Hell of a week of WWE TV. 205 Live stinks, but everything else was clicking: forward momentum, good wrestling matches, and Becky Lynch and Daniel Bryan crushing it. I mean there’s still plenty about WWE’s weekly TV presentation that is dumb on top of dumb, but I found myself thoroughly entertained.
HALFTIME HEAT (2/3/19)
WWE brought Halftime Heat back for this past Sunday’s Super Bowl, and it included both a big spot for NXT’s top six stars and some very passive aggressive marketing from WWE’s advertising hot shots.
The entire show was a little over 20 minutes long, with around 15 minutes of bell-to-bell action in the form of Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano & Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black, Ricochet & Velveteen Dream. And it ruled. They just went all out and got ALL their shit in, with everything timed and paced and delivered well. There was nothing deep here, but it was a match that built to a beautiful crescendo that deserved something beyond a This is Awesome chant. We know Gargano, Ciampa, Black, Cole, and Ricochet can go, but Dream was almost the key here – he didn’t just keep up, he exuded SUPERSTAR.
Cool atmosphere too, as it was filmed at the Performance Center with a crowd that had some fans but was mostly Performance Center trainees and NXT roster members. That also meant the “ADAM COLE, BAY BAY!” thing got boos for the first time ever, which I was just tickled by.
If there’s not gonna be a forklift, this was ideal Halftime Heat.
RAW (2/4/19)
I dug this show – not high-end, but there was effort all around to do STUFF: the Sasha/Bayley tag got a hook with a pre-match angle, Braun Strowman was booked as an actual babyface, EC3 got put over, and stuff like Apollo vs. Rezar and the Tag Titles match were setup for next week. Plus, Lio Rush wore shiny new long pants!
The heat-up of Becky Lynch has been tremendous and her taking out Stephanie McMahon and a bunch of security guides was another strong development. Let’s do Becky vs. Steph.
Ronda Rousey seemed like she embraced her inner Scott Steiner/Ultimate Warrior this week, doing some truly insane promo work both backstage and in the ring that felt both all over the place and incredibly awesome. ICE AND ADVIL, BITCH.
Ronda Rousey beating two Riott Squad members in a row put over Ronda and setup a match with Ruby Riott – it was too logical and effective of a wrestling segment for this normally preposterous television show.
Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan both maximized their minutes too – loved Liv being an annoying jerk to Ronda then doing her bridge thing and getting punched in the gut, loved Logan straight deadlifting Ronda.
Pairing Nikki Cross and Alicia Fox, if even for just one show, was perfection even if it was a decision made because there was legitimately no one left on the RAW women’s roster to team together for an Elimination Chamber qualifier. “The Fox wanted to play. The Fox embraces the chaos.”
I liked that Heavy Machinery vs. The Revival vs. Lucha House Party vs. The B-Team got enough time to matter and Otis again had a fun showing, but the match was still a bunch of acts ranging from struggling to dead doing STUFF.
Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins having a moment backstage was dawwwwwww. “They spelled my name wrong!” I’m into this.
Braun Strowman saving Kurt Angle from Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin was a very… fine professional wrestling angle. Everybody involved with this with the exception of Kurt needs not just some steam but a more interesting hook. They’re all featured on TV frequently but the segments are trash.
Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Nikki Cross & Alicia Fox was a big step up from last week’s Elimination Chamber qualifiers, with a pre-match angle taking Sasha out and Bayley taking heat and Nikki’s crossbody off the apron and the flash Bayley pin thanks to the one thing Sasha did and the HUGS at the end.
Love Jeff Jarrett punches, but an extended Jeff Jarrett match on TV in 2019 against Elias while Road Dogg works the corner in a basketball jersey probably wasn’t the best idea. I appreciated the uniqueness, but eh.
Finn Balor vs. Lio Rush had a little hook with Balor getting laid out by Bobby Lashley and ended up pretty good stuff. The sudden pivot from Lio’s missed frog splash to the Jon Woo dropkick from Balor was awesome. Not sure why Lashley didn’t get DQ’d for interfering though.
