Charlotte Flair. Kofi Kingston. Jimmy Uso. THESE were the Drivers of the Wrestling Conversation this week, the week of the National Emergency.
RAW (2/11/19)
Well. This wasn’t exactly the show you expect from a company that basically did a live on-air apology just a few months ago for how bad and boring their TV has been.
The show kicked off with probably the weakest “WE ARE PUSHING BECKY LYNCH” segment yet, but the effort of having her spar with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon was appreciated, as was the show-long angle as she thought for about 2 and a half hours whether or not to publicly apologize so she could keep her WrestleMania match.
I thought Sasha Banks‘ music hitting as Triple H and Steph walked off from Becky was a neat deal too. WWE is still one of the most non-subtle organizations around, but the increase in subtlety lately has been nice.
Speaking of subtlety, Elias did a bit where he kept getting interrupted by a cut backstage or a video package and it came together really well, like they were just honest mistakes. Lucha House Party got a little shot to show some range with singing and guitar playing and I think they should probably stick to in-ring competition but the segment was fun. Fun on wrestling shows is good!
The Triple Threat Tag Team Match had a whole lot of Tamina, which was not fun. Bayley looked good though, and seems to be wrestling with a newfound confidence or maybe it’s just a backstage direction – either way, she doesn’t feel like the afterthought 2017 and 2018 made her out to be. That elbow drop near fall was HOT too.
“Your abs are still awesome, by the way.”
Drew McIntyre vs. Finn Balor quickly became Finn Balor, Braun Strowman & Kurt Angle vs. Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley & Baron Corbin and it was alright but way too long for what the heel opposition is really capable of. Hot finish though, as they’ll do. Things charged on for 20 minutes though and for a while nobody looked better than anybody, including Angle who is just casually here as a dude. Braun and Drew feel cooled down at a time when they probably shouldn’t be too.
Kevin Owens doing a return promo from a bowling alley where he preceded to roll a gutter ball was incredible. What a wonderful silly thing that happened.
Nikki Cross vs. Ruby Riott was like 4 or 5 minutes long but what a wonderful new world we live in that this even happened live on Monday Night RAW.
I am trying to balance my apathy for that BORRRIIINNGGG Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman promo with how cool that Dean Ambrose “Slay the Beast” thing was after it. Then Ambrose beat EC3 in like 2 minutes and I was like yup, back to apathy.
But then something else happened. The Revival wrestled Chad Gable & Bobby Roode and for a while it felt like a sped up TV version of what might be a good match. But then they kept going and took a cold crowd into This is Awesome territory. And… my God, it WAS awesome. A match in this death slot of really late in an already long and bad show actually shattered those roadblocks put in front of it and completely delivered an awesome match. Gable went hard as always, Roode stepped up and looked like he was 25-years-old, and The Revival felt completely prepared for the moment when Vince McMahon called them into his office and said, “Alright, I’m going with you motherfuckers.” The Gory Special double team, the timing on everybody’s double teams, the near fall saves… hell yeah, tag team wrestling.
Stone Cold Becky Lynch closed the show opposite Triple H and Stephanie once again, and after she did apologize and get her spot back, Mr. McMahon stormed out and suspended Becky and put Charlotte Flair in the match with Ronda Rousey instead, and the show went off the air.
Some people got mad about it. Some people laughed at the people getting mad about it. Some people got mad about the people getting mad about it. And some people are just going to enjoy the ride as the Road to TrollMania continues.
SMACKDOWN (2/12/19)
This two hours of prime time television featured an epic Charlotte Flair promo, a great MizTV with The Usos, and an hour-long Gauntlet Match. Amazing! BRAVO!
Incredible, confident promo by Charlotte – she charged down to the ring and said, “Fuck you. I am going to WrestleMania.”
Naomi & Carmella vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville vs. The Iconics had some solid action but throw the triple threat tag gimmick in the bin. Only real weak spot of the show.
POOR MUSTAFA ALI but this is just going to add to his road to top babyface in all of professional wrestling so it’ll be OK.
MizTV had The Miz bragging about Shane McMahon being on NCIS for a bit but it also had an epic, epic Usos promo.
Kofi Kingston going 45+ in a Gauntlet Match was a hell of a deal and awesome to watch unfold.
The first match with Daniel Bryan was the real story here, 20 minutes of tremendous stuff made even better by the aesthetic, with black trunks Bryan opposite lime green pants with pink armbands Kofi. They built their intensity up really well, going from chain wrestling to Bryan doing some painful-looking offense to a few big spots like a nice near fall off a rope-drape kneedrop, Kofi countering a backdrop suplex off the top rope with his forearm landing directly on Bryan’s head, and Kofi’s dropkick counter to block a diving headbutt. The Rowan interference and New Day ejection added some drama, and Bryan’s amazing KO sell off the Trouble in Paradise was the perfect finish. The shots of the crowd’s pure JOY after the match were awesome.
