This week on WWE TV, Asuka vacated her NXT Women’s Title after holding it for a record-breaking 523 days, remaining undefeated the entire time. This was the seventh longest title reign in WWE history, only after names like Bruno, Moolah, Backlund and Hogan. And the undefeated streak surpassed even Bill Goldberg’s.
I watched her farewell promo, with Regal and Triple H and the NXT roster coming out to send her off. And it was good. When a great performer gets such a show of respect, it’s nice. And when wrestling finally decides to put some real time into something, it can be really cool. Asuka was this badass warrior of a lady who came to NXT, won the championship, and remained undefeated for 523 days. And in wrestling years, that’s like six decades.
At the same time, as cool as this is, there’s also that sinking feeling: how’s RAW gonna fuck this up? I’m sure she’ll be presented as a huge star, but the mystique of what Asuka was just might be lost. She will have to become some new kind of star, a SUPERstar, perhaps, and the journey is going to be at times really fun and at times just stupid. How often are we going to hear “No one is ready for Asuka”?
And then there’s NXT. This was a one and a half year undefeated streak and they pushed it alright but it didn’t really get SOLD. Asuka would show up every few months at a TakeOver show, keep her title, and leave. It got pushed on social media and the like, but where was the ANGLE? Where was the STORY? It’s kind of cool that there was legit no equal to her, but it also meant that the title never felt in jeopardy, either. And that’s what made the 523-day journey neat, but not a huge deal.
And here I was. Watching it. Thinking it was good. Feeling slightly emotional. And wondering – how can something so eventful and meaningful as Asuka’s record breaking wrestling championship reign and relinquishing of said title resonate with me on one end, but also not feel like a big deal to me at all? Where did the LOVE of this NXT thing go, you know?
Is it my own desensitization to wrestling? Is it me?
Or, has The Man failed? Can The Man be doing better?
RAW (9/4/17)
The good stuff was real good – three high quality matches. The other stuff was solid – two fun tag squashes, cruiserweights not being shit, vaguely interesting women’s division direction. This was a good 3-hour cable TV wrestling show.
Three great matches is a great ratio for Monday Night RAW – John Cena vs. Jason Jordan in a Big Match John Special, The Miz vs. Jeff Hardy in a Mike Mizanin IC Title Special, and Braun Strowman vs. Big Show in a STEEL CAGE!!!!
Cena/Jordan – I love how WWE fucks with guys psyches, and by that I mean I think it’s kind of messed up. Jordan obviously hasn’t been lighting the world on fire since the Kurt Angle reveal, and now he’s gonna work Big Match John live on RAW. This ended up a great match, though it was really all John … Jordan has the tools (strength, hops), but he’s an empty void of a wrestler right now with really crappy punches. The repeated northern lights suplexes were awesome, but would be more awesome from a more interesting wrestler.
John meanwhile took Jordan on a journey – letting JJ amateur wrestle him and selling the hell out of it, looking all confused and frustrated off a WAISTLOCK of all things. The counters at the end were sweet and dramatic but also felt a little formulaic. A great bell-to-bell match and a possible indictment of Jordan if he isn’t made off of it – and I don’t think he was.
Jeff/Miz – Loved the fired up Jeff Hardy promo pre-match. This was good stuff, just such an ideal TV match – nothing fancy but everything clicked, it built well, and the crowd was with them the whole time. The wrestling was just beautiful to look at too… everything moved right into the next thing so smoothly, well enough to look great but not well enough to feel fake.
Jeff is a guy who feels like he’s on his ninth life, not sure it lasts but god damn did he go all out here – took a nasty fall to the floor and just LAUNCHED himself off the steps into Miz. Miz going over CLEAN = nice.
BRAUN/BIG SHOW – This was wrestling’s Clegane Bowl, a monster who’s turned again and again vs. the monster who’s power might not yet fully be realized. Loved the build here… video packages throughout the show, an interview with the REFEREE, a DOUBLE re-enforced ring. EPIC Big Show promo pre-match too.
The match itself was everything that was wonderful about pro wrestling before people got sick of it and wanted to see more kicks and shit – two BEASTS inside a Steel Cage, nothing fancy at all but laid out for maximum fun, with every big spot hitting. So much good stuff here – Braun was taking some massive bumps into the cage, both guys took nuts-first bumps onto the top rope, they built to Big Show’s big elbow drop so beautifully. Loved Big Show’s sell of Braun slamming the cage door on his head, and the DDT counter of Show’s chokeslam which wasn’t pretty but worked. They did another superplex to play off their last match, and then Braun just won clean with his finish. Like every match should end.
