Paul Heyman is out as the Executive Director of RAW, a position I’m not sure anyone ever settled on a description for. Despite a real shitbag show once every few weeks, RAW under Heyman was one that on more occasions than not felt different than the “usual.” There was more purpose, more out-of-the-box, and despite the occasional Rowan spider or Lana divorce he was doing an excellent job showcasing new young wrestlers. There’s a minimum 10 people better off under the Heyman regime, though WWE has a way about making all that not count after like two weeks.
It all went to hell right before COVID season and especially after WrestleMania, and I guess we are seeing whatever was behind that manifest in the strange fake real world of corporate America.
RAW (6/8/20)
Seth Rollins‘ promo on Rey Mysterio, the Black/Carillo vs. Murphy/Theory tag sprint that followed, and the Owens vs. Andrade vs. Garza match – HARD WORK. Charlotte vs. Asuka – I’ll get to that – HARD WORK. Everything else ranged from boring to embarrassing.
The Drew McIntyre/Bobby Lashley feud is limping to Backlash, though I appreciate the Viking Raiders and Street Profits getting involved – it’s a lot better than WWE working a Decathalon or whatever.
Would the live crowds have already turned on Drew McIntyre already?
Edge seems like the coolest guy, but everything he’s involved with right now is very sad and very bad.
Triple Threat Tag Team Matches in WWE are really dumb, like one of my least favorite matches they do, but they are especially dumb when they end with the Women’s Tag Titles challengers (The IIconics) AND the champs (Sasha & Bayley) losing to a makeshift team (Asuka & Charlotte). Asuka’s hot tag ruled, but yikes.
I guess I’ll forgive them because Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair was the main event of the show and I thought it just ruled. Charlotte remains a low key no-crowd MVP, while she and Asuka have always had the best chemistry. This had all their hits, punctuated by stiff shots and dramatic struggles for submission. Charlotte threw like four awesome big boots here at all the right times, boots that were so good I’ve got to think she was sending a message to the NXT crew about their leg slaps. Let’s just ignore the Nia Jax run-in.
NXT (6/10/20)
Beyond promos and videos from TakeOver: In Your House, there were a couple rasslin matches. Keith Lee/Mia Yim vs. Johnny Gargano/Candice LeRae happened again, and was a much better outing than last time though that’s more because it was just kind of fun as opposed to a waste of time.
Finn Balor vs. Cameron Grimes was good. Just good. Grimes always does bring a little something extra to the usual empty indy dream match feeling stuff, usually an impressive strength spot or two, and I’d like to say I admire him for that.
Malcolm Bivens‘ duo of Rinku & Saurav now go by Indus Sher, and I’m not sure any of this naming stuff is helping anybody. Best squash yet though.
Dug Breezango kind of getting character development in their video package, commenting on the need to transition from goofballs to title challengers. “You’re 32 now? Wow. I thought you were like 27” cracked me up – Fandango is one of the only guys doing deadpan right on WWE TV.
It probably does say something about WWE that ever since Imperium won the NXT Tag Titles, they’ve felt the need to re-introduce two tag teams that have done nothing for a couple years.
Dakota Kai vs. Kacy Catanzaro did nothing for nobody – not Kacy or Dakota, not Raquel Gonzalez or even Kayden Carter who helped out Kacy afterwards to setup I assume another nothing tag. Dakota said she wanted the NXT Women’s Title afterwards and they probably could’ve cut everything but that and the whole thing would’ve been more effective.
Intrigued by the Timothy Thatcher Thatch as Thatch Can training tease, let me tell you.
Everything about the angle with re-signed babyface Drake Maverick congratulating new Cruiserweight Champ El Hijo del Fantasma only to be attacked by the lucha mask kidnappers, who revealed themselves as Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde before Fantasma himself took off his mask and announced himself as Escobar Santos was AAAWWEEESSOMMMEE. AEW Dynamite got me giddy top-to-bottom, but this might’ve been the best angle all week. Happy-go-lucky Drake throws me off but the guy commits, and we got a double reveal, triple unmasking, and new life breathed into a couple stale characters. A LOT GOING ON!!!
I like Dexter Lumis, and I love Roderick Strong being scared of him. Lumis vs. Adam Cole was pretty unremarkable though, just some wrestling moves to setup Scarlett confronting Cole on Killer Kross‘ behalf. The match doesn’t appeal me, but the Tick Tock gimmick is pretty cool.
However… look. How do I say this – HOW did WWE makeup and dress up SCARLETT to look unattractive? Obviously she’s beautiful, but there’s so much extra to her setup and mannerisms that it’s like she’s lost to the WWE machine and incapable of natural thought. I don’t think that’s sexist, I just think it’s a commentary on WWE’s need to over-think and over-do basically everything. I could be wrong!
MAIN EVENT (6/10/20)
Liv Morgan vs. Natalya had some welcome shtick early and Natalya threw a fit after she lost, otherwise the formula was followed.
I’m not sure how Shane Thorne fits into the grand scheme of WWE but I wonder if he’s had the gall yet to bring up to Vince that he has the same name as his son. Shelton Benjamin is clearly having some fun on these shows working with the New Generation, and the two had a decent little match.
