WWE is not about what Vince McMahon says – it is about what Vince McMahon does.
It does not necessarily matter if the thing you did got you heat – it’s that Vince McMahon chose to gave you heat.
It does not necessarily matter if the match you had was any good – it’s that Vince McMahon gave you the time to make it any good.
WWE is a complicated beast ran by the most complicated of all beasts.
50% of the fun is watching what is happening on-screen. But 50% of the fun is the decisions that go into what does happen on-screen. It might be frustrating to watch in real-time, but the longform implications of where the wacky decisions head are a fascinating thing to take a look back at.
It can be frustrating to watch potential hot acts are sent out to die. But when a hot act does break though the bulletproof ceiling, when a hot act not only remains hot but is deemed special by The Man – it can be a beautiful thing.
Something like All In comes along and breaks through that thought, but it’s all in the same. Vince McMahon says what he wants – grab the brass ring and all that. But Vince McMahon also does what he wants, and what he has done for the past 30 years and especially the past 5 years has inadvertently created an environment for this wildly successful show in front of a niche audience that wants something more.
Truly, a beautiful thing indeed.
RAW (5/14/18)
This show just felt so meaningless – jobber acts with no steam, lifeless Triple Threat Money in the Bank qualifiers, newcomers like McIntyre and Lashley just treading water. And WTF is going on with Braun!? Freakin’ backstage politics, man.
Roman Reigns is on a warpath that nobody wants or cares about – amazing. It’s no longer fascinating – it’s just boring.
Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens was another example of Seth Rollins being very good at wrestling professionally in year 2018. He is a guy wrestling on another level, doing so much cool stuff that is so poised and smooth that you completely buy him as THE workhorse. Not everyone can pull off the Athletic Flying Guy shtick but Seth is nailing it right now. Owens catching Seth’s rope and the falcon arrow were high-quality spots that would’ve had Joey Styles going OH MY GOD. The curb stomp as Owens re-entered the ring was a great finish too. Bonus points for the U.K.’s insanely loud BURN IT DOWN.
How wonderfully awkward was Nia Jax challenging Ronda Rousey at the NBCUniversal upfronts? It is going to be a special thing watching WWE kill time with Ronda until WrestleMania 35.
Add Bobby Roode vs. No Way Jose vs. Baron Corbin to the list of matches I never thought I’d see in 2018. They had the Triple Threat Match that you have when it’s three guys who haven’t really gotten started yet. Corbin’s clothesline off the apron and freak-out was kinda cool, otherwise it was a whole bunch of wrestling moves and basically a re-enforcement of why you don’t need to watch WWE TV weekly. I am amazed at whoever is consistently calling for chinlocks in these Triple Threats too – what a rib!
The B-Team’s reaction to their win over Breezango was tremendous but what a nothing TV tag. Why is Fandango doing a top rope legdrop in THIS match?
Riott Squad vs. Sasha/Ember/Natty was very much an OK match. Ruby threw a heck of a clothesline at one point. I wish Riott Squad gelled better because individually I dig all three of them.
The Matt Hardy WONDERFUL clap spot was a top 3 moment of this show, but the tag with The Revival was another nothing TV tag. Breezango and Revival almost immediately established as nobodies on the refreshed Monday Night RAW is sumthin’ else.
Sami Zayn tried in his promo – “LOOK AT THE HAT” – and the glasses are great, but that was a dead segment. One of my least favorite WWE tropes is exposition on stuff nobody cared about in the first place – Lashley has not been lighting the world on fire the last month, so let’s have Sami Zayn recap his last month.
Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Mickie James had an OK layout in theory with Bayley taking heat, but none of her comebacks were fired up and it was just kind of a sloppy match that the crowd gave up on.
Oh cool Roman Reigns speared Jinder Mahal through a wall sweet man wrestling’s great.
Braun & Balor vs. Dolph & Drew should’ve been a show highlight but all these guys feeling so directionless hurts the rassling. It was a very OK match and I dug the hell out of Braun’s hot tag and Braun just wrecking Drew on the outside, but this show desperately needed more than very OK. I am VERY excited for a potential Bruan vs. Drew match, so there’s that.
