The city of Melbourne, Australia and – at a hilariously larger level – the country of Saudi Arabia are paying WWE a lot of money this year for large stadium shows.
And that’s good for Vince McMahon as the rich guy that wants to be richer, but for the weekly WWE TV watcher it’s not so good.
These overseas shows, no matter how big, are rarely canon within the ongoing WWE story. And that can be fine – non-canon straight wrestling shows can be awesome. But if you’re going to spend weeks of TV building up to these shows, give me some stakes.
There will be no stakes though. The next few weeks of WWE TV are going to be building to the Super Show-Down in Melbourne and Crown Jewel in Riyadh, which will see WWE not-quite-mastering the art of giving nothing away while still trying to make it feel like a big deal.
It’s gonna suck.
RAW (9/17/18)
They loaded this show up with two championship matches, Ronda Rousey’s almost-Open Challenge, Ambrose vs. McIntyre, and The Undertaker.
The result was EH.
It was a solid, but not very exciting episode of sports entertainment from the worldwide leader in it.
Braun Strowman saying “THIS SUCKS” got the loudest, most cathartic reaction on the entire show.
The opening promo was sleepy follow-up to the Brock Lesnar interference last night. Do love how Roman hears he’s defending the title tonight and gives a nod like, “OK, OK. That’s the job.”
Ambrose vs. McIntyre was a solid match. Ambrose worked the leg. McIntyre bodyslammed Ambrose into the barricade. McIntyre did the sit-up top rope belly-to-belly suplex. Ambrose did a plancha just because. Let’s make Drew happen already.
He’s a chump in WWE but Viktor in a singles match vs. Chad Gable is cool. Gable, who is a 32-year-old man, is basically playing a 16-year-old boy. The match was alright for the 5 minutes it went.
The Undertaker did a boring-ass promo. Kane is coming to Melbourne. Signs point to a Brothers of Destruction vs. DX match in Saudi Arabia. What kind of spooky Halloween shit is this?
Sometimes I’ve got nothing to say about a match and Bayley vs. Dana Brooke was one of those matches.
Authors of Pain squash – nice.
For a match where both guys were going in hurt, Rollins and Ziggler didn’t sell that hurt so much in their 459th match in the last three months. Like, they played to it for the first minute, then just had the same match they always have. And it’s a fine match, but enough already.
Ronda Rousey announced an Open Challenge for her title and then Natalya seemed to answer it and then The Riott Squad dragged an unconscious Natalya to the stage and then Ruby Riott answered the challenge and then The Riott Squad attacked Rousey and then The Bella Twins made the save. Because they’re all in a 6-man tag at Super Show-Down, see?
Lio Rush as Vince McMahon’s latest inexplicable 205 Live obsession – manager of His Project Bobby Lashley, doing commentary on RAW – is amazing. Lio follows a path forged by such cruiserweight luminaries as Austin Aries and Enzo Amore…… uh oh.
“Who’s kid is this?” HAHA. Great banter by Elias with Lio. Elias vs. Lashley was not much beyond Elias catching Lashley leaping off the top rope with a knee. Lio flipping all over the place to escape Elias and Kevin Owens was tremendous though. Honestly, best part of the show – genuinely impressive hops from Lio, but it’s also always cool to see somebody get a little steam on this steamless show.
Hey look Nia Jax is back. Nice pop for her hot tag.
Reigns vs. Corbin for the Universal Title was an abbreviated version of a Reigns match. It was good, occasionally exciting, just – what are we doing here? This Shield vs. Braun/Drew/Dolph thing is missing a hook.
Always for a run-in-filled finish if the guys running in are stars though, so it was a vaguely hot ending to RAW. Corbin is just the dumbest weakest man though – couldn’t successfully cash-in Money in the Bank against JINDER MAHAL, couldn’t win here when he was power tripping and had Strowman in his corner. Incredible.
SMACKDOWN (9/18/18)
A fine wrestling show. There was an good angle where a lady took a fall, a few fun matches, and someone said BITCH at the end!
