Pro wrestling is making tons of money and television is alive and well. God bless America.
RAW (5/21/18)
The Roman Reigns Situation is what it is, but the first hour of this episode of WWE’s flagship program (for now), Monday Night RAW, being filled with Roman Reigns himself was actually Very Good.
The rest of the show… eh. Not as terrible as last week but everyone is still finding their footing and a lot of folks are losing steam fast – Corbin, Jose, Drew, Dolph, Gable, Breezango, Zayn, Lashley, Roode, Owens… all these fellas came out of the show not looking any better than they were coming in. Sasha and Bayley just not existing was something too.
Some good wrestling though!
Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman, and Elias are red hot too. Just get Elias way from Bobby Roode please.
The 20-minute opening promo to setup Reigns/Owens was some weak stuff. It kills me how when Roman cuts a promo, even after five years on top in this BUS-INESS, he waits his turn. He doesn’t own the room. He says his line and then … he… WAITS. STOP WAITING, ROMAN!! Meanwhile, Owens starting a THANK YOU ROMAN chant to get heat is inspired.
I did miss Roman Reigns TV singles matches though. Him vs. Kevin Owens wasn’t quite elite like the run he had last year but it was still really good. It was a match based around Roman getting in big shots at KO and KO selling those shots and I dug it. The crowd, despite the loud rebellion towards Roman, still bought into all the ups and downs. The superkick counter of the Drive-By was nice and KO’s decision to take backflip bumps off of shoulder tackles is appreciated. And the KO schoolboy counter of the Superman punch > KO superkick > KO running into Superman Punch anyways sequence was AWESOME.
And then we got a Roman and Seth tag! And dear god is the Red Hot Rollins moniker the TRUTH. What a RUN this man is on. The Owens and Jinder chinlock-fest wasn’t so great, but building to the Seth hot tag while Romans sold was money. Seth’s hot tag was so great too… it takes a special talent to pull off the “another level” gimmick and Seth is managing it.
Now, I will say – I was impressed with Sami Zayn’s ability to remain composed during the whole thing but let’s never speak of the Lashley’s Sisters segment again.
Actually, real quick – were they really playing this straight as if these were actually Lashley’s fuckin’ sisters? I hate wrestling sometimes.
And then Alexa Bliss waxed poetically on the history of the Visigoths and it brought all the love back. What a weird, overly scripted, wonderful thing that was.
The Bliss vs. Ember Moon match was solid – Moon’s bump on the barricade to setup the arm work was awesome and she sold her ass off. Plus there was a YOU’RE OUTTA HERE spot for Mickie James and she FLIPPED OUT. Good for Ember, pinning the seemingly invincible Alexa Bliss and all.
Braun Strowman crushing an apple with his hand in front of Finn Balor’s face was phenomenal television. Where else can you get this entertainment!?
No Way Jose countering the Baron Corbin under-the-ropes lariat with a baseball slide sure was neat. Otherwise they had what was a Wrestling Match. The quick cut after the Corbin win does not seem to bode well for young Jose, or even Mr. Corbin for that matter.
I like how Breezango still has the “Fashion Police” Titan Tron but are still Breezango. Wonder what trademark issue is causing all this ruckus. Their match with The B-Team was pretty much nothing but it set up another epic B-Team celebration so there you go. I’m digging the B-Team thing, but it screams something that should be a fun way to pad out a show and not something that is like a top 3 highlight on the show.
Stephanie McMahon hard-selling the Ronda Rousey/Nia Jax contract signing by herself was kind of wonderful. This whole thing feels pretty early and forced but the dynamic is kind of cool regardless.
Chad Gable vs. Drew McIntyre’s Water Boy was a solid 5 minutes – had some cool mat rasslin and a guy won by kicking another guy directly in the face.
That Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Fatal 4-Way was not good, Bob. Sarah Logan beat some ass though.
Casual reminder that Elias is still #1 and the best. He crushed his song tonight. Getting everyone to sing “I love Elias, yes I do” and then turning on them was SOOOOO good.
I cannot believe I had to watch another Elias vs. Bobby Roode match though. Elias attacking Roode pre-bell was nice, fired up Roode taking it to Elias was nice, Roode’s comeback was nice. They did everything right but I still don’t care. Bobby Roode is not clicking as a pushed babyface and it’s been dragging down Elias’ act for a month now. Let’s move on.
