Is it fair to review wrestling when you’re in a bad mood?
Is it fair to review anything when you’re in a bad mood?
With film, music, art, etc… there are conceivably objective things to talk about on why or why not something worked.
With wrestling, it’s all subjective. Some of my reviews here discuss getting heat and timing comebacks and showing intensity, which are typically agreed upon things on what makes wrestling work.
But some of my reviews are just me marking out for Ember Moon’s sweet tope or Mustafa Ali’s selling.
I don’t know if any of it is good or not, if any of it is getting “over.” I’m just a fan, man.
But back to the point: if you’re in a bad mood, is it fair to review this stuff?
I thought this week of WWE TV was kind of a bummer. But I also was kind of a bummer this week. Job is stressful. Government is disappointing me. Newborn is crying.
WWE this week wasn’t the escape from that it normally is pretty good at being.
And I look around the Internet and I see similar reactions, that this week and the last couple weeks in general have kind of stunk.
But I also saw that same reaction for a lot of stuff last year on WWE TV, and I’d argue that last year was one of WWE’s highest quality years.
So what you’re going to read here are my thoughts on the wrestling on TV this week. Some I liked. Some I didn’t. And some just kind of bummed me out and I don’t have much to say about it.
Is it fair to review wrestling when I’m in a bad mood?
Probably not. But I’m going to do it anyways.
Also: it’s just wrestling.
RAW (5/7/18)
This show can be summed up by one phrase, uttered by Kevin Owens in the opening promo: “If anyone deserves to be in that Ladder Match, it’s ME.”
It is officially Dumb Season. The last couple weeks of WWE have already been lacking any forward momentum, and now we are headed into a scenario where nobody is getting any heat outside of – in Cartman’s Stand and Deliver voice – “How do I reach the CAAASE?”
The wrestling on Monday night was pretty good; the cathartic reaction to the entertainment in front of me not so much.
I liked Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens. Always dig a match where an outmatched fella keeps bringing it to a big fella. Owens was cracking me up being all exasperated trying to keep up with the Monster Among Men. Braun’s big bumps in the turnbuckle, his NO reaction to the pop-up powerbomb, and Owens doing a freaking backflip off a shoulder tackle outside were highlights.
On the contrary, I’m not sure that No Way Jose/Titus Worldwide vs. Baron Corbin/The Revival did anything for anybody other than get them on the flagship WWE program Monday Night RAW and therefore re-enforce that they are, indeed, WWE Superstars.
I liked Sasha vs. Ember vs. Ruby. All three just went out there and killed it a bit. Ember Moon was working like a woman possessed, a self-proclaimed War Goddess indeed, just wrestling like she had entered the Matrix. The Dive Train with Sasha’s somersault plancha, Ruby’s dropkick to the floor (OW), and Ember’s warp-speed tope was incredible too. The Bayley/Sasha deal remains dumb, but damned if there wasn’t a fun wrestling match that preceded it.
Did Bobby Lashley just get inducted into the Hall of Fame? That voiceover and career recap was something else.
Jinder Mahal vs. Chad Gable had a lot less heat than their last outing, though again there were some sweet bumps by Gable. Poor Gable appears to have lost any momentum he gained a couple weeks ago. So it goes.
The Dolph record scratch interrupting the Drew McIntyre theme has to be bad on purpose, right? Like this is setting up an awesome angle where Drew dumps Dolph, right? Right? RIGHT???
Solid squash of Rhyno/Slater, at least – Drew headbutting Rhyno off the apron was delightful.
Bobby Roode vs. Elias was trash; third time was not the charm. Stop killing off Elias by pairing him off with this third rate good hand.
Mojo Rawley can slam into a guy hard and Seth Rollins will sell big for that, so Seth’s first IC Title Open Challenge was a success. Sweet near fall off of Mojo’s finisher, not so sweet ripcord knee as Mojo as camera closed in on that thing just whiffing. This was a good match and probably the best Mojo match ever outside of that sweet brawl he had with Samoa Joe in NXT. Might’ve been his first TV singles match that went around 10 minutes actually. Seth meanwhile is having a Very Good Year.
The Woken Fellas vs. Ex-Miztourage was a match. It happened. It was OK. This is probably best case scenario for Bray Wyatt at this point, but I also don’t see any satisfying conclusion to this run other than Drew just wrecking both guys.
The Roman Reigns Situation continued this week with Roman blaming Backstage Politics on his recent woes, which is something I’d write longform about if I still had the energy. The tone deafness of this whole angle is so bad that it HAS to be on purpose.
Right?
RIGHT???
The Roman Reigns Situation seeped into what on paper would’ve been a good match with him facing Finn Balor and Sami Zayn in a Triple Threat. The match was fine – hey, there was a Coup de Grace in the crowd! – but the heat, the feeling, the buzz… DEAD. It was almost shocking to see these three having a match with so many lulls. Balor moves on to Money in the Bank, Roman begins a feud with Jinder Mahal, and Sami Zayn continues to be a geek with no credibility. Cool. Cool cool cool.
SMACKDOWN (5/8/18)
This was a solid show but also completely ridiculous that this wasn’t a really good show considering the injection of talent this show received just a couple weeks ago. Styles and Nakamura stuck in La La Land and Asuka and Samoa Joe and The Usos not being used is some STUFF, man.
