I am not quite sure simple human-generated words can do justice to what we just witnessed on WWE TV.
2017 might have seen Braun Strowman put the wrestling world on its’ head by tipping over an ambulance, but 2018 just saw Seth Rollins manage the same by doing one very simple thing: PROFESSIONALLY WRESTLING.
On February 19th, 2018, WWE ran a TWO-HOUR WRESTLING GAUNTLET MATCH. And Seth Freakin’ Rolls wrestled OVER AN HOUR IN IT. Against TWO DIFFERENT TOP GUYS.
OVER AN HOUR.
AND IT WAS ALL REALLY, REALLY GOOD!!!!
None of it was boring! All of it was compelling! It just FLEW BY!!!!
I don’t want to go too over-the-top about this considering I’m only a few days removed from seeing it, but it really was special. I mean there is a lot of wrestling out there. Especially from WWE. Hours and hours, every single week. And to still have an experience like this watching it, filled with surprise and amazement and entertainment and a general “I can’t believe this is happening” – it’s SO cool.
On one hand the Gauntlet Match was just a unique cool piece of business from WWE, on the other hand it got everybody who touched it more over and gave everybody a little extra hook heading into Elimination Chamber and Mania, and if we’re allowed a third hand it showed that Seth Rollins is an absolute freak of nature who after a rocky return from injury has absolutely re-solidified himself as THE MAN.
And this freakin’ week also had Mustafa Ali vs. Jack Gallagher and Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas. And AJ Styles had a singles match and it was probably like the fifteenth best match on WWE TV this week.
The wrestling is good.
RAW (2/19/18)
This was a show all about a TWO-HOUR GAUNTLET MATCH.
Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins to open was great. Roman might match up with a big physical fella better than light-ass Seth, but outside of a few awkward parts (that weak Sling Blade…) they got things rocking. It was two absolute stars trading holds, hitting their over signature spots, and building things to a crescendo even if they were setting up for like another hour and a half of wrestling. Lots of great fun spots – Rollins running at Reigns and Reigns just leaping up and STARING HIM DOWN, the Drive-By to Rollins who was draped over the second rope, the corner powerbomb by Rollins to Superman Punch by Reigns spot, the springboard into the Superman punch. Seth finally cradles Reigns for 3 and the DISAPPOINTMENT on Reigns’ face is incredible.
Seth Rollins vs. John Cena as a follow-up wasn’t just great, it was transcendent. And a way different type of match than WWE ever runs. It was like… slow-paced, but in a very good way. Big John is finally beginning to slow down, so when he tries to go 50/50 with Miz it doesn’t click. But when he does a match like this, all based on big punches and reactions and selling… oh my word is it magical. Grumpy Old Man John could be something special. Most of this was John just slowly, methodically wrecking Seth – not with holds, but with SHOTS: a hard clothesline, throw to the outside, just straight PUNCHES as an exhausted Seth tried and tried to fire up. Seth struggling to get up onto the apron, only for John to knock his ass to the floor was art.
The whole story of John trying to get through the match with mostly strikes and using the least amount of energy (only to lose) was kind of brilliant – Coach of all people picked up on it, only to be immediately buried by Cole.
Seth meanwhile carried his end just selling the hell out of everything – sure he was legit exhausted, but guy stayed down and fought back at all the right times. Loved the shot as they came back from commercial of Seth just OUT and John standing over him. The juxtaposition of Seth going from fighting even with Roman to fighting underneath with Cena was pretty magical too. And it cannot be over-stated how impressive it was that he was pulling off the strength spots he was after working HARD for 45-50 minutes… the superplex to falcon arrow and roll-through to AA were absolutely nuts.
Great finishing stretch too, as if that’s surprising – cool unexpected counters of all their usual stuff, an actually hot near fall off a Rollins frog splash, Seth’s classic AA counter, a kickout of the AA… my WORD. And then the actual finish: Seth misses a Phoenix Splash, John sets up the AA and roll-through AA and you’re like OK this is done, but Seth COUNTERS IT and hits the big knee followed by a Curb Stomp for 3.
And Seth Rollins beat ROMAN REIGNS AND JOHN CENA, BACK. TO. BACK.
THE MAN.