Sad to see Elias get wrecked, but Braun just randomly mowing him down on the entrance ramp was great. RAW needs more bits like that. Wrestling needs more bits like that.
Braun Strowman vs. Finn Balor was a good main event, if not lacking a little. They did all the right big guy/small guy stuff and both guys have a good presence, but it was also just a lot of Braun beating down Finn, which is fine in theory but the crowd digs Braun so much so you’re just kinda watching it going – OK then.
The Sling Blade counter of the BRAUN RUN was cool but c’mon how did that weak-ass Sling Blade take down Braun Strowman. Braun rising from the crowd behind Finn was awesome, and things got real nice and hectic at the end as Finn went for the kill and Braun said naw bruh powerslam time.
SMACKDOWN (5/22/18)
SmackDown has quite a roster of professional wrestling talent and it is kind of amazing what happens when that talent is actually used and put in semi-interesting situations. Nothing amazing happened on this show but it was still very good!
The Miz bantering around with New Day was nothing earth-shattering but fine television. Much better than Roman Reigns bitching about corporate CRAP.
Miz vs. Big E was a solid match. Just solid. Miz has developed a heck of a way in the last year of looking credible versus big guys, finding ways to get offense and whatnot. Big E meanwhile went full-on shtick, doing his usual ass slapping and shaking and all that, but also doing a boxing corner spot complete with syrup spritzer. I liked it but it’ll need more meat to if they’re taking E into the great stratosphere of pushed WWE competitor.
Dug The Bar getting involved too, it’s simple stuff but inter-twining all these guys a bit more is good! It’s exciting! Kofi’s step-up plancha spot off of Cesaro was awesome too.
Lana vs. Billie Kay was a feel-good silly fun 30-second match. I was into it. The Lana Day sign gimmick was high-quality entertainment.
Andy Almas had himself another fun squash match. I like how he’s giving a little offense in these things and making it count, selling and milking every shot his opponent gets in.
SmackDown has a loaded Potential Top Heel roster between Miz, Almas, Joe, Nakamura, and Big Cass. Haha just kidding. Nakamura is no Top Heel.
I’m a big fan of Carmella perfecting her Seth Rollins Laugh these last few weeks.
AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura sure did not have a very compelling in-ring confrontation. One thing that might be interesting would be to not have these two rely on promos to build a match. It’ll be pretty wild stuff if their best WWE match is a gimmick match.
Usos vs. Gallows/Anderson was another strong Usos sprint with a real shocker of a finish. This is another one of those weird deals that WWE does where they de-emphasize an act so much that when they get a big sudden win like this, it’s like … did anybody get over?
Naomi vs. Sonya Deville was a match with some cool kick spots. The slow-mo of Naomi rocking Sonya with one was tremendous.
Does old grizzled Samoa Joe give anyone else Chief Wahoo McDaniel vibes?
Daniel Bryan vs. Jeff Hardy was a fun bunch of wrestling, nothing high-end but just a cool as heck match to watch. Love a babyface vs. babyface match where one guy shoulder tackles another guy and both guys hold their shoulders and are like, “OK, OK. I see you.” Good action bell-to-bell and dug the hell out of Bryan just tapping Jeff’s ass out with a heel hook.
205 LIVE (5/22/18)
This show isn’t coming close to the Glory Days of Cruiserweight Title Tournament Season but I am still digging the 10+ minute opener, squash, and big time main event layout.
Drew Gulak vs. Gran Metalik – a god damn DREAM MATCH – didn’t go anywhere crazy but was a pleasure bunch of rasslin and just so solid. It was like **3/4, but a perfect **3/4. I want these two on a bigger stage with some heat behind them.
OH AND HOW ANNOYING ARE THOSE NOISEMAKERS?
TJP is a guy who strings stuff together so well and it’s ideal squash match stuff but he’s also a guy who needs Matt Hardy to relay to him the message Michael Hayes delivered to him back in 1999: you need to make it look like you’re kicking somebody’s ass.
I’m not sure if this TJP wanting to go to SmackDown thing is even being mentioned two weeks from now but I’d be into him wrestling Daniel Bryan as a one-off in a New Japan Dojo Reunion Match. Have Tyson Kidd be the agent.
