What a cool week of wrestling moments.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn became best friends again.
The Usos cemented themselves as all-timers.
And the SHIELD REUNITED.
80s Hogan, 90s Austin, 00s Cena, 10s THE SHIELD.
WWE always struggles with the follow-up, this might be a fleeting moment to build to TLC and everyone will go back to being Pretty Over but Not a SUPERSTAR.
But the moments, maaan. Nothing better.
And then of course Neville requested his WWE release and Jimmy Jacobs got fired and none of that was cool.
RAW (10/9/17)
The wrestling wasn’t much but THE SHIELD. And BRAUN. Top shelf entertainment.
I wish they hard-sold The Miz and The Bar as a unit just a wittle bit better, otherwise loving them as The Shield’s opposition. The Miz is RULING this and is the glue that’s making RAW so good. “Time has passed [The Shield] by. There is a greater revolutionary force in this ring.” Sidenote: The Prada sunglasses are such an underrated part of Miz’ act.
Anyways, THIS WAS THE SHOW THE SHIELD REUNITED ON. What a reunion. What a moment. What a POP. This whole thing had me SHAKING, baby. Miz cowering around and running from them, Roman spreading his arms to the crowd like the biggest babyface of all time, Dean running around again like an unchained freak. Who didn’t OOOOWWWAAAAA along with Roman? Who!? SAY YOUR NAME.
And then they did the fist thing!!!!
This was the best. One of those things where I just thought: How can I never stop loving you, professional wrestling?
Jason Jordan is now rocking 2002 Cena. He had a basic-ass match with Karl Anderson, who is not a bad opponent for a JJ showcase right now.
Oh man, “Who wants to walk with Elias?” got a legit pop. I guess any crowd you give a Shield reunion is going to be hyped, but still – this is all working. The Titus banjo thing was AWESOME, too. Elias and Apollo had a fine enough quickie of a match.
Enzo and Angle went back-and-forth a bit on the mic and I really don’t have anything to say about it. Come back to us, Neville.
Matt Hardy vs. Braun Strowman was sooooo unbelievably solid. A match I’d want to see 10x over Jinder/Nakamura or Styles/Corbin, even though all would probably get the same star rating. This was short and to the point, just perfect for TV – Matt wailing away at Braun, getting Hardy chants, Braun dishing a beating, an amazing ONE-COUNT off the Twist of Fate. Everything worked, and always a treat to see a vet like Matt work a game up-and-comer.
“We are the 3 workhorses that run this business now.” ROMAN REIGNS.
I like how Seth kind of still feels like an outsider – Roman and Dean aren’t selling caution and don’t need to, but as a fan I am still hesitant on this bastard running around with them again. I like the contrast too of him all excited to be back with them, talking his head off, while Dean and Roman just want to kick some ass.
Mickie is REEEAALLLYYY upping that Southern accent but she had a legit great promo. Laughed at the dude in the crowd repeatedly screaming out things to boost Mickie’s self-confidence. “MICKIE YOU’RE SEXXXYYYYYY!!!”
A crowd booing down CM Punk chants in a cruiserweight match – Enzo Amore truly has saved the cruiserweights. Kendrick/Gallagher vs. Cedric/Ali was not much, to be honest. I love (and by that I mean I hate) how the cruisers just went right to HOLDS. Ugly Sliced Bread to end it, too. Not a good night for any of these guys.
BRAUN is joining The Shield TLC match? 4-on-3!? On one hand – cool! On the other hand…… a little gimmicky.
“This is Balor Club right here in Indianapolis” feels like something Balor and his friends would joke about in Tokyo. Is Sister Abigail a 2017 Black fucking Scorpion? WTF was this shit? Balor should’ve walked out with Neville.
The 5-way elimination match was a match more about the finishes than anything. Not much else there, outside of the LOL @ Alicia pinning Bayley. Emma’s gonna get squashed, but casual reminder that Emma vs. Asuka at TakeOver: London was amazing.
Enzo Amore vs. Kalisto in a Cruiserweight Title Lumberjack match was a match with a lot of Enzo Amore offense and no show needs that. It was a pretty goofy match with a feel-good finish.
SMACKDOWN (10/10/17)
I can’t see Roman following Cena and The Rock to Hollywood, but how about The Usos?
What an act these fellas have become. Another amazing promo here. I’m fine with an Usos face turn but hope they remain loud and scary. SmackDown has been a dead zone for a lot of the year but Usos promos and matches are always a highlight. Not sure where New Day goes now, but highly intrigued. So many great one-liners and delivery, as these guys do.