Then there was the rest of the match. It was good, it was solid, but more a come-down segment that didn’t pick up until BRAAAUUUNNNN ran out and started chasing Miz. I did love all the picture-in-picture promos they threw in during these, of guys all sweaty and exhausted reflecting on their disappointment. Very cool.
Liked Elias coming in and picking up the pieces of Seth Rollins a lot, and the idea of Seth STILL trying to fight for a few minutes until Elias laid him down for good. Standing ovation for Seth was special stuff, brought a tear to my eye.
Elias vs. Finn Balor was both guys working a basic Finn comeback + Coup de Grace match, though it did give me flashbacks to their awesome midcard feud in the summer of 2017 that got both guys over.
Finn Balor vs. The Miz was a solid match with Miz working textbook heel, complete with arm-work and a cheating finish. I imagine they will have other matches in the future eh? The Miztourage distraction and Miz attack at the start gave it a nice hook too.
Loved Miz’s SADNESS as he realized who was left and the STROWWWMAN chants. Crowd gave Strowman a HUUUUGE BRAAAAAUUUUNNNN roar and it was awesome. Business picked up for this one, with Braun SPRINTING at Miz as Miz ran away. I love that beyond everything that is great about Braun, he also apparently has superhuman speed. Loved the spot with Miz dropkicking Braun twice, then running into a Braun dropkick that was so cool it caused Cole and Graves to mark out as Balor was droning on with a basic-ass promo backstage. Braun puts Miz down and roars, as he should.
So let us say it again: A TWO. HOUR. MATCH. ON. MONDAY. NIGHT. RAW.
It sputtered a bit towards the end but regardless it was an incredible thing to see. Seth Rollins’ performance was so impressive and record-shattering that Michael Cole had to pull out BRUNO SAMMARTINO VS. WALDO VON ERICH IN 1964 STATS. RAW has spent the last year developing the hell out of seven quality characters (you can add Joe, Dean, The Bar, Sasha, Asuka and Alexa in there too) and it is really paying dividends here. This could’ve gone the whole show and I wouldn’t have just been fine with it, I would’ve loved it. Plus, they actually told the story they needed to IN THE RING. What an awesome rarity from WWE. There really is some kind of art in how they never do something to the point where you think they will never do it – and then they DO IT.
At the end of the day, Seth is THE MAN again and Big John continues to question himself. THIS IS ALL I EVER WANTED FROM MY PRO WRESTLING.
“I DON’T FEAR THE UNKNOWN THE UNKNOWN FEARS ME.” Braun apologizing to Charly and proceeding to wreck The Miztourage post-match was fantastic too.
Jeff Jarrett in the Hall of Fame is something else. Love that his mid-90s run is the only thing getting any focus, outside of like 5 seconds of Slapnuts Jarrett. I say this every year, but what an insane Hall of Fame class.
A two-hour wrestling match followed by a longform in-ring Asuka interview had me thinking Kevin Dunn might be dead. Nia Jax and Asuka did the angle they had to do to get to the match they are going to have in a few days. It is going to be great.
The Bar becoming progressively more obnoxious over their run has been good.
The Bar vs. Titus Worldwide was a Solid Little Tag Match. Though I like Titus O’Neil, this little “Titus Worldwide has The Bar’s number” angle would probably be better if it was Apollo & Tozawa vs. The Bar.
Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy talked some shit. Yep.
The 6-woman tag to end the show was fine… but just fine. Basic. Serviceable. I wish these gals were working like they were in a Mixed Match Challenge Match and not on WWE Main Event. Did enjoy Mandy Rose at least working like she’s watching New Japan weekly on AXS, what with the jumping knee, ground and pound, and cobra twist. Sasha rocked the hot tag too and took a wild face-first bump into the turnbuckle. But yeah. Fine. Basic. Serviceable.
A TWO. HOUR. WRESTLING. MATCH.
SETH. FREAKING. ROLLINS.
SMACKDOWN (2/20/18)
Once again this was a pretty bad show even if guys are really trying in-ring.
The thing about the opening promo this week is that I do not buy any of these gentleman at any moment winning the WWE Championship from AJ Styles at Fastlane. 1053 Ridge Brother Josh did bring up a good point, though: maybe the mis-direction is the point. Maybe Dolph Ziggler or some shit wins and we get 2 weeks of terrifying Ziggler vs. Nakamura for the WWE Title at Mania build before AJ wins the title back. I dunno.
