I really liked RAW this week.
Maybe it was because it was the first RAW I watched live in a while, as I’ll usually see the first hour before putting the baby boy to bed and hanging out with the wife before watching the rest later all tired and FF-happy and probably seeing some spoiler because I go on the Internet too much.
Also maybe it was because the folks in charge of RAW are really making an effort at making this an enjoyable television show and it is… working? Maybe. I dunno. Check back in 3 weeks.
Either way, a hell of a go-home show for the Royal Rumble: every segment had something HAPPENING, underutilized guys were featured and actually utilized, and they actually succeeded in making the Royal Rumble interesting instead of limping to Sunday as they have done for a lot of PPV’s recently. The sudden Finn Balor re-direction last week probably helped that, as he wasn’t on his fourth debate with Paul Heyman.
Plus, the no over-run thing is awesome. A 3-hour wrestling show doesn’t seem so daunting when it is actually 3 hours and not 3 and a half, you know?
RAW (1/21/19)
Despite my enjoyment of this show, the opening promo was a journey. A slow, arduous journey, in which two conceivably great mic workers (Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon) and a few conceivably talented sports entertainers (Balor, Brock, Braun) stretched out a few good lines for 25 shameful minutes. Even the Heyman promo at the start felt like a long way to get to “even miracles fear Brock Lesnar.” And Balor trying to say his words all passionately nearly a half hour into the show was not ideal.
McMahon completely writing off a Balor win has got me thinking it’s happening, but maybe not because WWE is very good at doing blue ball finishes.
Strowman vs. Balor was an alright match that was more about freakin’ Lesnar at ringside. The spot with Brock catching Finn on the floor and belly-to-back suplexing him was tremendous and made me pretty excited for that match. As much as Balor kicks and hits hard though, I still don’t buy him doing a Sling Blade on Braun Strowman.
I like that Lio Rush calls people “clowns” in promos. He should keep doing that.
The Bobby Lashley/Apollo Crews pose-off was a dumb sports entertainment segment and that’s fine but when doing a dumb sports entertainment segment you need to lean into the dumbness and they only like half-leaned in. Apollo finally showing some personality with the dance moves was just delightful, and though he doesn’t always hit the Lashley character has become a fine part of the show.
Their match was solid – Apollo doing a front flip dive to dodge a charge in the corner was sweet, and even if he of anybody needs the momentum I like to imagine that Crews not being able to carry Lashley for the press slam will have a payoff.
It wasn’t the Shield turn, it wasn’t the Money in the Bank cash-in, and it sure wasn’t beating Triple H: Seth Rollins being able to memorize that entire MLK quote and recite it live on Monday Night RAW is when he officially arrived as a main event player. This was a strong promo with Seth basically going full Common Man and I dug it.
He wrestled Drew McIntyre and these guys can WORK. It was a good solid TV match with an absolutely freakish last 5 minutes: the reverse Alabama Slam (which really needs a name) on the floor, Seth counting a tilt-a-whirl with a Falcon Arrow, Seth landing on his feet off Drew’s top rope belly-to-belly, Drew’s glassy eye sell of the superkick, a Celtic Cross off the top, Drew’s insane deadlift powerbomb – and it ended with a CRADLE. Exciting stuff from two hungry young professional athletes.
The Revival backstage with Vince was a good bit.
The Lucha House Party vs. Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers was a 5-minute wrestling match that ended with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. I LOVED it.
The return from commercial with Elias walking the ropes and doing an armdrag on Baron Corbin was definitely the best return from commercial on this show. These are two over acts, but I’m not sure this match helped any.
You know what, this might be the first year that the cliche TV roster brawl actually made me realize the Royal god damn Rumble really was this weekend. I got HYPED, man. Alexa Bliss lecturing women’s the division and saying they are being catty and not supportive of each other was kind of great too, and the reveal that she’ll be competing in the Rumble was good stuff. Babyface Bliss could be something.
Then LACEY EVANS showed up. And that was pretty neat. New characters are neat!
Alright I’ll give WWE a pass on a billion things but fooling on Titus O’Neil with that Rumble promo on MLK Day was a weird choice.
Heavy Machinery had their in-ring RAW debut by squashing The Ascension and it went OK, though these types of things usually do. Tucker seems legitimately happy to have made it here while Otis is one of those dudes that just seems like a good fit for sports entertainment.
The Revival vs. Bobby Roode & Chad Gable wasn’t much, more an angle than a match with Revival trying to cheat a bunch of times to take advantage of the system that wronged them a couple weeks ago. Except Curt Hawkins was the referee this time and he wasn’t having it. I guess it is worth noting how impressive it is that Chad Gable can be launched very high above the top rope and land on his feet on the floor.
