WrestleMania 35 going all in on fan service has been an interesting thing to see.
Nakamura vs. AJ Styles? That’s OUR match!
John Cena vs. The Undertaker? OUR match! US! WE WANTED THIS!
The Cruiserweight Title Tournament? WE! US!!! ME!!!!!
Brock vs. Roman? Well… not OUR match. But Roman? OUR guy. OURS! Especially over that lazy-ass Brock Lesnar!
And a Battle Royal named after a sex trafficker changed to not being named after a sex trafficker?
…
Us … ?
I dunno. I got no take on the Fabulous Moolah thing that hasn’t been said anywhere else already.
RAW (3/12/18)
This was a really fun wrestling show. The in-ring might not have been great (two matches in two hours… what is this – 2008!?) but the stories are clicking. WrestleMania is almost here!
Roman vs. Brock, Sasha vs. Bayley, Seth vs. Finn vs. Miz, The Bar vs. The Tag Division, Cena vs. Undertaker, Alexa vs. Nia, Wyatt vs. Matt – all these feuds got a good kick in the ass and it was all very cool to watch.
The first 20 minutes especially kind of captivated me.
The layers of the Roman Reigns angle accomplished SO much: Brock no-showing again a great way to play with the elephant in the room that is Brock, Roman generating sympathy with the fans as a Man of the People (“what would’ve happened if you didn’t show up for work?”), then playing with real life: Roman revealing Vince McMahon is just sitting backstage every week, saying he didn’t get told Brock wasn’t there, and the one-shot of him walking backstage leading to them showing Vince in gorilla (with Shane!) and Vince cutting to commercial. It was SO cool, like when The Office shut off the camera and you got Jenna Fischer talking to the cameraman and everybody’s minds blew up.
There is still not as much conviction as I’d hope in Reigns’ lines, but this whole thing was total money. The Star Machine is alive and well.
Is Reigns saying Brock is Vince’s boy when everybody knows HE is Vince’s boy a commentary on something? On truth? Hypocrisy? On Trump!?
Love when WWE references their shoot world but it’s still a work. The Reality Era is alive and well.
Sasha Banks vs. Sonya Deville was a quiet-ass match there for the Bayley angle more than anything. It’s interesting to watch Sonya improve week-to-week but she’s not there yet.
Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz is such a great IC Title dynamic – in a world of 8-10 Top Guys on a roster, this is pretty great use of these three guys. I liked MizTV enough. Miz’ glee at Seth and Finn’s arguing was great. Finn’s dorko promo was not.
The magic of whoever is writing Monday Night RAW these days can certaily be found in Braun and Roman and Seth and Miz, but it can also be found in the setup of The Bar vs. The Miztourage match.
You’ve got these established Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel characters fighting for a chance at WrestleMania because The Miz has helped propped them up. And they’re not just gonna wrestle like normal – they’re gonna attack The Bar prior to the match! What a hook!! Ya build up characters like The Miztourage on the side and even this throwaway stuff seems like it actually matters. It makes the wrestling a lot more fun to watch.
Anyways, all the tag teams attacked The Bar. It was OK.
John Cena challenging The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania was incredible television. Great delivery, great screwing with convention, great fake wrestling stuff with John f’ing Cena pretending he has no sway in challenging Undertaker, great overall angle with Cena going rogue and making the challenge. This whole thing just made me smile. Loved John in the crowd, leading a This is Awesome chant, trying to start a LET’S GO ROMAN chant, SIPPING A BEER.
And then Big Money John brought it home with an incredible promo on Undertaker: “You are not too old, you are not washed up, you’re not broken down cause if you was broken down you wouldn’t be posting workout videos on your wife’s Instagram.” WOOOOOO. This match should’ve happened a couple years ago but my WORD what a major match.
Enjoyed them low-key announcing a Superstar Shakeup for after WrestleMania.
Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor was a match I can’t talk about without sounding like a curmudgeon. It was a match I can see people digging and delivered what’s expected of a big time Young Bucks fan or something, and everything was pretty impressive to be sure, but it was also a bit lifeless and light as shit. Finn’s block of Seth’s knee with an elbow was nice though.
