Working Man’s WWE TV Review: 7/12/20 – 7/18/20

The horror show continues.

Are you OK? Am I OK?

It’s likely a result of seeing them over and over again, but WWE Performance Center people are starting to feel as grating as the empty arena. It’s like a studio audience with APPLAUSE and LAUGH signs for all the worst jokes.

RAW (7/13/20)

It was GRUDGE MATCH week which was, well, eh. Another RAW where things happened but also nothing really happened. It’s still building to something called “The Horror Show at Extreme Rules.” There was a video recapping who Randy Orton is.

The Viking Raiders vs. Andrade/Garza in an Elimination Match was too short to accomplish anything, but Black vs. Murphy was a fun 200 seconds with a wild Black Mass at the end. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins ended up a perfectly fine bordering on really good match that I wasn’t really in the mood for. I’m all for an Eye for an Eye Match but WWE either has to embrace the camp or not, you can’t have it both ways.

Randy Orton is still delivering, but angle with Ric Flair and Big Show and R-Truth is just barely compelling. Stop teasing me with Orton and Flair stables too – Mexican Legacy, 2020 Millionaires’ Club. If it’s not going to happen, don’t waste my time!

Nice to see Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and The IIconics all have slots, as well as the returns of Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler. Baszler wrecking Tozawa‘s ninjas was the best possible use of those ninjas. Good promo too.

Bayley & Sasha Banks defended the Women’s Tag Team Titles against The Kabuki Warriors in the main event, and it’s hard to care about a lot of WWE wrestling right now but Bayley and Sasha doing a heel beatdown on Kairi Sane to setup an Asuka hot tag is basically the definition of a dream match and I’m happy we got it. Sasha ate that kick to setup the elbow, oh LAWD.

Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler were also on this show.

Rating: 3/10

NXT (7/15/20)

The first NXT without Adam Cole as champion featured no Undisputed Era, nor Gargano or Balor. It did feature Keith Lee and Io Shirai, which works for me though I’m still confused about some things.

Throw relatable Keith Lee in the bin; 2020 needs a superhero. We’ve had enough personality profiles – now that he’s won the title he must know he is the guy, not because of ego but because nobody else can be.

Wasn’t into the Io Shirai NXT Women’s Title defense against Tegan Nox that closed the show – occasionally solid stuff but Nox has got to lay in those elbows and Io doing a perfect German suplex bridge after Nox’s leg work is just asking for trouble.

Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic for the NXT Title & NXT North American Title in the middle lacked the atmosphere of a crowd that takes these over the top, but was still a heck of a fun match. I’m not sure how much they or I have left to say, but all the big hits were well timed and Dijakovic hit one of the most incredible cyclone boots ever if that’s even possible.

Damian Priest vs. Cameron Grimes was their usual play fighting before a finish that popped me, while Legado del Fantasma‘s promo was cute. Timothy Thatcher is still awesome – great promo, great squash with Denzel Denjournette. He just grabbed that man’s leg and made him tap.

Rating: 3/10

MAIN EVENT (7/15/20)

There were new faces on Main Event this week, with occasional NXT guest star Jessi Kamea serving as a tune-up for the recently returned Shayna Baszler. The MIA Riddick Moss also made his triumphant return with a win over Humberto Carrillo. If there was anything to see here, Main Event is not the place to see it.

Rating: 2/10

NXT UK (7/16/20)

Zack Gibson, Kay Lee Ray and Ilja Dragunov offered their own favorite matches in NXT UK so far. Gibson chose his match with Noam Dar from October 2018. Kay Lee chose the Battle Royal she won to get a shot at the Women’s Title. Dragunov chose a No DQ Match with Alexander Wolfe from earlier this year. They were all swell matches, but not matches to actually like.

Mark Andrews & Flash Moran Webster as well as Jinny turned in promos this week too, the saddest character development in wrestling.

Rating: 2/10

SMACKDOWN (7/17/20)

The WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event and ECW Pulp Fiction-inspired promos that opened the show and were peppered throughout were awesome, but only weirdly John Morrison seemed to be in the spirit of it all.

This was another weak show. The main event, AJ Styles vs. Matt Riddle for the Intercontinental Title, was pretty good. Sheamus‘ Brouge Kick on Jeff Hardy with a close-up camera shot was awesome.

Big E vs. Cesaro, Asuka & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks, Naomi vs. Lacey Evans – these were matches drowning in a sea of bad corporate wrestling. The last one was so lame it sparked an online revolt.

How long have they been introducing Nikki Cross as Alexa Bliss‘ “enthusiastic best friend”? Are there no humans in charge??

I guess Braun Strowman did some of his most interesting work a couple years, wrecking a game John Morrison then cutting the promo of his life before Extreme Rules. WAY TO FINALLY SHOW UP, STROWMAN.

Rating: 3/10

205 LIVE (7/17/20)

Vic Joseph is back! YEAH! He’s doing commentary with Drew Gulak!

205 Live has gotten another cast revamp, plus Tony Nese still. It’s making for some interesting-ish shows, if not must-see stuff.

Mansoor vs. Tehuti Miles impressed again, a very solid kind of WWE PC Young Lion type of match. Nese wrestled Ever-Rise‘s Chase Parker in the main event, a match in which Chase applied a real tight armbar before he got blasted in the face with a kick. Swerve Scott saved Nese at the end, the ol’ tag match setup 205 Live likes to employ once a month.

Rating: 4/10

What Made the WWE Move This Week?

Best Match: Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. The Kabuki Warriors or Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic

Best Promo: Bayley and Sasha Banks backstage on SmackDown

Best Angle: Shayna Baszler returns and beats up Ninjas

Who made this worth it?: Kevin Owens, Bayley, Keith Lee, Timothy Thatcher, John Morrison, Nikki Cross

Notable Trends: Randy Orton Challenges Big Show, Bayley and Sasha Carry Wrestling, 205 Live Rebuilds