The MizTV with Maryse and eventually Daniel Bryan was a fun angle that went a bit long. At first I thought the Maryse bump while Bryan and Miz were brawling looked like shit, but it was a RUSE! And that was cool. But if I was in charge, I probably wouldn’t have booked her taking a second bump and Bryan getting comeuppance at the end. Seemed weird.
Kofi Kingston saying doing accents is offensive – haw haw hawwww.
Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston is just a good dynamic so any match they have is fun. Kofi is flying around, Cesaro is throwing and uppercutting around, and it’s good TV wrestling. Woods’ “I don’t even know what that was! It was so good!” call-out for Kofi’s double springboard dive thing was good stuff.
Andrade “Cien” Almas’ “hey you!” match graphic cracks me up.
I am always up for some GRAPPLING on my television and Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev brought that as they battled for the U.S. Title. Nakamura’s big diving knee off the top rope on the apron and Nakamura running into the Macha kick were good spots. Rusev does great comebacks. Fun match.
I don’t know where Aiden English goes from here but finally, the incredibly subtle Rusev Day turn was executed.
AJ Styles vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas was awesome, even better than the awesome match they had a couple months ago. I loved Almas’ pre-bell attack and they basically went right into a 10+ minute finishing sequence. Felt like Styles was caught off guard the whole time and just barely keeping up with this fired up newcomer. Each guy threw big shots and Almas did a bunch of cool stuff, taking big bumps and doing springboard dropkicks and a double foot stomp onto the apron. Loved the finish sequence, with Almas setting up the hammerlock DDT, AJ countering with a jackknife, and Almas pushing out but AJ deadlifting him into the Styles Clash.
Asuka vs. Billie Kay had all the allure of a 90-second TV match. Good to see IIconics still getting promo time though – they’re kind of like Elias, in that they are great promos but where do they go as wrestlers in this environment?
Charlotte Flair is still a blank slate, but Becky Lynch is running with this new character – it’s almost as if she’s talented enough to be a good heel too. Legit lol’d at her randomly calling Charlotte a bitch. Becky vs. Charlotte is the main event feud on SmackDown, isn’t it?
MIXED MATCH CHALLENGE (9/18/18)
It has occurred to me that I have only seen Vic Joseph sitting down and now that I have seen him standing up with other fellow WWE personnel I have come to the conclusion that Vic Joseph is a GIANT.
Hey, the Mixed Match Challenge is back. It’s light, it’s low-stakes, and the wrestlers are having a little more fun.
Not exactly must-see though. The first few MMC matches earlier this year felt fresh, but the charm eventually wore off and it doesn’t seem like it’s back yet.
Quick comments are below, because honestly there isn’t much to say:
The Monster Eclipse vs. Team Pawz – Ember and Natalya seemed to be having fun getting to try out some of that wrestling stuff. The Eclipse off of Braun’s shoulders was a sweet finish.
Fenomenal Flair vs. Day One Glow – This match had a little banter and that’s always appreciated.
205 LIVE (9/19/18)
This is still a stupid show but 205 Live getting hot pre-SmackDown reactions vs. tired post-SmackDown crowd reactions will be interesting to see develop. Two good matches here.
TJP vs. Lince Dorado had a whole lot of smooth, pretty wrestling. I wish there was room for this on the hyper-masculine WWE show. Speaking of masculinity though, Lince threw an AMAZING chop here – so loud everybody getting souvenirs and refreshments had to hear it. TJP tore Lince’s mask off to beat him too and that’s always a good finish.
Lio Rush and Drake Maverick bantering was great – Rush is SO good. When Maverick said there would be … consequences … if he didn’t face Noam Dar, did he mean monetarily or The Authors of Pain?
Cedric Alexander vs. Drew Gulak lost me a bit at the start but otherwise was a hell of a match. They were doing headlocks and armbars so long that Ivan Putski would’ve been proud, but somehow, between Gulak’s seriousness and the Let’s Go Cedric chants, they had a Big Fight Feel going. The crowd seemed more willing to be like, “OK – this will get good, right?” And it did.