Still think AJ Styles is a spectacular talent, and probably like one of only four reasons right now to spend two hours with SmackDown every week, but MAN is top babyface AJ Styles such a geek. It is actually incredible that he remains so over despite being such a geek.
Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler was pretty good – it seems that between Road to Mania hype and the disenchantment with SmackDown being bad growing every week, Owens is busting ass. Guy doesn’t need to be bumping around every week but there’s just more movement to his matches lately and that’s a welcome thing. He was kind enough to do the chinlock during commercial too! The match actually reminded me of when Owens was a fresh face in WWE working a Ziggler who thought he still might have a shot at being a top guy. Real brutal superkick to the back of Ziggler’s head for the finish. With more juice this is really good, on SmackDown it was merely good.
The Jinder/Roode/Orton promo/angle on this show, much like Cena vs. Rollins, was some transcendent stuff. But the opposite way.
I don’t want to go too over-the-top about this considering I’m only a few days removed from seeing it, but this might have been an all-time bad WWE segment. Nothing clicked – the writing, the situation, the delivery – but it was worse than just bad wrestling, it was so convoluted to the point where it didn’t just make no sense it made negative sense.
Let’s break it down: SmackDown introduced a “Top 10 List” two weeks ago that has zero baring on any wrestler’s status in the company – it’s just a vote from peers in the locker room, with a guy who has barely wrestled on TV in the last six months like Tye Dillinger at #10, Randy Orton at #9, and other weird stuff that makes no sense. Also, it doesn’t change week-to-week – it just happened once. So Jinder Mahal came out and did a promo where, because of his anger at being left out over said Top 10, reveals Bobby Roode’s own personal Top 10 ballot as if it was some shocking secret, only for Roode to have to come out and say that it wasn’t his.
Was I dreaming???? Where is the heat!? Where is the anything!?!?!?!
SmackDown followed that up with Bryan and Shane doing porno-level acting to set up Roode vs. Orton at the PPV. Yes, the preceding segment set up ROODE VS. ORTON.
6-woman tag was super basic shit – Liv ducking and dodging from Naomi was cool, Naomi fighting for the hot tag was cool, everybody throwing moves and shots at the end was cool, but my attention was averted over this being another stupid 6-woman tag.
Becky Lynch should be doing something – anything. What a bizarre situation.
New Day vs. Gable & Benjamin (who they should just call The Pure Athletes) was a moderately fun TV match. Another confusing thing about SmackDown for the last year is how outside of the sweet Usos feud, there’s just been no forward momentum with New Day who at one point were on their way to being one of the hottest acts in WWE. Woods and Gable tearing it up and the Gable belly-to-belly on E were a good time.
Another Bludgeon Brothers squash, another 30-second highlight on Tuesday night. Just amazing destruction, a unique squash match with them just splashing the shit out of the jobbers as Graves cracked up. Amazing.
AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin was a good solid match but was also just kind of empty. Fuckin’ SmackDown. One thing WWE might have wanted to do if they were going to put Baron Corbin in a main event role on the road to Mania would have been to not completely bury him last summer. Oh well. The Styles reverse somersault over the table into the Phenomenal Forearm and the extra incredible Deep Six were highlights.
MIXED MATCH CHALLENGE (2/20/18)
Aw man these things get weaker every single week. Charlotte Flair not giving a shit was pretty cool and they wrapped it up well with a hot finish, but it never got anywhere beyond solid and the Nia Jax/Titus Worldwide comedy wasn’t clicking. Apollo really should’ve turned heel on Titus during that post-match stuff. I want an Apollo/Nia romance.
205 LIVE (2/20/18)
I love that on this show they randomly revealed that the cruiserweights are doing weigh-ins every week. Such a great professional wrestling thing.
Buddy Murphy vs. Ariya Daivari wasn’t quite a showcase for Buddy, but more a Daivari match with the occasional cool new thing from Buddy, though the cool new thing was really only cool and new because Buddy hasn’t been on WWE TV before. Buddy sure does move well though. As for Daivari, he is either my least favorite guy in WWE or a guy I deeply respect and I cannot tell. I respect that he is doing his best in this insane Boring Hunger Games that has been 205 Live for the last year, but man do the matches rarely hit. They did get things going for the finish though, which was essentially based around They Won’t Really Let Daivari Win, Will They? Oh my God Are They Going To? OK Good They Didn’t. Felt more CWC Round 1 than Cruiserweight Title Tournament Round 1, but I dug it enough.
