DVD Preview: WWE Double Feature: Payback 2017 & Backlash 2017

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Provided By: Fetch Publicity

The following story is courtesy of Fetch Publicity ...

WWE’s premier brands Raw and SmackDown Live return to Pay-Per-View for another two spectacular shows, brought together on one epic Double Feature DVD set! The Superstars of Raw look to settle the score at Payback, while the Superstars of SmackDown do battle at Backlash, featuring hard-hitting championship matches and a terrifying brawl in WWE’s first ever House Of Horrors!

Synopsis:

Match Listing:

Payback 2017

Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

House Of Horrors Match
Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt

Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe

Raw Women’s Championship Match
Bayley (Champion) vs. Alexa Bliss

Raw Tag Team Championship Match
The Hardy Boyz (Champions) vs. Sheamus & Cesaro

United States Championship Match
Kevin Owens (Champion) vs. Chris Jericho

Cruiserweight Championship Match
Neville (Champion) vs. Austin Aries

Backlash 2017

WWE Championship Match
Randy Orton (Champion) vs. Jinder Mahal

United States Championship Match
Kevin Owens (Champion) vs. AJ Styles

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
The Usos (Champions) vs. Breezango

Six-Woman Tag Team Match
Naomi, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch vs. The Welcoming Committee (Natalya, Carmella & Tamina)

Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin

Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan

Plus, more action and DVD extras!

We like it because:

The Raw vs SmackDown Live rivalry continues to go from strength to strength with another two incredible shows.

Payback saw dramatic twists as the Superstars of Raw did battle on the first major show since WrestleMania, so the stakes were high in the all-new WWE landscape.

The show is headlined by a brutal fight from supremacy between “The Big Dog” Roman Reigns and “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman. What happened shocked the WWE Universe, as one Superstar was left lying from one of the most brutal beatdowns in recent memory!

And with the “Superstar Shake-Up” in full swing, SmackDown Live Superstars also appeared, including WWE Champion Randy Orton battling Bray Wyatt in the first ever House Of Horrors match, which combined the jaw-dropping action of sports-entertainment with all the scares and atmosphere of a horror movie!

Orton and the rest of the SmackDown Live roster returned in style for Backlash, featuring the unexpected rise of Jinder Mahal to challenge for Orton’s WWE Championship. It’s a moment that will truly go down in WWE history!

Plus, there’s stunning action from some of the most talented Superstars in WWE today, with a much-anticipated clash between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles – a match that’s as controversial as it is action-packed – plus the main roster debut of “The Artist” Shinsuke Nakamura against Dolph Ziggler, two of sports-entertainment’s most exciting talents meeting for the very first time!

Don’t miss out!

WWE Double Feature: Payback 2017 & Backlash 2017 will officially be released on DVD on Monday July 17 2017.

For more information, click here.

TLC 2016

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 174 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: February 6 2017

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

TLC 2016 rounded off the Pay-Per-View year on the SmackDown side, a year where the blue brand has completed a remarkable comeback from being an almost ignored show to WWE's most entertaining and logical weekly programme. TLC also served to culminate several lengthy rivalries, all of which combined with some high-quality action to deliver a really good event for WWE fans.

The show opens with a basic, television-esque battle for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles between Heath Slater & Rhyno and the team of Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt, which existed more to further the Orton-in-the-Wyatt-Family storyline. Next up, we have a No Disqualification bout between Nikki Bella and Carmella which, whilst fairly short, draws a line under their feud which began in August, whilst also setting up the subsequent Nikki-Natalya rivalry.

The Miz and Dolph Ziggler then deliver a strong match in a re-run of an old feud which ended up succeeding beyond anyone's expectations; their Ladder match isn't quite as spectacular as their Intercontinental Title vs. Career match at No Mercy, but it's still well worth watching, and marks another highlight in a year of career resurgence for Miz. Baron Corbin and Kalisto meet in the fourth match in what is arguably the best Chairs match to date, featuring more innovative spots than we have seen in previous Chairs bouts. Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss under Tables rules is reasonable, but is slightly let down by a less-than-enthusiastic crowd.

Finally, AJ Styles provides more weight to support his candidacy for Wrestler Of The Year as he and Dean Ambrose put on an excellent TLC match for the WWE Championship. The finish is slightly predictable and some may say that it brings the match down a notch, but this high-risk battle is as good as anyone could have expected, and still ends the show on a strong note. The pre-show 10-man tag team match is included as a DVD extra, and features an brief reunion between the old tandem of Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, albeit as opponents.

