Working Man’s WWE TV Review: 1/31/21 – 2/6/21

I’m on my own.

Against the wall.

The pressure’s building but no, I will never fall.

Instead of cryin’ —

They hear me roar.

And now I see that I’m way better than before

AGGRESSIVE PONYTAIL SWINGING

Anything Worth Watching?

Matches: Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic – Quarter Final: Adam Cole & Roderick Strong vs. Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher (NXT 2/3/21)

Promos: No

Angles: Roman Reigns demands Edge make his choice; Kevin Owens stuns Reigns (SmackDown 2/5/21)

Wrestlers: Mustafa Ali, Johnny Gargano, Ilja Dragunov, Roman Reigns

Key Trends: Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, Ilja Dragunov Rebuilt, Royal Rumble Choices

RAW (2/1/21)

Night after the Royal Rumble, two championship matches, new guy Damian Priest pins The Miz, Edge vs. Randy Orton main event… EH. WWE RAW continues to be the dumbest, laziest show.

Riddle beat Lashley by DQ, but only after tapping out to him. Sheamus turned on Drew McIntyre, who cried about it.

I am pro-Bad Bunny and pro-Carlito. Liked Xavier Woods‘ cool rollup on Mustafa Ali.

Come on, Edge. Talk to the old man.

Rating: 1/10

NXT (2/3/21)

Even without Edge (yeah, Edge was here too) this was a more interesting show than usual, though there usually need to be a few more of those in a row for any momentum. Loved seeing Pete Dunne and Finn Balor in there with Edge (yeah, Edge!), but I wish WWE was more about doing dope shit like Kevin Owens stepping on John Cena’s U.S. Title and not whatever that this 3-years-late endorsement was.

I kind of liked Karrion Kross‘ little showdown with Edge (yes, Edge showed up!). Also liked Kross’ much more comprehensive showdown with Santos Escobar. Kross might be the rare guy who is better at the weekly TV than PPV matches, and I’m not sure what to make of that.

NXT is defined these days by occasional good wrestling matches and over-rehearsed spots in a bummer environment, the dark and Thunderdome-ey Capitol Wrestling Center. Both the Dusty Classic quarter-finals (Legado del Fantasma vs. Lucha House Party and Cole/Strong vs. Ciampa/Thatch) were actually pretty great, but the fake crowd noise for impressive dives or big near falls is just sad at this point.

Curt Stallion crushed it as he challenged for the Cruiserweight Title and Johnny Gargano cracks me up, but we are now at a time where I think the best NXT guys may be better off just on RAW or SmackDown. Weird.

Rating: 5/10

MAIN EVENT (2/3/21)

Humberto Carrillo vs. Drew Gulak opened up just fine, but Ricochet vs. Angel Garza was a minor Main Event Match Worth Watching with a roll-through brainbuster and twists on the usual near falls. Could be a big match if anyone was into doing that.

Rating: 5/10

NXT UK (2/4/21)

Nina Samuels brings luggage to the ring now, and everybody’s mad at Sid Scala. Welcome to NXT UK!

Ilja Dragunov was a made man after the WALTER match and seeing him ruminate about it weekly by destroying all sorts of guys (Jack Starz last week, Tyson T-Bone this week) is has been a great follow-up.

Danny Jones lost to Joe Coffey. Danny Jones is a great wrestling name.

Not sure why WWE had a heavyweight go after the Cruiserweight Champ on both NXT’s this week, but Dave Mastiff vs. Jordan Devlin was the main event here and it wasn’t very interesting until Devlin beat Dave.

Rating: 3/10

SMACKDOWN (2/5/21)

Hit-or-miss show this week, a great show-closing angle and quality Bryan/Cesaro match but also that dork Dominik Mysterio had his dad help him win a match and the Bianca Belair Rumble win follow-up didn’t feel like it had the right tone at all, at least as far as something that would keep the excitement of it going. Still respect the whip; still respect the laugh.

Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan is the new age Regal/Finlay, even if the matches don’t feel super important they’re just master classes in doing credible and fun wrestling on this weird TV program. Cesaro did a torture rack to backbreaker, then won clean with a Sharpshooter. The intrigue!

The rest of the matches were very TV, especially Ruby Riott/Bayley with Billie Kay hijinks.

I think the worst part of the Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode team (which now has a mashup theme!) is that it’s actually not bad.

The Big E/Sami Zayn/Apollo Crews triple threat for the IC Title was good, but not good good.

Roman Reigns being very serious with Edge (yep! 3 for 3!) was compelling TV and if we’re not getting any new champions before Mania I would think that’s the most interesting move, though maybe that’s just because Roman was so good at selling it. Loved the Kevin Owens run-in, a legit surprise. Oh Canada!

Rating: 6/10

205 LIVE (2/5/21)

Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari beat Matt Martel & Sunil Singh, then attacked Jake Atlas and August Grey after Grey beat Atlas. What a statement!

I wish these matches were more interesting.

Rating: 2/10