yet to watch back the match he lost against Kevin Owens yet but will and promises to return to NXT. He also made mention of all the changes in the short time he has been gone. So it appears if Sami is going to the main roster he will at least have one more run of matches on NXT.

Speaking of Kevin Owens, he was on the show again. At the start of the show, Alex Riley who Owens attacked last week was in Regal’s office begging for a match with Owens. Regal stated that he could not be a commentator and competitor in NXT. Later in the night, Kevin Owen came out, starred at Riley, and eventually dumped water on his head. Jason Albert restrained Riley and Steen calmly walked away. Riley stormed into Regal’s office as he was talking with C.J Parker. Riley said he wanted to wrestle and wanted Owens. Regal stated he needed to sign a talent contract and he would get to fight Owens but only when Regal deemed he was ready. C.J Parker chimed in stating he has been the only person that ever hurt Owens and Riley had no chance. This sets up Riley and Parker for next week.

Alexa Bliss was back and stated she is ready to compete and looking for revenge against Sasha Banks regardless of if she retained her title or not. Banks apparently broke Alexa's nose and she has been out as a result. Don’t remember that happening, but hey, its part of the story now.

Divas always get a chance on NXT and that includes main eventing as Sasha defended her title against Charlotte. It was a great match that really showed off the flexibility of Charlotte. It also showed the growing aggression in Sasha Banks. Charlotte survived many submission attempts after stopping Banks from running out on the match and taking a count out loss but keeping the title. In the end, Banks would get a pinfall using the ropes for leverage keeping this feud alive if they choose to do so. Charlotte has been another name rumored to be heading to the main roster. Her not regaining the title adds fuel to that speculation.

Last note on NXT mark your calendar as the week of Wrestlemania on Wednesday we will be getting Kevin Owens defending his title against Finn Balor. It should be an amazing match that likely will be better than many at Wrestlemania.

So, that was your NXT Report look for this every Thursday going forward here in Condo on the Moon. Don’t forget tomorrow night that we have the Condo on the Moon Podcast.

NXT Takeover [R] Evolution Preview + Predictions

If you have been living under a rock, tonight is the WWE NXT Special "Takeover R Evolution". Tonight's show hails from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Tonight show will be on the WWE Network at 8/7 CT with a pre-show with Renee Young, Alex Riley and Jason Albert. I think this NXT special may be the most anticipated NXT Special this year and what a way to end the year on a high note for these young and up and coming talents in the WWE developmental system.  We'll give you a preview for tonights show plus our predictions.

1.) NXT Tag Team Championship Match 

The Lucha Dragons (c) vs. The Vaudevillans 

Josh: Out of all the great matches that we'll see tonight I wouldn't be surprised if this match stoled the show and it should since it's for the NXT Tag Team Championship. I enjoy the wrestling style of The Lucha Dragons and at the same time I love the team of The Vaudevillans. I think this will be a good back and forth match, but at the end of the day I think the title of reign of The Lucha Dragons will come to an end tonight. I'm rolling with the Vaudevillans 

James: Dragons just won the belts recently and the NXT crowd loves them. They do like the Vaudevillans too. Still give me the guys in the masks to retain.

2.) WWE NXT Women's Championship Match 

Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks w/Becky Lynch 

Josh: I've been personally looking forward to this match for a long time. Sasha and Charlotte have split up from their partnership for about 5-6 months now and this match has brewing to happen ever since Charlotte won the NXT Championship at NXT Takeover over Natalya. Despite her losing on Raw this week, Charlotte is one of most skilled technical female performers I've ever seen. Not only is she beautiful, but she's unique in her own way. Sasha Banks another beautiful and talented performer who naturally comes off as a heel and I like the work she's been doing over the last couple of months. I'm going with Sasha Banks because I think it's her time and also the fact that Charlotte may be going up to the main roster very soon. 

James: Many feel Charlotte will lose this match as she is going to be heading to main roster soon. I think she will retain and lose the belt as part of the T.V taping after the special event. Her lose on Raw adds to my belief she needs to win and retain her championship.

3.) Finn Balor & Hideo Itami vs. The Ascension

Josh:  This has the makings to being a match of the year candidate and plus now we finally get to see Balor and Itami perform without being interrupted by commercials I'm going with Hideo & Finn, because they’re both guys I’ve been watching for a very long time. I know what they’re capable of. I wouldn’t want to be The Ascension. They’ve just been needling them, like two tigers in a cage. That’s not a team I’d want to mess with. Plus I think the Ascension will be heading up to the main roster to go after the WWE Tag Team Championships. I seriously can't wait to see this match and just one of those matches that you sit back and it reminds you of why you enjoy watching wrestling 

James: The Ascension is on the move to the main roster. Balor and Itami are still being built for the WWE audience that doesn't know them. It equals a win for the former Prince Devitt and Kenta.

Kevin Owens Debut: 

Josh:  I'll keep this short and sweet, I'm so happy for Kevin Owens and he's going to make a big impact in the WWE in my opinion. You're going to have alot of sour grape ring of honor fans that are going to nit pick every single thing the WWE does with him, but I'll tell you this I think Kevin is the perfect guy for the WWE environment and if you give it time and see how his character evolves then this is going to be a fun experience. I don't think we'll see Kevin cost Zayn the title and that leads to the WWE version of Ladder of Wars, I think Kevin will come out cut a promo about who he is and will challenge somebody to a fight 

James: Kevin Steen has transformed into Kevin Owens. Both guys are pretty much the same and Kevin will no doubt in my mind cost his long-time friend Sami Zayn the NXT Championship. If you have never seen Steen vs El Generico Ladder War you have missed out. WWE is aware of the history and made new fans to Owens aware of it so if WWE does not pair these two they have missed the boat.

4.) WWE NXT Championship Match 

Adrian Neville (c) vs. Sami Zayn 

Josh: I know alot of people may have seen this match already before a WWE televised taping, but now we're in a different environment, I've been loving the story telling aspect of this feud and Sami is doing some of the best work of his career right now. Neville is on top of his game and don't count him out, Neville deserves as much as praise as any NXT Superstar out there. I think this match may have the opportunity to surpass the Zayn vs. Cesaro matches, but at the end of the day I think we'll see Zayn finally win the NXT Championship. 

James: Based on my Steen Debut thoughts Neville wins and continues to be a tweener that is heading to the heel side of the equation. Owens vs Zayn is on and I suggest you get your popcorn ready for this one.

This should be a fun night maybe we see some appearances from Enzo & Cass, Baron Corbin, Bull Dempsey and this may be the best NXT show of the year.

Speaking of Kevin Owens who will be debuting tonight, one of his mentors and best friends Steve Corino the color commentator from Ring of Honor wrestling will be on the podcast tomorrow with James and Chris Walder.