The Wrestling Section

Over the last few months, WhatCulture Pro Wrestling has been holding qualifiers for the Pro Wrestling World Cup, featuring wrestlers from all over the world. With the Round of 16 finalized (two from each qualifier), I thought I'd give my predictions for the tournament. Let's get into this. Round of 16 KUSHIDA (Japan) def. Kenny Williams (Scotland) Zack Sabre Jr. (England) def. Jay Lethal (USA) Hiromu Takahashi (Japan) def. Lucky Kid (Germany) Michael Elgin (Canada) def. Joe Coffey (Scotland) Ricochet (USA) def. Angelico (South Africa) Penta El Zero M (Mexico) def. Bad Bones (Germany) Will Ospreay (England) def. Rey Mysterio (Mexico) Travis Banks (New Zealand) def. Mike Bailey (Canada) Quarterfinals Zack Sabre Jr. (England) def. KUSHIDA (Japan) Michael Elgin (Canada) def. Hiromu Takahashi (Japan) Penta El Zero M (Mexico) def. Ricochet (USA) Will Ospreay (England) def. Travis Banks (New Zealand) Semi Finals Zack Sabre Jr. (England) def. Michael El...

For those of you who don't know, Super Strong Style 16 is an annual tournament held by PROGRESS Wrestling, with the winner receiving a shot at the PROGRESS Championship, currently held by Pete Dunne. With the full bracket being released and the tournament starting this Saturday, May 27th, I thought I'd give my predictions for it. Let's get into it. First Round Zack Gibson def. Jack Sexsmith Zack Sabre Jr. def. David Starr Travis Banks def. Jimmy Havoc Mark Andrews def. Flamita Tyler Bate def. Pastor William Eaver Mark Haskins def. Flash Morgan Webster Matt Riddle def. Trent Seven Nathan Cruz def. Jeff Cobb Quarterfinals Zack Gibson def. Zack Sabre Jr. Travis Banks def. Mark Andrews Tyler Bate def. Mark Haskins Matt Riddle def. Nathan Cruz Semi-Finals Zack Gibson def. Travis Banks Matt Riddle def. Tyler Bate Finals Zack Gibson def. Matt Riddle

Pre-Show: Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson Winners: Enzo & Cass Match #1: Neville (c) vs Austin Aries-Cruiserweight Championship Winner: Neville Match #2: Bayley (c) vs Alexa Bliss-RAW Women's Championship Winner: Bayley Match #3: The Hardy Boyz (c) vs Sheamus & Cesaro-RAW Tag Team Championships Winners: The Hardy Boyz Match #4: Kevin Owens (c) vs Chris Jericho-United States Championship Winner: Kevin Owens Match #5: Seth Rollins vs Samoa Joe Winner: Samoa Joe Match #6: Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-House of Horrors match Winner: Bray Wyatt Match #7: Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman Winner: Braun Strowman...please.

Pre-Show Match #1: Alicia Fox vs Nia Jax Winner: Nia Jax Is there really any doubt? Does anyone really think Alicia Fox is going to be the first woman to beat Nia Jax on RAW? Nia wins, easy. Main Card Match #1: TJ Perkins (c) vs Brian Kendrick-Cruiserweight Championship Winner: TJ Perkins The cruiserweights are finally back! After an amazing Cruiserweight Classic, the division is back up and running and the title is back, with TJ Perkins becoming the champion after winning the Cruiserweight Classic. He makes his first title defense against Brian Kendrick at Clash of Champions. I'm going with Perkins for the win since I can't see him dropping the title after just winning it last week. Match #2: Cesaro vs Sheamus-Match #7 in the Best of 7 Series Winner: Cesaro So, we're FINALLY going to see the last Cesaro-Sheamus match for a while...hopefully. Yeah, pretty much all interest I had in seeing these two wrestle is completely gone after having seen them wre...