Both liked and hated the Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax feud setup.
Liked Mickie James as a mom still trying to be cool by hanging out with mean girl Alexa. Liked Cole’s confused “We gonna get Asuka vs. Mickie?” after Alexa’s “You get THIS woman” mis-direction. Liked Asuka vs. Mickie, another edition of Asuka goin’ long and havin’ a good solid match, though the crowd turned on it for some fucking reason. The big sunset flip powerbomb was wild.
Hated the voyeur creepiness of the Alexa/Mickie locker room shit talk on Nia. And especially hated Nia freaking out and screaming over it – not sure reminding folks of Vickie Guerrero’s shrieking is a way to turn someone babyface.
I did though outright love Charly’s delivery of “Just so you are aware, that boom microphone over there… that’s been on the entire time” and the crowd’s reaction.
ALL the Broken Universe characters showing up in a video on Monday Night RAW was a special thing. Ref Shawn Bennett had the delivery of the night: “Um… did I do something wrong?”
The Tag Team Battle Royal was kind of long, huh? One of those things that’ll be forgotten years or days or moments later, with the only fleeting memory being the big BRAUN win. Loved Sheamus flipping out as it came down to Braun and Anderson: Anderson’s still in it! Anderson’s still in it!
If Braun isn’t running through Brock or Jinder for a title at Mania, him going after the Tag Titles alone is kind of an inspired thing.
SMACKDOWN (3/13/18)
This was an OK show – the stories being told are OK and got a little more juice heading into Mania, while for the first time in a while SmackDown’s wrestling was more quality than RAW’s.
Does it still just blow anyone’s mind that AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura will be wrestling each other at WrestleMania for the WWE Title? What a world.
AJ Styles vs. Rusev was a chemistry dream match for me. Was it the BEST MATCH EVER? Naw. Was it fun as hell to watch these two match up in a fresh match? Yup. AJ bumping for big Rusev Day was magical – took the Macha kick like he got blasted like a shotgun and went up SO high on the back body drop. I liked AJ’s knee blowing out after he hit the Ushigiroshi too, as if Rusev’s burliness was just too much. The Styles Clash to Accolade counter was awesome too.
Nakamura waiting a minute to save AJ from the Rusev Beatdown was a nice touch. Nakamura might not be the best wrestler in the world but guy can subtly wait to make a save and point at a WrestleMania sign like a champion.
Love Big E cutting big time promos weekly – let’s do something new with him eh?
Big E teaming with Jimmy Uso to battle the Bludgeon Brothers was SUCH an awesome deal. LET’S GO TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS. I freakin’ loved the match – an amazing 5-minute sprint, really fast impactful fun as hell professional wrestling. Ideal TV. The mallet/chair showdown before it was awesome too. So good.
The Asuka/Charlotte promo was kind of an eh promo but this is a Big Match, baby. Just two QUEENS standing in the middle of the ring in their robes. The credibility that this match oozes is the next step in the infamous Women’s Evolution.
Jinder Mahal vs. Bobby Roode was a competent match between two guys I am SO cold on. It appears Orton vs. Jinder vs. Roode will be the We’ve Invested Too Much Into You So You’re Getting a Mania Match Match.
Naomi and Carmella had a match that felt like a tribute to Moolah with all the slapping and hair-pulling. No bueno.
The Owens and Zayn beatdown of Shane was almost the thing that put this stupid-ass feud over the top. Almost. It was a serious Road to WrestleMania beatdown, with great strikes and intensity from Owens and Zayn and a scary old man sell by Shane off the backstage powerbomb. Still no clue if this will go anywhere that satisfies, but I dug this as the close to a show.
MIXED MATCH CHALLENGE (3/13/18)
Not sure anything in the Mixed Match Challenge has reached the heights of the first two weeks. Balor/Sasha vs. Nakamura/Natalya and Braun/Alexa vs. Sami/Becky was an incredible start. Maybe that was the novelty or maybe those matches were just better.
