Ladies and gentleman, please welcome NXT UK to the WWE TV Week in Review. The Little Show That Could’s twice-a-weekly twists and turns will be covered here every single week, addressing topics such as: Why do Flash Morgan Webster’s armdrags work? What is the deal with Mark Coffey? And, why does nobody on NXT UK wrestle as if they are influenced by wrestling from the UK?
Also, please welcome more frequent use of bold font!
Happy New Year!
RAW (12/31/18)
The kind of show you do when you still don’t want to make any big moves yet but still gotta show you’re trying. There wasn’t much that stood out here but it was at least a bunch of OK stuff as opposed to stuff that felt like it was actively killing the business. The Triple H/Seth Rollins promo might lead somewhere big too. Or it won’t.
Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler had A Fine Steel Cage Match, in which two performers performed simulated wrestling maneuvers that were relatively pleasing to the senses though not completely engrossing. Heck of a superplex though, and Dolph was game to take some serious bumps into the cage. I’m not sure if Drew as Randy Orton is a suitable direction for the future of WWE or not.
The Triple H/Rollins showdown was vaguely hot. Seth still feels like he’s half a notch behind on the delivery needed for these types of promos – he offers completely, utterly competent delivery of lines and when he’s saying cool stuff like he did here it’s pretty cool.
The Fresh Start Battle Royal was a collection of gentleman who are treading water, so it was nice to see Apollo Crews get a big elimination run en route to his win. Curt Hawkins almost getting Baron Corbin out was cool too. Better luck next time, Finn Balor.
Elias and Baron Corbin had themselves a little brawl and though I like aspects of each guy, they don’t feel like they’d mesh in-ring – neither has quite proven they can have a great match alone without a quality dance partner. The brawl was fine but didn’t do a whole lot to prove that assumption incorrect. Maybe I’m wrong though – Corbin has sneaky chemistry with the weirdest guys, like Owens and Ambrose and Nakamura.
Bayley, Sasha Banks & Ember Moon vs. The Riott Squad was a decent, kind of quiet match. A face was in peril and the finish got some pops. If I’m The Authority now, I’m putting TV time into re-building the fan perception of Bayley and Sasha Banks, because I’m not positive WWE realizes how much it took a hit last year. Liv Morgan actually stood out in this one, if anything. Everybody in this is good but in nothing matches like this where everyone’s just kind of mechanically executing a TV match, someone who is all colorful and screaming like Liv stands out.
Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley was a decent match that mostly got its point across, though 2018 Lashley wrestling on TV for 10+ minutes isn’t gonna bring you some epic. It was a match I might have rated higher if I didn’t want to update my best of lists. Lio Rush took an amazing bump on the top of his head on the curb stomp after the match.
The Singh Brothers actually wrestling and showing off their Very Nice Bods is pretty cool, too bad it was in a nothing Handicap Match with Jinder Mahl against Rhyno & Heath Slater. Proud of Jinder and crew grabbing the Authors of Pain slot.
I’m happy for Apollo Crews and his IC Title shot against Dean Ambrose, but they had a tough break on the crowd apparently and nobody really bought anything they were selling. And they really were selling. Ambrose has had a gaping hole of something missing from him in-ring since the heel turn, but he was clearly trying here to make this work. And that’s the point, you guys – TRY STUFF. AND TRY TO MAKE THAT STUFF WORK.
Ronda Rousey & Natalya vs. Nia Jax & Tamina was an OK match with a few highlights. I kind of loved the way Tamina ran right into a Ronda takedown at the bell. Ronda ducking Nia jabs and taking her down is always fun too, and I guess Ronda does very good 2.9 kickouts now. Happy New Year!
SMACKDOWN (1/1/19)
SmackDown just has this different energy to it lately, the show begins and it just seems like you are being blasted in the face with fun – there will be a FATAL 5-WAY MATCH! And a match tonight that will determine the final participant in that 5-Way Match! Wooo! The wrestling is starting!
The New Day opened the show bantering around, as they will do. This time the banter was about New Year’s, and I am not sure what 2019 holds for Big E. Langston, Xavier Woods, and Kofi Kingston, but I sure hope it’s more than pancakes.
Samoa Joe choked out Jeff Hardy in a solid match that had some great Samoa Joe facial expressions. Joe might be a slower man, but we’ve still got the facial expressions.
Mandy Rose taking off her shirt to reveal an Usos DAY ONE ISH cut-off shirt in front of Naomi was some fantastic professional wrestling television content. I don’t recall much from Naomi vs. Sonya Deville, but it was a good use of TV time.
Speaking of fantastic professional wrestling television content – BECKY LYNCH. And JOHN CENA. And Becky is talking down to John like she does not give a solitary shit about who he is and what he has done, not just because he hasn’t been around in a while but because his services are no longer needed – for their is a new The Man in town. “Nikki Bella won’t be the only woman to drop you this year” = the YES Movement isn’t dead, because I am shouting it over and over again.
Becky and Cena teamed up against Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega in a fine tag that was background noise for not just the crowd chanting WE WANT BECKY over John Cena taking heat, but for Becky chucking Cena’s ass out of the ring en route to tapping out Zelina Vega. Very, very cool. And Becky doing the “You Can’t See Me” afterwards in Cena’s face was a delicious cherry on top.
