If you don’t make it to the end of every WWE TV Week in Review – and who would? – you wouldn’t know that I, for some reason, continue to cover WWE Main Event on Hulu.
Why? Well, for one – it’s only two matches. The rest is recaps. So it’s like a 10-minute investment.
Of course, neither of the two matches are usually any good. Folks barely used on TV are trotted out and told to get over working the ultimate WWE TV formula match that follows the same exact outline 9 out of 10 times. And, look – it usually gets over. The crowd is warmed up well enough for the show they are at. But as content for a weekly TV show? That seems weird.
And there’s rarely any matches that are actually good – so rarely that I track Main Event matches that are actually worth watching on this website, and let’s just say it is not an exhausting list.
It’s even more rare that something of actual substance happens on this show.
Well this week, the week of April 28, was for some reason the week that WWE decided to pull some STUFF.
Not only did Mojo Rawley debut a new hooded ring jacket and broken mirror facepaint on half his face. I mean that is HUGE – but that’s not it.
This show, the show that has only had two matches for like five years, had THREE MATCHES. THREE!!!
And one of them was a Cedric Alexander vs. Cesaro rematch.
And the other had a PROMO before it.
Anyways. Sometimes you’ve got to look for things to talk about in a given week.
RAW (4/29/19)
Ah shit it’s dumb season again. There were two solid tags here and a fine Rey Mysterio vs. Samoa Joe match, otherwise this show sucked.
The opening talky segment was especially rough this week, with Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin trading what had to be some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever witnessed in WWE and I am well aware of the ground that covers. With a new (?) main event scene finding its footing post-Superstar Shakeup and the slow march to Money in the Bank, RAW is providing some very boring stupid redundant wrestling exchanges. More boring and stupid and redundant than usual, at least.
This one led to a good TV tag at least, with Braun Strowman & Ricochet wrestling McIntyre and Corbin in a match that saw Ricochet having what might have been some of the best exchanges I’ve ever seen from both Corbin AND McIntyre on a WWE television program. Wow. Wrestling is hard. These guys make it look easy.
Legitimately cracked up at The Usos randomly yelling/singing their theme song. These guys CANNOT devolve into an over-thought RAW act that fast, c’mon. The RAW tag division is kind of useless without them. FIGHT THROUGH IT, UCE. FIGHT THROUGH IT.
The tag division didn’t have the best night. The Usos vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson was a fine match with a per-usual hot Usos finish (plus a nasty Uso neck bump into the ropes), but then The Revival did back shaving comedy and wrestled a pointless 3-minute match with Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins and ARGGGHGHHHDSJDFFS. STOP IT. Be better at wrestling, everybody.
Lucha House Party and The Viking Raiders did something too. I don’t know. It’s not standing out.
Speaking of divisions not having the best night, the RAW women’s division is DOA without Sasha Banks so somebody might want to figure that whole thing out. Natalya and Dana Brooke trading words was up there with McIntyre and Corbin in all-time bad TV. Alexa Bliss‘ reveal of herself in Money in the Bank was fantastic, otherwise eh. She had a match with Naomi too, which was worked around her being in street gear and her shoelaces constantly coming untied. And in that respect I liked it. But it sure was awkward to watch play out.
Becky Lynch laid down an ol’ WWE main eventer promo before Lacey Evans went right after her and threw hands and I think Lacey Evans is doing just fine.
The Miz and Shane McMahon taking their feud to a Steel Cage is a decision I support. Miz vs. Bobby Lashley was a silly little angle of a match to setup the Shane beatdown, which got some glorious wonderful sustained HEAT and sometimes, even if it’s with questionable active wrestler Shane McMahon, that’s wonderful to hear.
There are cheers, there are boos, and with Sami Zayn there are GROANS. He is doing some of the more interesting stuff on WWE TV, but it feels like it’s coming from a very cynical place. Regardless, an appreciated little brick of this strange building.
Speaking of strange, Firefly Fun House continued this week. The word “sociopath” was highlighted on WWE TV. I liked it.
It should probably be reflected upon how lucky we are that though they may be a little slower and it’s in WWE diet TV format, Rey fucking Mysterio vs. Samoa fucking Joe is happening right here on Monday Night RAW and they’re just doing all kinds of crazy shit. The finish of Rey rolling Joe up looked terrible, otherwise – COOL!
A Contract Signing? Between famed microphone talents AJ Styles and Seth Rollins?
SMACKDOWN (4/30/19)
Not a ton of must-see stuff here but it was a solid show with plenty of basic simple wrestling goodness if you’ve got the patience for the in-between.
It really was all about going back to basics – WWE Champ Kofi Kingston opening up the show with a full-on babyface promo and highlight reel and closing it kicking some ass, Charlotte Flair sneak attacking Becky Lynch and Bayley after their match, an Asuka & Kairi Sane tag squash, Shane McMahon forming a quasi-Corporation with Elias and The B-Team and stacking the odds against Roman Reigns, and a quality tag team match by the upper midcard… that’s a show.
Becky vs. Bayley was fun – Bayley isn’t only on the defensive in her matches now, she gets to fire up too! The elbow drop counter to the Disarmer was a nice deal too. There’s a bigger match from these guys but they built hings to a quality finish.
IIconics on commentary = great.
Much like Elias, The B-Team as corporate baddies is a fine role for them (if they stay in it). It’s easy heat added to any match they’re in, and it worked in the Handicap Match with Roman, who I very much enjoyed selling his struggle and overcoming those odds. His rebound out of the corner collision on Bo was tremendous, and Axel took the spear at the end like a champ.