Cedric/TJP, Roddy/Kalisto, Drew/Mark, Buddy/Ali – WHAT A QUARTERFINALS!
The Lucha Things squash was a good straightforward showcase – nice padding between the two Round 1 matches.
Ok, Mustafa Ali vs. Jack Gallagher was amazing. It was just filled to the brim with good quality complex wrestling that you don’t see a lot of in WWE. I loved how it went from sweet hold-trading early, then moved into a shoving match, then moved into good guy getting worked over by bad guy, then moved into a match that seemed like it might end by ref stoppage. Gallagher appeared to fully reach his heel potential here, as he was just MEAN – kept going back to the arm with smart logical stuff and then nasty-looking stuff, hit a bodyslam into the corner where Ali landed on his head, and busted out DANIEL BRYAN ELBOWS. Ali meanwhile is special – there was the nasty spin kick and some awesome dives, there was also him selling the arm like death and taking some completely insane bumps to the floor and into the barricade. The finish was incredible too, with Ali landing on his feet off a backdrop from the top, hitting a superkick to the back of Jack’s head, a crazy smooth tornado DDT, and finally the 0-5-4. Yeah so what there was a botched dive – this was so good.
NXT (2/21/18)
A recap and squash heavy show, which isn’t a problem when your main event is Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” “Motherfucking” Almas.
No Way Jose vs. Velveteen Dream was mostly Dream bumping around and Jose looking a little flabby. Liked Jose trying to milk removing his shirt only to be drowned out by the Velveteen chants. This is Dream’s world now.
Nikki Cross is OVER and had a fine little squash match with Vanessa Borne. Great mudhole stomps. Nikki Cross vs. Alexa Bliss is going to be SWEET.
Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Almas, NXT Title vs. Johnny’s Career, was – big shocker – another incredible match. Outside of the awesome story surrounding this, these guys just have such great chemistry. I feel like Gargano allows Almas to be the worker he wants to be – everything is so fast and so smooth that even weirdo high-flying wrestling moves feel completely legitimate. This wasn’t a crazy-ass Big Match, but a perfect capper to their NXT tale, a somewhat quiet match that still managed to be spectacular and compelling and told an incredible story.
As per usual they traded some sweet holds early, but quickly got things bumping as LeRae took Vega out of the arena with a tope. Almas battered Johnny’s arm and Johnny’s selling made it interesting, though Almas ain’t half bad himself – liked the Minoru Suzuki rope cross armbreaker spot, loved the slingshot DDT countered with a Fujiwara armbar. I liked how unique the last half or so was too compared to their other matches… at the TakeOver’s they went for the near falls and crazy strikes, but this was all about how each guy knew each other – countering each other’s stuff, even hitting each other’s stuff at some points. Plus, the URGENCY. Loved the urgency, especially as Johnny went for the kill. Almas’ deadlift buckle bomb followed by the double knees in the corner and Johnny’s insane rapid-fire tornado DDT were magical. And then – SCARY-ASS CIAMPAAAAAA! Mauro can get annoying, but his call of this finish was incredible; it was as if his spirit escaped his body and the spirit of 1998 Jim Ross entered in its’ place.
I need this match for the IC Title at a SummerSlam at some point.
That final shot of Ciampa waving goodbye…. WOW.
MAIN EVENT (2/21/18)
This was a good show. Tony Nese vs. Gran Metalik was an excellent Metalik showcase – Metalik is SOOOO good. Finish saw him do a rope-walk rana that the crowd flipped out for followed by a Metalik Driver. Definitely a Main Event Match Worth Watching. The Revival vs. Rhyno & Slater had a REVIVAL BEATDOWN cut out but was still a solid match. Heath out-wrestling The Revival and them flopping around was the good stuff.
WWE TV Match of the Week: SETH ROLLINS
WWE TV MVP of the Week: SETH ROLLINS
This was SUCH a quality week of WWE TV. Just awesome. RAW, 205 Live, and NXT all rocked, and each show also had a ****+ match which is wild. SmackDown continues to stink but at least had some solid wrestling, yanno? Long live World Wrestling Entertainment.
RAW: 8/10
SmackDown: 5/10
205 Live: 8/10
NXT: 8/10
