The summer is HOT, the G1 Climax is ROLLING, the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are wearing SUITS, and the WWE is putting on PERFECTLY FINE TELEVISION SHOWS.
RAW (7/22/19)
This was the RAW Reunion show, and I thought it gave one of the better balances I’ve seen from WWE reunion shows as far as not just mixing the stars of today in with the stars of the past, but making them feel like even bigger deals than those stars, Stone Cold aside. It was 3 hours of good modern wrestling, Attitude Era pops, and an obscene amount of Burger King plugs. And I bet it was Arrested Development Season 4 levels of complexity in putting that together and making it work.
Interested in the decision-making on keeping John Cena completely separated from Hogan/Flair/Austin at the end, but dug him and The Usos trading lines about Cena leaving for the movies and Jimmy Uso getting arrested for a DUI until it stopped being funny when Jimmy Uso actually got arrested for another DUI a few days later. Always good to see JOHN these days though, even if the “this is my HOME” stuff is laid on a little thick. RIKISHI coming out and saying, “John Cena, back that ass up and then around” was fan service in its’ purest form.
It’s probably best to address the cameos in one section. D-Von Dudley just rolling out there without Bubba cracked up. I’m not even sure people in the same segment with her recognized Kaitlyn. Drew McIntyre shaking his head at her, Alicia Fox, Dana Brooke, Torrie Wilson and Santino Marella and just responding “legends…” in disgust was a good bit. The low-key re-intro to Eric Bischoff backstage was a little weird, but the subtlety of referencing their new power recently isn’t the worst thing. Jimmy Hart handing off his microphone for a Ron Simmons‘ “DAMN” was beautiful. Seeing The Kliq in all their gimmicks and glory along with Road Dogg is always begrudgingly fun, and I got a kick out of Hall doing THE WALK every chance he got. Putting Seth Rollins with them for a night was a boner killer though. Of course, OF COURSE Mick Foley went down for a guy, in this case THE FIEND in what was a genuinely creepy segment. I bet Kurt Angle BEGGED somebody to do something like this, but all he got was to form the most random collection of superheros ever with Rob Van Dam, The Hurricane and Sgt. Slaughter. GRAYBEARD MARK HENRY was a personal highlight too. I mean this show was WILD!
The 24/7 Championship provided a thread throughout the show too. I popped for Pat Patterson winning the title, absolutely lost my shit at Jerry Brisco beating him for it followed by the GREATEST CELEBRATION: “HAAAAAAHAHAHAAA Look what I just won!” As silly as this all was it’s legitimately heartwarming that The Stooges had this bit on TV, as it stayed true to their characters but also gave them one more moment in the sun.
The reveal of Melina being a referee now was harmless fun, as was Candice Michelle doing her stupid pose in one last gasp of Kevin Dunn-ism. Alundra Blayze was completely unrecognizable with her hair up, though the WWF Women’s Title Being Thrown in the Trash by Alundra Blayze now officially being a thing WWE will parody on their own television is a trip. Loved the Million Dollar Man cameo to buy the title, especially him building to THE LAUGH like a god damn professional. And of course R-Truth ended up champ at the end because this is a TV show and he is a recurring character.
Speaking of recurring characters, they did all kinds of cool stuff here. The Usos vs. The Revival was a good long tag between two great teams that was a hair better than the Extreme Rules match because this also had Rikishi in his boys’ corner looking concerned for them, D-Von cheering on The Revival for no apparent reason, and BOOKER T back on commentary. The Usos bumped big, Dawson finally seems comfortable, and the Revival’s flying uppercut to German suplex double team made for a sweet near fall.
The follow-up to Cedric Alexander‘s pin on Drew McIntyre last week… wasn’t bad! Mostly because the bell didn’t ring. They brawled before it, with Cedric actually getting in some wild offense and not looking like a chump before Drew put him out with a NASTY inverted Alabama Slam on the apron that if anyone had any decency anymore should be an all-time memorable spot.
