The TV wrestling was top shelf this week. RAW kicked it off with a bunch of solid Money in the Bank qualifying singles matches (outside of the weird Apollo Crews/Chris Jericho stinker), highlighted by Sami Zayn vs. Sheamus, Cesaro vs. The Miz, and the Match of the Week I settled on.
Main Event and NXT put out some good stuff as well, including a really fun New Day vs. Social Outcasts match worked around Xavier Woods finding extra power in wearing Big E’s singlet, as well as a really nice debut for the former TMDK, now known as TM61 (apparently not a Pokemon reference), against Gargano and Ciampa.
SmackDown! had two good title matches too, with Rusev and Kalisto having a match way better than their Extreme Rules match, and Cesaro and Miz again having a great match, which made them 2 for 2 this week. Hell even Superstars had a couple of decent matches in Summer Rae vs. Natalya and Zack Ryder vs. Viktor – and decent is really high-end Superstars at this point.
Cesaro vs. Miz from SmackDown! was really a great match, with Miz constantly going back to Cesaro’s shoulder and some big time near falls. Any other week, that’s your TV Match of the Week, but Big Kev and the Best Wrestler in the Universe said nope.
AJ Styles is wrestling like a man from another planet right now. This is a guy who was said to have back issues right before his debut in January, and had an ankle injury strong enough to keep him off weekend house shows before Sunday’s Extreme Rules. Despite this, he’s had one of the most incredible runs I’ve ever seen from a professional wrestler. From his TV matches with The Miz, Outcasts, Sheamus and Owens, to the strong series with Jericho (and based off of Jericho’s last few weeks, those were miracle matches), to the excellent 6-man tags with The Club vs. The Bloodline, to the epic Roman Reigns matches, this is a man who is just on fire.
Kevin Owens is no slouch either. He’s a guy who has adapted to the confinements of WWE’s sports entertainment fun world better than almost any I’ve seen. There’s a depressing gap without guys like Punk and Bryan running around, but Owens fills it. He might not always have the best match on the show, but he’ll do something weird or dickish that makes you think, “That’s one of the best guys out there.” And when he’s in there with a high-end wrestler, like a Cena or a Zayn or a Styles… it’s tremendous stuff.
These two had what would be my MOTY a few months ago if it wasn’t for the Styles/Reigns matches. And that opened up RAW. This closed RAW, and was a hair under their last match, but this was a great match as opposed to a really really really great match. These aren’t TV matches, these are pay-per-view quality matches. They’re awesome. Highlights here was both guys just punching each other in the head early, Styles’ springboard 450, an excellent countout tease, and the tease and delivery of the powerbomb to the steps.
Outside of that, they kept a great pace and brought an exhausted crowd up and down like only two pros can. Styles’ timing is really incredible, and the guy is just awesome to watch. He somehow sells his exhaustion while at the same time doing some of the most athletically impressive stuff.
I love the newest addition to his arsenal too: his springboard bumps. He had a great one in the Reigns’ match, and another great one here which led to the finish.
Great week of TV wrestling, and this was the highlight.