Corey Graves meanwhile proved why he got the 2-show call-up, with these excellent calls: “The fact that you’ve got a seven-foot man on the top rope is mind-blowing enough – now you’ve got two of em!” and “What makes Braun even more terrifying is he continues to evolve and adapt as a competitor… counters for maneuvers like that [the DDT out of chokeslam] … this guy might be unstoppable.” SO. TRUE.
And then – the CAGE SPOT!!!! God Bless The Big Show, what an insane bump to take for a guy of any size. Amazing. Such wonderful glorious sports entertainment.
Anyways. There was other stuff too.
Roman and John did it again with another tense, electrifying promo battle. Plus I got what I believe is my most RTs and Likes ever by simply tweeting “ROMAN REIGNS JUST SAID HE HAD A BIG DICK.” God bless the Big Dog.
I mean, on second thought – John and Roman’s war of words sure escalated quickly last week, didn’t it?
Tag division did OK – love a good squash match and we got to of them. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Slater & Rhyno had Slater taking a fine beating and an awesome Brouge kick on Rhyno. The Club vs. Rollins/Ambrose got some time and had an energy to it, dug it a lot.
An Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax vs. Emma Fatal 4-Way Match might be something that is s good. Might be. The Alexa/Sasha vs. Nia/Emma tag was alright… Emma beatdown wasn’t very compelling but not bad, and the Nia/Alexa scream spot was AWESOME. Sasha vs. Nia Jax continues to rule too.
Kind of amazing it took ENZO for WWE to realize the cruiserweights should be working mostly 6-mans. Enzo/Cedric/Metalik vs. Dar/Nese/Gulak was good stuff – Cedric vs. Nese brought the energy, Enzo took a beating, Cedric ruled on the hot tag, and Metalik continued to be a superhuman person.
Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt also continued and damnit. This feud is already shit, it was already blown off at SummerSlam, now we’re going backwards to a match without the Demon Balor gimmick, a match we’ve already seen a couple times in the last couple months on RAW TV, a match that wasn’t very good to begin with? I’m starting to think it’s possible that this feud is a satire on how shit WWE writing can be sometimes, as the rest of RAW is currently pretty well done.
Anyways, BRAUN VS. BIG SHOW!!!! A STEEL CAGE!!!!!!! RAAAAWWWWRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!
SMACKDOWN (9/5/17)
A decent show to set up what feels like a monster show next week. Owens and Shane had an OK show-long angle, Carmella got some focus, Zayn is maybe doing something interesting, the Styles vs. Corbin feud continued to be lame but Tye is getting some love, Nakamura and Orton had a solid match, and Ziggler did some stupid shit.
JBL being written off commentary to go do charity work screams politician who got caught fucking chief of staff’s wife wanting to spend time with family.
The Shane McMahon/Kevin Owens showdown was one part wild one part not very good. I dunno. There’s a lot of stink around this whole thing. Roman and John are doing the worked shoot thing better on Mondays, Shane doesn’t seem super engaged, and Owens has been treading water for too long. But I liked the effort, and Shane’s delivery on “Do Not. Mention my kids again” was good stuff. Always a fan of an angle lasting throughout a show too, especially when the payoff is MR. MCMAHON coming to town.
I mean – Braun Strowman flipped over an ambulance with a man inside of it, Randy Orton burned a guy’s house down, but yeah I guess Shane McMahon punching a wrestler calls for Vince’s intervention.
Carmella vs. Natalya was mostly just a basic Natalya beatdown during commercial. Carmella dumped Ellsworth for costing her the match, then kissed him and slapped him later in show. So … storyline… developed?
The Dolph Ziggler entering as other people’s gimmicks thing was just weird. Possibly an OK pitch on paper but YIKES. Not good. Not. Good. Couldn’t imagine a non-fan ever seeing this. Felt like if a guy brings a skeptical guy to church, and they go straight into speaking in tongues. TOO MUCH. IT’S TOO. MUCH.
Sami Zayn and Aiden English have good in-ring chemistry and had a fine short match. Incredibly, Zayn losing to English twice in a row has me the most interested in him since the NXT run. Can they re-capture the underdog magic?
The New Day wore boxer briefs into Daniel Bryan’s office on this show.
WHO WANTS TO HAVE A FIFTEEN-MINUTE CONVERSATION ABOUT JINDER’S PLAID SUIT?
Tye Dillinger vs. Baron Corbin was an ideal enhancement match, with both the guy going under and the guy going over looking good. Fired up Tye is the good stuff. Liked his bump to the outside off of Corbin’s boot, just going belly-first into the second rope. AJ Styles calling Corbin a “cheapshot artist” doesn’t make me think this will be any better than the Owens feud, but here we are.
