A Rolling Stone article from 1998 had a feature on Jack Nicholson, then hot off his Academy Award win for As Good As It Gets. The author noted how Nicholson would absolutely crush a scene he was in, then be asked by director James L. Brooks to do it again. And again. And again. And again. When asked where the energy came from, Jack was succinct: “I love to act.”
There’s so much WWE to watch sometimes, especially when times get busy. But god damnit, through the good and the bad, through the ups and the downs: I love the professional wrestling.
RAW (4/30/18)
Neat Canada atmosphere but not a lot of momentum to be found. McIntyre/Ziggler and Chad Gable had a hot start last week – this week there was a re-run promo for McIntyre/Ziggler and nothing for Chad. I’m not a Vince McMahon, but that seems stupid.
Springtime is a weird time for sports entertaining – you get RAW After Mania, then you get downtime. Always downtime. So you hope at least for some character development and new faces gaining steam. Not sure we’re getting a ton of that right now.
There’s also stuff like The Roman Reigns Situation. The Montreal heat for this guy was over-god damn-whelming which sure was a fascinating thing to watch, but this is ultimately a long-form story and dragging this out even more post-Cage Match is unbearable. Roman being some punk who just accepts the cage finish and is still positioned as the babyface who’s getting screwed by The Man feels tone deaf even for a company that just praised Saudi Arabia as a progressive beacon of hope a few days ago.
Given all that, the opening 20 of this show wasn’t great, even if Owens and Zayn getting Road Warrior pops was tremendous. Not sure why any of these guys wanted to wrestle Reigns though – I know Brock is big and scary, but how about you call out the guy who’s been holding the Universal Championship hostage for a decade?
The wrestling was hit-or-miss on this show – Sasha Banks vs. Ruby Riott, the 6-man tag, and the Rollins/Balor main event were good. The other stuff – not so much.
Bobby Roode vs. Elias one of those matches where it’s like, stop wasting time – turn Roode heel and make Elias the biggest star in the world already.
The Authors of Pain took care of 3.0 in about 30 seconds. I love 3.0. Every time they get a shot at the big time they kill it and make it memorable. Loved the DE-FENSE chants vs. Enzo & Cass on NXT TV, loved Rich Swann vs. Johnny Ocean which was one of the lone non-Neville highlights of pre-Drake Maverick 205 Live.
Seth Rollins as by far the most over babyface in Montreal sure was something. The evolution of Rollins into a Good Promo Guy has been a long-term story in WWE and this was one of his best… he was feeding off the crowd and I liked his casual “Just bare with me one second” as he went into the usual WWE over-exposition about his crazy last month. He’s also the only guy on the roster credibly calling out Brock’s bullshit.
Then Finn came out and said he liked his butt.
The Miztourage proposing re-forming the Four Horsemen with Rollins and Balor was kind of incredible too. In mid-2013 there might’ve been something to that actually. I really hope they can keep the momentum going in a post-Miz world.
Sasha Banks vs. Ruby Riott was the match Riott needed on RAW. She looked good versus Charlotte at Fastlane, but this felt like her best outing in WWE yet. Sasha is so good and gave her one hell of a showcase, all the while selling her ass off and looking like a confident bad motherfucker on offense. The Riott cannonball was a sweet spot too.
Love A Moment of Bliss. “She even asked if I was tall enough for the Mad Tea Cup Ride. It’s a cup. You just sit… in a cup.”
The Titus Trip / Titus World Slide / Greatest Moment in Royal Rumble History was followed up on with all the overkill you could hope for: a low-key promo followed by a ton of replays followed by Titus tripping later in the show followed by a t-shirt release. At least we’ll always have the fall.
“You know what man… I just fell. Plain and simple. I fell.”
Roman/Braun/Lashley vs. Owens/Zayn/Jinder was very much a good solid WWE 6-man tag brought up by the Montreal crowd going wild for Owens, Zayn and Braun. I’m not sure if the trend that I’m sensing of more tags and 6-mans on RAW is a real thing or not but it’s not a bad thing – I miss the weekly Roman Reigns banger but these guys have got to stay healthy, you know? I want a Roman vs. Sami match ASAP though, just to see them have a contest on who can sell the best.
No Way Jose vs. Baron Corbin was real quick but they moved fast and there was a spot where Corbin just straight-up side-stepped a dive from Jose.
Nattie vs. Mickie James was kind of just bad, but Ronda running like The Terminator was some stuff.
Even if the show was lukewarm things closed strong with Seth Rollins and Finn Balor once again going balls out and being athletic nutjobs. The cardio to pull off what these guys pull off, man. A Terry Funk match might be cooler but this sure was nice. They did a cool job of putting over how much they know each other better now, with counters for all their signature stuff: the step-up enzuigiri block, tope block, Seth just pushing Balor off from the Coup de Grace setup. And they were just blasting each other with shots later on, which created a real hot finish. The Montreal crowd was on fire too. If these guys worked like this at SummerSlam 2016 wrestling might be a lot different right now.
SMACKDOWN (5/1/18)
Hey this was a very very OK show brought up by a hot Montreal crowd and down by some weaknesses in the new SmackDown being evident – mainly, there just isn’t enough room for so many potentially hot acts. For example – The Usos, New Day, The Bar, Bludgeon Brothers, SAnitY and The Club is one hell of a stacked tag team roster but is there really time for them on a 2-hour show, especially when the 3-hour show is right there having 10-minute Bobby Roode matches weekly?
Also, three matches? C’mon. C’MON!!! Samoa Joe on the mic, The Miz being the Master and the Ruler of the Universe were highlights, and Charlotte Flair being a crazy person were highlights.
