Working Man’s WWE TV Review: 1/19/20 – 1/25/20

Every man and woman here on these shows does not want to be the best wrestler, they want to be a TV ready superstar just excited to be on the show. It is revolting.

Seems like Monday nights are about throwing acts at the wall hoping one or two stick now. It rules, sometimes.

A lot of wrestlers got some tender loving care this week, an angle or hook with the intent of… getting them… over. It’s just… give me a second.

Humberto Carrillo returned looking for revenge, Aleister Black knocked a guy out in 5 seconds, Buddy Murphy won the the Tag Titles, Mojo Rawley gave a new twist to the 24/7 Title, Drew McIntyre kicked a poor bystander in the face, and Ricochet awkwardly confronted Brock Lesnar. Also Seth Rollins wears a GLOVE NOW.

Becky Lynch booking her own feud with Asuka aside, though… where are the ladies at? Seriously. All hail Liv Morgan in the main event of RAW but the state of any main roster women’s division is kind of in shambles. My diagnosis is laziness.

Also Erick Rowan as the most unsubtle Jake the Snake Roberts is a weekly bit of shudders.

I am positive Rey Mysterio is proud that he worked the Ladder Match, that he delivered in the Ladder Match, but he and Andrade wrecking each other in one of the most overused gimmicks in WWE was kind of a bummer. That whole thing with Rey climbing over then powerbombing Andrade off the ladder into a ladder was something else, but yeesh.

Legitimately cool Humberto return, even if I have no idea how this ultimately works out long term. I’m a mark for mask reveals and big wide-eyed stares. Practice your wide-eyed stares, kids.

Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton was the most deliberate boring effective amazing TV match. Loved it. Also, did not love it. Lots of manliness and reactions to manliness. And then it was over.

The RAW Tag Titles switch with Buddy Murphy & his new messiah Seth Rollins going over The Viking Raiders was a match where it seemed like they were excited and tried to put together some cool stuff but it just felt over-thought and forgettable, even if I generally encourage this type of thing with singles guys tagging and the mentor dynamic and whatnot.

Rating: 6/10

So many fine wrestlers but it’s always the worst when WWE is building up two shows at once. They ended a pretty good Toni Storm vs. Io Shirai match when Bianca Belair attacked Storm to setup a Rhea Ripley save so she could brawl with Belair and look at Toni Storm holding up the championship. So efficient, so lazy. NXT TV angles are sometimes like a joke with no punchline.

The Undisputed Era vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans was a more boring version of what one might call a “solid TV match.” At what point does James Drake just become endearing? Is it now? All four brutes of Imperium materializing on THE PERCH of Full Sail was my kind of thing.

NXT has given Finn Balor his importance back. Hope he took Joaquin Wilde aside like Eddie Guerrero did to Jimmy Jacobs.

Shotzi Blackheart, PUNK ROCK Sasha Banks, had the grudge match with Shayna Baszler over the great elimination spot from last week and it was a strange car crash of a match, a styles clash where all the big spots they tried didn’t really work but they’re both still pretty over. Dug Baszler throwing Shotzi over the top rope as revenge too. I mean you’ve gotta!

Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne vs. Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel was a match I was positively giddy for and it wasn’t all that. It was, like, good – but more a cool showcase than anything exceptional, and based on previous work (including just last week) this tag should be exceptional. The light’s leaving Aichner and Barthel’s eyes. Give the boys something interesting to do in that canvas they say is theirs.

Loved the moment of Keith Lee winning the NXT North American Tile from Roderick Strong, will not remember one thing about the match.

Rating: 5/10

Actually good and almost newsworthy show, what the hell is going on? Did Paul Heyman figure he might as well put some juice into the show they tape before his own?

NXT’s (…?) Deonna Purrazzo showed up vs. Sarah Logan, and she looked awesome – credible holds and chain wrestling, athleticism, and work that was so genuinely good the crowd got really into someone who’s been on TV maybe 5 times. She’s a babe too. A babe that can pull off a complex transition into a Fujiwara armbar. More than ready to do whatever they need – let’s go.

Cedric Alexander vs. Shelton Benjamin was good too, at least way better than the usual Main Event match. They sure did chinlocks, but Shelton also transitioned a powerbomb into an ankle lock which was countered with a front cradle near fall by Cedric.

Rating: 8/10

WALTER has been awarded the new NXT UK Title, replacing the WWE U.K. Title because nothing works if the branding is not consistent. He also got a 6-man tag next week against a mystery partner, Mark Andrews, and Flash Morgan Webster, who I really think should go back to wearing sunglasses and not talking.

The bulk of this was two Cruiserweight Title Qualifiers for 205 Live. Ligero vs. Jordan Devlin was OK but a bore of a follow-up after Devlin got put over hard at TakeOver. Travis Banks vs. Brian Kendrick had Kendrick playing a tinier Kassius Ohno, with cool subtle heel stuff that might only pop the viewer at home. He worked the HAND and it actually paid off with a mocounter towards the end.

In December of 2018, Josh Morrell told us we had not seen the last of him in NXT UK. And he was right.

Rating: 2/10

Nothing’s going on here.

I could just list the matches. Nothing happened in them.

I liked a 6-man opening a show and Roman Reigns teaming with The Usos. I didn’t like anything else about it.

The Lacey Evans experiment makes me short circuit. Is it going to work or is it worse than anyone even thinks? She’s performing admirably, but it’s impossible to appear genuine talking about depression and drug addiction on this goofy show where everybody is over-acting with regularity.

Fire & Desire having theme music is awesome, their match with Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross going 10 seconds before Lacey and Bayley ran in felt like a rib. What is going on? WHERE ARE THE LADIES AT?

I wonder if Vince McMahon honestly can tell the difference between Sami Zayn and Drake Maverick at this point. That Strowman & Elias vs. Nakamura & Cesaro match sure happened.

John Morrison vs. Kofi Kingston was the highlight of the show outside of the last 30 seconds of the 6-man, moreso because it was just pretty good.

WWE casually Tweeting that Bray Wyatt of all people would be participating in the dead and buried Contract Signing gimmick with Daniel Bryan felt like an industry-killing move that could not be topped, and then they released a t-shirt this week for Shorty G that says “Rise Above Size.”

I’m glad they leaned into the ridiculous though. An appearance from The Fiend still means something. For now.

Rating: 3/10

Tyler Breeze vs. Ariya Daivari and Brian Kendrick vs. Danny Burch both ended with cradles. Where is the micro-managing on this micro-managed show?

Lio Rush vs. Tony Nese had some pretty crazy things. Then Tony Nese won by a countout.

Rating: 2/10

WWE TV Match of the Week: Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre from RAW

WWE TV MVP of the Week: Matt Riddle