It's interesting that, usually, the TLC show is one of WWE's strongest of the year, since the addition of tables, ladders and chairs generally make for more exciting matches. However, the SmackDown crew is talented enough, and can deliver such strong matches purely using their basic wrestling skills, that the TLC stipulations perhaps would have been better suited for the Raw roster, which tends to place a greater emphasis on gimmicks and weapon-based brawls. Nevertheless, TLC 2016 is undoubtedly a fun show to watch and has several thrilling encounters which you should enjoy reliving here. It's further evidence as to why SmackDown has been WWE's most exciting show since the second Brand Extension in July.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10 - Good

TLC 2016 coming soon on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Provided By: Fetch Publicity

The following story is courtesy of Fetch Publicity ...

With tables, ladders, and chairs surrounding the ring and the WWE World Championship suspended high above, AJ Styles heads into his first TLC match defending the title against "The Lunatic Fringe" Dean Ambrose. The rivalry for the Intercontinental Championship reaches new heights as The Miz defends his title against Dolph Ziggler in a Ladder Match. The women of the blue brand get their chance to shine when Becky Lynch defends the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship against Alexa Bliss in a Tables Match. Plus more!

Synopsis:

Match Listing:

WWE Championship TLC Match
AJ Styles (Champion) vs. Dean Ambrose

Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match
The Miz (Champion) vs. Dolph Ziggler

SmackDown Women's Championship Tables Match
Becky Lynch (Champion) vs. Alexa Bliss

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton

Chairs Match
Baron Corbin vs. Kalisto

No Disqualification Match
Nikki Bella vs. Carmella

Plus, more action, extras and Blu-ray exclusives!

We like it because:

TLC is always one of the most exciting nights of the year for WWE. But this event has special meaning, as it finishes off 2016’s incredible run of pay-per-view events from SmackDown Live!

WWE Champion AJ Styles also caps off what is arguably the most impressive debut year in WWE history with another stunning performance, battling the former champ Dean Ambrose in a TLC match four months in the making. Styles shows the world just why he’s WWE Champion – and why 2017 could be just as phenomenal.

The Miz and Dolph Ziggler’s epic rivalry comes to a conclusion in dramatic, bone-crunching style – a highly-innovative Ladder Match. Just when it looks like Miz and Dolph couldn’t possibly find new ways to punish each other, they pull out something new to stun the WWE Universe.

Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss’s Tables Match is also great enough to rival anything happening in the Raw’s women’s division – proof that the female Superstars from WWE’s blue brand are just as capable of groundbreaking action.

With all this and much more, TLC is another must-own pay-per-view event!

TLC 2016 will officially be released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday February 6 2017.

For more information, click here.

TLC 2012

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 169 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: March 25 2013

TLC 2012 could end up being remembered as one of the most significant events of its kind in the years to come, as it featured a stunning debut for three men who could one day rule the roost, so to speak, in WWE. If that isn't a recommendation for the DVD of this show, I don't know what is, but I will elaborate nonetheless.

The action kicks off with a fun Tag Team Tables match pitting Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara against Team Rhodes Scholars, which has a sweet-looking finish. The next two matches are standard fare, with Antonio Cesaro facing R-Truth again and Kofi Kingston battling Wade Barrett once more (the latter is the best of the two bouts). The event really turns around, though, with an incredible TLC Match pitting the new group of The Shield against Team Hell No and Ryback. What initially seemed like a basic substitute for the planned TLC scrap between Ryback and CM Punk (Punk's knee injury put paid to that, although he does appear on this card to cut a promo from the stands) ends up being an absolutely stunning brawl with loads of memorable spots (some of which appear to be extremely painful), and which puts over the new unit of Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose in superb fashion.

Eve Torres vs. Naomi was never going to be able to follow that, but it is decent nonetheless, and Big Show vs. Sheamus under Chairs rules is another surprisingly good battle between the two, even if the result is a head-scratcher. An impromptu six-man tag serves the multi-purpose of giving 3MB some Pay-Per-View exposure, turning Alberto Del Rio babyface, solidifying The Miz's own face turn, and bringing back The Brooklyn Brawler for one night. It's totally skippable, but the Brooklyn crowd (which were mostly hot all night) do give it a respectable response. Lastly, John Cena and Dolph Ziggler graft in their Ladder match for Ziggler's Money In The Bank briefcase, but it feels unnecessary and should have been earlier on the card, allowing the TLC match to main event, erm, TLC. The finish is a surprise (and a welcome one, judging by the crowd reaction), but it still doesn't feel like a worthy headline attraction.

Nevertheless, TLC is one of WWE's top shows of the year (not for the first time), boasting a Match Of The Year contender along with strong support elsewhere on the card. Even if you don't usually buy PPV events on DVD, I would suggest that you add TLC 2012 to your collection to witness the phenomenal debut match - maybe the best "first match" for anyone on the main roster in WWE history - of The Shield.

Overall Rating: 8/10 - Very Good