Finn Balor & Ali vs. Randy Orton & Andrade was a heck of a little match, with Balor and Ali making a solid babyface duo. I hope Orton likes working Ali, as the way he just towers over him as he stalks him or applies a chinlock makes for a great visual.
Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens closing SmackDown is some wild stuff. I like it. It is a good example of fresh. I think Randy should be in Owens’ place. But I like it.
205 LIVE (4/30/19)
Hey! The Singh Brothers are on this show now! And they had a solid tag with Lucha House Party. It was a little sad and basic. But a solid tag nonetheless.
Unacceptable 205 Live ace Tony Nese vs. Drew Gulak in the main event was really more about the absurdity of them going with a 4-man commentary team this week, with Vic and Otunga and Nigel and English. All match you could tell they were clearly being told to jump into different directions or take conflicting opinions on the spot and it felt one-part bad professional wrestling and one-part interesting social experiment. The match itself was one of those matches that was, like… good? Matwork, hard shots, near falls, a nice knee to the face. But you’ve got to be in the mood for it. And I wasn’t. Because I’m just not going to be into this Tony Nese run, especially if its’ primary hook is that it is literally just Tony Nese.
NXT UK 41 (5/1/19)
This was the final run from AXXESS, as next week they’re in Glasgow. And after the usual “NXT UK guys beat NXT people not on TV” stuff (which isn’t a bad idea), WALTER and Jordan Devlin had themselves a hell of a main event.
I hear these two have had a few epics in the past, and you can tell that’s the truth from this, as it’s a 10-minute TV match that, though they are continuing to do well building Devlin up as a contender and keeping WALTER vulnerable, there really wasn’t all that meant to come from this outside of a tease of something between these two in the future. And regardless – it RULED. One of those “every second counts” type of matches that got a story across so tightly. Devlin plays the undersized cocky guy early, taking his time avoiding any interaction with WALTER, until the first big boot got him which felt like a huge moment.
Then they did a great job making Devlin competitive, as he caught WALTER’s leg and kept going back to it. He didn’t do much, but you knew WALTER’s leg was hurt, and WALTER’s desperate comeback where he just tried to drop his ass on Devlin and ended up hurting his leg in the process was tremendous. The crowd ended up buying a Devlin win, with great near falls off a rollup out of a powerbomb as well as the Devlin backdrop driver, which was built to well considering just a few moments before Devlin dropped big WALTER trying to do it without the adrenaline of a win in his grasp. All the WALTER chops were used for maximum effect too. Loved this.
The rest was alright in a “building your roster up” kind of way. Travis Banks had an enhancement match with Mansoor that was a little more than an enhancement match, where Mansoor played a decent cocky heel. Nina Samuels spoke into her mirror like a regular Mojo Rawley. Piper Niven beat Reina Gonzalez, which was a cool battle of some bigger gals. And Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan decided to ask for an NXT UK Tag Team Titles shot, which was solidified with this, which is definitely a real sentence somebody would say sometime: “I think it’s about time you and me made a little call to our boss Johnny Saint.” Yikes.
NXT (5/1/19)
The Forgotten Sons, who are definitely THE Forgotten Sons and not simply Forgotten Sons, though their Titan Tron might make you think otherwise, opened this show having a very OK 6-man tag with Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch & Humberto Carrillo. There were some nice moments – I liked Ryker standing in front of Oney on the apron to stop his big run, only for Oney’s partners to knock Ryker down to setup an Oney tope. And I liked Humberto knocking down Oney by mistake, leading to the Sons surrounding Burch like he was dead meat. The match was real basic and didn’t do a thing to make me think anybody but Oney has a real future in this weird company. But those were definitely some nice moments.
I enjoyed seeing Mansoor work cocky heel on NXT UK opposite Travis Banks, then work likable babyface who bumps huge (you gotta check out him getting chucked to the outside) opposite Dominik Dijakovic, and gets the crowd behind him before inevitable defeat.
Velveteen Dream sang his take on the National Anthem to Dijakovic, which felt like an OK idea on paper.
KUSHIDA‘s NXT TV debut vs. Kassius Ohno was the real story here, and it went well. They packed a lot into a 10-minute enhancement match, including Ohno refusing a handshake early and KUSHIDA forcing one later on after he had suitably kicked his ass. KUSHIDA did all the stuff – cartwheel dropkick, Hoverboard Lock, handspring countered into something crazy (an elbow). Even a springboard hurricanrana. KUSHIDA!!!
MAIN EVENT (5/1/19)
THREE MATCHES THIS WEEK!!!
Mojo Rawley is doing brooding bad guy thing now, with hooded ring jacket and dark attire and broken mirror facepaint. But he still yells shit like a goof when he comes out. C’mon. He had a legit awesome squash match with Heath Slater – focused, mean. Facepaint.
Cedric Alexander vs. Cesaro was a fine shorter version of last week’s RAW match – this is a fun match-up.
The IIconics vs. Alicia Fox & Tamina was about 3 minutes.
WWE TV Match of the Week: WALTER vs. Jordan Devlin
WWE TV MVP of the Week: KUSHIDA had a nice debut. Not like anyone else is making waves.
Money. Money money money mo-ney…
RAW: 2/10
SmackDown: 5/10
205 Live: 3/10
NXT UK: 6/10
NXT: 5/10
