Full disclosure: I’m going to Survivor Series and this card is coming together. The NXT involvement helps, but REY vs. BROCK!? 2003 me is HYPED.
RAW (11/4/19)
Paul Heyman saying out loud that every wrestler isn’t as important as Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman bringing up Jerry Lawler’s heart attack for a quick angle – that’s the bad Paul Heyman.
Dio Maddin standing up to Brock and getting F5’d through a table, Rey Mysterio attacking Brock with a bat early in the show, Brock selling big for said bat attack – that’s the good Paul Heyman.
Welcome to Monday Night RAW.
The deal with this show was an NXT Invasion of RAW, though one that was more scattered around the show than on SmackDown. And it was fun, providing a severely needed hook to this questionable Monday Night program and an occasional burst of fun between heatless tag matches and stories about divorce.
I appreciated Seth Rollins bringing up how silly it is that the title picture is the exact same as it was throughout the year, but that fact looms over this show like a fifteen scoops of salt poured in whatever meal is being made.
Ah. Anyways – fuck yeah at that Becky Lynch/Shayna Baszler staredown.
Rey Mysterio cut a PROMO on this show too – him vs. Brock Lesnar in a major show title match is everything I never knew I wanted, like that one time Rey challenged The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. It could end in 3 minutes but they’ll be the best 3 minutes all year.
Rollins and Triple H trading lines again wasn’t exactly compelling, but it led to The Undisputed Era on RAW staring down The O.C. and that’s pretty cool. I legitimately flipped out for Dominik Dijakovic and Damian Priest showing up, before a whole bunch of NXT names ran down for a big scrap in the middle of the show.
I can’t believe this Rusev/Lashley/Lana thing is a primary pillar of the program but here we are. A pro wrestling story around cheating and divorce is a completely swell idea, but this one so far is beyond swing and a miss. Lashley pulled his groin… CUZ SEX. Do you get it?? Rusev vs. Drew McIntyre wasn’t much but Rusev will get a comeback over, and the Randy Orton run-in was completely unexpected. I might be into Randy, Drew, Bob and Lana with one more ingredient, you know. Ricochet showed up here too to help out his boy Ru.
The Street Profits got a little too much time for back-and-forth in their promo but them and Humberto Carrillo vs. AJ Styles and The O.C. was a fun 6-man with some new faces. Nice spot for Profits and Carrillo, and Styles comes off WAY better in 6-mans these days.
Charlotte Flair & Natalya teaming again is just unfair. The Charlotte boot to Kairi Sane aside, just unfair. Can’t even be bothered to feel anything about Natalya tapping Asuka at this point.
Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy did the match they do to a little more reaction. Andrade & Zelina Vega vs. Sin Cara & Carolina was a heatless mixed tag, and heatless actually autocorrected to heartless which works too considering how these guys are just being trotted out with the worst material. The Viking Raiders squashed the East Hampton Polo Boys which felt more like actual East Hampton guys putting some working class brothers in bright polo shirts.
Seth Rollins vs. Adam Cole for the NXT Title was your main event – really, it was. And it wasn’t as sublime-feeling as Cole vs. Daniel Bryan but it was good, partially because of the cool story/dynamic at play of Cole having his moment but also because this is the Ring of Honor Specials doing their thing, and while that thing might make a man cringe with its springboards and leg slaps and occasional lack of heat, it also flowed well and closed real strong. Then The Undisputed Era ran-in and NXT ran out again for a big melee. Pete Dunne was there!
SYNERGY, BABY!
NXT (11/6/19)
We’re doing BACKSTAGE INTERVIEWS again, people! In a COOL DARKENED SETTING. And little TEASER VIDEO PACKAGES!
This show kicked off with AJ Styles and The O.C. attacking The Undisputed Era and making their triumphant first appearance at Full Sail University, before they were confronted by Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle and Keith Lee. And that’s a hell of a way to kick off a show. Ciampa’s “welcome to the main roster” line was great too.
Beyond The O.C. invasion and a Women’s WarGames angle, this was once again mostly about the wrestling.
Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest was a lot like their last match but somehow more high-end, with a lot of stiff strikes and big drama created out of thin air. I loved Priest countering Dunne’s top rope backflip with a Razor’s Edge too. Killian Dain running in to setup an apparent Triple Threat Match felt kind of silly, but if you’re introducing three acts to a new audience I understand why you’d do this.
Santana Garrett vs. Taynara Conti was a miss, with that GIF Emil Jay sent out of that very very slow waistlock kind of summing everything up. Taynara wrestles too careful for live TV still, while I’m sure Santana will be just fine.
Shayna Baszler vs. Dakota Kai is low key one of the best long-term feuds in wrestling, and they wrote another chapter of their story tonight. Kai is recovered and more experienced so she gets a little cocky here, throwing a kick at Shayna and actually going toe-to-toe on strikes. Shayna goes after the leg like she usually does, though the bulk of it was cut by commercial before Kai made a comeback and refused to stay down when Shayna brought the heat. Kai kicked out of a big knee, got caught in the sleeper, ESCAPED, threw a kick, then got caught in another sleeper for the tap. So efficient… match, great story.
Mia Yim ran out with a kendo stick to run off the heel WarGames crew and was later announced as on Rhea Ripley‘s team instead of Dakota Kai. With Shayna’s team having a mystery partner, I assume the tease is Dakota and the reality is Mia?
Angel Garza vs. Tony Nese for a shot at the Cruiserweight Title was a MATCH, hello cruiserweight wrestling. I love how quickly WWE has discovered Garza’s greatness, both in the ring and on his face. Poor six-abs Tony has translated well on-screen maybe ten times in his WWE career and nine of those were at Full Sail University and one of those were here. These guys just ripped it up, with Garza playing babyface and delivering on the fun exciting wrestling. Then Garza slapped Lio Rush after the match HELL YEAH.
