Outside of BAYLEY!, the first night of the WWE Draft kind of sucked. They had a low key stacked card ready for SmackDown on FOX Week 2 but it ended up feeling like a blip on the radar, as the show was focused all around the Draft bits.
The FOX and USA Network War Rooms gimmick ended up trash – there was so much potential here for either treating this seriously like an Actual Sport OR embracing the campiness (I mean there was a ROBOT) but it just came off lazy and even more unserious than professional wrestling normally calls for. Stephanie McMahon as the draft announcer, the awkward cut-ins to poor Renee Young at the live panel desk, the FOX personalities offering soundbites out of EA video games… C’MON GUYS THERE WAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL.
The draft picks themselves weren’t exactly newsworthy either, outside of Becky Lynch getting the #1 – in lieu of any stories you just had unnamed network executives and robots making random picks. Wait – is that the story?
RAW (10/7/19)
Pretty crap show, a placeholder prior to the draft on Friday. The idea of it being a Draft Showcase for network executives was kind of cool, but they didn’t take advantage of that idea and not many guys got actually Showcased. Maybe Rusev did, but do you really want a guy on your roster going through such public marital strife right now?
Suspiciously sparse mentions of Team Hogan vs. Team Flair and Rollins vs. Fiend too.
The show cutting in with Rusev getting the boots put to him by Randy Orton and King Corbin was a nice twist, but these angles for the Saudi shows are always extra bad for (besides the obvious) just how forced they come off. Then they pivoted to Bobby Lashley in bed with Lana on the Titan Tron and, yikes. Rusev got to woop Orton and Corbin’s ass after, but this is just bad TV. There’s the whole “ooooo controversial” part of it and then there’s the whole “this is just poorly conceived and executed” part.
Natalya vs. Lacey Evans didn’t work for me at all, a pretty safe and cautious Last Woman Standing Match that felt like they were purposely trying to bring the crowd down in the second segment of the show for some reason. The swing into the barricade spot and Natty being thrown into and sliding off the new stage were neat spots, otherwise I’m not sure anybody really cares about Natalya enough to be invested in her getting up at the last second like six times. That Lacey moonsault off the barricade was a rough time at the matches too.
The Viking Raiders vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode started hot with the Raiders owning the champs but they had to throw a few minutes of heat on Erik which just felt pointless. Ziggler giving a Fameasser to Ivar was a joke too. The Erik and Ivar names are still jokes too. Otherwise, Erik and Ziggler did some cool matwork and they pulled off some decent near falls at the end but never truly got going. The Raiders win is the obvious direction, and they cut a promo later in the show challenging the champs that was very old school ECW, all RAAHHH and ARRGHH and stuff. I liked it.
It did not occur to me until tonight that The Singh Brothers‘ Titan Tron still says The Bollywood Boyz. Aleister Black accepted their acceptance of his desire for someone to pick a fighT with him and they provided a nice twist on the usual squash, with Black just wrecking both poor annoying Boyz with kicks real quick.
Was The O.C. theme new this week or have they been using it for a bit? It kinda sucks, though I can buy getting away from AJ’s theme which is a guaranteed beloved babyface pop. The Good Brothers had a fun little TV 6-man with Lucha House Party that included a wild triple moonsault to the floor off a single turnbuckle and some fun rapid-fire exchanges between AJ and the House Party.
Ricochet vs. Apollo Crews had what felt like the only actual Draft Showcase match, and it sure was neat to see these good pals do their thing for 5 minutes on Monday Night RAW. Follow this spot: Crews pounces Ricochet to the floor, sets up the apron moonsault, Ricochet moves and sets up his own moonsault as Crews lands on his feet, Crews moves as Ricochet lands on his feet and they get back in the ring to run the ropes before a dropkick from Crews.
MizTV with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair was quality content, and after a wretched last six months the women’s division in WWE is settling into a pretty incredible place with The Four Horsewomen all firmly established as stars and the Tag Titles fleshing out Asuka, Kairi Sane, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross as worthy opposition. This was a promo that hit some NOTES: Becky saying she wants to correct the wrong of Asuka beating her in the past, Becky saying she made the SmackDown Women’s Title famous, Charlotte saying she made Becky famous. Dug it.
