Poor WWE, they’re stuck in a rut. We’re about two weeks away from the WWE brand split, meaning mostly different directions for a ton of guys on WWE’s roster, as well as new members to the roster from NXT and WWE’s past. So everyone’s just kind of wrestling decent matches with almost zero direction. In the middle of this, WWE is trying to build to a pay-per-view, though not really trying – mostly relying on established feuds to kind of slowly carry us past the finish line until after Battleground, all the while headlining it with what has been one of their biggest possible Fan Dream Matches that many thought could headline a WrestleMania, between all three members of the Shield, one of whom won’t be appearing on TV at all right up until the pay-per-view due to a Wellness Policy suspension, all the while the company starts building to SummerSlam, which is headlined right now by a guy who, as I write this, might be a day away from getting knocked out in a fight in the UFC and thus suspended from any sporting competition for a period of time that takes us way past SummerSlam. If anything deserves a run-on sentence it’s this shit.
So WWE’s main roster is just kind of doing its’ thing, meandering along with mostly good performances stuck in a completely monotonous presentation. RAW was pretty terrible, SmackDown! was pretty good, and the C-shows were average. On the WWE Network though, NXT absolutely crushed it.
NXT this week was just top shelf top to bottom – great sport and great entertainment. Tremendous wrestling, promos, angles – this sucker had it all. It was 2 for 2 on wrestling: Bayley/Alexa was a really good match, for a little lady Alexa Bliss looks like god damn Arn Anderson beating up Bayley. They got time and had a game crowd – good stuff. And Revival vs. American Alpha was another great match, might be neck-and-neck with The End match for me and again just a hair below the Dallas match, though this was just as good as an End of the Series match as that was a first time match. Why am I even comparing – all this shit rocks. Revival does so many awesome subtle things – wild swinging punches, slaps and fists to the ribs, the tag out of the backdrop. We know it’s a work, but it’s nice when an attempt is made to make it feel real. Gable was again great on defense, looking like a total wreck and doing that crazy dive/bump to the outside. Jordan was also tremendous, again with great fire. Maybe needs to work on the spear though. The Shatter Machine on the apron finish was your ideal “This is it (for now)” finish. These guys are putting together amazing matches together and trying stuff that feels fresh in today’s wrestling environment. A lot of current WWE matches I judge against current WWE standards – they have their style and usually stick to it. Rollins vs. Reigns is a fun WWE-style match, but in the great black hole of wrestling history it isn’t anything special. These matches though, I can judge up against matches from any time period. They care about the little things that not a ton of dudes seem to care about anymore.
Angles and promos I liked too – Rhyno destroying the Hype Bros and Blake & Murphy was a nice unexpected surprise, with a nice hook having Rhyno leave with no explanation. The Bayley/Nia Jax challenge was well done too. NXT setting up stuff for the future, my God it’s back. The backstage interviews building up the main event were A+ too.
The main roster was highlighted by SmackDown!, which even though there’s not a whole lot of interesting stuff going on, at least it’s only a two-hour show and you at least get some good individual wrestling matches. Seth Rollins/Jey Uso, AJ Styles/Enzo Amore, Kalisto/The Miz, and Chris Jericho/Sami Zayn with Kevin Owens on commentary – four mostly different types of bad guy vs. smaller underdog matches – were all good for what they were. Rollins/Jey was probably my favorite, The Usos are just so god damn competent, and Rollins doesn’t quite seem at 100% but is still just shitting out pretty good matches right now. Kalisto/Miz was also really really fun for like 3 minutes. The Becky/Natalya angle wasn’t bad either. All worth checking out.
RAW from July 4th was a waste of everyone’s time besides the Food Fight, which was kind of incredible. Everyone’s talking about Final Deletion when Vince McMahon’s WWE had a grand piece of entertainment as their cold open, with good logical spots and everyone having a grand old time. Camera work was a little shady, with Titus walking in front of the chokeslam spot and totally missing Zayn’s attempt at some Buster Keaton shit with the beans. Owens was your highlight, and the pie camera shot was really peak Kevin Dunn. Total blast.
The other stuff, I dunno. Rusev vs. Titus and Enzo & Cass vs. the Outcasts were okay – Enzo wearing the Outcasts’ Colonial wig with his wide crazy eyes was my second favorite part of the show. Ambrose on Spanish commentary was a good laugh, as was Karl Anderson getting a big pop for bringing out the “hot Asian wife” line. Xavier Woods also did a really good job making this goofy-ass New Day/Wyatt’s material seem realistic I thought. The main event 16-man elimination sounded like the most fun thing and then it went like 30 minutes and wasn’t. Kind of amazing that Charlotte and Sasha Banks are feuding on WWE TV right now and it kind of blows too. C’mon.
Main Event had no real standout match, just decent competent wrestling. Cesaro vs. Curtis Axel was a solid match, brought up another level by the awesome Cesaro Bo Train spot that you can find a GIF of here. Rusev’s savate kick remains one of the best things in wrestling, but the match with Crews was no good. Get it together, Crews! The other two matches – Baron Corbin vs. Sin Cara and Golden Truth vs. The Ascension – were both too short to be anything.
The Search for a Superstars Match Worth Watching continues. The Usos vs. The Ascension was every Usos/Ascension match but a little worse. And Breezango vs. The Shining Stars was a match that I’m still not convinced happened.
I also watched the Cruiserweight Classic: Bracketology special, which was really cool, and will review the Cruiserweight matches as a part of this blog. Loved the presentation, loved seeing Daniel Bryan back doing something. This is great stuff, and it was neat seeing a bunch of unknowns get introduced to the WWE Network-subscribing WWE fan with quick little features that did more in two minutes to make these guys known than WWE has done for over 50% of the current main roster. Like who the fuck is Simon Gotch??
WWE TV Match of the Week: Easily American Alpha vs. The Revival (NXT 7/6/16) … if that match didn’t exist, probably Bayley/Alexa Bliss but maybe Seth Rollins/Jey Uso.
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Tie! Tie! Tie! Tie! American Alpha and The Revival remind you that even though they’re only on TV like once a month, they’re awesome.