Uncle Christian doing commentary for Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins & their new music was cute. It was at this point, not even an hour into the show, that everything really clicked for me, as it had gone from JOHN to good wrestling to a good brawl to Pat Patterson winning the 24/7 Title to The Viking Raiders yelling to Christian on commentary over what was actually a good match. Hope the Raiders’ bought Hawkins’ a meal afterwards, cause his bump on Ivar’s double tope and the way he went up (and down) for The Viking Experience on that slow-mo replay made this awesome.
LOL @ “The OC” – come on.
Samoa Joe going IN on RAW Reunion as a concept was incredible (“We indulge in your ridiculous addiction to nostalgia…”) but also seemed to be setting up a much more interesting interruption than Roman Reigns. Something probably got re-written and they were definitely stretching for time at the end of the promo, but it speaks to the power of these two that Joe getting in Roman’s face gave me a full immediate erection. Match felt a little slow compared to the joyride that was this show, but was also a good old school deal with Reigns’ selling for Joe’s snarling.
AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins actually happened on this show, though it only went like 5 minutes before Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and eventually Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, X-Pac and Road Dogg backed Rollins’ up against Styles and… sigh… The OC. Road Dogg’ Billy Gunn name drop and Styles’ yelling “I know where NXT is!” at Michaels cracked me up, but the forced inclusion of Rollins kinda lost me and the crowd. What was said in that group hug though?? WHAT WAS SAID???
Not even going to touch Rollins mocking Lesnar on MizTV. Bad night for The Kingslayer.
Rey Mysterio vs. Sami Zayn actually happened on this show, and was an awesome pairing before the RVD & Friends cameo. Dug Zayn doing the KENTA/Shibata running dropkick. Also dug Angelo Dawkins putting putting in eyedrops right after to Montez Ford‘s shock and awe as if RVD gets high jokes are now somehow completely OK in this insane company.
Once again – The Fiend. SCARY.
The state of the RAW women’s division is a bummer. A Moment of Bliss with Becky Lynch and Natalya was an illustration of nothing to work with. Come back to us, Sasha.
God bless local talent Randy Rowe, who bumped his heart out for Braun Strowman. “Don’t blink, this won’t last too long” pre-match was a nice little thing… I expect we hear it at least six dozen more times.
The show ended with a big toast to RAW with all the guests on the stage, which included Triple H whispering at Santino to start getting everyone to move over because there wasn’t enough room for everyone, Scott Hall doing Flair shtick, and Alicia Fox and Melina dancing to Real American with Bischoff between them. The Ric Flair/Hulk Hogan embrace was a legit WOW moment, a tribute to how all this really got started… until the glass broke.
Stone Cold Steve Austin closed the festivities with the most Stone Cold Steve Austin of promos – emotional, hilarious, REAL. He just loves the boys and girls, man. That’s what it’s all about. The boys and the girls. The FAMILY. “What do we got, 60 seconds?” he asked with a smile. “God dang, Gerry Brisco…”
In a world of over-produced WWE TV, sometimes necessary and sometimes not, seeing Stone Cold just be Stone Cold was a treasure and the most proper of ends to a RAW Reunion. Outside of Rocky coming out. WHERE WAS ROCKY?
SMACKDOWN (7/23/19)
This was a show with Big E and Xavier Woods on commentary. I’ll give you my top 3 bits:
3) Singing along to the HBK theme
2) “Do you know how hard it is to hold a man in the air, Thomas?”
1) “Working the gut, the abdomen – why?” “It’ll pay dividends later.”
Otherwise, pretty good stuff:
Shane McMahon is way overexposed but now that he’s settled into the heel role I’m digging the “follow the script” vibe he gives off, as if he can’t even be bothered to deal with Kevin Owens‘ bullshit.
Elias‘ new thing is showing off those ARMS.
Felt like Shinsuke Nakamura got jealous of his New Japan buds and had himself a little banger with Apollo Crews. It was your standard solid WWE TV match until suddenly Crews did a fallaway Samoan drop for 2, Nak tried a spin kick, Apollo ducked, Nak hit the spin kick on the rebound, Crews tried to block a charge in the corner but Nak stopped him short and hit the sliding German, Nak setup a Kinshasa but Crews blocked it with an enzuigiri, and Crews hit an Angle Slam for a big near fall with New Day absolutely FREAKING OUT: “Boys… we got a CONTEST.” Crews went to the top, Nak knocked him down with a kick and did the running knee to the stomach, Nak went for Kinshasa again but Crews caught him with a flapjack, Crews setup the Shooting Star Press but Nak MOVED OUT OF THE WAY and FINALLY hit the Kinshasa for 3. Tremendous.