Then The Kabuki Warriors showed up and while the name is still bad and it’s a bummer that the only way WWE seems to be able to effectively book Japanese folks on the main roster is a heel turn where they only speak Japanese, I can’t say I didn’t dig this. Asuka and Kairi are coming off as absolute deranged loons ready to beat some ass after being off TV for year, and Kairi in the pigtails was a LOOK. Still though – “You know guys, we have seen a new attitude from The Kabuki Warriors over the last 24 hours” – hilarious.
It led to a fun tag match where Kairi threw badass backfists in between everyone working a low key version of a classic match they had at some point in the past. Charlotte probably shouldn’t do the moonsault to the floor that much though. That POP for Alexa Bliss’ theme on the post-match save got me real excited.
Beyond all that there was follow-up to SmackDown’s newsworthy appearances by Cain Velasquez and Tyson Fury. Rey Mysterio carried the Cain/Brock Lesnar angle with a great low key interview. I like the vibe of him coming off more as a wronged father than a weakling bringing in big Cain to fight his battle, and Cain as Dominick‘s canon godfather is beautiful. Cain vs. Lesnar is a money event, but I hope we can work some wacky tag in here too. Who’s a good Lesnar partner? Cain & Rey vs. Lesnar & Cesaro?
Braun Strowman and Tyson Fury got the bulk of the show, with backstage interviews then an in-ring confrontation at the end to Get People Talking or whatever. Honestly appreciated the rundown of Fury’s accomplishments, though it missed the part where he has said some really bad things about Jews. The pull-apart brawl is beyond overplayed at this point, but this was just a big dumb wrestling angle and I liked it. “Look man, I was messing around trying to have a little fun with you.” A few minutes later they want to kill each other. Hysterical!
NXT (10/9/19)
NXT is staying the course, moving slow and providing the basic wrestling TV it did on the WWE Network with a little more emphasis on the in-ring stuff. And that’s appreciated, but it’s also lacking flavor and nothing’s really happening. This was another relatively stacked show with a lot going on, but also it wasn’t and there wasn’t. We got some good wrestling matches missing that somethin’ somethin’.
Drew Gulak vs. Lio Rush for the Cruiserweight Title was the best of both worlds, Rush avoidng the Gulak shotgun dropkick immediately and flying all over the place before Drew grounded and stretched him. There was a great build to and anticipation for the Rush win, and a great delivery on it actually happening.
Rhea Ripley absolutely annihilated Aliyah in a great squash. Her annoyance with the back rake made me tingle. Love that finisher too, a front-face slam into some kind of Deathlock submission is a very impressive way to win a wrestling match.
Breezango‘s Men at Work intro was a confusing 10 seconds of TV but I’d be into them trying weird shit every couple weeks. Fandango smelling the entrance girl’s hair and swiveling in front of her while he wore a cut-off lumberjack tee sure was something. The Forgotten Sons taking out Ever-Rise so they could have a formula tag with Breezango seems like a weird move, but they did it: eh beatdown, heck of a Fandango hot tag.
Cameron Grimes and his stupid hat got another quick win with the jumping double foot stomp over poor BOA, who was both distracted by and attacked post-match by Killian Dain. Is this a… story? I don’t know.
Roderick Strong vs. Isiah “Swerve” Scott was a good time with a lot of wild strikes thrown wildly, and Swerve showing off his impressive if not effective aerial offensive and Strong being there for all of it. Strong hanging on the apron was a swell version the rope-hang double foot stomp too. Another one of those Good Matches – it showcased Swerve and Strong’s competitive spirit but I’m not sure it made them any more interesting.
As lame as Tommaso Ciampa/Adam Cole will be as a match, I can’t deny Ciampa’s presence right now. Good to have the Blackheart back, and that documentary on the Network is well worth checking out.
I was hyped for Dakota Kai vs. Bianca Belair but for a match given some time it didn’t deliver, outside of the occasional neat moment like Belair’s Outta Nowhere TKO.
