What a weird couple of months.
This time of the year is usually a sleepy time for WWE, where they do what they have to do to keep things entertaining enough before getting to the Rumble. Maybe there’s a big star returning or something – ala Undertaker or The Rock. Or maybe there’s Randy Orton vs. Big Show.
But this time feels pretty wild.
Lot of panic going around right now though. Lots of changes.
And it’s all because of the mumps.
Roman Reigns gets the mumps, The Shield reunion gets delayed, KURT ANGLE returns to the ring, The Shield vs. The New Day is now happening.
Bray Wyatt gets the mumps, AJ Styles flies to the U.S. from South America and shows himself to be a Company Man, AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar is now happening.
I’m pretty fascinated by the decision-making around all these changes, when at the end of the day it was probably isn’t complex at all and just the Old Man making a last-minute call.
But, man. First the rumor was Brock Lesnar vs. Demon Balor at Survivor Series. Paul Heyman even positioned it.
Then we got Brock vs. Jinder Mahal announced at Survivor Series instead, which always felt weird, but also just weird enough for WWE to actually go with it.
And now they go, shit – let’s just do AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar, which is such an awesome weird crazy Dream Match and immediately switched the Survivor Series card from EH to WOW.
Plus, we’re going to get The Bar vs. The Usos. Maybe Alexa Bliss vs. Charlotte Flair. A crazy-ass 5-on-5 Elimination Match with some wild pairings: Angle vs. Shane, Angle vs. Nakamura, Braun vs. Nakamura, Samoa Joe vs. Cena.
And SHIELD VS. NEW DAY!!!
As per usual during this time of the year, WWE gets to where they need to but in the stupidest possible ways.
RAW (11/6/17)
U.K. RAW! It’s BIZARRO LAND! Ha aaaa I love it, Maggle!
This was a pretty good show, but as per usual RAW in the United Kingdom felt a bit auto-pilot-ish. It also seemed extra recap heavy.
But still – The Miz, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, PETE DUNNE.
The Miz is carrying WWE right now, even if he isn’t in a major match at Survivor Series. He is the glue that has made RAW pretty great the last few months. Leave it to Miz to make a heel vs. heel match with boring-ass Baron Corbin into something weirdly compelling with ANOTHER career promo. I cannot wait until this guy is 52-years-old trading shots with some young punk.
Him and Kurt Angle with the EXPOSITION was kind of terrible though. Good promo efforts by both, but a whole lot of time-killing to explain what was basically already explained in the “Previously On…” video package at the start of the show. Did like Miz’ begging when Angle announced his match with Braun, at least.
Elias vs. Jason Jordan in a Guitar on a Pole Match was definitely a Guitar on a Pole Match. It was OK. Best parts were all non-wrestling: Elias singing a song SANS GUITAR and Booker T name-dropping ERIK WATTS.
I bet Vince McMahon told Asuka to shake her ass more as part of her act. Actually, I guarantee it.
The Asuka squash was fine, though Asuka isn’t translating to the RAW environment just yet. It’s too early to tell how it will all go, but we wrestling fans usually keep saying it’s too early until it eventually ends up too late.
Is Tozawa not in Titus Worldwide anymore? What even is Titus Worldwide anymore?
Samoa Joe’s sneak attack of Titus and Apollo was pretty great. Love a good Samoa Joe sneak attack. He cranked the shit out of that Kokina on Titus.
Really good match between Joe and Finn Balor. I love that JOE JOE JOE is over as a chant because of course it is – it doesn’t matter how long it took, it doesn’t matter how impossible it felt, we were always meant to be here with Samoa Joe in a prominent position on Monday Night RAW. This was very Diet Joe/Balor but it actually might have been their best match – unlike the NXT matches, they didn’t try and build to some epic crescendo that never popped off, they just did what they’re good at – Joe laid in a beating, Balor sold and peppered in sweet shit. It was very WWE TV-style – stretches of offense, signatures, counters. And then, IT DID actually build to a somewhat epic crescendo. The double countout actually felt earned, too.
Joe’s reaction to the countout finish as if he never studied the rules of wrestling + Corey Graves’ “How are these two gonna be teammates at Survivor Series!?” + Booker T’s “SmackDown’s in troubleeee…” = LOVE WRESTLING.