Then Kofi and Jeff Hardy had a little fun before Kofi put him away, and I dug how Kofi vs. Samoa Joe was just a slow beatdown… nothing pretty, but they sold Kofi’s exhaustion well en route to the surprise cradle finish. AJ Styles acting all conflicted over going after the wrecked Kofi was great, as was Kofi getting in his face and trying to survive until the inevitable. And then Randy Orton hit AJ with the RKO.
This was a lot of fun and I dig when WWE remembers they’re a wrestling company.
And then I thought about Ali in the Kofi spot.
Damn.
205 LIVE (2/12/19)
This show still sucks but Tony Nese vs. Noam Dar had a match that might be worth checking out.
The 205 Live formula opener is rough… too long, too boring, even if the performers are usually solid. I would guess the thinking is that this acts as a cool-down before guys really tear it up in the 205 Live main? Maybe? Either way, it sure doesn’t feel like any kind of cruiserweight match.
Lince Dorado vs. Jack Gallagher fell victim to that formula, though Drew Gulak on commentary was awesome and his excitement over Gallagher’s win was one of the best things 205 Live has provided in a while.
Ariya Daivari‘s skull cap / cut-off jean jacket / white undershirt / gold chain get-up was a LOOK.
I’ll take Tony Nese and Noam Dar having props over anything else they’d do, I’ll tell you that much. And these guys had a weirdly good match… it felt as gritty as a match can be between two oiled up boys can be, and the stuff they did looked like it hurt. They gave a fun spin on Nese’s usual stuff… a springboard moonsault using a chair, a one-handed powerbomb through a table, and the running knee through a barricade. I kind of loved Nese hitting that knee, then fireman’s carrying Dar into the ring and just pinning his ass too.
Happy to see Akira Tozawa doing a contract signing thing for a Cruiserweight Title match, but let’s get him and Buddy Murphy to RAW or something.
NXT UK 30 (2/13/19)
Not a good show. Just some solid but meaningless and forgettable matches. WALTER is wrestling Kassius Ohno in 2 weeks though!
Jordan Devlin vs. Noam Dar was such basic shite with a dumb Travis Banks interference angle that had him come across as a douchebag and Dar not get anything for pinning Devlin off a distraction. Failure of a segment.
JINNY had a solid match with Mia Yim – she puts some oomph into those bumps.
Pete Dunne vs. Wolfgang was a solid TV match that I liked a lot more than their forgettable NXT UK title match as this was about power and character more than indy workrate. I dug how Wolfgang kept trying to pivot to an offensive stretch but Dunne kept preventing it. The swanton counter with a cross armbreaker was smooooth too.
NXT (2/13/19)
This show was OK. It’s a while til TakeOver.
Dominik Dijakovic needs a manager – the eyes gimmick seems silly if he’s not doing it under the guise of a leader. Otherwise, he had a fine match with Shane Thorne that had a weird dynamic as Shane was kind of filling the heel role and Dijakovic the face but nobody was overtly doing either. Dijakovic’s backflip off the top rope followed by a springboard corkscrew plancha was wild.
Not sure if the Kassius Ohno thing was a rib on the folks thinking about leaving WWE or not, either way it felt like an odd thing to do. Keith Lee seems like a nice guy though.
Street Profits vs. Humberto Carrillo & Stacey Ervin Jr. was fun stuff, though Montez Ford better be careful because he might just get called up to 205 Live. Great Ford promo after the match too – the more Ford wrestles and talks, Angelo Dawkins just seems kind of necessary. And I feel bad about that.
Taynara Conti vs. Aliyah with Vanessa Borne at ringside was a random thing to happen, though it made sense when it became an angle with Shayna Baszler and her girls kicking everybody’s ass. Conti does cool stuff but it’s not translating, especially when she ends up tapping out to ALIYAH.
Ricochet vs. Adam Cole was a hell of a match, not as big and showy as their TakeOver: Brooklyn IV match but maybe better overall. Cole went at the leg and was there for everything on the finish, but like the Gargano match this was the Ricochet show. Everything he does is with such precision that you’re compelled to not just root for him but for his existence in general – a simple dropkick to the face, or his selling the leg … whatever he is doing, it is effective. The one-legged springboard splash was incredible too.
MAIN EVENT (2/13/19)
This show continues to be pointless, but it’s also like 10 minutes of time and sometimes you get to see Jinder Mahal.
Heavy Machinery made a quick jump to Main Event opposite The Ascension and it was everything you would probably expect that to be. Otis is having fun and the Caterpillar spot is already over. Viktor also continues to be the best guy who is never in good matches.
Tyler Breeze & The B-Team took on Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers. I swear it. They did.
WWE TV Match of the Week: The Revival vs. Chad Gable & Bobby Roode
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Kofi Kingston
SmackDown continues to rule, but outside of a few good matches everything else this week didn’t really show up. RAW especially felt like a waste. Onto the Elimination Chamber…………
RAW: 3/10
SmackDown: 8/10
205 Live: 5/10
NXT UK: 3/10
NXT: 6/10