A Moment of Bliss with EC3, Nia Jax and Tamina, and Dean Ambrose sure had a lot going on, including Dean talking up his SEXUAL MAGNETISM. I don’t think any of it was good, but it certainly aired on television.
EC3 beat Dean Ambrose and it was a 2-minute nothing match but good for EC3.
Kurt Angle & Braun Strowman vs. Drew McIntyre & Baron Corbin was fun in spots but had a whole lot of Drew and Baron on offense and that’s just not a good thing. Heck of a Braun hot tag though, and I legit LOL’d at Corey calling out Corbin for rolling INTO the ankle lock. This match’s existence made sense but it wasn’t a great way to close the show.
SMACKDOWN (2/5/19)
SmackDown rules again. (Stefan voice) This show had everything: another big Becky angle, Karl Anderson getting to have a ball trading shots with Nakamura, an Usos promo, Randy Orton vs. Mustafa Ali, a couple crazy Daniel Bryan promos, Naomi whooping Mandy Rose’s ass, and Daniel Bryan putting Jeff Hardy in submission holds. That’s good content. SmackDown has gotten a lot better at featuring its’ roster too… Andrade, Rey, The Miz, Shane, The Usos, and Asuka were barely on the show but very present.
The heat-up of Becky Lynch has been tremendous and her getting in Triple H‘s face and slapping him was another strong development. Let’s do Becky vs. Triple H.
The Good Brothers vs. Rusev & Nakamura was a fine little TV match, with the aforementioned Anderson/Nakamura exchanges being cool. Anderson even busted out a somersault plancha.
God did I love Randy Orton vs. Mustafa Ali. This was Orton’s best performance in ages and it was all in his mannerisms… he was working with extreme arrogance, trying to not sell anything from this young pup but being overwhelmed anyways. His work in the first couple minutes here was kind of brilliant, between his cut-off timing and reactions to Ali getting a shot in. Subtle stuff like his little swat at Ali’s legs to knock him down on the turnbuckle was perfection. The RKO tease and delivery was so good too. They made Ali look legit and re-heated up Orton – great work, everybody!
Another powerful Samoa Joe promo – “every action requires an opposite and overwhelming reaction.” I appreciate his wrestling promos but he should run for office or something.
Daniel Bryan on the mic was again a treasure – “How dare you WHAT my good friend Rowan!”
Loved Naomi swatting away at Mandy Rose but the Triple Threat Tag Match between Naomi & Carmella, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville and The IIconics wasn’t much. IIconics looked bad.
Anyone notice that they edited out the Eddie Guerrero stuff from the Rey/Andrade recap?
Jeff Hardy vs. Daniel Bryan was a basic Jeff Hardy match with fun touches by Bryan like grabbing Jeff’s arms and tying him up in a surfboard and whatnot. Basic Jeff Hardy is good stuff too.
They might’ve gone home too early, as Bryan got a few minutes to rant and rave on the mic backstage and it was phenomenal. I love Becky, but here’s the person that should main event WrestleMania!
205 LIVE (2/5/19)
What’s even the point of this show after the Halftime Heat 6-man?
What does it even offer that that match didn’t offer times a billion?
Like, I appreciate that WWE launched a new brand with some new faces, but Mustafa Ali is on SmackDown now and Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy deserve to be headed there as soon as possible. Anybody else feels like they’d be better off slotted elsewhere, even in a nothing spot on RAW. I dig Gulak and Gallagher but them as a prominent tag team isn’t necessarily something that’s needed.
Anyways, this show is BAD. It’s like Main Event but longer and with a few promos.
Mike Kanellis vs. Brian Kendrick might’ve been the worst match in 205 Live history. It went 15 ungodly minutes with a soundtrack of Maria’s heel act on commentary. And Maria’s heel act is the WORST. They do the gimmick where Kendrick is like “bring it” to complete silence so Kanellis tries to put him out of his misery and then Kendrick just pins his ass clean with the Sliced Bread #2. Horrible.
Cedric Alexander vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. Lio Rush was a match with four talented dudes but fawwwwwk. So tough to care. Cedric vs. Tozawa was pretty awesome but this show is cooked with such bland flavoring that it was hard to even get into that.