“You… GONGED me. You gonged me, bruh!”
“Are you calling for a… TRUCE, UCE?”
“You two? You two? YOU TWO? BACK OF THE LINE.”
“Nooo-nonono. Breezango’s cool.”
The 4-way tag with Hype Bros, Ascension, Gable/Benamin and Breezango was pretty good. A lot of solid action alongside some serious highlights. Viktor vs. Gable is a good pair. Mojo using a tilt-a-whirl slam regularly is good stuff, and he has his own Deep Six Now – a big impressive power spot that will always get a reaction. The Gable/Benjamin run towards the end was pretty sweet too, and their finish was incredibly impressive.
Becky Lynch vs. Carmella was OK – Carmella running away, Ellsworth being a goof in the corner, and Becky the perennial babyface.
Really fun start to the Owens and Zayn pairing with their promo. These two Canadian fellers hamming it up as bad guys in love is so awesome. There are a lot of interesting places to go here, I just hope they go to them.
Randy/Nakamura vs. Rusev/English was the most Basic Possible Match. All their shtick has been done in way more interesting ways. Liked Rusev replying to Orton’s table backdrop with his own later in the match. Rusev and English remains an inspired pair.
HARPER AND ROWAN ARE BACK. AND THEY’RE SCARY. Harper/Rowan vs. 2017 Usos could be something, man.
That Roode/Ziggler promo was bad. It was very bad.
Not sure if this is an indictment of Baron Corbin or 2017 AJ Styles that their U.S. Title match was good not very good. It was fun, had its moments. Loved AJ’s dropkick counter of Corbin’s corner lariat, Corbin catching AJ’s slip-out in the corner, and AJ’s INSANE powerslam bump on the floor. It was a fine match, but nothing special.
205 LIVE (10/10/17)
Very much a non-factor of a show, though I am all in on Drew Gulak and Mustafa Ali getting some love.
The purple and pink ropes is some of the wildest shit.
Rich swann vs. TJP 2/3 Falls was a whole bunch of good action that I didn’t care about. Sorry, guys!
Enzo/Daivari vs. Kalisto/Mustafa wasn’t much, just an ultra-basic tag. Enzo tries to keep his offense interesting and he’s a great character but it’s rough to watch. And MAN what a dip from Neville.
NXT (10/11/17)
FIVE MATCHES! Minimal BS. Good main event. Strong NXT.
Peyton Royce vs. Liv Morgan vs. Nikki Cross for the NXT Women’s Title shot was OK. The first couple minutes were pretty crazy, actually. How much will WWE main roster camera crew flip for Peyton’s outside tarantula thing? Taynara Conti as the Undisputed Era’s girl is very random and kind of interesting.
Lio Rush’s proper debut vs. Velveteen Dream was pretty sweet. Lio flipping the crowd out with his rapid-fire stuff was so cool. He moves CRAZY fast and bumps crazy big. Watching this immediately had me understanding why he’s here so young. Could be huge, could flake out.
Danny Burch getting in Lars Sullivan’s face and slapping him is life. Their match was big time fun, not as high-octane as the Oney match but all nice and physical.
Street Profits squash was great. I hope the creepy WWE backstage world doesn’t fuck up Montez Ford because he is a star.
The Johnny Gargano/Andrade “Cien” Almas rematch was good solid stuff and then WOOOOOOO. These guys are just so good. Lots of nutty jaw-dropping exchanges and counters that are SO impressive. They took their time but got this to great, building things up until it hit sixteenth gear. The catch of the slingshot spear, the tope, the insane strikes towards the end, Andrade’s backflip off the top into a lariat, Johnny’s lawn dart into the corner. The #DIY finish! Great stuff.
MAIN EVENT (10/11/17)
Rhyno doing matches that can work in any arena or gymnasium in the country is a treasure. Dash Wilder in a team with Curt Hawkins is like some Darkest Timeline of Revival possibilities on the main roster. Rhyno and Heath Slater vs. Dash Wilder and Curt Hawkins was rock solid. RHYNO!
Tozawa vs. Tony Nese had some fun stuff in it, nothing ya need to sign up to Hulu for but pretty good.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Was all in on Matt Hardy vs. Braun Strowman but Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas was the best in-ring thing this week by a mile.
WWE TV MVP of the Week: THE SHIELD
The Shield is back together and SmackDown was coming off a hot pay-per-view, so it was a fun week of TV. NXT meanwhile didn’t have a ton of story movement but packed in a lot of good wrestling.
RAW: 8/10
SmackDown: 6/10
205 Live: 4/10
NXT: 7/10