Then Revival beat up Hawkins and ZACK RYDER showed up for the save and it was a very cool angle. Hawkins and Ryder have had such a wild run with ups and downs that is kind of the perfect run for lifelong wrestling geeks like these two… sure they’re not WWE Champ, but working for WWE each and every day is the dream. It always felt obvious that they’d reunite one day, both because the main roster could use more tag teams and because neither guy was doing much on his own. But it just never happened, until now, which weirdly felt like the perfect timing.
Show honestly should’ve ended there with that feel-good moment.
Ronda Rousey forgetting a line then devolving into an insane stream-of-consciousness promo that would’ve gone full Ultimate Warrior if she growled a couple times was a wild piece of TV, but could’ve happened earlier.
And then Ronda and Natalya wrestled Sasha Banks & Bayley and it was OK. Just OK. Bayley setting up the Bayley-to-Belly and getting just straight taken down by Ronda was fun and a pushed/motivated Sasha Banks is tremendous, but it was all just OK.
Ronda/Sasha staredown was cool though.
SMACKDOWN (1/22/19)
This show was very Just OK for a while and then Mustafa Ali cut a great promo and Daniel Bryan chastised baby boomers and Rey Mysterio wrestled Andrade for another half hour and hey – great show.
Becky Lynch and Asuka (plus Charlotte Flair) did a go-home promo and I can’t say it grabbed me, but the women’s division just casually doing the dumb long opening promo and then a pull-apart brawl is pretty cool. We’ve got a few Main Event Players leading this crew.
Naomi vs. Mandy Rose really needed more punches to honor the feud that preceded it.
The Miz vs. Cesaro wasn’t much, as these guys are firmly supplanted in a sports entertainment story so they’re just gonna do some moves and hope the promos make it interesting.
The Mustafa Ali promo from the streets was proof that people can still print money in the wrestling business. Everything about this was good – the unique setting, Ali’s delivery, Ali’s motivation. “When you look into my eyes, you do not see a lie when I say: I can beat you.” Thinking about using a new Tag on this WordPress website: “MORE LIKE THIS.”
The Daniel Bryan/AJ Styles face-to-face moderated by VINCE MCMAHON was a slightly above average promo battle that suddenly reached God-tier when Bryan called himself The Planet’s Champion and unloaded on Vince and Baby Boomers for the damage they have done to the world. This is some subversive stuff for WWE, what with the top bad guy telling Vince he concealed his fanbase from all the economic and environmental debt they’d created together.
Mustafa Ali vs. Samoa Joe was a fun TV match that showcased both guys – Ali sold and bumped and flew around while Joe snarled and punched and caught dives.
Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade made magic again this week, this time with the added stipulation of 2/3 Falls. Rey Mysterio is getting a ton of much-deserved love for wrestling at this level at 44 but wowwww is Andrade not just one of the best wrestlers in the world right now but one of the most special talents to ever step foot in a WWE ring. There was an overwhelming amount of incredible wrestling spots here: Almas doing a deadlift sit-out powerbomb from the top rope, Rey doing a baseball slide sunset flip powerbomb into the barricade. I loved Andrade busting out the powerbomb where the opponent is bounced on the top rope before delivery, an old classic that Ultimo Dragon used to do on Rey. Andrade went FLYING on the 619 setup too.
Then Samoa Joe ran-in for a double DQ finish because we’ve gotta tell stories. And Randy Orton made a fun cameo with an RKO to Joe, which made for a heck of a productive day at the office for Randy.
205 LIVE (1/22/19)
Following up Rey/Andrade with Gran Metalik vs. newcomer Humberto Carrillo is a CHOICE, man – what a night out at the wrestling matches. These guys crushed to no reaction. The height they get on everything is literally another level. Humberto is just effortless in his flying, I’m not convinced it works in a WWE singles wrestler setting yet but it sure is fun to watch. His twisting tope con hilo was unreal, though of course Metalik was not to be outdone and he brought out his insane leaping hurricanrana off the apron. Carrillo did a bonkers springboard Arabian Press thing to win. Maybe one day, long after Gran Metalik has left WWE, we will all rejoice in these weird random gems he was a part of.
The Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami vs. Kalisto pre-Royal Rumble Triple Threat Match was a match with three guys I’ve been a big fan of at various points in time but it was kind of a bummer to watch play out. Not one but TWO chinlocks from Itami in the first 5 minutes was criminal, and then it was just a bunch of empty ACTION! ACTION!! SIGNATURE SPOTS! LUCHA LUCHA! RESPECT MEEEEE!!!
NXT UK 27 (1/23/19)
This might not have reached the peak of a few others (last week’s tag, Dunne/Devlin, Aichner/Andrews), but top-to-bottom I think it was the most solid episode of NXT UK TV.
It helps that WALTER is here now, as with WALTER comes an aura and Big Match Feel this brand desperately needed. British Strong Style are great, but they need a main event dancing partner and Gallus wasn’t it.
I also like that WALTER hasn’t thrown a chop yet.
The Pete Dunne/Gallus/WALTER opening promo was OKish but I prefer it when a wrestling match opens the show. Joe Coffey’s rambling just wasn’t interesting, though WALTER declaring himself for the NXT Title sure was.