Is Jason Jordan gonna turn on RAW?
Kind of loved the super 80s interview intro for Bayley and Sasha: “Please welcome two of the greatest superstars on RAW today…”
Those two vs. Alicia Fox and Nia Jax was such a Sasha and Bayley tag match – some OK stuff, a few pops, but a little awkward because I still don’t know what their fucking deal is.
Braun Strowman vs. The Miz was a BRAUN squash of MIZ and it was a fleeting few minutes of fun. The Braun punch on Bo Dallas was incredible. Then Kane came out, yadda yadda…
Awww Renee Young trying to do the Shield pose was amazing.
Enzo Amore’s LOOOOOOOOOONG promo complete with boring chants and burials on commentary was pretty awful in the moment, but man was it an awesome lead-in to PETE DUNNE. I think the music playing before the Kurt Angle intro was a miscue, but whatever – loved the BIG DEAL FEEL of the entrance. This is definitely a one-time thing for now, but a fun reminder that this bad mother is just out there ready to hurt your favorite wrestler. Match was a fun Dunne beatdown, but didn’t need any ounce of Enzo offense at all. Not sure why Dunne didn’t knock out that geek Kalisto afterwards too.
Rollins & Ambrose vs. Cesaro & Sheamus was another good one by these guys. New Day vs. Usos is easily Tag Feud of the Year but The Shield vs. The Bar has been great. Everything is so simple, so smooth, so beautiful. Rollins & Ambrose got a run leading to commercials, Cesaro & Sheamus beat down Dean (as opposed to Seth last time). Seth’s hot tag was pretty awesome, and the powerbomb Doomsday Device is always a winner.
And then THE BAR WON THE TAG TITLES! AND THE NEW DAY ENTERED THROUGH THE CROWD!! And even though Rollins & Ambrose vs. The Usos sounded awesome, Rollins & Ambrose & Reigns vs. Kingston & Woods & E as well as The Usos vs. The Bar sounds a lot better.
THE SHIELD VS. THE FUCKING NEW DAY!!
SMACKDOWN (11/7/17)
A pretty stacked SmackDown and it still wasn’t even that good. It hit some of the notes it needed to, but everything is just over and not OVER.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon as a feud is very… I dunno. Lots of awkward time-killing at this point. Shane isn’t hard-selling it near enough, and given the “Zayn and Owens sent home” news from the last few days, no party really being interested in it isn’t that surprising. Twenty minutes of Sweaty Shane to open SmackDown was just not good. He needs to turn hard heel and build a god damn legacy already.
Anyways, I still dig over-the-top mannerisms heel Sami Zayn. And Sami vs. Kofi was a solid match, a solid match made more fun by the fact that these are two fun wrestlers who don’t match up very often. It was neat to see them do their thing vs. each other… not everything has to be a classic. Really just enjoyed seeing these two kip out of armdrags on each other and shit. Insane dropkick to the face by Kofi too, maybe that’s when Sami said fuck this I ain’t following the script. Loved Kofi’s wacky bouncy plancha and Sami’s HUUUUUGE Blue Thunder too.
I like how the post-match was definitely kind of awkward due to the rumors of Owens and Zayn bailing the ring instead of selling for New Day, but it still didn’t feel completely out of place in the usually awkward WWE.
Rusev vs. Orton was Rusev vs. Orton. Rusev continues to dish out perfectly fine, credible beatdowns, and him being super over in the U.K. was neat. Then he got RKO’d.
Wait wait wait – you mean to tell me that the babyface women and heel women change in the same locker room? NUH UH. The kayfabe gods do NOT approve.
The Top of the Hour on SmackDown being a Survivor Series build video package was hilarious.
Becky Lynch vs. Jimmy Dream was less fun and more just kind of dumb. They needed to slow it down, bay-beh… had a couple neat spots planned out but when you’re working pure goofy 80s style, you’ve got to milk it. Anyways, this might have been the most TV time Becky’s gotten in 6 months.
Carmella turned on Jimmy Ellsworth, my WORD.