I’ve been away from Twitter but assume Mandy & Sonya got dunked on enough for the “we have a tag team title match, and if we win we get a tag team title match!” exchange, which might’ve been a troll but really was probably just embarrassing and awkward for everyone. Damn.
Ali spit out another incredible promo unlike anything else on WWE TV. Hyped for what I assume is him vs. Nakamura, though with how good these promos are I want him vs. Triple H or some insanity.
MizTV w/ Shawn Michaels and eventually Dolph Ziggler was interesting in that Michaels took a bump on TV, but inherently had too much going against it in that I doubt it leads to Michaels back in the ring and it felt like it was setting up a Miz turn real bad so it ending with Miz checking over his fallen pal HBK was a momentary buzzkill. Maybe that was the point.
Hey it’s occasional wrestler Charlotte Flair and she’s wrestling Ember Moon for 25 seconds before Bayley ran out. Stupid segment, WWE is dropping the ball with both women’s championships right now BAD. Ember feeding Bayley to Charlotte was a weird thing to do too for an already lukewarm character, even if she stood tall at the end.
Real heartfelt tribute to Byron Saxton‘s pop before the Kofi promo. Good work, everybody.
The Kofi Kingston/Randy Orton promo to setup SummerSlam was all I ever wanted. I was a crab about them not going right to this feud after Mania as a way of playing with the idea of whether they’d actually give Kofi a long reign, but now I’m sitting here happy they saved it for SummerSlam. THIS is the match, folks. This is the natural match of the Kofi Kingston WWE Title reign. Orton hasn’t been a Big Deal in a while, but here he is immediately feeling like one because it makes too much sense. Kofi “shooting” on Orton using his influence wasn’t so much lame as it it was LOGICAL. “I didn’t have to fake Jamaican accent, throw pancakes, or shake my ass” WOOOO!! It was the promo we’ve been waiting a decade for!!! WOOOO!!! CRACKLING.
Then Kofi wrestled Samoa Joe for a few minutes, whatever.
Firefly Fun House still being a thing on the Titan Tron with The Fiend making random appearances live in the arena is some good shit. Watch your back, Finn Balor.
Show ended with Owens vs. Roman Reigns which quickly turned into them popping the crowd as some bizzaro Stone Cold and Rock opposite Shane, Drew McIntyre, Elias, and their Shitty Corporation.
205 LIVE (7/23/19)
The good TV continued as this was the best 205 Live episode in forever just because ALL the wrestling was really, really good. Raul Mendoza and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott as new faces probably helped too.
Lucha House Party vs. Humberto Carrillo & Raul Mendoza & A BEARD was a match between two teams you could tell were amped to work with each other. Lots of casually incredible stuff being done all over the place, though it felt like a match match needed to be even more go-go-go on, as the Luchas working chinlocks didn’t add a thing. Great hot tag by Mendoza who will flip you out no matter what role he’s in.
Every show should have Oney Lorcan crushing jobbers.
Drew Gulak faced NXT’s Isaiah “Swerve” Scott AKA Shane Strickland AKA a guy who I assume will get a name change once the old man gets a hold of it. It was great, both as a showcase for Swerve but also a showcase of what Gulak brings to the table – the perfect shitbag opposition to this young flyer. Swerve’s spots are impressive, but I think his right hand was the top highlight. Gulak did a Razor’s Edge into the turnbuckle post, which led to an attempt at a Razor’s Edge off the top rope that Swerve backflipped over into a jawbreaker – whoa. The last few minutes were tremendous, with Swerve fighting out of the GuLock and getting a few good near falls all while Gulak kept slapping him away and going back to working over the right hand. Gulak wins, but but so does Swerve. Tear.
NXT UK 53 (7/24/19)
We’re still at Download Fest, but I think this week was the last match and holy cow was it good.