Match #1: The Miz (c) vs Dolph Ziggler-Intercontinental Championship Winner: The Miz I'm sorry, I love Dolph Ziggler and all, but the Miz is straight fire right now. Ever since that Talking Smack promo, Miz has just been so great. I'd love to see Ziggler win the belt and get some kind of momentum going, but I think taking the title off of Miz tonight would be a mistake. I'm going with the Miz. Match #2: Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt Winner: Bray Wyatt Now, this might just be me being blinded by what I want to happen over what I think will happen, but I'm going with Bray Wyatt for the win. After Orton got murked at SummerSlam by Brock Lesnar a month ago, I wouldn't put it past WWE to give Orton the W over Wyatt as compensation for doing the job for Lesnar. However, I think Bray Wyatt needs this win...a lot. Wyatt desperately needs a big, clean win after years of directionless booking. Again, it probably won't happen, but I'm picking Wyatt. M...

Pre-Show Match #1: Cesaro vs Sheamus-Best of 7 Series Match #1 Winner: Sheamus Yeah, more Cesaro & Sheamus matches! Man, there have not been enough of these yet. Especially in the las month! Yeah, even though these two tend to have good matches together (their match at Night of Champions 2014 was great), the fact that we've seen these two go head-to-head twice in the last month has pretty much drained any interest I have in this match. Since Cesaro won both those matches, I have a feeling Sheamus will pick up the win tomorrow. Especially since Cesaro can just get his win back at some point. Match #2: Sami Zayn & Neville vs The Dudley Boyz Winners: Sami Zayn & Neville Fun fact: It will be one whole year this Wednesday since the Dudley Boyz came back to WWE. One of the most legendary tag teams in history...and they're on the pre-show. Jesus. They square off against the team of Sami Zayn & Neville and they are most definitely losing. Based on the last...

Match #1: Ember Moon vs Billie Kay Winner: Ember Moon Looks like Billie Kay is stepping into the role of "Wrestler who jobs to the new incoming indy star" that Tyler Breeze had in NXT and Tye Dillinger currently has. Billie Kay faces the debuting Ember Moon, better known as Athena on the indy scene, and Billie is definitely eating an O-Face tomorrow. I know I said that in the NXT review, but I'm almost 100% certain that's what's happening. Like, 99.99% certain. I'm going with Ember Moon for the win. Match #2: No Way Jose vs Austin Aries Winner: Austin Aries Yeah, to be honest, when I envisioned Austin Aries in NXT, I definitely envisioned him doing something more...important. Now, I don't have anything against No Way Jose, but I was hoping Aries would be doing things that were more lasting in the grand scheme of things. As for the match, while I do like Jose, having him beat Aries would more than likely hurt Aries more than it would help J...

Pre-Show Match #1: The Usos vs Breezango Winners: The UsosNot much to really say. Usos are probably going to win. Main Card Match #1: Sasha Banks & ? vs Charlotte & Dana Brooke Winners: Sasha Banks & ? It better be Bayley. It just better be. So yeah, I'm probably getting my hopes up hoping Sasha Banks' mystery partner is Bayley, but I really want it to be her. I've heard rumors of Nikki Bella or Nia Jax being the mystery partner, even though the latter makes literally zero sense from a character or storytelling point. No matter who the partner is though, I'm going with Banks' team for the win, with Dana Brooke eating the pin. Match #2: The New Day vs The Wyatt Family Winners: The New Day I was interested in this feud, and then they had that lame Wyatt Family compound fight (or the "New Day-letion", if you would), now I couldn't care less. Since the Wyatt Family got split up via the draft, I'm going with the Ne...

Pre-Show Match #1: The Lucha Dragons vs The Dudley Boyz Winners: The Lucha Dragons Leave it to WWE to book not one, but two Kick-Off matches two days before the pay-per-view. And better yet, one with zero build up! Woohoo! This match pits the Lucha Dragons against the Dudley Boyz. Since the Dudleyz are jobbers at this point, I'm going with the Lucha Dragons for the win. Match #2: The Golden Truth vs Breezango Winners: The Golden Truth After the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG build up to the Golden Truth coming together, they finally are...and losing a lot. What was the point? Anyway, they face their equally directionless and poorly named Breezango. It's a pointless match. I'm going with Golden Truth. Main Card Match #1: Apollo Crew vs Sheamus Winner: Apollo Crews In what I'm hoping will help him get over big with the fans, Apollo Crews faces off with Sheamus. This is exactly what Crews needs in my opinion, a good opponent who ...