The incredible roll-through suplex on the floor was an awesome way to take it to second gear. All their signature spots were used really well and I dug all the intensity at the end. Gulak was especially bringing it, really torquing the Dragon Sleeper and throwing some nasty shots. The struggle for Cedric to hit the lumbar check was awesome too.
NXT (9/19/18)
Deonna Purrazzo/Dakota Kai vs. Lacey Evans/Aliyah was a solid match. I love Deonna’s presence – there’s just a respect around her and in this veteran/young boy tag match she felt like the veteran, despite being on TV just a couple weeks. The theme music and sweet jacket helps too. Evans trying to do Deonna’s handstand and Deonna pushing her down was awesome, as was Evans throwing elbows. Lacey Evans throws better elbows than Kenny Omega.
Jaxson Ryker had himself a squash and it wasn’t bad. Humberto bumped around like a champ and the slingshot powerbomb was very nice.
So here’s the thing about Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne – it was an incredible match that brought all the great stuff these guys offer. Hard shots, crazy moves, hand contortionism. Both guys just seem made to work with each other, delivering every complicated spectacular sequence perfectly. But I can’t shake that this type of match just kind of runs together sometimes. There’s a lack of variety or depth – they deliver the excellent match they promise, but for a match with a ton of great near falls there weren’t a lot of curveballs.
That’s a knock, but it’s still a great match. Sometimes there’s indy masterpieces and sometimes there’s popcorn flicks, and this was an excellent summer blockbuster. The backflip to the floor > Dunne elbow > X-Plex on apron > Bitter End > countered with a reverse rana sequence was incredible. At times it felt like a great modern day BOSJ final or something, both guys doing all their wild stuff in front of a game crowd.
MAE YOUNG CLASSIC 2018 – EPISODE 3 (9/19/18)
Big step up this week – good wrestling and some interesting character intros.
1. Mae Young Classic – Round 1: Kaitlyn vs. Kavita Devi
Kaitlyn’s got fire, but there wasn’t much here. Devi still feels awkward. *
2. Mae Young Classic – Round 1: Toni Storm vs. Jinny
Oh baby, I am so into the Jinny swagger. This was a good match, and if the rest of this show didn’t happen the best of the tourney. Jinny was real aggressive, while Toni was throwing sweet strikes and looking at the crowd like “yeah we did it guys!” The Japanese armdrag into the corner was a great spot too. I would watch NXT UK for a Jinny/Toni feud. ***
3. Mae Young Classic – Round 1: Xia Li vs. Karen Q
Outside of Renee talking about these two breaking out of stereotypes as they respectfully bowed at each other, this was awesome. A match starting with kung fu poses could easily come off as goofy but these guys brought the intensity and made this a credible, awesome wrestling match. Beautifully timed kick dodges, Xia going off on Karen, Karen booting Xia in the face… good times. Such good times. ***1/2
4. Mae Young Classic – Round 1: Mia Yim vs. Allysin Kay
Oh man Sienna might be awesome. I dig the trashy character and on top of that she made a Bad News Brown reference. This was a great match – these are two girls who have their shit DOWN and in between the well-done wrestling sequences they took breaks to punch each other in the face. The chop to the post was a great spot too. ***1/2
MAIN EVENT (9/19/18)
Mike Kanellis has got this aggressive creep deal going and it’s not bad, but working these ultra-formula Main Event matches nobody is going to know if it’s any good or not. His match with Zack Ryder ended when Kanellis went for a Broski Boot, which Ryder avoided and hit a Rough Ryder. I mean it’s the guys signature move, how’s he not going to know how to counter it? C’mon Kanellis.
Apollo Crews vs. Mojo Rawley had a cool spot where Apollo did a backflip to the floor and Mojo just clotheslined his ass. Also, Apollo’s finish is a frog splash now.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne, but the Mae Young Classic matches might’ve been more interesting to watch
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Lio Rush
Very middle-of-the-road week of WWE TV, though the secondary shows stepped up.
RAW: 5/10
SmackDown: 6/10
205 Live: 7/10
NXT: 7/10