The Miz’ new bedazzled outfit plus bandana is positively ridiculous. He was tremendous in the MizTV opener as usual (“I would shake your hand but you just high-fived all these dirty people out front, so…”) but it was a pretty cold segment. Jeff Hardy didn’t seem so comfortable having to read a long WWE script again and he vs. Randy wasn’t exactly heat-inducing.
Jeff/Randy vs. Miz/Shelton was an OK tag between some WWE Dads brought up a notch like most stuff this week by Montreal popping for even the simplest stuff.
Lana providing Rusev Day some character development sure was nice but starting to feel like the moment has passed for Rusev. Hope I’m wrong but Jesus – when you have a moment, make the most of the god damn moment.
Big Cass didn’t crush his promo like last week but still did impressively OK for a guy whose shtick used to be just spelling soft incorrectly. Midget Humor is a thing that is sometimes used in professional wrestling. Yes. Yes. Yes…
Samoa Joe thankfully followed that up by showing how to do a god damn professional wrestling promo. This 39-year-old man knows he might only have a few years left in this game and is talking like a guy who will not be denied at least one World Heavyweight Championship. Roman Reigns and the WWE Championship are on notice, baby.
Shinsuke Nakamura also low blowed AJ Styles again.
I love how WWE has completely revamped their sponsors game with big brands like Snickers and Sonic and whatnot, but there’s also… AstraZeneca. There’s a ton of money in pharmaceuticals, but man – what is the target market here?
Sheamus vs. Xavier Woods was 5-minutes of TV decency – Woods tope, Sheamus knee, Enzo bottom rope whiplash spot. Big E pulling Cesaro by the legs off the apron into the Big Ending setup was incredible too.
Absolution just casually being killed off in a backstage segment was something else, huh?
Charlotte/Asuka/Becky vs. Carmella/IIconics was a fine 6-woman tag team contest. Carmella got heat, IIconics played fine foils, Becky sold well, Asuka is over, and Charlotte did a god damn moonsault to the floor. Loved Asuka springing up from the dead on the floor to get the hot tag.
205 LIVE (5/1/18)
Not the most exciting episode of WWE Network streaming television but the wrestling sure was pretty good.
Liked Kendrick/Gallagher vs. Itami/Tozawa because Kendrick always gets excited to wrestle puro dudes. Ol’ Spanky and KENTA trading shots was the good stuff.
Buddy Murphy: “I want my title match” – simple, effective, GOOD.
Buddy just messed poor Liam Louis up and it sure was neat if not a bit scary. The awkward ref stoppage off the triple powerbomb was wild – the crowd got QUIET, but like scared for a man’s well-being quiet and not 205 Live quiet.
Kalisto vs. Drew Gulak was gooooood, highlighted by Gulak being the first man in recorded history to side-step the backflip headscissors. Kalisto was doing his balls out Lucha Things while Gulak just dishes out punishment like a champ – strikes, stretches, an amazing Gory Stretch, tearing a guys’ mask off. Each guy hit a phenomenal variation of the sunset flip towards the end too. The moonsault caught with a Dragon sleeper finish was AWESOME. This revitalized Drew Gulak who just abuses grown men with his Dragon sleeper is way cool.
NXT (5/2/18)
I’m not sure much happened here but there were some highlights – Kairi Sane is good, TM61 did something interesting, Kassius Ohno wore a Minoru Suzuki shirt, and Bianca Belair made my jaw drop.
Kairi Sane vs. Shazza McKenzie was a solid squash match for Ms. Sane. Sane throwing an air heart and Kairi catching it and throwing it up and looking at it through her air periscope was THE BEST.
Candice LeRae acted the shit out of her promo and that’s appreciated. I don’t think 2018 WWE would go there, but if Ciampa actually put his hands on her…
Street Profits vs. TM61 was an OK few minutes of action, and hey look TM61 kind of sort of had some character development.
“The Finest” Kona Reeves, huh? He is The Finest. And his name is Kona Reeves. I know that now because he said it a lot in his match. I guess we will see at some point if he truly is as he says he is, and is indeed the finest.
Bianca Belair is an athletic freak and not in that vaguely racist “He sure is athletic!” WWE way – naw this lady is quick on her feet, strong as hell, and most importantly carries herself like a superstar. It has been so fun to watch her develop and try out new stuff over the last year. That deadlift press slam was an AMAZING spot.
Peter Dunne and Roderick Strong beat each other up a bunch but their match kinda lost steam towards the end. Liked the high-octane ass-kicking early but the Roderick offense and Pete selling later on not so much. Dunne throwing a shoe at Adam Cole was the highlight of this Pretty Good Match.
MAIN EVENT (5/2/18)
There was a pair of good tag matches this week on Main Event, both a Main Event Match Worth Watching.
Lucha House Party did their thing vs. Kendrick & Gallagher and Metalik absolutely flipped Montreal out with his handspring backflip.
The Revival vs. Breezango was just good old-fashioned tag team wrestling, a fun use of four guys being available to play instead of two – lots of ducks and dodges and double teams. They milked sunset flips, Dawson was a dick, and Breeze took a beating. Very nice.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
WWE TV MVP of the Week: With Roman Reigns essentially being buried dead, Seth Rollins is emerging as wrestling’s top star and he had an incredible promo and match this week on top of that.
Kind of a middling week for World Wrestling Entertainment. A few cool highlights and the Montreal crowds were hot, but outside of Rollins/Balor and Samoa Joe, nothing really hit.
RAW: 6/10
SmackDown: 5/10
205 Live: 6/10
NXT: 6/10