Dominik Dijakovic vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott was a super random match, though a LOT better than Swerve vs. Daivari. Why a poison rana on Dijakovic though?
AJ Styles and The O.C. vs. Ciampa, Riddle and Lee was an absolute blast – perhaps one day there will be some deeper story behind it but for what it was it was an absolute trip, AJ and The Club doing their thing opposite an incredibly fresh babyface team. Riddle’s hot tag was phenomenal, even with the dive over the top that almost killed him. Wild ref bump too, with Styles missing the Phenomenal Forearm then getting Pounced into the referee.
Then Finn Balor showed up and did Too Sweet stuff with AJ – INTRIGUE~!
MAIN EVENT (11/6/19)
Shelton Benjamin and No Way Jose threw hands for 10 seconds and that was cool, otherwise it was the usual.
Eric & Erick took on Zack & Curt and it mostly worked, a two-star match if I’ve ever seen one.
NXT UK 68 (11/7/19)
Can AJ Styles invade this show too?
Joe Coffey vs. Tyson T-Bone was all rough n tumble n beardy, but I have to ask: has Joe Coffey peaked?
Ridge Holland got a little vignette and he seems scary, though it might just be the accent.
Piper Niven likes wrestling! They said it there right on the telly.
Isla Dawn‘s new finish is kind of cool. She beat Killer Kelly with it.
Kassius Ohno burying British Strong Style for using the Strong Style is tremendous – the matches haven’t been great but if all we end up having from this Ohno UK run is the promos then I think I’m fine with it.
Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans was solid bordering on fun, but it’s happened enough already.
The show-closing angle saw Imperium square off with Gallus and Ilja Dragunov teasing a partnership with Imperium before he joined Gallus’ side and everybody brawled. Not sure siding with Gallus is the hottest way to re-affirm Dragunov’s babyface status, eh?
SMACKDOWN (11/8/19)
SmackDown was taped in the UK this week and even headed into Survivor Series, even with a Tag Title change, even with WALTER!!! showing up, even with Daniel Bryan apparently in the title picture… this FOX program has very quickly started to feel lesser than.
The King Corbin promo to open it set the tone. Only in WWE can you have a promo like this where a guy is talking about a man’s testicles only to cut to a graphic of a large dog making chihuahua sounds that only a toddler would laugh at. Who can possibly be happy with this?
The big mood on SmackDown is weirdly about Sami Zayn compiling a stable of workhorses, which could be really cool if I had any faith in it not being dropped cold after a few weeks. He was already with Shinsuke Nakamura and now Cesaro has appeared to shack up with them, which is very cool. Zayn tried to recruit Daniel Bryan throughout the show, which ended in The Fiend appearing backstage and choking Bryan out. I dunno. You make sense of it.
Before The Fiend, there was a tag match with Cesaro & Nakamura vs. Ali & Shorty G and it was very fun. Ali and Cesaro did some awesome stuff together, and with Corbin finally wearing wrestling Cesaro might now have the worst gear on the roster. Wait, forgot about Shorty G. Christ. Match was legitimately better than the Tag Titles switch.
Yeah, there was a SmackDown Tag Team Title switch. The New Day (minus the injured Xavier Woods) quietly regained their championships from The Revival, the latest victims of the Survivor Series Scramble. The match was solid but felt rushed, with Dash faking an injury early, a beatdown during commercial, then suddenly a few near falls before a very cool Trouble in Paradise/Hart Attack.
NXT UK‘s Imperium – WALTER, Alexander Wolfe, Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner – invaded SmackDown and beat up Heavy Machinery. Not sure if we’re getting ol’ WALT on Survivor Series, but seeing him on SmackDown was incredible.
Sasha Banks has a new theme song featuring Snoop Dogg and the drop at the start is cool but it might need some tweaking. She wrestled Nikki Cross in a decent match that was more about Cross and Bayley. Bayley is leaning into the heel shtick hard and I am here for it. Shayna Baszler showed up post-match and kicked more ass.
The Braun Strowman/Tyson Fury follow-up just felt cheap – loved Fury politely thanking Braun for the fight, loved The B-Team charging out and Axel saying, “Hey, morons! Yeah you! We’re stupid enough to fight you!” But everything else just felt very sanitized and contractually obligated.
Why couldn’t Fire & Desire qualify for Survivor Series – c’mon. Carmella & Dana Brooke did, and MAN do Dana’s cartwheel to the floor and somersault senton both look like they hurt her body so bad.
King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns had themselves a very surface level main event that ended with Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler helping the King win. Are THEY a group too now? I don’t know anymore. The SmackDown heels suck.
205 LIVE (11/8/19)
SmackDown and RAW taped the same night in the UK meant 205 Live got to air from Full Sail University, an often suggested and very logical move that paid dividends this week just by happening. They sure did air the sweet Tony Nese vs. Angel Garza match from NXT smack dab in the middle of the show, but we also got two fun matches that in a much kinder atmosphere.
Brian Kendrick vs. Mansoor had cool hand work from Kendrick and a cool flash finish from Mansoor, while the Lio Rush vs. Raul Mendoza rematch rocked. I think the match from last week with the big SmackDown crowd was better actually, an impressive example of willing a tired crowd into a match. But this was more pure fun, with Mendoza on a tear early just assaulting Rush. The rolling Romero Special is always a winner, and it really felt like Lio earned the win.
WWE TV Match of the Week: Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest from NXT
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Shayna Baszler
Another so-so week of TV, though NXT was very good.
RAW: 5/10
NXT: 8/10
NXT UK: 3/10
SmackDown: 4/10
205 Live: 6/10