OH AND WHAT IS WITH CEDRIC ALEXANDER BEING SO GOD DAMN BORING?
Hideo Itami vs. Akira Tozawa got some time and I liked it but didn’t love it. There was a high quality boot and chop battle early, and then it settled into Itami just punishing Tozawa where there were shades of awesome but it also felt like between Tozawa’s selling and urgent comebacks he was wrestling the other end of a great match if he had a better opponent.
NXT (5/23/18)
Great wrestling, promos, angles, video packages… an excellent hour of wrestling television.
Heavy Machinery vs. TM61 was a fun Full Sail tag. NXT has got a budding tag division – not sure anyone has really found their niche yet but it’s fun to watch develop. TM61 bumping for Heavy Machinery was most I’ve been moved by them outside of Shane Thorne doing a somersault plancha from twenty feet high. Not sure I bought them beating up on Tucker Knight though. Otis’ hot tag meanwhile was mesmerizing. Fun stuff!
Kairi Sane vs. Lacey Evans meanwhile ABSOLUTELY RULED. WHERE DID THIS COME FROM!?!?! This was Drew McIntyre vs. Oney Lorcan from the women’s division and was GREAT – 5-ish minutes long but pure smash mouth action bell-to-bell. The INTENSITY!!! A dropkick at the bell! A crazy tight LOCK-UP! Lacey grabbing Sane’s jaw and chopping her in the tits! Kairi grabbing Lacey’s jaw and doing the same! I said the INTENSITY!!! Lacey just forcing Sane down into HOLDS. Sane just bringing it to Evans on offense – inside, outside… wherever, just throwing ELBOWS, baby! And then Sane runs into the WOMAN’S RIGHT and it’s OVER. I loved this god damn thing. INTENSITY!!!!!!!
PETER DOON – WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS!? God bless Kyle O’Reilly.
Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet & Velveteen Dream was a lot of fun. It was a match that got a point across too – really put Lars over as a monster but also didn’t kill Ricochet and Dream as he had to really really try to keep them down. Ricochet and Dream had a bunch of fun ways to keep on him – the backflip headscissors catch by Ricochet and superkick by Dream was awesome. Ricochet also throws some good boots – for a smaller guy he looks credible against anybody because those boots are very good.
Really dug them getting babyface sympathy off of Dream too. He’s a clear main roster heel act but in NXT he’s a superstar. Ricochet getting Lars to chase him, then rolling in, kicking him away, and then Lars rolling in and Dream dropping an elbow was an amazing hot tag setup.
Blazing hot angle to close the show too – crowd loves Johnny Wrestling, classic teases and delivery (Johnny retiring then not, Johnny backing away then not), and then the big insanity with Candice going down. “Be a good little boy and listen to your wife” – WOOOO!
MAIN EVENT (5/23/18)
Alright I’m gonna be honest this was a wild episode of Main Event and it’s because of what happened at the end.
Kendrick/Gallagher vs. Kalisto/Dorado was a solid little 5-minute tag team professional wrestling match – Kalisto took heat, a couple hot tag denials, Lucha guys flew around. I dug the finish a lot with Lince covering Kendrick with a rana only to find out Kendrick isn’t legal, so Gallagher rolls in and just headbutts him down for 3.
Mojo Rawley vs. Apollo Crews was the most WWE-produced possible match. They took some bumps. They did some chinlocks. Apollo did a backflip. And there was just no real feeling to it. Mojo’s spot where he slams a guy against the turnbuckle repeatedly is decent though.
And then, incredibly, WWE MAIN EVENT ON HULU DOT COM (AND WWE NETWORK A FEW WEEKS LATER) RAN AN ANGLE. I REPEAT: WWE MAIN EVENT RAN AN ANGLE. MOJO ATTACKED TITUS. OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! OHHH MYYYY GODDDDDD!!!!
WWE TV Match of the Week: Kairi Sane vs. Laey Evans
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Kairi Sane and Lacey Evans. Both of them. What a match.
We’re picking up a bit but not sure anything’s going to be too interesting until MITB, so we’ve got a road ahead of us. Can’t say I’m actively interested in 90% of the product at this point though, so that’s probably bad. SmackDown at least has a heck of a roster that’s carrying things. And NXT is good again!
RAW: 6/10
SmackDown: 7/10
205 Live: 5/10
NXT: 9/10