NXT UK (6/11/20)
Kind of shocking how long it took a William Regal/Fit Finlay match on NXT UK Superstar Picks, even if it’s only the second edition. Sam Gradwell picks it their Great American Bash 2006 U.S. Title match, the one where Regal replaced Bobby Lashley who had been suspended for 30 days after testing positive for elevated liver enzymes. Gradwell and WWE go HARD on the liver enzyme references, which seems strange considering Lashley challenges for WWE’s top title this Sunday.
Anyways, WWE SmackDown got real wrestling-happy in 2006 and it was fun to see Finlay and Regal do their thing and adapt to WWE arena work and leprechaun gimmicks while also working the most basic awesome technical wrestling exchanges then upper-cutting each other real hard. The stiffest shoulderblock and chinlock you’ll ever see exists in this match. A very good time.
Piper Niven picked the NXT UK Women’s Title Tournament Final between Toni Storm and Rhea Ripley, a real political animal pick if * I’VE * ever seen one! I watched and wrote about this match all the way back in November 2018:
The NXT UK Women’s Title Tournament Finals took place in the form of Toni Storm vs. Rhea Ripley and it wasn’t some banger but it was a simple solid match with a simple solid finish. Rhea worked over Toni’s back after a back body drop on the apron which was a nice setup, and Rhea is a suitably aggressive back worker over. Then Storm couldn’t lift Rhea for the Storm Zero, so Rhea hit the Riptide and won. It was a simple solid match with a simple solid finish.
There were promos scattered throughout this show from Noam Dar, who appears to be going a little cooky.
Amir Jordan picked Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog from SummerSlam 1992 in London and hell yeah, this is still great. The crowd is huge and fired up as Bret seamlessly plays heel against hometown Bulldog. I thought Davey Boy delivered his end here as far as peppering in his spots with gusto, though Bret has gone on record as saying that he didn’t. Either way Bret makes this shit work. It might be the match that convinced McMahon that chinlocks could carry his company another three decades.
They go 25 and keep it competitive, building to some tremendous spots and near falls. Bret does a plancha that almost turns into a Sling Blade and Davey looks like he’s cracked in half. Bret’s German suplex hold at the end is incredible, a hair sloppy but in this great way where he had to bust out a move he doesn’t do all the time out of desperation. Bulldog’s cradle reversal win feels both sudden and earned, and the celebration was the precursor to Canadian Stampede’s good times.
SMACKDOWN (6/12/20)
It was 45 minutes of TV time including commercials and they didn’t lose me for a second, even in my early 30s stressed out father phase – these boys are GOOD. Styles has lost many steps since coming to WWE, but these two trust each other to do all their most complex stuff. They did all the good stuff when there’s no actual story beyond the competition – aggressively trying to ground and tap each other early, interesting and unique limb work by both guys, big strikes but not too many, cool dives but not too many. They wrapped it up with callbacks to not just the limbwork but Drew Gulak‘s win over Styles last week, followed by a sweet Knee+ counter with the Styles Clash and a definitive Phenomenal Forearm finish.
It all still feels a little silly in THIS WWE, with Braun and Otis on top and a… uh, Pay-Per-View on Sunday. Given that not much else is happening on SmackDown though, it’s probably for the best that they got to rip it up in the middle of the show.
Big E and Kofi Kingston remain legends, in a situation where WWE is absolutely pandering to Black Lives Matter but also being the guys who dumbass WWE trusts to be sincere with it. The nod to it was nice, and they had a decent match with Cesaro & Nakamura that never really got going. I thought the finish was pretty cool at least, a crossbody from the top by Kofi on Nak that looked like their timing was off but ended up Nak countering with his knees and rolling Kofi up for 3. I’m all in on a hastily setup tag feud to replace the Forgotten Sons, who should probably be… you know.
Bayley and Sasha Banks remain legends too, as it takes art to not look like dummies when WWE has got you in a 3-way tag feud.
Braun Strowman & Heavy Machinery vs. The Miz, John Morrison & Dolph Ziggler was the main event, and that group of good guys is in desperate need of a litmus test right now to see if they’re actually over because everything is losing me. Otis had me for a week or two, but Mandy Rose wearing blue collar gear and acting like a doting girlfriend who doesn’t wrestle anymore has got me shook.
Saving the best for last, the Sheamus and Jeff Hardy drug test / cup of piss angle at the start was so off-putting though that it’s dragging everything down. Outside of the obvious lame answer – “HEAT, BROTHER” – I have no idea what they are going for here. How in anybody’s name does a child interpret this, where the heel is doing a disingenuous Don’t Do Drugs message? Whoever was yelling “that’s right! that’s right!” when Jeff threw the cup of piss should be fired.
205 LIVE (6/12/20)
Ever-Rise, the former 3.0, had a squash-ish match against Leon Ruff & Adrian Alanis that was fine but made me think they should’ve been doing their routine here ages ago.
Swerve Scott, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Jack Gallagher, Tony Nese & cocky newcomer Tehuti Miles headlined, whatever that means. After 5 minutes of entrances and 10 minutes of stuff, Tehuti got too cocky for Gallagher and Nese and they left.
My Favorite Things
- Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles
- Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka
- El Hijo del Fantasma Becomes Santos Escobar
WWE TV Match of the Week: Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles
WWE TV MVP of the Week: Santos Escobar
