Working Man’s WWE TV Review: 1/17/21 – 1/23/21

The inauguration of a new American President and the exit of that garbage-based old one weighs heavy on my mind this week, but so does the wind outside that might blow our trash all over the street. So does the long turd my 3-year-old dropped into the toilet before he went to bed tonight.

The WWE Thunderdome powers through with its’ six shows every week, but the ins and outs of it have so rarely weighed so little on my mind. Besides Roman Reigns of course. Man. I think about him all the time.

Anything Worth Watching?

Matches: Fight Pit: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher (NXT 1/20/21)

Promos: Kevin Owens on fighting for his grandpas (SmackDown 1/22/21)

Angles: Roman Reigns has Paul Heyman challenge Adam Pearce (SmackDown 1/22/21)

Wrestlers: Malcolm Bivens, Timothy Thatcher, Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, Sasha Banks

Key Trends: RAW is Bad, Men & Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, NXT Title Picture

RAW (1/18/21)

WWE has so much content on the WWE Network making fun of bad wrestling from the past that maybe RAW just exists now to ensure there is more of it in the future.

An “O-K” AJ Styles/Ricochet match ended with an awesome Styles clash setup, otherwise all three of these hours were mostly painful.

Randy Orton is wearing a Mr. Wrestling mask while his face burn heals and it’s possible his promo might have been good but I don’t know? Why are Jeff Hardy and Elias? What’s with Alexa Bliss and the Playground? Why? Who?

Are we in the Firefly Fun House?

Rating: 1/10

NXT (1/20/21)

NXT is stacked (some might say stuffed) with talent but mixes it with so many aggressive reasons to disconnect – and that’s ignoring all the creeps lurking around!

Beth Phoenix legit said “You guys wanted this!” as she introduced the first ever Women’s (did ya hear that!) Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

The NXT Title scene is filled with possibilities but gets dragged down by stuff like Pete Dunne‘s over-scripted promo and Finn Balor saying lines like, “The cat’s looking for his payback.”

Alexander Wolfe is back, Curt Stallion is getting a push out of a MyCareer, and the first ever Women’s Dusty Classic match ended with interference. Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter winning in the first round was sold as the upset heard round the world… except nobody involved has been around enough for it to like, reverberate.

I don’t understand what a “Tyler Rust” is but with Malcolm Bivens at his side I’ll continue to think well of him.

The main event Fight Pit between Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa was good, though not like good good. Most WWE matches should just be in the Fight Pit – it’s one of the only things that makes sense in a Thunderdome. The environment accentuates the mean matwork style Thatcher brings to the table, though there was too much time spent on trying to pop Triple H with cage spots that looked interesting for a camera shot.

Rating: 4/10

MAIN EVENT (1/20/21)

Main Event has a regular crew of Not Ready for RAW Players again, but seeing a lineup of two pointless Angel Garza/Akira Tozawa and Humberto Carrillo/Drew Gulak matches make me think that maybe RAW isn’t ready for THEM.

I don’t know. Main Event is the weirdest wrestling show ever.

Rating: 4/10

NXT UK (1/21/21)

Welcome back to NXT UK: lots of setups without stories, “Earlier Today’s” without angles. Everybody works or hits hard but it only actually works or hits once in a while.

A-Kid rebounded from his loss to big WALT with a promo; Ilja Dragunov did the same by throwing chops back-and-forth with Jack Starz. This was a particularly nasty squash match and Starz in particular took a German suplex I can only describe as disgusting.

Not much else here: Dave Mastiff/Rampage Brown, Sam Gradwell is after Ben Carter, and Kay Lee Ray is good but needs to be doing something besides NXT UK.

Rating: 3/10

SMACKDOWN (1/22/21)

I’m a simple man; I like cuddling up on the couch on a Friday night (or Saturday at like 1:30PM) and watching Roman Reigns.

His feud with Kevin Owens allowed a tremendous promo from Owens this week and what was looking like an Adam Pearce match before Owens ran out and went at Roman. Give Scrap Iron a run!

Paul Heyman trying to act tough for Roman was the most interesting Heyman’s been since CM Punk. “I’m from New York… I’ll whoop yo’ ass.”

The Big E/Apollo Crews rematch was alright but really needed more Roman.

Bianca Belair‘s Chronicle on the WWE Network is must-see… the Ultimate Athlete Obstacle Course with Bayley not so much, but a basketball chuck to the gut is SUCH a heel move.

The Daniel Bryan Royal Rumble push means a Cesaro push this year too – he “knocked off” Dolph Ziggler this week in a quick match. Why does Michael Cole call it knocked off???

This time last year I thought Sami Zayn was on his way out but he’s turned it around and found another life in WWE, which I think is really nice.

Rating: 5/10

205 LIVE (1/22/21)

First round matches from the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic made this week more interesting than usual, though the main event of Tony Nese/Ariya Daivari vs. Tommaso Ciampa/Timothy Thatcher sure did feel like any other 205 Live match. Watching Thatcher get beat up by Nese and Daivari to setup a Ciampa hot tag sure was a special beast of weird wrestling.

In the opener, Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell faced — excuse me, what now? They faced newcomers Gigi Dolin & Cora Jade, and it was cool seeing Candice & Indi in a match that mattered. Just give Friday nights to the ladies already.

Rating: 3/10