Add Bobby Lashley vs. Elias vs. Kevin Owens to the list of matches I never thought I’d see in 2018. This was more meaningless batches of wrestling action. Elias trying to play a song was a good bit. Otherwise, the crowd booing Lashley any time he played to him was probably the highlight.
Remember when we thought there’d be something between Owens and Triple H and then there never was? Hahahahahaha this show sucked.
SMACKDOWN (5/15/18)
This was a solid show. Not $1B TV deal solid, but solid nonetheless. The U.K. crowd was hot, Daniel Bryan kicked some ass, The Bar and New Day tore it up, Andrade Almas made his debut, Asuka got TV time, Samoa Joe cut a badass promo, and AJ Styles wrestled Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event. That’s pretty good, right?
The funny thing about SmackDown right now is that its’ stacked roster deserves the 3 hours way more than RAW.
WWE bums me out so much sometimes in how all their guys are usually just floating around, seemingly trying to please Vince McMahon or Kevin Dunn rather than having an actual logical on-screen motivation for what they are doing. Here I dug Bryan actually having a stated goal of wanting the WWE Title and I dug even more Cass saying he tapped out to Bryan so he could get out of the hold and beat Bryan up, and then bringing up the Greatest Royal Rumble elimination which I honestly had forgotten about. Oh – I also dug Bryan just whooping Big Cass’ big tall ass.
New Day vs. The Bar was a fun TV tag, and by that I mean it hit all the right notes in about 6-7 minutes. Woods looked especially good, so good Miz hard sold the hell out of him on commentary. I loved the spot where Cesaro caught the front-face powerbomb, pulled Woods hair, then lifted him up over his shoulder to set up the double team from Sheamus off the top – wow. And then Woods managed the front-face powerbomb a few minutes later! Good stuff.
Highly enjoyed Bludgeon Brothers calling out the SmackDown tag team division that seems either more concerned with Money in the Bank or just isn’t on TV.
Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega had a fine WWE TV debut – squash, promo, next. Love this duo. Almas feels like an undeniable talent, but then again so have a lot of guys. Hope this sticks.
The Royal ‘Mellabration was as silly and one-note as promised. Carmella is Very Good at being annoying and it would make a lot of sense for Asuka to crush her at Money in the Bank. Cannot wait for her to get an inexplicable amount of offense anyways.
Becky vs. Mandy vs. Sonya was a very cookie-cutter Triple Threat. Moves, dissension between Mandy and Sonya, Becky win. Cool. It makes me sad that there has been like two good Becky matches on TV in over a year.
SAMOA JOE = GREAT PROMO
THE IICONICS = GOOD PROMO
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura was good stuff. I’d rank it around the same as any of their good but disappointing PPV matches – at the same time it might be my favorite in that there was less time-wasting. Based on the 3 PPV matches, I’m not sure AJ and Nak can pull off a compelling slow build together these days. In all 3 they didn’t grab me early and the action later on, though good, was hurt by the iffy start. Here, with less time to kill, they got right to it and were better for it.
I still cannot believe that We, the People, are able to watch these two guys do their thing so many times on a WWE presentation. However, I do wish that We, the People, could have seen this thing happen when these two were just a little bit younger and a had some more mystique to them.
205 LIVE (5/15/18)
It’s always cool to see some fresh faces on WWE TV but as far as things from the U.K. that captivated a U.S. audience this week it was no Prince Harry wedding.
Kalisto vs. TJP vs. Tyler Bate vs. Kenny Williams was very show-casey – that’s not necessarily a bad thing and there was some fun stuff here and there, but not sure anyone got over.
It was interesting to see a guy like Kenny Williams on WWE TV, as he has tools but definitely isn’t all there yet, with some real awkward presence any time he wasn’t actually performing a wrestling move – selling, waiting for stuff, etc. TJP doing a submission on three dudes at the same time was cool and Bate brought the energy for the finish.
