Why is there a Russian Leg Sweep and an Irish Whip, but no Irish Leg Sweep or Russian Whip?
RAW is getting their act together, NXT was stacked, and everything else sucked.
RAW (1/13/20)
This was good.
The third Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy match followed by a defeated Buddy joining Seth Rollins and AOP was a great last half-hour of a wrestling show, even with Erick Rowan getting bit by his mystery animal shoved between those two things.
Stuff was happening: good wrestling, actually funny comedy, bad wrestling, green mist. People went over! People were having fun!
Remember when Aleister and Buddy were purposely introduced to the masses with a solitary feud that kept them dominant and focused on showcasing their ability?
You rarely see absolute WORK getting over in WWE, and for Black/Buddy III it did – these two are on the edge of being established players, and they faced off with something behind it so the crowd was extra willing to embrace the love as they delivered a show. It was a match that felt nothing like the usual WWE formula, based more than anything around high impact strikes shifting momentum.
Buddy’s “WTF” face when Black refused the Irish whip early was a personal highlight, though the standing ovation as they both rose up from the mat ready to kick more ass and the one-two punch of Buddy superkicking Black as he came down for a Lionsault then hitting Murphy’s Law for a big near fall were sensational.
The FIST FIGHT main event – Rollins & AOP vs. Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe & Big Show – delivered some some good old-fashioned silly WWE brawling but also both Owens doing Parkour and LET’S GO BIG SHOW chants for the second week in a row. It ended when our friend Buddy, who after refusing a post-match interview sat through Erick Rowan beating a man and a 6-person Fist Fight, decided he liked what The Monday Night Messiah is preaching and helped the bad guys beat the Big Show.
That’s a lot to take in. It was all fun to watch, both as a cool wrestling main event angle but also a return on investment for the Buddy and Black spend.
There was a lot going on elsewhere, and on occasion I found myself thinking that maybe the 3-hour RAW is a good thing. Maybe they needed that extra hour after all. And then I say, no. The 3-hour RAW is, was, and always will be the enemy until it is ultimately stopped.
Drew McIntyre is suddenly a cool babyface, embracing an “I’m just here to fight” attitude that might end up wildly successful in the chatterbox that is WWE. Might. He opened the show in a silly Triple Threat opposite Randy Orton and AJ Styles that had a few cool spots before a straightforward win for MAC.
Paul Heyman and R-Truth traded lines to build-up the Royal Rumble in the other great bit of the night, as Brock Lesnar stood in the ring chuckling at the comedy legend that is Ron Killings before kicking his ass to conclude their wrestling angle that got the desired reaction of disgust from the WWE Universe.
Mojo Rawley won the 24/7 Title an hour after a loss to Ricochet, who dances now. Charlotte Flair kind of unnecessarily got revenge for last week by demolishing Sarah Logan, who has a new look where she is an even wilder lady than the wild lady she was before. The Viking Raiders did a bad promo then beat the poor The Singh Brothers.
We’ve got a U.S. Title Ladder Match next week, which is both a trip and provided this show with Andrade‘s finest promo work and this hype from Rey Mysterio: “I am prepared to sacrifice years of my career and my life to this ladder match.”
Rusev vs. Bob Lashley is still plugging along after The Wedding, this time in the form of a singles match that felt somewhere in between bad and and good. Rusev is a quality babyface and they occasionally got real physical, like a couple of Mid-South Wrestlers or WWF Superstars. They got some time too, though that just meant more stretches of yawning in between the good stuff.
PLUS!!! Becky Lynch and Asuka had their RAW Women’s Title Contract Signing, and I appreciate how much overtime Becky is working to ensure Asuka is a major deal again. Becky’s promo after getting some old-fashioned Japanese green mist spat at her face was a little ham but definitely roped in the live crowd – it sounded like a studio wrestling show, with folks hootin n hollerin ready to see the big event.
Bonus points for Kairi Sane, delivering the psycho vibes for her very unexpected switch to the dark side. I hope no one’s producing her stuff anymore – just go out there and be YOU, Kairi.
Rating: 7/10
NXT (1/15/20)
I may not be enveloped into any story anybody is telling but NXT has an unbelievable roster, gives its matches time to breathe, and always makes sure STUFF is going on: this week there was a Battle Royal, Angel Garza on commentary, the debut of Alex Shelley, reunion of The Time Splitters, and an early Match of the Year Candidate. That’s a lot of stuff!
Lot of talking this week. It at least had a thread and multiple segments, but it was still a lot of talking, and the bad kind of talking where they’re just talking because they have to tell us, The WWE Universe, The Story. Keith Lee, Tommaso Ciampa, The Undisputed Era and randomly Johnny Gargano all scrapped, while Finn Balor was off doing a promo on Ilja Dragunov for their NXT vs. NXT UK match.
A lot of stuff.
Keith Lee’s promos ruled by the way, just hope they’re careful about over-doing it. Hahahahahahaha
Just four matches, but awesome matches.
Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne vs. Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster was astounding. Dunne and Andrews had some of the best WWE matches of the last twenty years back in 2017, and here they were at it again with their pal Flash Webster and the absurdly versatile Matt Riddle.
I’ve seen a lot of NON-STOP CRAZY~! wrestling these last couple years, a lot of Pete Dunne acting shocked at pinfall kickouts, but there was a lot going on here and by the end it felt like it was some kind of meta crazy. They did the big epic match, but then they tacked on something else that got to the place your big epic match is ACTUALLY trying to go. I actually bought a Flash Morgan Webster near fall on Matt Riddle, and I’m still not sure the world we live in is the same after Riddle caught that dive into a cradle tombstone on the floor near the end.