Sid Scala saying the word “tapings” when announcing that NXT UK would be taped at the World’s Collide Tournament this weekend has to be a first for WWE, right?
Nina Samuels squashed local favorite and mom-of-3 Lana Austin and as much as I am into the hook of that, Nina just isn’t interesting yet. This was a match that brought a solid show to a halt.
Eddie Dennis squashed recurring enhancement talent Jamie Ahmed, which was a fine way of showing that despite what you might have seen at TakeOver, he still can, in fact, beat someone in a wrestling match.
The Irish Ace Jordan Devlin vs. I Dunno What His Deal Is Yet Travis Banks had themselves a fun chaotic brawl through the crowd that morphed into an indy strong style dream match and I was kinda into it. There was crazy shit like a Spanish Fly to the floor, but they also did this strike battle where they wouldn’t let go of each other’s hand and it got all intense and emotional and stuff. Them both toppling to the floor as Devlin had Banks on his shoulders for the Island Driver was a risky spot but worked. Of course, Devlin throwing repeated left and right slaps as he brawled with Banks to a double countout was kind of embarrassing, but the closing shot of them still going at it in the crowd was goooood.
NXT (1/23/19)
This Just In: NXT TakeOver once again does not have much hype but you know it’ll be a good time anyways.
NXT TV has kind of taken SmackDown’s place as the weekly TV where there isn’t a ton of amazing stuff but it’s also really simple and solid and I appreciate that. It’s a roster loaded with talent, but they really only wrestle in anything of substance once every couple months. I feel like puzzle pieces are always being set in place on NXT, and while that’s nice for forward momentum, sometimes I want to see the puzzle already. Of course, Gargano vs. Ciampa has had so many twists and turns at this point that it needs to be commended.
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Aleister Black has never really been an interesting match. On their own they are interesting characters. But it’s not an interesting match.
War Raiders are alright and Bianca Belair is a keeper, but I don’t think the TV has done the best job it could building these two acts up as title challengers.
Riddle/Ohno and Ricochet/Gargano are going to unquestionably be awesome, but the HYPE!! is questionable as Riddle already KO’d Kassius and the Gargano/Ciampa saga continues to suck all the air out of any room its in.
Anyways, this was a solid go-home show with the obligatory video packages but also more fun wrestling than usual.
Velveteen Dream kicked off the show sparring with Adam Cole and Bobby Fish of The Undisputed Era, and I’ve got to say: Bobby Fish being good on the mic is WILD. The “SHUT UP BOBBY” chant is a good bit too, and between this promo and him finding his voice while shit talking on the outside we can now say that all four members of Undisputed Era have conquered any questions anyone might have had about them working in WWE.
Dream came out later in a cowboy hat and had a match with Fish that was good for him. I’m like 75% sure Dream is going to be a major star, and seeing him work a match like this where he goes all in on selling a body part is a neat step in his journey. I feel like they might want to do Dream/Cole but are still working on match timing. I’m not even sure if that would be good or not.
The Shayna Baszler/Bianca Belair video was some good shit and much better than the now unnecessary in-ring promo battle last week.
I legit popped for Fabian Aichner‘s theme hitting as he and Marcel Barthel charged out to battle Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch. This was way too short, so short that it almost didn’t even reach short and sweet territory, but god damnit did these guys get there. Oney brought the chaos as always, but Aichner was the absolute man here: the assisted brainbuster spot remains awesome, he did a springboard moonsault that got such height that Mauro’s voice squeaked, and he did a springboard plancha that got WHISTLES. AMAZING.
Io Shirai & Kairi Sane teamed up for the first time on TV and it was incredible as these two make the BEST babyface team. Kairi brings the spunk and sympathy, Io brings the mesmerizing flying, and then they hug when they win. Get those tag titles and going and give it to these gals pronto.
The Ricochet/Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa/Aleister Black show-ending angle had a solid cliffhanger with Ciampa offering Johnny his hand and Candice coming out to drag Johnny away, but everything before that was very much not the hot thing these two matches needed.
MAIN EVENT (1/23/19)
A chinlock with Drake Maverick screaming “SQUEEEEEZE” at ringside is better than most, but it is still a chinlock – alas, Rezar‘s foray into singles competition against Tyler Breeze did not make for much of a match, but a chokeslam finish is always appreciated.
No Way Jose vs. Mojo Rawley meanwhile was bad, a match between two guys who have clearly regressed doing nothing of note on the main roster. There was no joy in anything they did and Mojo’s finish looked especially terrible.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade, 2/3 Falls
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Alexa Bliss
GREAT week of TV with every show clicking. There was tons of good wrestling, some new directions, and it all acted as an excellent last call for Royal Rumble weekend.
RAW: 8/10
SmackDown: 7/10
205 Live: 7/10
NXT: 7/10
NXT UK: 7/10