The Usos vs. Gable/Benjamin was crazy brief, more an angle than anything. If they don’t do anything interesting with Gable/Benjamin by the end of the year, can it.
The AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal WWE Title Match was great – real formula stuff, as Jinder will do, but everything worked and realistically after AJ’s weak start to 2017 it’s a top 5 AJ 2017 match. Liked all 3 acts here: the early stuff with AJ working small guy, doing headlocks and flipping around Jinder’s power, the middle stuff with AJ bumping his ass off (the choke throw over the top, Jinder catching the dive off the timekeeper and just tossing AJ into the commentary table), and the last five minutes with all kinds of cool stuff… AJ’s boot counter of Jinder’s rope-assisted knee that felt like something that could actually happen in real life, AJ kipping up like he’s HBK, the springboard 450. Loved them teasing the usual Jinder/Singh bullshit finish so well that it actually deflated the crowd when he hit the Khallas, until AJ got the FOOT ON ROPES and eventually wrapped it up with the Phenomenal Forearm.
Freakin’ AJ Styles is back, man! I cannot believe the Reign of Jinder came to a close this suddenly, and maybe we’ll be back to it after the AJ/Brock match, but this was was a very necessary kick in the ass for SmackDown.
The journey continues…
205 LIVE (11/7/17)
Cool hook here with all the U.K. guys being on but it still wasn’t much of a show.
I hope Nigel got a massive pop in the U.K.
Enzo running down the U.K. guys felt like a Tough Enough Million Dollar Challenge segment in the worst possible way. James Drake? TUCKER?
Kalisto vs. Jack Gallagher was OK – both guys match-up well enough, it was just kind of a dead match. Heel Jack isn’t clicking in-ring yet.
The Cedric Alexander/Mark Andrews vs. Joseph Conners/James Drake was just alright… Andrews and Cedric both did some neat stuff but Conners and Drake do nothing for me.
Enzo Amore wrestling Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate this week is something else. The Enzo/Tyler match was neat for Tyler being on 205 Live, but it was mostly Enzo on offense and…yeah.
NXT (11/8/17)
They hit the notes for the TakeOver WarGames build but this was a sleepy show. Could’ve missed it and nothing would have changed at all.
Heavy Machinery did a squash. As per usual, it was OK.
Who approved the Christy St. Cloud name?
I like Kairi Sane. She and Billie Kay had a fine “Establish Kairi Sane” match.
WarGames video package was cool. WarGames, Almas vs. Drew… they’re doing what they can with these but there’s no I CAN’T WAIT feeling that TakeOver’s used to bring. Watch the show be really good anyways. But the TV is just eh.
Looks like the Street Profits now have black solo so they don’t get sued for red solo cups. What businessmen.
Adam Cole and Roddy Strong had themselves a match worked like something designed to impress Shawn Michaels or D-Von Dudley or some shit. Adam Cole, Bay-Bay, isn’t working for me yet. At all. This had the stuff they do – chain wrestling, chops, a sweet backbreaker or two. A couple chinlocks. Whatever.
The post-match brawl just had me thinking, Why do these guys hate each other again? Like, I get it – they all fought at one point. But for a WarGames?
MAIN EVENT (11/8/17)
Matt Hardy regularly working Main Event is wild. Him vs. Curt Hawkins was so perfectly basic. Matt has like a top 5 punch in the world. Slater & Rhyno vs. Gallows & Anderson was the other match and it definitely happened.
WWE TV Match of the Week: AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal for the WWE Title as it was a straight-up good WWE Title match, but I did appreciate Balor/Joe and Shield vs. Bar as fun TV matches.
WWE TV MVP of the Week: AJ Styles won the freakin’ title, but let’s talk about Samoa Joe – great beatdown of Titus, great match and brawl with Balor, and the JOE JOE JOE chants as he stormed the ring had me completely accepting my choice to review WWE TV week after week.
It’s dumb season in World Wrestling Entertainment, but all the chaos and changes is making it pretty fun. The U.K. editions of RAW and SmackDown weren’t crazy memorable outside of the Styles title win, but they were at worst pretty good. 205 and NXT were weak though.
RAW: 7/10
SmackDown: 6/10
205 Live: 4/10
NXT: 4/10