The 6-man main event – Cedric Alexander, Mustafa Ali and the fascinating Flash Morgan Webster vs. Drew Gulak and the two blandest members of the U.K. roster in James Drake and Joseph Conners – was alright. I liked the pace they kept and Ali’s rana on Conners into Drake, but it didn’t seem to hit even first gear until everyone started cracking each other in the face at the end. Gulak’s counter of the Neuralyzer with the ankle lock was very cool as well. I could get into Gulak as a leader of men, but his sidekick dipshit shtick is also tremendous.
NXT (5/16/18)
This was a heck of an episode of WWE NXT. Promos, character development, good squashes, new guys rising up, and a hell of a main event. The main roster might be lacking as everyone’s after a briefcase but here’s NXT to randomly pick up the slack this week.
The Tommaso Ciampa/Candice LeRae was a hot segment to continue this saga that I thought had maybe ended already. Ciampa just not able to let go his loss is good stuff though. He has become an incredible promo and presence… Candice LeRae not so much. But big scary Ciampa interacting with meek awkward Candice was awesome.
Lacey Evans had her a heck of a squash. Best she’s looked yet – aggressive, took it right to her opponent, casually stepped on her to set up a SECOND ROPE MOONSAULT. If the elbow finish looked better I’d be demanding an NXT Women’s Title match.
Dakota Kai sure does a lot of media after her for a newcomer. Girl is in demand by those faceless members of the Full Sail media recording interviews with their iPhones.
Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream was the first 5 minutes of a 4-star banger. I loved this thing – the dueling armbar swivels, Ricochet keeping Dream in a headlock, both guys trying to out-backflip each other, Dream posing on the apron and eating shit, Ricochet’s handspring in the ring only for Dream to roll in waiting for him. And then LARS. What a wild ride.
Kona Reeves’ squash inexplicably ruled too, mostly because Raul Mendoza is the #1 enhancement guy in WWE and had the crowd going wild for a Kona Reeves match. The boot counter of Raul’s springboard was wild. To Kona’s credit he was getting big KONA SUCKS chants and kind of reminds me of Bo Dallas, a guy the crowd genuinely dislikes, though that may be because they actively think he’s just bad. Not sure he’ll get it done as a top talent, but I’d be into him in a tag team.
Dunne/Oney/Burch vs. Undisputed Era was a hell of a main event. I don’t want to go comparing Undisputed Era to the Four Horsemen – ’cause they f’ing aren’t – but the pace and atmosphere reminded me of a Horsemen vs. Three Top Good Babyfaces main event. Good pace, fun wrestling, O’Reilly and Burch tearing it up, Dunne getting shots in on Roddy. It’s impressive how good Dunne is as a face-in-peril for how much of a dipshit heel he can be. The ONEY HOT TAG and his big dive was awesome too.
MAIN EVENT (5/16/18)
This right here was an episode of WWE Main Event.
Titus Worldwide vs. The Authors of Pain was a very OK enhancement tag for AoP with Titus being crazy over. Big WE WANT TITUS chants as Crews got beat up, and boy did they eventually get Titus.
Chad Gable vs. Mojo Rawley was real solid stuff from two guys who seem to be on the verge of doing… something on Monday Night RAW. Dug Gable out-wrestling Mojo and Gable’s crazy bump into the barricade outside when Mojo rushed him.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Dunne/Oney/Burch vs. Undisputed Era
WWE TV MVP of the Week: You know what – it’s Raul Mendoza’s turn this week. Guy is the best enhancement talent WWE has right now. Full Sail was going wild for a Kona Reeves match.
WWE TV continues to limp along, ironically enough as they are in the midst of big time TV negotiations. Nobody really seems like they’re getting pushed or moving forward right now. Regardless, SmackDown’s roster brought up an otherwise OK TV show and NXT crushed it. RAW though… where did my RAW go?
RAW: 3/10
SmackDown: 6/10
205 Live: 5/10
NXT: 8/10