Charlotte/Roode vs. Rusev/Lana was a solid enough match that I don’t have much to say about. Rusev no-selling Charlotte’s chops was pretty stupid though.
205 LIVE (3/13/18)
An ideal show – OK cruiser tag, cruiser squash, cruiser epic.
Hideo Itami & Akira Tozawa vs. Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado was such a surreal damn match. I liked watching it. Everybody did the cool stuff they do. The crowd completely losing their shit for Dorado’s Metalik-assisted dive was awesome.
Jack Gallagher being a real mean guy and squashing a fella was fun stuff. He won with a HEADBUTT.
Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong I thought was incredible. Sweet hold trading, mat wrestling, big time peaks and urgency, and a couple epic moments to top it off. They did the whole “he has an answer for everything” thing so well and every big spot they did looked and felt truly spectacular. Cedric strung together so many moves that all his flying around looked like completely legitimate offense, like he could’ve won a bar fight with a springboard clothesline. It had a Dream Match feel but didn’t feel empty like some Dream Matches do – just totally delivered.
The lumbar check kickout with Roddy’s foot on the ropes was something special. Roddy tossing Cedric to the post was completely insane. Loved the last couple minutes with both guys standing up back-to-back, throwing blows, staring each other down and trading more shots – SO great. And a CRADLE won it!
This happens on a WWE PPV or a Supercard of Honor and it’s a MOTYC. As it was, it took place in a crowd that sounded bored out of their minds for a bit before Roddy tossed Cedric’s ass into the top turnbuckle and they were like, “Oh, I should probably pay attention.” That they delivered in front of a suspect crowd might be more impressive though.
Amazing promo by Cedric post-match. He cried. HE CRIED!!!
NXT (3/14/18)
As with most NXT’s these days – a solid enough show.
SAnitY vs. Tino/Riddick was a 3-minute tag team professional wrestling match. Nikki Cross going after Riddick was cool.
Still highly enjoying the Tommaso Ciampa stuff. The shot of him surrounded by the throngs of Johnny signs with the crowd chanting for Johnny in unison was incredible.
Dakota Kai vs. Lacey Evans was OK as far as 20-second matches go. I liked the idea of Evans trying to work holds and Kai just rolling her up. The Ember/Shayna post-match stuff was good stuff too … Shayna’s got a heck of a presence. Kai kicking Shayna to set up the one-armed Eclipse was very cool.
Street Profits vs. Heavy Machinery was a fine little sprint between two entertaining teams. Ford’s skint he cat was very impressive – that could be a regular spot – looks at the hard camera and pops back in.
Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole was good stuff. I’m really digging Dunne just coming in as a hired hand every few weeks to have great matches. I also liked how the incredibly mediocre Cole didn’t do anything in the match offensively really except push Dune off the turnbuckle. Dunne wrecking him was pretty fun, and the finish was a hoot – these boys can throw big shots and flip a crowd out with the best of em.
The Aleister Black/Zelina Vega contract signing thing was a contract signing thing. I’m not exactly buying Black as a promo guy- keep him quiet and mysterious and don’t immediately turn him into some suit-wearing talky-talk top guy. Vega rules though and the Candice LeRae run-in was awesome.
MAIN EVENT (3/14/18)
Anyone ever wonder when Curt Hawkins records his theme song bits? Is there really a guy who’s job it is to get that moving? Anyways, Curt Hawkins vs. Goldust was Curt Hawkins vs. Goldust. Curt ain’t bad but you’d think Dustin has enough pull to call for a different match on Main Event.
Not sure how much I have to say about Itami/Tozawa vs. TJP/Gallagher. Tozawa seems to be having fun. Itami not so much. There was a cool spot where Jack caught himself by flipping into the corner and landing on his feet, only to turn around into a punch by Tozawa, which setup the finish.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Cedric Alexander – great match, great promo. This boy is going to WrestleMania!
That’s more like it. RAW was great, SmackDown semi-interesting, 205 Live had an excellent match, and NXT was – well, NXT was fine.
RAW: 9/10
SmackDown: 7/10
205 Live: 8/10
NXT: 6/10
