After around four months of the reckless experiment that has been COVID-era WWE taped entirely at the Performance Center, I thought it might be worth talking about who has risen to the occasion given that, between the storylines and matches ranging from forgettable to silly to frustrating to counterproductive and the complexity of planning anything while trying to stubbornly move forward with a weekly wrestling program in the midst of a pandemic, this era of WWE has been REAL bad. I’ve got to imagine it is real challenging to rise to the occasion.
So here is who can still put on good matches given the circumstances, who has best adapted, and who’s stock has substantially dropped whether through their own fault or the fault of the very mysterious WWE (it’s Vince McMahon).
This covers the period of March 13, 2020 to July 4, 2020.
Who Can Still Wrestle?
Daniel Bryan
There have only been a handful of great WWE matches since March, and Daniel Bryan has been in most of them. Everybody is going through the motions – Daniel Bryan might be too, but the grappling and seriousness and versatility makes him the only guy that hasn’t missed a beat since this began.
Charlotte Flair’s strength has always been the aura of seriousness she brings to big matches – cautious, focused, hard-hitting. That style excels in a world where everybody else is playing to the crowd. Her opponents usually adapt and it makes for competitive-looking professional wrestling.
Asuka immediately started hamming it up once the crowds disappeared, playing silent film star that pops off the screen in what is a very boring and sanitized environment. I’m glad it stuck, because it got her in a prime position and she’s having a bunch of good matches – Bayley, Liv Morgan, and like seven with Charlotte.
He hasn’t wrestled a ton, but when he does Rey Mysterio reminds you he is timeless – audience or not.
Io Shirai is a lot like her hero Rey, just a couple matches but each one showing she’s as spectacular as ever. Not a lot of people are standing out in WWE right now, but any time Io gets moving she stands out a lot.
I didn’t expect to look forward to AJ Styles matches again, but without the expectations of a This is Awesome crowd I think he’s doing his best work in years. The IC Title match with Daniel Bryan was a classic, and he’s done fun stuff with Matt Riddle, Drew Gulak, and – yes – The Undertaker.
Akira Tozawa has had all types of roles since the pandemic began: RAW jobber, Main Event (on Hulu) babyface, round-robin Cruiserweight Title Tournament contender, 24/7 Champion flanked by ninjas. He’s made it all work whether in the ring or not. I think the match with Jinder Mahal on Main Event is the most impressive, but it’s been a great run.
The Daniel Bryan match on SmackDown alone is enough to have him here, and then he worked his way into a fat new contract. Respect.
It’s not a lot, but Shelton Benjamin had a couple matches on Main Event with Cedric Alexander and Akira Tozawa where he seemed refreshed, having fun with a new generation and proving he can still Get It Done.
Tegan Nox has become an excellent WWE babyface and I kind of just want to put her here because of that badass bridging fallaway slam she did at Great American Bash but really her against Dakota Kai in the Fatal 4-Way rocked and she was the best part of the TakeOver: In Your House 6-man.
Who Stepped Up and Adapted?
Bayley
The Champ is here, the undisputed queen of the Performance Center. She’s delivering in ring but is in this section because she more than anybody has made the most of this bizarre situation, fine-tuning her heel character and proving to the world she’s a master of shit talk. Bayley and Sasha Banks run WWE right now and I’m here for it.
Sasha Banks is rich.
MVP is in that role right now where Vince McMahon gets a hard-on for somebody and they’re suddenly everywhere: he’s in a prominent position, working multiple segments, managing multiple people, wrestling semi-regularly. He’s even doing commentary sometimes on Main Event! And he’s real good at pretty much everything, with the confidence of a wrestling legend who knows how to be an interesting character on WWE TV in 2020.
Timothy Thatcher belongs in the wrestling category, because he definitely can. He’s also a guy who has the unique designation of making his debut after the crowds had already disappeared, and the way he’s delivered on TV since is really impressive – talk about having to step up and adapt to something. Every match he’s had so far has been at a minimum good, and his Thatch as Thatch Can training vignettes are weekly highlights of NXT TV.
