Working Man’s WWE TV Review: 4/26/20 – 5/2/20

RAW (4/27/20)

RAW is the same show, just with no audience.

The big hook here was a contract signing. Where Drew McIntyre said the S word!

I get it – nobody’s in the mood to move a narrative. How do you move a narrative in These Uncertain Times? They’re still booking the matches, sure. Just no narrative: Zelina Vega has a faction, maybe. MVP is a manager now, maybe. Apollo Crews is relevant, maybe.

So RAW is the same show, just with no audience and less narrative. It’s ran by the same weirdos too. There’s already friction for Vega’s group. Liv Morgan‘s new gimmick is that she is “like a lot of people her age,” which reads like it was written by a lukewarm glass of old milk. Apollo Crews got a U.S. Title shot, then in an attempt at “giving him a character” he cried and walked away on crutches. Why does any of this have to happen? Wrestling can be good. I’ve seen it. I swear!

Can’t even get angry about them still flying out at-risk Jerry Lawler even though he’s been replaced on commentary by Samoa Joe.

Asuka seems to be the only person to understand how to do any of this.

So RAW is the same show, just with no audience and less narrative and – ah – the wrestling stinks too. Bless all these folks but this is wrestling without an audience – it wasn’t meant to happen. Apollo Crews, Rey Mysterio & Aleister Black vs. Andrade, Angel Garza & Austin Theory was a segment and match that amounted to 30 minutes of “eh.”

I don’t think Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Nia Jax was an actual match. Jinder Mahal made his grand return with a squash over Tozawa. Lashley squashed Denzel Dejournette. The Liv Morgan vs. Ruby Riott grudge match was maybe 75 seconds. Ricochet & Cedric Alexander vs. 3.0 is a weird kind of dream match and ended up OK.

The Andrade/Crews U.S. Title match never got going… or did it? I can’t read any of this.

There were also TRIPLE H CLIPS! THE TOP 10 TRIPLE H CLIPS!!

I’m a huge fan of the likely forced return to recurring jobbers like Denzel Dejournette like it’s the 1980s or something. Otherwise, MVP maybe being the manager of Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink and Angel Garza‘s jackets are the most interesting thing here. Those are interesting things, but they shouldn’t be the most interesting.

Rating: 3/10

NXT (4/29/20)

Swerve Scott/El Hijo del Fantasma, Charlotte Flair/Mia Yim and Keith Lee/Damian Priest for the NXT North American Title all took place on this show and were seemingly good matches.

They were called by the most brutal of experiments, live commentary done REMOTELY. It was the WrestleMania 2 of not mattering.

Candice LeRae‘s nickname being The Wicked Stepsister is a non-starter for me. Not gonna do it.

Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher doing comedy – The Newly Bros Game – wasn’t all time bad, but also gave off some painful NXT Season 1 vibes. Drake Maverick all emotional backstage before and after his match with Tony Nese though… that might be all time bad. Big skips.

Rating: 3/10

MAIN EVENT (4/29/20)

If anything, MVP did commentary this week. Guy might own WWE when this is all said and done.

Bianca Belair vs. Catalina and Humberto Carrillo vs. Murphy were the matches. They went how you’d expect.

Rating: 3/10

NXT UK (4/30/20)

This week’s theme was Hidden Gems, previously unaired footage mostly from last year and one match from this year that will count for Top 10 lists and whatnot.

Toni Storm vs. Deonna Purrazzo for the NXT UK Women’s Title at Download Festival was hilariously good, the recently released Deonna Purrazzo providing one of the best versions of the Toni Storm match there ever was: interesting matwork, a nasty beatdown, big chops, and a tremendous Fujiwara armbar struggle at the end. Toni’s eventual two-move comeback gets over huge.

Matt Riddle sold his way into making it look like Ligero might beat him, and that’s real impressive to me. They had a solid match with the UK crowd loving Riddle.

Shayna Baszler vs. Isla Dawn was short.

Ilja Dragunov vs. A-Kid happened in early March, one of the last live shows WWE ran, and is a strong bunch of wrestling with tight matwork, well-timed big spots, applause and a handshake afterwards – all the good stuff. I miss it.

Rating: 7/10

SMACKDOWN (5/1/20)

RAW is a mess with the occasional good bit, while SmackDown continues to be completely inessential wrestling. We’ve got Daniel Bryan feuding with King Corbin, Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt on top, a Sheamus/Jeff Hardy feud, a Forgotten Sons tag push, a Tamina championship match – it’s like they’re trying to kill a territory, but there’s barely a territory.

Bryan vs. Corbin was solid, Sheamus’ squash of Leon Ruff was cool, and I guess I should appreciate them sticking to a story with Sheamus and Jeff Hardy even if the actual match is amazingly unanticipated.

Sonya Deville is crushing it too, even if all the Mandy Rose and Otis stuff has lost its charm. It’s like The Office after Jim and Pam actually got together.

Rating: 2/10

205 LIVE (5/1/20)

The Singh Brothers got a turn at The Matches That Made Me theme this week.

First was Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania XII, a match that was bound to show up in this spot. My TL;DR review of it is that it is good, but too long. Thank you for your time.

The other match was The Singh Brothers vs. Lucha House Party in a Tornado Tag Match, which is a decent match but not something that stood out when I saw it back in July. Solid double teams, fun flying, a decent match. More than anything, it says something about The Singh Brothers’ positioning – they’re quality performers, but have rarely been put in a position for anyone to really care.

Rating: 4/10

My Favorite Things

1. The Toni Storm/Deonna Purrazzo Hidden Gem on NXT UK
2. Sonya Deville Kicks Mandy Rose’s Ass on SmackDown
3. MVP Randomly Becomes Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink’s Manager on RAW

WWE TV Match of the Week: Sheamus vs. Leon Ruff or Ilja Dragunov vs. A-Kid

WWE TV MVP of the Week: Deonna Purrazzo