I liked Jeff Hardy vs. The Miz, an above-average WWE formula match. I love how Jeff Hardy is the most reliable pop in wrestling right now, a guy who crosses the smark/casual boundary as a guy you’re just excited to see when your GM goes, “And this match starts… right… NOW!” Love a good backslide struggle too. Jeff’s ridiculous neckbreaker bump on the apron was ridiculous, and they brought out some nice near falls before Miz snuck his way into a shot at the briefcase.
Sheamus: I HATE PANCAKES!!!
Carmella might have the widest character/wrestler ratio in wrestling right now. Love the “I BEAT CHARLOTTE FLAIR!!!” stuff, not confident she can get it done in the ring, whether it’s going toe-to-toe with somebody or even playing a cowardly heel.
Charlotte Flair vs. Peyton Royce was a rock solid TV match. There were a few execution issues which didn’t make the near falls Peyton got on Charlotte as hot as they could’ve been, but other than that this was a good use of TV time. I’m a big fan of how Peyton reacts to everything – screaming when taking stuff, scared when she’s about to. Her desperate tap-out on the Figure Eight was awesome.
I liked Xavier Woods vs. Cesaro. Woods always does cool stuff when given some time, and he especially did so here vs. Cesaro.
Becky Lynch vs. Mandy Rose was highlighted by Mandy’s insane new entrance. The match was like 90 seconds. Had a better roll-up finish than Carmella/Charlotte though.
I liked Daniel Bryan vs. Rusev. Just a fun TV match based around both guys hurting each other’s arm and selling the crap out of it, a pleasurable 10 of minutes of wrestling between two guy I dig. I still just can’t get over Dan Bryan just doing his thing again on Tuesday nights. Rusev catching the tope and tossing Bryan and Bryan countering the Accolade with a YesLock were highlights. That Rusev win was like an RKO – outta nowhere!
205 LIVE (5/8/18)
Why isn’t Drake Maverick doing the voiceovers for 205 Live?
Seems like we’re back to the days of heatless 205 Live, though damned if a few of these guys aren’t trying to fight past that.
The Lucha House Party / Kendrick & Gallagher / Itami & Tozawa tags are fine but there’s just no heat, 50/50 booking in the worst possible way. Metalik & Dorado vs. Kendrick & Gallagher was another one – fine, no heat, 50/50 booking in the worst possible way. All these fellas are just having exchanges of professional wrestling and not getting over. Even if Metalik and Dorado were flying all over the place, Gulak on commentary was your highlight.
You know, I’m starting to think that Tony Nese is kind of a jerk. He had a squash match. I liked his baseball slide to elbow thing. Not his running knee though – don’t zoom in on something if it’s not going to hit.
Hideo Itami getting some love with a video package was neat, but run with it or cut bait. He may not be what he once was but he’s so tarnished too – I’d like to see them try to put some steam on him, but the more time that passes the more the dream of KENTA lighting up fools in a WWE ring might be dead.
Mustafa Ali vs. Buddy Murphy at least ended the show on a good note – hell of a match. Love a match where they take it slow with cool mesmerizing wrestling and they slowly get the crowd to go, “OK, OK – this is good.” That tilt-a-whirl rope DDT was so awesome. I like how Mustafa Ali sells when he hits big stuff too, like “Holy crap can you guys believe I did that!?” They capped things off huge with Ali’s insane backflip to the outside and superkick catch, and I dug the hell out of Buddy powerbombing Ali and just killing his arm dead to finish him off.
NXT (5/9/18)
Lots of place-setting on NXT these days. There’s a lot to be excited about – Ricochet and Dream and EC3 on the way up, Ciampa and Baszler continuing to be pieces of shit – but there’s also a whole lot of waiting around for that great big payoff in the sky.
Ricochet and Velveteen Dream opened the show with an OK promo that didn’t have much momentum to it. Like, what do these guys really want outside of proving to Triple H they can cut a decent promo? Maybe that’s actually the point.
EC3 vs. Raul Mendoza was a great squash because Mendoza is a great squash guy – does cool stuff, then bumps like hell.
“You know you’re a piece of garbage, right?” Shrug Love Pete Dunne.
Dakota Kai vs. Vanessa Borne was a solid few minutes because Borne is a solid heel and Kai’s a solid face. Kai’s Code Red backstabber finisher thing is awesome.
War Raiders vs. Heavy Machinery was the best case scenario, big boys just hitting and suplexing each other and a tope to boot.
I liked Kassius Ohno vs. Tommaso Ciampa. It was a match that got a point across – less a match, more two guys just beating on each other and continuing the Saga of Ciampa. Ciampa trying to gouge Ohno’s eye out was tremendous.
MAIN EVENT (5/9/18)
So Cedric Alexander vs. Tony Nese wasn’t much, basically a Cedric enhancement match and Cedric sure is fun to watch… but eh.
Zack Ryder vs. Curt Hawkins however – WHOA! Awesome! Completely utterly a Main Event Match Worth Watching. These two bros got enough segment time to kill it and totally did – hometown crowd, pre and post-match promos, 10+ minutes of wrestling, a frankensteiner, and great near falls with a a Rough Ryder kickout by Hawkins with a well-timed foot on the rope and an actual Hawkins near fall with his feet on ropes. Probably the best Rough Ryder ever here too – Ryder just killed poor Hawkins. This is as Main Event as a Main Event match is going to get.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Mustafa Ali vs. Buddy Murphy
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Seth Rollins again felt like the only superstar in this company.
God damn are we in a down period. There is too much talent around for the shows to be this weak. Everything was solid but nothing was exciting.
RAW: 5/10
SmackDown: 5/10
205 Live: 6/10
NXT: 6/10
