Working Man’s WWE TV Review: 6/28/20 – 7/4/20

Another week of TV I’d call silly and skippable but at this point it might be more harmful and dangerous.

RAW (6/29/20)

Anything building to something called “Extreme Rules: The Horror Show” or “The Horror Show at Extreme Rules” just isn’t serious.

There was a Double Contract Signing, like WWE is in on their own joke where nobody likes them. It was terrible besides the return of Sasha Banks‘ STAMP! All the Andrade and Angel Garza dissension throughout the show was terrible too, and it didn’t have a stamp.

Senile heel Ric Flair is somehow the best promo in wrestling right now.

The wrestling was OK – Viking Raiders vs. Andrade/Garza and Black/Carrillo vs. Rollins/Murphy had some solid sequences, while Ricochet vs. Bobby Lashley was a lot more than I expected. Peyton Royce vs. Ruby Riott wasn’t much but that SPINNING BRAINBUSTER Peyton did was awesome.

Glad they treated Dolph Ziggler like such an afterthought in the tag with Sasha Banks against Drew McIntyre and Asuka. Sasha and Bayley are queens but this all still sucked.

Rating: 1/10

NXT (7/1/20)

Nearly back-to-back good wrestling matches and minimal fluff meant Night 1 of Great American Bash was WWE’s best empty arena show since WrestleMania, even if the other Wednesday show on TNT has a lot more in terms of “interesting stories” and “characters I care about.”

Mia Yim vs. Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae vs. Dakota Kai was two different matches: a Fatal 4-Way Match that was OK but a little too convenient sometimes, then Tegan Nox vs. Dakota Kai one-on-one which RULED. It felt like after all the gimmicks they got to just rip it up and delivered. Tegan rules. Those cannonballs!

Oney Lorcan vs. Timothy Thatcher was obviously awesome, both guys just grabbing faces and limbs and chopping and slapping each other soooo hard for 10 minutes. Everything was so credible Oney got a legitimate near fall off a half Boston Crab. SO good.

Rhea Ripley vs. Robert Stone & Aliyah was stupid but gave some Boogie Woogie Man vibes to the show I guess. They hilariously still stuck pretty close to TakeOver formula with a couple near fall spots that felt ridiculous for a comedy Handicap Match. Rhea didn’t need a rally and comeback, you know?

On occasion you just need to tie two guys together with a leather strap, and that’s where the Strap Match comes in. I guess. It sounds weird in 2020. Roderick Strong and Dexter Lumis had a solid one, a physical one with a few neat strap spots and all of Lumis’ strikes and comebacks timed really well. Way over-delivered.

The Legado del Fantasma and Breezango 6-man setup was appreciated but felt a little misplaced – maybe throw that in last week, you know? Keep the momentum going.

Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks ruled, obviously. A Sasha Banks that is having a blast is a very good version of Sasha Banks. They didn’t get much time but kept it credible and threw in some wild spots. The hurricanrana and headscissors were extra, the tope suicida/sunset flip was downright incredible. Loved Sasha’s snap Bank Statement and Bayley marking out for Sasha’s knee smash too.

Rating: 8/10

MAIN EVENT (7/1/20)

There was just one match this week because uhhhh yeah the global pandemic is still RAGING. It was Bianca Belair vs. Billie Kay, and it did not move me one way or another.

Rating: 2/10

NXT UK (7/2/20)

This was another Superstar Picks week, the most uninspired one yet. Nikki Cross and William Regal both chose NXT UK matches from March, two matches that were perfectly decent but forgettable: Aoife Valkyrie vs. Isla Dawn and A-Kid vs. Noam Dar.

Drew McIntyre went with the very awesome Pete Dunne/Mark Andrews match from the NXT UK Title Tournament Semi Finals (reviewed here) and called it the “perfect representation of modern British wrestling” – I’d say hell yeah but it’s complicated.

Rating: 3/10

SMACKDOWN (7/3/20)

This was another show building to “The Horror Show at Extreme Rules” – just not serious.

WWE is doing their damndest to make Matt Riddle as off-putting as possible right away, having him try to impress Michael Cole using everybody’s favorite storytelling device: the frostbite metaphor. A tit-for-tat with King Corbin followed, then a match with John Morrison that had some cool stuff that tended to be delivered very slowly.

I dug how it led into the IC Title match between AJ Styles and Drew Gulak, though the match wasn’t much: these two do impressive wrestling together, but between those sad claps from the PC trainees and Gulak fighting from behind like some pussy babyface opposite they kind of lost me. Hell of a baseball slide by Gulak though.

The show peaked with those matches. Love Bayley and Sasha but Bayley and Sasha are so good right now that Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross are coming off lame. The Sasha/Nikki match and Kofi Kingston/Shinsuke Nakamura matches were just that – matches. Big E throwing his jacket directly at Corey Graves‘ face was good TV, at least.

The show ended with what might have been one of the worst WWE segments of all time, a Toast to Jeff Hardy from Sheamus delivered from home via video call as Jeff looked on from the ring surrounded by booze and a complete open bar setup. Jeff then poured liquor on the poor bartender’s head, beat him up, and clapped along with the crowd to his theme song, all while Sheamus looked on outraged or something. How can I even put a fun twist on this? WTF is wrong with these people!? What is this even saying? Who is this entertaining? Why is this happening???

Rating: 2/10

205 LIVE (7/3/20)

Look – as long as they don’t pretend this is important, it could be good. This week featured a Swerve Scott vs. Matt Martel match that turned into Scott and Tony Nese vs. Ever-Rise and a straight-up squash for Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza, now Legado del Fantasma. Matt Martel rules and none of it was as off-putting as this show usually is.

Rating: 4/10

My Favorite Things

1. The Return of Sasha Banks’ Stamp
2. Bayley Flips Out for Sasha Banks’ Knee
3. Sasha Banks vs. Io Shirai

WWE TV Match of the Week: Sasha Banks vs. Io Shirai or Timothy Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan

WWE TV MVP of the Week: Sasha Banks