First off though, Noam Dar wrestled Kenny Williams in a match that got a lot of time where they clearly had a lot of fun exchanges worked out, a lot of having an answer for everything type stuff, and it was pretty good if not anything that made me want to see them do anything further. The finish was cool where Dar pulled Kenny into a leglock and ripped his shoe off, a distraction for Kenny that led to a simple low blow and Super Nova kick thing.
I approve of the 6-man line-up that was Toni Storm, Piper Niven & Xia Brookside vs. Kay Lee Ray, Jinny & Jazzy Gabert, and there were some good parts here: Toni vs. Jinny, the Jazzy/Piper showdown, and the logical decision to have Xia take a little beatdown. Some of Niven’s didn’t feel like it hit as she probably wanted it to and not sure it went full Fun 6-Man, but still – good parts.
Trent Seven vs. WALTER was a match built around Trent Seven selling against the ultimate monster character guy and it ruled. The thing with Seven is that he is not always selling pain and exhaustion but is always fighting back, getting in a single chop if he can manage. There were points here where his offense consisted of just aggressively, desperately hammering away at WALTER, and other points where WALTER was doing the same. The Seven Dragon suplex and HUGE lariat on the comeback, followed by Kobashi chops in the corner, had me thinking the weirdest ever Kobashi vs. Hansen had finally appeared on a WWE Network. Loved WALTER’s vicious slap later on in response to a chop, like “Not that hard, motherfucker.” Three powerbombs on Seven led to the referee calling the match. The hero is DOWN. The bad guy is DOMINANT. So good.
NXT (7/24/19)
Alright episode of NXT, with a fun return and interesting but questionable main event for the non-TakeOver main event guys.
Jordan Myles vs. Angel Garza in the NXT Breakout Semi Final was a beautiful match – Myles armdragging and smiling and charisma-ing, then taking a nasty chest bump on the apron followed by a throw to the stairs, followed by Garza using the long pants tear-off as a MID-MATCH SPOT. Myles sold before he reached down for the fire-up and pulled out a deadlift German suplex with a bridge that looked so good it won the match. Very excited for these two.
Shane Thorne jumping on commentary real quick to trash them, working a bitter guy who’s been here for years gimmick, kind of bummed me out though.
Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole in a Street Fight – OK.
Bianca Belair vs. Xia Li was a mach I expected to be a fun contest, but it ended up being a straight-up dominant Bianca SQUASH which I appreciated way more.
Mia Yim with the serial killer vibes picking off Shayna Baszler‘s girls one-by-one – I dig it.
Velveteen Dream is a great promo, Roderick Strong trading words with him not so much, and then Pete Dunne returned to Full Sail and got a monster pop. Look – I’m into Dream vs. Roddy as much as the next guy, but Dunne adds a dynamic I just can’t deny.
Io Shirai started to squash poor Kacy Catanzaro before Candice LeRae ran out with a chair – cool!
Keith Lee vs. Damien Priest was a fine main event spot for these two that effectively put these guys over as impressive big dudes, in both good and bad ways. Priest managing a Falcon Arrow on big Lee was some STUFF, but the spot of the match was a Priest tope con hilo caught perfectly by Lee in a POWERBOMB SETUP, though Priest disappointingly escaped. A spinning big boot and the freakin’ Roll the Dice wins it for the quickly ascending Priest. Again, fine main event spot, but maybe too much BS to get them to that next level.
MAIN EVENT (7/24/19)
Naomi vs. Natalya.
Titus O’Neil & Lucha Party vs. Cesaro, Robert Roode, EC3 & Eric Young made for a fun enough odd couple matches. Plus Cesaro vs. Lince was cool for a few seconds. Why the back tattoo though, Eric?
WWE TV Match of the Week: Trent Seven vs. WALTER from NXT UK
WWE TV MVP of the Week: The Fiend / Bray Wyatt
The PRODUCT isn’t on a roll but I approve of all the TV here – RAW was a fun trip down a strange memory lane, SmackDown remained steady fun, 205 Live brought the good wrestling, NXT UK gave us Seven/WALTER, and NXT gave us Jordan Myles vs. Angel Garza. Plus Cesaro vs. Lince for that few seconds on Main Event!
RAW: 7/10
SmackDown: 7/10
205 Live: 8/10
NXT UK: 7/10
NXT: 7/10