The fact that The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever nearly delivered is insane, but beyond that Randy Orton is doing some of his best career work right now. He’s obviously going to stand out on a roster filled with young lions, but the promos and presence are incredibly strong. Extra points for that Tweet he sent that may or may not have turned the tide on the Black Lives Matter protests.
Kofi Kingston and Big E emerged awhile ago as one of the most consistent acts in wrestling, and nothing during COVID has proven that wrong. There’s a calming presence when New Day is on the screen, like everything might just be OK even if it isn’t looking so good. They both deserve a lot more than an eh Tag Titles feud.
After a rough start, Johnny Wrestling is finding his voice as a bad guy. The match with Keith Lee was really good too.
Her, Mandy and Otis seem to have disappeared but for a little bit Sonya was nailing her promos on Mandy and looking real cool kicking Lacey Evans’ ass.
The weirdos running the Performance Center are really into Roderick Strong “expanding his character” and though the story with Dexter Lumis is goofy as heck it really is providing some hilarious work from him.
Look, anybody that forced WWE’s hand into mandating masks stepped up.
Who’s Taken a Tumble?
Braun Strowman
Have to start with the champ. COVID-19 has been rough on everybody, but nothing like a pandemic and WWE’s consistently terrible good guy champion booking to not just handcuff a guy but expose him too. Lame promos, matches, stories, everything. I imagine this was supposed to be Roman Reigns, but even so Braun hasn’t even stepped up into the role.
This champ too. The whole thing with Drew McIntyre was not just him finally ascending to the top of WWE but the fans coming along with him. He had the whole “3… 2… 1” thing! Once that was dropped, he ended up just another stock champion. I thought the title match with Seth Rollins was great and there is still a presence in there somewhere, but between endless midcard feuds and no crowd pops the McIntyre Era has not been kind.
As soon as the crowds disappeared it seemed Shayna Baszler did too, which really sucks. If anything her style is one that’d work in this stupid environment, although I guess WWE only has – uhh – one match with Natalya to judge. A lot of people have fallen down the card or outright disappeared from TV in the last few months, but not many have gone from submitting five people in a row in the Elimination Chamber and wrestling Becky Lynch at WrestleMania to being treated like they don’t even exist.
Another insane drop, from a Goldberg title win seven months ago to two big match losses in a row followed by a dopey feud with Robert Stone. Sometimes it feels like the PC trainees hit a wall – they have their moment, then all progress as in-ring pro wrestler completely stops.
Bianca Belair kicked off 2020 killing it with Rhea Ripley at TakeOver: Portland, then made her long-awaited main roster debut at WrestleMania. It was exciting, despite the whole no fans thing. Then she scolded Montez Ford for a couple weeks and F’d off to Main Event. Shaking. My. Head.
Poor Adam. I’m serious. I like Adam. But Adam needs the pop. Adam needs the crowd. He also doesn’t need a 45-minute thesis statement on everything wrong with how WWE wants to present professional wrestling at WrestleMania, nor does he need a torn triceps. The promos are alright, but this was a tough break for what was an awesome return.
Just in general. Filmed at the exact same place RAW and SmackDown are, NXT has never felt more similar to either show in both look and format. It actually might be a little worse, because it also still has so many one-on-one matches between Good Workers that don’t accomplish anything. You can’t actually tell but nobody seems “over” and I feel like I’ve seen more lame scripted promos than wrestling from Keith Lee, Adam Cole, and Finn Balor.
Watching Otis get his big moment at WrestleMania in front of no crowd was a bummer, and though he won MONEY IN THE BANK he feels less prominent and relevant by the week. Otis is another guy like McIntyre that really needed a crowd along with them on their big run for it to hit.
Aleister Black went from months of promos behind a door to a month-long feud with Buddy Murphy and then he, like nearly all those before him, became just some fuckin’ guy.
Well.
