How great is it to fall in love?
Heart racing, palms sweaty, cheeks flushing, faster breathing. Any momentary setback leading to anxiety, panic, despair.
But what happens after you fall in love?
It’s a different kind of love. The reactions aren’t so immediate. You grow with the person. New feelings arise. But the immediate reactions – they can dissipate.
Can you fall in love again and again?
This was a great week of WWE TV and as they tend to do, WWE found a way of making me fall in love with it all over again. The special thing about this week is it didn’t have any huge angle or anything – it just had great TV, the kind of stuff they could do all the time and it wouldn’t feel like overkill.
But more than anything I first want to talk about Jack Gallagher’s ass kick.
Let’s talk about being a professional wrestling fan for a moment, OK? As a rule, we as fans love to cheer the new guy, complain about the current guy, and either mock or revere the previous guy. Regardless – I think Jack Gallagher might be my favorite professional wrestler. The guy might just successfully bring World of Sport to WWE. And I like his charisma, I like his charming moveset. But here’s what I liked about him most – his ass kick. Not the kick itself, but his continuation of the ass kick into a pose on the ropes as he used them to catch his balance. That was a beautiful thing. It was subtle. Most guys would just stop after the kick, maybe look menacing or something. Not Jack. He had a lot of momentum on that kick, and he showed it by continuing into the ropes, and then doing a pose to put a cherry on top. Jack is good. More wrestlers should be like Jack.
RAW was a wonderful mess of television that wasn’t great but at least made sense for an hour and a half and then became so great by the end that I thought it was the best RAW since the draft. And that main event, boy – it got my palms sweaty alright. This show was ideal (3-hour) wrestling television – good pace, fun angles, a bunch of okay quick matches with good stories behind them along with a few marquee matches.
First, the fun angles. Sami Zayn vs. Mick Foley makes for the most passive aggressive Austin vs. McMahon ever. The big main Reigns/Rollins/Owens/Jericho feud is treading water but I popped big for Rollins posing as the limo driver to surprise Jericho and then CRAWLING THROUGH THE LIMO to attack him. Sheamus made a babyface turn by beating up a bunch of local indy guys in a bar with Cesaro and I am so proud I could write that sentence. Would’ve been cooler with a handheld cam but just tremendous stuff. Heyman dropping a bleeped F-bomb and crying on TV post-Goldberg loss was so great too. Also some unintentionally hilarious stuff on this show – Mick Foley’s teeth fell out and national television, and the security cam guys in the background just going about their business as Seth Rollins gave Chris Jericho a Pedigree on somebody’s car was amazing.
Then, the okay quick matches. Love Braun Strowman. He squashed R-Truth and it was fine. I am so amped for Goldust vs. Braun Strowman, maybe moreso than Sami/Braun. But glad they’re continuing Sami/Braun. The cruiserweights had a pair of alright matches but think 205 Live is where we’re going to get the good stuff for a bit. Cedric getting the hometown pop and then kneeing Tony Nese in the face very hard was great. Drew Gulak’s jacket still fucking sucks. Noam Dar is a trash pro wrestler but he’s sexy as fuck which might mean he’ll get a chance to get good. Swann’s spin kick on Dar and promo were both tremendous. Ruminate on this sentence for a bit: Rusev kicked Enzo Amore in the nuts because he showed his cock to his wife. In execution it was silly, but on paper there is no greater explanation of pro wrestling than that sentence.
And then the marquee matches. The last hour of this show was great – Reigns vs. Owens with a shot at Owens’ title for Reigns on the line, New Day vs. Gallows/Anderson for the Tag Titles, and the Charlotte/Sasha Falls Count Anywhere Match for the Women’s Title. Reigns/Owens was such a fine little TV match… not much happened but it all worked. Roman sold big, the big spots were timed well, and it was super physical. I mean sure it’s kind of stupid that they build up a main event for a PPV with the exact same match in the middle of a RAW but it’s WWE god dammit – you take what you can get. Everyone was fired up in that tag match; it’s like they had clear instructions not to kill the show leading into the Falls Count Anywhere Match. Just a big ol’ sprint with some crazy stuff – the powerbomb/neckbreaker by Gallows and Anderson’s and E’s spear through the ropes on Anderson were NUTS.
Sasha Banks and Charlotte are OVER. What a god damn wrestling match. Loved them running an angle to set something up for later in the show – killed like 10 minutes and got the folks more hyped up. At different points is this match I was reminded of a prime Sabu ECW brawl, The Rock vs. Mankind, and the Magnum/Tully I Quit Match. This is what it looks like when stars wrestle. As much as I enjoyed the Rollins/Owens No DQ Match a couple weeks ago, this was not any of that bullshit. This was a war where they used a single weapon and ended up with one tough motherfucker choking another out. I thought this felt like an epic thing when they were just staggering on the outside beating the shit out of each other, and then Charlotte did a moonsault off the announce table and Sasha choked her out on a stair rail. Crazy good wrestling.
Love the SmackDown but what kind of monster wouldn’t? Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss had a better talk-a-thon than Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins ever did. How do you think it feels to be so over that even when a crowd is chanting for a table bump, they boo when it ends up being you going through the table? Becky Lynch is a superstar too. And I flipped out when she called Alexa a bitch, yes I did. Dolph/Kalisto vs. Miz/Corbin was a perfectly fine TV match that accomplished what it needed to along with some fun stuff – namely Ziggler taking shots at Miz, Miz taking Kalisto’s shit, and Corbin almost knocking out a cameraman. What if I told you the Nikki Bella vs. Carmella feud has been going on for FOUR MONTHS? And it’s still great – sweet angle this week. JBL doing Kay Jewelers promos was a hoot.
