Cheap Pops - Wrestling News & Views - September 6, 2015

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

- Superfly charged with murder….30 years later…

- MSG on WWE Network

- NXT Results

Snuka arrested on murder charges...30 years later...

From Lords of Pain:

The Lehigh County District Attorney of Pennsylvania announced today that they have arrested WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Snuka on murder charges. The 72-year-old Snuka was charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.

The charges stem from the death of Snuka's then-girlfriend Nancy Argentino back on May 11th, 1982. Nancy was murdered at the now former George Washington Motor Lodge. Snuka was never charged and the case was re-opened in 1984 due to her family pressuring authorities.

Snuka was arraigned Tuesday afternoon and sent to Lehigh County Jail in lieu of %10 of $100,000 bail.

Mike: It’s actually been a week of real crappy stories...and it’s only Wednesday right now!  A shooting outside the performance center, Seth Rollins girlfriend seemingly being a Nazi-supporter, and TNA wrestler Bram (Charlotte’s estranged husband or ex-husband) charged with domestic abuse.  I typically don’t enjoy writing about this kind of thing, but when it’s the only news in the hopper, I kind of feel stuck.  Hopefully we’ll get some bright news over the rest of the week.’

I have heard about this Snuka story for years now.  I am amazed that he’s only now being charged...33 years later when he’s in his 70’s.  I am not saying that justice shouldn’t be served, but it seems real odd to me that only now have they decided to do this.  Could some new evidence have popped up 30 years later?

Chris: This story is so distasteful it curls my toes.  When you read about the injuries sustained by Nancy Argentino it's horrifying that justice was not done.  Snuka could be innocent but the evidence seems quite damning.  The allegations of Vince McMahon's briefcase and a closed door meeting with those in charge of the investigation...well it sure doesn't look good.  

Poor Nancy and her loved ones have sought justice for so long...  Hopefully answers are coming.

Jeff: This is why I stopped watching the news years ago--everything is so damn depressing. I heard about this a few years ago, but figured if Superfly Snuka wasn’t in jail it must not have teeth. Guess I was wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time--the case of the Pittsburgh comic shop guy who was convicted of murdering his wife 20 years before was bungled repeatedly and it still came back to get him in the end. The only swift justice to be had anymore is vigilantism, which will get you in jail quicker than Snuka,so you’re screwed either way.

Live from MSG

On October 3, the WWE will be airing a live show from Madison Square Garden.  Here is the card they have announced so far:

• Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show
• WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs. John Cena with just the WWE United States Title on the line
• Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho (changed from Owens vs. Cesaro)
• Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler
• Sheamus vs. Randy Orton
• Appearances by The Dudley Boyz, Mark Henry, The New Day, Team Bella, Stardust and others

Chris: I can't wait to see Orton vs. Sheamus plus Cena vs. Rollins for the millionth time!  Yeah, not.  

On the other hand, isn't it totally unexciting to see Brock Lesnar square off with the Big Show?  I can't wait to see the fabulous match those guys work out.

Now, Jericho and Owens should be a cool match.  That's something I'm really looking forward to, and we may never see it again.  I bet they steal the show.  Hey, one other thing, at least we get the Dudleyz back in the Garden!  That gives two matches worth cherry picking for!

Mike: I wonder what Sheamus and Orton think about being booked against each other for the millionth time.  It’s like the WWE can’t even imagine what else they can do with either guy except for have them face each other.  This is why you need the World Heavyweight title.  It gives something for the upper midcarders to fight for.  I guess they are trying to elevate the US title there, but I just can’t see that working.

Jericho Vs Owens should be a cool match.  And hopefully, they will let Rusev and Dolph get to a real finish this time.  Though that feud got really stupid real fast on Raw last week.  Again, these guys needs something tangible to fight for.  WWE writers are not good enough to give wrestlers storylines these days, so the title at least makes a good Macguffin that everyone can understand.  

Lesnar and Big Show...uhm...Lesnar seems incapable of doing anything other than suplex...and I can’t imagine German Suplexing a guy who is a foot taller than you is safe.  So I am curious about this match just to see what the hell could they possibly do to make this match watchable??  

NXT Results - September 4, 2015

- Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Round 1: Rhyno and Baron Corbin def. The Ascension with Rhyno hitting The Gore.

- Neville and Solomon Crowe are teamed up fo the tournament.  Neville talks about his gratitude to Dusty and wanting to make him proud.  Solomon seems very excited to be teaming with Neville.  Almost creepy-level excited.

-Promo video for Nia Jax

- Alexa Bliss def. Blue Pants with the Sparkly Splash

- Regal is backstage talking to Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.  Tyler Breeze interrupts them.  He needs to win this tournament.  He demands Regal give him a partner who is important and can help him win.  Regal gives him Bull Dempsey and says they will face these two important free agents next wee;. Tyler isn’t happy about being teamed with Dempsey, but he says he will win no matter who his partner is.