Nakamura vs. Randy Orton was such a solid professional wrestling match. Not blowaway great, didn’t have me flipping out like Nak/Cena, but everything here worked – finisher teases, Nakamura escaping Orton’s big moves, the incredible RKO into armbar counter. Corey got to call the Kinshasa again too! Nakamura has gone over Cena and Randy CLEAN in the last month to get to JINDER MAHAL, this is happening.
Next Week: Sin City SmackDown with Carmella/Natty, Usos/New Day Street Fight, AJ/Tye U.S. Title, MR. MCMAHON. PLUS, the Mae Young Classic finals. WHAT A SHOW!
205 LIVE (9/5/17)
NIGEL ON COMMENTARY! We need Nigel and Daniel Bryan on-screen together just once.
TJP vs. Daivari was a stupid match. TJP vs. Swann is stupid.
Drew Gulak’s PowerPoint presentation = tremendous.
Gulak vs. Tozawa was a fun match between two guys I like, though Tozawa in Post-CW Title Contender Purgatory makes me sad. Tozawa’s INSANE bump into the barricade (WHY!?) and excellent senton bomb finish were highlights.
5-Way was a decent enough This is Awesome match though I’m kind of over these unless there’s a real hook or story to it. Metalik again did some wild stuff – the pretty dives, his bump on the outside… guy rules. Cedric countering the Metalik handspring with a lungblower was SWEET. Liked that they just straight-up had Enzo barely work, then steal the finish… don’t think this is the charming cheating of an Eddy G but we’ll see.
NXT (9/6/17)
A solid show.
Almas’ little run on his squash vs. Cezar Bononi was incredible – aggressive as all hell, every shot connecting, looked like a star. Between that and the leather tights, is he cosplaying as Kenny Omega?
Lars Sullivan threw THREE guys around for a bit which was cool and then NO FINISH!!!! WHAT HAPPENED?
Wild SAniTY promo on Team ROH, best thing they’ve ever done.
I wish they didn’t show Triple H and Regal showing people how to do their entrances on Breaking Ground because I can’t take Zeda’s seriously.
Also, why do they keep putting poor Zeda with these MMA girls? Sonya Deville vs. Zeda was a fine low budget Shayna Baszler vs. Zeda.
NXT used to be about trying new things, new ways of presentation. Now it’s mostly about replicating main roster presentation in a studio environment. But I do love when they do try the occasional new thing, like the phone camera footage from the last couple months, or the handycam footage this week of Oney and Burch practicing tag team moves (!!!!) panning into Ruby Riot asking Regal for a match with Peyton and Billie.
Kassius Ohno vs. Hideo Itami – No DQ – was alright. Lots of cool hard shots, nice big spots, rang a bit hollow. Ohno took an insane back bump on the stairs and Itami dished out a pretty sweet beating. But I dunno. Kassius Ohno hasn’t done a thing for me since he came back. The matches aren’t connecting, as it’s just a bunch of STUFF in front of a crowd who isn’t quite buying in to his whole basketball jersey shtick. Also, why did he rolling elbow himself into the chair? What did he expect was going to happen?
Itami selling a low blow might have been one of the great wrestling moments though.
Great, joyous segment to close the show with Asuka’s farewell. But dear god. “No one is ready for Asuka” is the catchphrase. Oh no. NO! No God! Please! Know! NOOOOOO
MAIN EVENT (9/6/17)
Two solid matches here.
Kendrick/TJP vs. Mustafa Ali/Lince Dorado – you know, it’s kind of amazing that Lince almost always gets some kind of buzz when his intro hits. Kendrick and TJP are no Ole and Arn but this was an OK tag, with some cool cut-offs and Lince and Ali doing the fun stuff they do. Lince hits a tope here at one point that’s just so effortless.
Elias vs. Kalisto was the other match, and – you know – is there anyone in WWE who gets heat like Elias? Outside of Roman and Cena. The songs are getting such sustained heel reactions, it’s amazing. “I said to hold your applause, so – I’m gonna start over.” BOOOO!! Match was very short… a couple wild moonsaults from Kalisto and then Elias just won a minute after the return from commercial. Seems like they cut all of Elias working the arm, which is 5 minutes I’m not completely mad about missing.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Braun/Big Show in the cage, easily – amazing how many great matches and moments Braun has been a part of this year, and all the props in the world to Big Show for busting his ass and heavily putting him over.
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Braun Strowman did it again this week – I keep thinking they’ve made him a star and then they somehow present him to be an even bigger star. The build-up this year has been so much fun to watch, from Last Man Standing with Sami Zayn to BROCK.
RAW was good, the rest was very much OK. Not bad, not good. Just OK. That’s fine. OK for WWE is really an improvement sometimes.
RAW: 8/10
SmackDown: 6/10
205 Live: 4/10
NXT: 5/10