Most of the show was based around The Wyatt Family and it’s about time. Harper vs. Kane wasn’t the most exciting affair, but if the rest of the show is strong than two big guys kicking each other’s ass is a welcome addition. The archery/throat slash showdown was amazing. I know they’re going somewhere with Harper and Orton having issues, but maaaan – two losses to KANE!? Guess they’ve gotta re-establish him for the Taker/AJ feud. AJ/Kane are gonna have a shockingly great SmackDown main event in January, aren’t they?
American Alpha finally getting to show some personality going up against the Wyatt’s is great – loved the promo with Gable and Jordan being bros and making puns about their moveset. Then Jordan got all serious and shit and said RUN. Amazing. Whoever pitched to Orton this Wyatt Family run is my new personal hero. Tag team main event was a lot of fun – Orton taking armdrags from Jordan, Jordan’s crossbody into the ropes, Gable taking heat, Gable’s Ricky Morton roll into nothing, Jordan’s hot tag and deadlift suplexes of Wyatt. Great finish. Great stuff. And then the show ends beautifully , as a Heath Slater/Rhyno promo on their new challengers in the Wyatt Family leads into an awesome Memphis angle where AJ interrupts them and then Ambrose screams “HEY YOU BASTARD!” and they brawl all over the place. SMACKDOWN!!!
Talking Smack continues to include the best promos in this company hands down – Dolph, Miz, and Becky were all on point tonight. Miz welcoming us to Talking Smack with a shit-eating smile on his face as he replaced regular host Daniel Bryan was phenomenal, as was he and AJ straight calling Renee out on not remembering their matches together – they were great!
Solid debut for 205 Live, but like anyone else who thinks about this stuff way too deeply I cannot imagine they keep this as a follow-up to SmackDown that much longer. Characters who are mostly new to the company following up Randy Orton and AJ Styles – even if there’s a WWE Title match dark match or something after it, it’s a weird move and I can’t see it getting a great reaction no matter how good these fellas are. Either way, the roster is pretty damn awesome. My overall dream for this show is that they go full on Michinoku Pro with a dipshit heel team vs. masked good guys as the main story with a ton of multi-man tags. Brian Kendrick, Tony Nese and Drew Gulak as Alt-Right douchebags doing Kaientai DX spots on ace Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander & Gran Metalik – reflect the times, man.
The tag opener (Bollywood Boyz vs. Gulak/Nese) was a perfectly fine match in front of a crowd that didn’t care. Legit laughed out loud at the Bollywood Boyz dancing like goofs after their match. As discussed above, Jack Gallagher is great. Guy is so god damn poised – the stuff he does can seem very silly if most were doing it, but you completely buy in. Love this man. “The do you wanna quit!?” from the ref as Daivari was tied up was tremendous. Headbutt to the chest is also such a cool pro wrestling move – wouldn’t do it in a fight, but in the context of a wrestling ring it looks hurty and awesome. Thought Gallagher had pretty much a perfect debut. Kendrick vs. Swann for the Cruiserweight Title took a bit to click from me but once the heat started getting put on Swann it got gooood. The crowd actually legitimately chanting for Swann on the Captain’s Hook was unbelievable, especially with how deflated they had seemed early. At some point in the match folks just went “oh shit this is good.” Swann is your new Cruiserweight Champ and I have no clue what they want to do with this division but happy for the guys involved anyways. Legit teared up for Swann thanking his mom. Good match, great moment.
NXT was pretty uneventful, though the matches were alright. Pretty awesome squash by Asuka to open it – loved her amused looks anytime her opponent got something in. Eric Young vs. No Way Jose had Young bumping for Jose like a man with something prove. Not sold on SAnitY as an act, but sold on EY. Far be it from me to complain about a 15-minute wrestling match, but when it involves Samoa Joe I get a little concerned. Joe vs. Tye Dillinger was alright and I liked the angle around it, but it never got anywhere above “eh, that was pretty good.” As far as aging vet vs. Tye Dillinger (an aging vet himself) I think Jericho vs. Tye would be money. Will Tye be NXT’s Sami Zayn of 2017 or are they going to do a stupid heel turn? Or neither??!?!?
Main Event is now a RAW show and if that means more Jinder Mahal matches it’s for the worse but if it means more Sin Cara and Goldust I think I’m down. Bo Dallas and Sin Cara had a fine little match that made me wonder what happened to Cara’s cruiserweight run. Really enjoying Bo Dallas since the draft. Shining Stars vs. Darren Young and Curtis Axel happened – Bob Backlund running after Primo like Frankenstein was probably the best part. All goods hands, but, yeah. It’s more fun watching stars wrestle.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Charlotte vs. Sahsa Banks in a No DQ, No Countouts Falls Count Anywhere Match for the RAW Women’s Title
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Charlotte and Sasha had an amazing match, Becky and Alexa are having an amazing feud, Rich Swann became a star, Sheamus and Cesaro kicked some dudes’ asses in a bar, Miz ran Talking Smack, and Jack Gallagher popped a main roster crowd as a complete unknown. I guess the answer here is Vince McMahon.