- Recap of last week’s fatal fourway main event.  They even show the botched ending, playing it up like it was supposed to happen.  After the  match, Emma reminded the NXT Universe that Paige and Emma were the ones who started the Diva Revolution.

- Apollo Crews def. Martin Stone with Gorilla Press followed by standing moonsault

- Jason Jordan and Chad Gable talk about their match tonight with Crowe and Neville.  They promise to make history.  They cut a real strong promo here, including some humor over Gable’s insistence on their catchphrase of “Ready, Willing, and Gable.”

-Finn Balor is backstage.  He talks about having to defend the NXT title at a bunch of upcoming shows in Texas.  He also hypes teaming with Samoa Joe in the Dusty Tag Team Classic.

- Eva Marie def. Billy Jay with Sliced Bread #2

- Last week, Mojo, Zack, Enzo, and Cassidy celebrated after their victory.  They were all real hyped about winning in New York, but they couldn’t decide where to go to celebrate, Long Island or the Lower East Side.  How you doin?

- Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Round 1: Jason Jordan/Chad Gable def. Neville/Crowe with the assisted German Suplex after Crowe tagged himself into the match, costing his team the match.

Mike: The Dusty Tag Team classic started this week with great matches to start and end the show.  Definitely the jolt that NXT has needed lately.  This was one of the best episodes of NXT in a long time.

The opening match was a surprisingly good match.  Well paced, no rest holds, just a brutal smashmouth matchup.  All four guys got a real solid showcase for what they can do here.  Not sure why WWE seemed to be protecting Corbin so much with all those squash matches.  He’s clearly capable of wrestling convincing longer matches, and even when he loses (like to Samoa Joe at Takeover Brooklyn), he seems to recover.  I was surprised by the results of this one.  I assumed Ascension was going to win.  

Alexa Bliss just comes off as a little beast these days!  Huge turnaround from the pixie she started as, and she has made it work real well.  Her match with Blue Pants was real one-sided with Alexa giving a huge beatdown on the Discount Diva.  

Apollo Crews was all smiles his whole match.  It’s kind of infectious.  He has an incredible move set, and so much talent.  Speed, power, submissions.  He is a ridiculously impressive wrestler.  He even sold Stone’s comeback real well until he finished him off.

This is the second week in a row we’ve had a “kick out” botch in a women’s match.  Eva Marie seemed to forget to kick out when she was pinned.  Though I will say that it looked like she was injured because she moved kind of gingerly the rest of the match.  And I thought it was lame that they didn’t give Billie Kay anything to do. NXT has a huge vacuum with so many women jumping to the main roster, so why not give all the women some time to see what they can do.

Great main event.  Jordan and Gable make a great tag team.  And Neville and Jordan looked great against each other when they briefly got to fight.  I would love to see them in a longer match.

Jeff: Agreed! The Rhodes Tag Team Classic--slightly odd, since nobody thinks of Rhodes as a tag team wrestler, but whatever--is the perfect device for getting NXT back on track. Sadly it doesn’t help the horrible announcing. It’s getting to be Schiavone-Heenan bad. Zero Chemistry.

Mike pretty much said everything I had to say, though I do want to talk about the pairings. Didn’t Rhyno and Corbin recently have a singles match against each other? Is Rhyno turning heel or is Corbin going to turn on his partner, I wonder? Rhyno and Bull Dempsey make more sense than Bull and Prince Pretty. I would have paired Breeze with THE Brian Kendrick or kept Liger around for this and force them to team up. Could you imagine Balor/Joe vs Breeze/Liger in the finals? Jordan and Gable are The World’s Greatest Tag Team 2.0. They should bring back Kurt Angle’s theme for them.

On the NXT Divas, again I agree that they’ve just taken most of the true talent to the main roster. Blue Pants is actually pretty good, but when she’s called to job she is strictly a jobber, if that makes sense. I mean if she is going to win, she puts in work, and if she doesn’t she’s just a rag doll. Billie Kay--seriously, that’s the best they came up with? Was Vince watching old footage of Billie Jean King at the time? Judy Bagwell on a pole...anyway, she looked better in the ring to me than The Big Red Boo Machine. A little tentative, yes, but she’s out there to make a failed Diva look good (by suplexing her into her own finisher no less, since she clearly can’t figure out how to run the turnbuckles for a decent Sliced Bread #2)  so she can’t make herself look too good. I already see more potential in Miss Kay than most of the other current NXT Divas.

I agree with Lance Storm, by the way--Diva is actually a derogatory term and makes no sense as a label for the WWE’s female superstars. Where’s Gail Kim and The Glamazon when we need them?