NXT UK 29 (2/6/19)
NXT UK is learning to maximize its minutes – there was a lot of content on this hour-long show.
Mark Andrews vs. Ligero was very cool babyface vs. babyface stuff and with the exception of when Andrews works with Fabian Aichner, both guys’ best showing on NXT UK. There was a spot outside where they just kept moving and countering and it took a good while for somebody to hit ANYTHING and I found that very impressive. Plus Andrews landed on his feet off a hurricanrana! And they shook hands afterwards!
Xia Brookside vs. Candy Floss wasn’t much but I dug Xia trying to go all old school World of Sport with her full nelson selling and escape, and I really dug them making a big deal out of her first win. Her reaction, followed by Rhea Ripley attacking and just ragdolling her was good stuff too.
Joseph Conners vs. Wild Boar was not terrible because it’s fun watching the way Boar moves around but Connnnerrrrsssszzzzzzzzzz. I guess he did more than usual this week?
Joe Coffey vs. Ashton Smith had some real cool stuff in it – Coffey running and tackling Ashton at full speed outside, Ashton throwing a hell of a superkick on his comeback, Coffey being all big and burly and Ashton being all quick and jumpy. A match that could’ve happened early in the NXT UK run and I would’ve been like, “These guys show potential!”
I liked the aesthetic of Mark Coffey and Wolfgang walking down the ramp to congratulate Joe, then Mark walking to the ring as the music still plays to await his opponent.
That opponent was WALTER, and WALTER reacting to Mark daring to throw a chop was my everything. Mark threw a lariat and WALTER simply GROWLED, then stood there as is chest got increasingly more red as Mark threw a bunch more. I’m not sure we needed WALTER in a chinlock just yet but this was another good showing.
NXT (2/6/19)
Strong ratio of successful segments this week… the Jaxson Ryker squash wasn’t great but still at least did something, while the rest was awesome.
The opening Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa/Velveteen Dream promo battle was solid, with #DIY intrigue and Dream being a STAR.
Mansoor, the poor fella who got trotted out in Saudi Arabia for that dumb Daivari segment, made his first appearance on TV and was a champ at getting squashed by Jaxson Ryker, who hit a nice mid-air spear and big chokeslam bomb.
Eric Bugenhagen. Wow. We’ve seen plenty of ironic gimmicks like this come and go, but god damn was that fun. It was very fun to see a crowd applaud a man’s ENERGY. Drew Gulak‘s reaction to it was the icing on the cake.
Sweet squash for Gulak too – he straight up chopped Bugenhagen’s bandana off.
That wasn’t all though, as he demanded competition better than “Ben Stiller from Dodgeball” (huge pop) and MATT RIDDLE answered. It is rare that my love for wrestling is as strong as when I hear one-liners like, “How about you take your little flip flops off and make my day?”
Gulak vs. Riddle was INCREDIBLE, straight-up BattlARTS in WWE. I loved it. Awesome matwork, deadlifting, struggles for control – they were GRAPPLING, baby, and what is wrestling without GRAPPLING? Loved the spot where Riddle threw a running elbow in the corner then set up another one and ran straight into a dropkick. Great PK kick, great deadlift powerbomb, great straight knee strike to the face. Great match.
Kairi Sane/Io Shirai/Bianca Belair vs. Shayna Baszler/Marina Shafir/Jessamyn Duke was a heck of a main event too, just a fun high energy TV main event with a lot of character. Kairi sold, the MMA gals looked good, the Joshi-EST Connection (sorry) did some double teams… loved it.
MAIN EVENT (2/6/19)
Lacey Evans popped up for a match with Natalya and it’s going to be fun to see her figure it all out on the main roster. She lays shit in, casually does moonsaults, and her pearl-clutching face as Natalya worked out of her armbar was awesome.
Then Renee Young tried to find interesting things to say about like 3 minutes of No Way Jose vs. Tyler Breeze.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Matt Riddle vs. Drew Gulak on NXT
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Becky Lynch
I enjoyed myself.
RAW: 7/10
SmackDown: 9/10
205 Live: 3/10
NXT UK: 7/10
NXT: 8/10