WALTER vs. KUSHIDA sure delivered – if we’re talking AEW here, this smoked anything on Wednesday night and I’m including Young Bucks/Private Party. This was a wonderful result of WWE’s recruitment strategy over the last few years, two complete product wrestlers from different countries not just delivering but exceeding a main event level match. This was an extra snug version David vs. Goliath; WALTER tossing KUSHIDA and KUSHIDA responding with a taunt and slap at the start was heaven. There was one moment where KUSHIDA flubbed a springboard, but they covered it by WALTER immediately wrecking him with a kick and KUSHIDA selling all KO’d with his neck draped over the apron. I always love when WALTER has to play along and do leapfrogs with a guy too.
KUSHIDA’s sunset flip powerbomb attempt on the floor on freakin’ WALTER was BALLSY; WALTER just stepping on his face and stomping it was the perfect counter. The top rope Hoverboard Lock and powerbomb kickout both shook me too. Would love some stories, but if we’re going full Dream Match on NXT then this is the template.
MAIN EVENT (10/9/19)
This show airs on Thursday’s on Hulu but is technically listed as a Wednesday show on there so I’m just going to put Main Event right smack dab in the middle of the Working Man’s WWE TV Review: like a professional.
This show was actually real solid, with a confident The Revival performance opposite Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins – Dash chilling on the apron as Dawson made the cover after the Shatter Machine got me all goosebumpy.
Cedric Alexander vs. Cesaro obviously ruled and is a Main Event Worth Watching. Even if it went the usual 6 or 7 minutes they packed a lot in, including an insane big boot by Cesaro and bump by Cedric.
NXT UK 64 (10/10/19)
Tom Phillips is here now. Commentating.
The Hunt read to me like a modern day Moondogs so I imagine they go far once the right folks get some eyes on them. The Hunt vs. Pretty Deadly had each team doing their shtick and you may or may not want to see it but I dig each team having a shtick. The Hunt’s double flying headbutt finish is radical too.
Jordan Devlin vs. Jack Starz accomplished enough for both guys – the winless but fired up Starz got over how hard he was going for the victory while Devlin was a confident shit who was never in TOO much trouble. Devlin vs. Bomber Dave Mastiff is certainly a feud. Bomber’s squash after the Devlin/Starz match wasn’t destructive enough to work though. Kenny doing the Les Kellet rope deal into a Sling Blade on Dave Mastiff was downright offensive.
The Andrews & Webster vs. Gallus minus Joe Coffey feud had a promo and gosh what even is the point of anything anymore?
Nice cheapshot by Noam Dar to Trent Seven backstage. They will meet… IN 2 WEEKS TIME. Love the taping schedule baby.
Piper Niven vs. Jazzy Gabert was like 5 minutes but probably the best thing on the show – there were shoulder tackles and knocks outside and Rhea Ripley helped out her old foe Piper and I thought that was nice.
SMACKDOWN (10/11/19)
Let us remember this as The New Bayley Show and not the weak first night of the WWE Draft it was.
At various points in time I have been one of the biggest supporters of the in-ring chops of both Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, but 2019 is not that time and the opening match here was almost jarringly mediocre for the apparent top guys in the biz. Very low stakes, very light strikes, and I’m not positive they practiced that spear to Pedigree counter earlier in the day. Rollins’ lazy stumble into the ropes off Roman’s uppercut to setup an enzuigiri was very disconcerting too.
All the stuff with The Fiend showing up to end the match and dragging Seth beneath the ring, then Seth popping out back into the ring and The Fiend peaking up with the lights out… WHAT WAS GOING ON HERE?
No big surprises in Round 1 of the draft or at least nothing really sold as a surprise. RAW gets Becky Lynch, The O.C. and Drew McIntyre, SmackDown gets Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt. Good spots for Becky and Drew.
Wish I could’ve captured a picture of the legitimate disgust on my face when he was actually announced as Shorty Gable and he came out all happy. There’s a world where Shorty works as endearing nickname – I don’t think that world WWE. Either way, he had another good match with King Corbin – they’ve had like 3 epics so this was just kind of a bonus, but a heck of a bonus.
Even though he lost straight-up to the End of Days like an absolute loser, Gable is kind of working the gimmick us dummies imagined for Daniel Bryan way back in the day, where it’s put over on how crafty he is to make up for his lack of size in the land of giants WWE used to be. Leg picks as offense in WWE is great shit. The baseball slide counter of Corbin’s under-the-ropes dropkick was cool, as was the chokeslam on the table to setup heat. Gable’s moonsault is impressive but seems like a weird spot for the crafty little guy to pull, no? Him deadlifting big Corbin with German suplexes was more my thing.