Andrews reminds you once every frustratingly long while he’s still in the top 1% of flyers, while The Broserweights emerged as a delightful tag team. Convinced after this weekend that Webster and Andrews have death wishes too.
A wrestling world where Alex Shelley has wrestled on WWE TV – even once – is a good wrestling world. A wrestling world where he is teaming on WWE TV with his pal KUSHIDA – even once – is a great wrestling world.
The Time Splitters entered Round 1 of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic opposite The Grizzled Young Veterans, who kept us in reality in between a bunch of sweet tag team Time Splitter maneuvers. It was a joyous time before Shelley’s soul-crushing defeat at the hand of James Drake.
Angel Garza was good on commentary during a Lio Rush vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Tyler Breeze match where Lio and Swerve got to do their backflip vs. front flip to the outside staredown spot on a show bigger than 205 Live – bless. Like Stone Cold said on the Broken Skull Sessions with Kane about Triple Threat’s though: “I hate em.”
The main event was an NXT Women’s Title #1 Contender Battle Royal, and just how many employees does this company have? It was definitely an everyday Battle Royal for a while, but the cast intros were fun: Kacy Catanzaro showed up, Mercedes Martinez is signed and happy, and Io Shirai‘s entrance is cooler than you. The Shayna Baszler surprise entrance was awesome too.
As they cleared the field we got some character By God definition too. Shotzi eliminating Shayna might just be the Maven eliminating Undertaker of a generation – give me Shotzi vs. Shayna and give me Shotzi vs. Deonna Purrazzo now. Tegan Nox low key returned here for the first time since WarGames as a participant, and though arch rival Dakota Kai caused her elimination I don’t know why they didn’t go with the opposite. Io vs. Bianca Belair a final two of true stars – loved Io grabbing the ponytail to setup a German suplex, loved Bianca Belair getting that win.
Rating: 7/10
MAIN EVENT (1/15/20)
I’m at the point where I might as well just list the matches and you can figure out in your head how they went.
RAW was stacked, so it’s forgivable to see Akira Tozawa and Cedric Alexander back to doing NOTHING. Tozawa vs. Shelton Benjamin was definitely a match on paper. As was Alexander vs. Eric Young, I guess.
Rating: 1/10
NXT UK (1/16/20)
It’s only a few days after TakeOver: Blackpool II, Toni Storm is about to lose it, and Johnny Saint‘s cue card reading is still adorable.
A-Kid will just glide through the air like a flying gazelle but a Joseph Conners match and victory as the actual opener to the TakeOver show really seems like an attempt at cursing the whole show.
Bomber Dave Mastiff rightfully beat Kassius Ohno in a short and to the point match, where Ohno acted like a coward and a scamp as they each dished punishment.
Would Bomber vs. WALTER be any good? Question for the group.
Rating: 3/10
SMACKDOWN (1/17/20)
Let me make one thing very clear: Daniel Bryan cut a great promo on this show, even if it was to challenge The Fiend to a Strap Match.
Otherwise, most of the show ranged from …fine… to urghgURURURGHGH.
Amazing how The Miz can go from concerned father to fancy suit dirtbag so seamlessly. Bleach blonde Kofi Kingston is a look. Big E vs. John Morrison wasn’t much. I wish Morrison did his fancy kicks and flips as if he was being a douche, not to impress. The Moonlight Drive already being a near fall on a SmackDown opener seemed like an odd call.
The Usos vs. The Revival had the signature tag work of both teams but was sad to watch with no hype behind it. Roman finishing the “Uso Penitentiary” line beforehand got me a little excited though.
Wish The Revival spoke with more confidence and conviction in their promos, especially if they’re doing the “nobody cares about us!” gimmick. Give em a reason again.
Sonya Deville‘s realization that having a bumbling fool like Otis at ringside might finally be the secret to success in wrestling cracked me up. The Otis and Mandy Rose stuff is the only week-to-week story delivering on this show right now.
The Lacey Evan vs. Bayley and Sasha Banks feud has a few good bits, namely Fox & Friends Lacey Evans getting those LA-CEY chants and Sasha just being the worst. It’s all brought down though by the general idea that this is being written by a bunch of creeps and creep sympathizers.
Why a boring 10-minute TV match between Lacey and Bayley with fluke finish to hype a Lacey vs. Bayley title match?
Shorty G hahahahahhaa
Hillbilly Jim has lived a life to look up to but that feels like Braun Strowman‘s ceiling right now. Used to be higher. Real crap promo, and a lukewarm save for Elias who was trading lines with the group of dorks that is Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro. Zayn mentioning that Nakamura actually seriously won the Royal Rumble two years ago was nice at least.
Roman Reigns vs. Robert Roode in a Tables Match was the kind of Saturday Night’s Main Event follow-up I could get into after their very Saturday Night’s Main Event feeling match a few years ago, but it ended up just……fine.
Rating: 3/10
205 LIVE (1/17/20)
Poor 205 Live has to pull recap videos from NXT and is having qualifiers for its own championship on NXT UK.
Lifeless, rudderless.
Ariya Daivari has got to be a rib on anyone tired of WWE formula. He had an average 15-minute match with Tyler Breeze, who seemed so overjoyed after working a long singles match with an actual finish where he actually went over.
Lio Rush vs. Sunil Singh had a great baseball slide to springboard stunner move by Lio on both Singh’s that got completely missed by the camera.
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Raul Mendoza was the other match.
Rating: 2/10
WWE TV Match of the Week: Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle vs. Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster on NXT
WWE TV MVP of the Week: R-Truth? Buddy Murphy? Bianca Belair? Alex Shelley? …Otis? Was it Otis?