AJ Styles vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Randy Orton vs. Samoa Joe was very much a Fatal 5-Way Match, of which comes good and bad. It very much felt for a while like a bunch of STUFF, though that stuff was being performed by five very good pro wrestlers. I just prefer my wrestling to be a little more straightforward than these five guys running all over the place to pop the crowd. Regardless, Ali in there with this roster of legends was awesome, and we also got Rey vs. Ali for a little bit which was incredible. Joe taking a rana to the floor was wild too. Good solid stuff to end a good solid show.
205 LIVE (1/2/19)
This was a show that featured two strong qualifying matches for the Fatal 4-Way Match at the Royal Rumble for the Cruiserweight Title, all while Tony Nese shook a protein shake backstage.
Lio Rush and Kalisto are both very impressive species of athletic freaks and and got to show that off against each other. It felt a little light and a bit sim-esque, but it was a fun sim. Lio Rush is in an odd spot on this show, as he can have real solid matches with any number of guys on the 205 roster but given his role as Lashley’s weasel manager and the fact that he looks small even compared to 205 guys, he doesn’t completely fit in.
Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa was a battle. A war. It was very good. It started with Gulak working tight headlocks and by the end of it Tozawa had hit a rope-assisted guillotine legdrop that landed Gulak on his face, both guys had thrown a bunch of violent elbows and kicks, and Gulak had countered the Tozawa senton bomb with a Dragon sleeper. Tozawa eventually won with the senton bomb too. Very good.
NXT (1/2/19)
This was a 2-hour show with a whole bunch of content: the nominees for NXT’s Year-End Awards, a few full matches from throughout the year, video packages on other big matches throughout the year, and at the end a first run Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno match.
The matches that were aired nearly in full were the 6-Way North American Title Ladder Match from TakeOver: New Orleans, The Undisputed Era vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Murch for the NXT Tag Team Titles from TakeOver: Chicago II, and Bianca Belair vs. Deonna Purrazzo in Brooklyn. Belair/Deonna getting love is AWESOME.
Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno was the only match on this show and it was pretty freakin’ great. They had themselves a 10-minute match that was basically a bar fight with suplexes and a Bromission. I loved Riddle going right at Ohno, and him struggling to lift Ohno on all his suplexes was a nice touch (because Ohno’s FAT). Just one of them knock-down drag-out wrestling matches you always hear about, and one more step in what could be a very cool journey for Matt Riddle.
NXT UK 21 (1/2/19)
My expedition to the mysterious land of NXT UK continues. Not a lot to report this week. Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel could be an interesting team, especially if WALTER joins up with them. Also, somebody in a position of power at NXT UK receives great amusement from giving Joe Coffey pages and pages of script to read.
I don’t know about Travis Banks. I just don’t know. He had a little enhancement match with Jaime Ahmed and I just don’t know. I do know that Jordan Devlin is a good promo. I do know that.
Vic Joseph‘s awkward pivot after Nigel asked him during Aichner & Barthel’s entrance if he knew what Brexit was a personal highlight: “I – uhh.. no. Fabian Aichner…” There is a possible reality where Aichner and Barthel replace Gallus on top and I am into that. They had a solid tag with Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan, who are all gimmicked up but somehow still seem generic. Aichner has shined more in-ring, but Barthel gives serious WWE TV star vibes….. maybe drop the Nazi shtick though.
Candy Floss is a wrestler and she does at thing. She did the thing with Jinny. It was not very good. Jinny’s theme song still bangs.
Moustache Mountain vs. Wolfgang & Mark Coffey in the NXT UK Tag Team Title Tournament Semi Final was so unbearably basic, but closed strong and had some AMAAAAAZING topes by Bate that nearly sent him into the crowd. I mean these were AMAZING topes, you must see them. Pete Dunne kicking ass afterwards was fun too.
NXT UK 22 (1/2/19)
Toni Storm vs. Deonna Purrazzo opened the show here and was pretty comfortably the best match from NXT UK this week. They got like 15 minutes and filled it with arm work, headstands out of headscissors, some sweet strikes, and a hot finish. They built the pace up well and eventually just willed the crowd into going wild, even if Deonna is probably a couple months away from the “I don’t know who the Virtuosa is” talk.
Wild Boar has contacts now because he needed to… stand out? He wrestled for a bit with Josh Morrell before he just DVD’d his ass into the corner and put him out with the cannonball. I need BOAR vs. GORE at least once in my life.
Bomber Dave Mastiff and Eddie Dennis‘ second match was OK enough action for a few minutes before a weak double DQ after both guys pushed the referee away. Good for NXT UK for building to a match between two newbies for TakeOver: Blackpool though.
Dawwwww, NXT UK had its’ first ever Contract Signing! And Joe Coffey‘s longform promo was so cringey that the payoff of Dunne simply saying “You talk too much” almost, almost, almost made it all worth it.
MAIN EVENT (1/2/19)
Titus O’Neil vs. Curt Hawkins got Main Event’s 2019 started as if it was just any other Main Event, and for that I… commend them?
The Revival vs. Zack Ryder & Tyler Breeze was really solid though, with Breeze selling and Revival being Revival.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno
WWE TV MVP of the Week: The Man, Becky Lynch
We head into 2019 with a whole lot of excitement and uncertainty in the professional wrestling business. As always, let us embrace the madness.
Quick note – NXT UK’s two episodes will be ranked as a whole every week, as I assume / HOPE the 2-shows-a-week gimmick stops soon. It must. Right? Right… ?
RAW: 5/10
SmackDown: 5/10
205 Live: 7/10
NXT: 6/10
NXT UK: 3/10