For Round 2, RAW gets Randy Orton, Ricochet and Bobby Lashley. SmackDown gets Sasha Banks and Braun Strowman. So far RAW’s getting names and talent but SmackDown’s getting anchors.
Terry Bradshaw as a Dusty Rhodes guy and Howie Long bringing up not just Killer Kowalski but THE SHEIK was by far the best FOX Sports bit.
Paul Heyman‘s promo on Cain Velasquez was both generic as hell and a pretty major waste of a Brock Lesnar appearance. Cain and Rey Mysterio showed up too to remind us that Cain beat Brock in the real fighting. I’m not opposed to WWE Inoki-ISM but right now it’s all so careful and boring. The Saudi shows being used more for stupid IGF prize fights more than anything else might not be the worst though.
The New Day vs. The O.C. (still lol @ the name) was mostly a commercial break but Kofi and AJ kinda flipped me out for that finish. NOTHING from Kofi after his 5-second title loss though? NOTHING?
For Round 3, RAW gets Alexa Bliss, Kevin Owens and Natalya. SmackDown gets Lacey Evans and The Revival. I dunno. Interested to see what Heyman and Owens cook up on Mondays.
For Round 4, RAW gets The Viking Raiders, Nikki Cross and Street Profits. SmackDown gets Lucha House Party and Heavy Machinery. Weird.
The show closed with Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Title which was not what I expected. Bayley made her entrance, took off a hoodie to reveal a new haircut, and then she CUT UP THE BAYLEY BUDDIES. Amazing. AMAZING. The match was covered in a wonderful glaze of Bayley 2.0 – they did some leg work and a decent false finish here and there but I was too shook by full heel Bayley going “TWO!? TWO!?” after every kickout. The hair-pull out of the Figure-Eight into a cradle was an AWESOME finish. Charlotte gets another title reign and Bayley gets some HEAT, baby. AND NEW MUSIC!!!
205 LIVE (10/11/19)
Oh, Tom Phillips is here now too. Commentating.
Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Drew Gulak, who seems way too content having lost his Cruiserweight Championship, and Tony Nese was alright, I guess. Oney going off is always fun, though they had a pretty weak-ass hockey fight between all four guys at the end. Oney and Burch actually won!
Lio Rush seems completely unimpressed with winning the Cruiserweight Title lol.
Was almost going to give WWE serious respect for running Vegas and doing no casino shtick but here’s Ariya Daivari with a promo that just shat all over that idea. He squashed young Chris Bey and I did not enjoy watching it very much.
Chair bop to counter tops ridiculous, truly ridiculous. Duct tape, Kendrick choking w kendo stick. Sliced bread counter into chairs. Chair pile! Table tease, Kendrick throws a chair at his head AGAIN and beats him w a kendo stick. Kanellis interferes ahhhjbfuck.
Brian Kendrick vs. Akira Tozawa ruled again, a No DQ Match that was just as fun as the one they had a couple years ago. Tozawa took not one but two unprotected chairshots here, which was worrying, but I cannot deny the greatness of Kendrick countering a tope by just throwing a chair at Tozawa’s head. I just cannot. Kendrick was a menace here, tying Tozawa up with duct tape and choking him with a kendo stick and denying the crowd of the tables they wanted by again throwing a chair at Tozawa’s head. Lots of nasty kendo stick shots too, and a callback to the last No DQ Match with a Tozawa senton bomb through a table.
Of course, it ended with Mike Kanellis attacking Tozawa and giving Kendrick the win, and look. I’d be into 2019 Kendrick as some kind of pint-sized Kevin Sullivan leading a bitter band of cruiserweights around wrecking havoc should 205 Live come to a close. But I don’t think it’s gonna be that. I think we’re just gonna get Tozawa/KUSHIDA vs. Kanellis/Kendrick or something.
Damnit.
WWE TV Match of the Week: KUSHIDA vs. WALTER
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Rhea Ripley
The week before the new rosters. Not great, and Draft Night 1 didn’t live up to the hype.
RAW: 4/10
NXT: 6/10
NXT UK: 4/10
SmackDown: 3/10
