Welcome to the Peacock Era, on the Fastlane to WrestleMania. Something like that. Is this still a wrestling company??
Working Man’s Recap
Good Work: Bobby Lashley, Kofi & Woods, WALTER, Nathan Frazier, Meiko Satomura, Sasha Banks, Daniel Bryan, Sami Zayn
World: Slow Road to WrestleMania, WALTER Comes to America, NXT’s Bloated Women’s Division, SmackDown is Pretty Good
Wrestling: RAW Tag Team Title: Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander [c] w/ MVP vs. Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods (RAW 3/15/21), SmackDown Women’s Title: Sasha Banks [c] vs. Nia Jax w/ Shayna Baszler (SmackDown 3/19/21)
Entertainment: WALTER powerbombs Tommaso Ciampa (NXT 3/17/21), Daniel Bryan/Roman Reigns in-ring confrontation (SmackDown 3/19/21), Big E/Apollo Crews split-screen interview and brawl (SmackDown 3/19/21)
RAW (3/15/21)
Most of the crew got in place for WrestleMania this week, less than a month out from the big show (remember him?): Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods won the RAW Tag Team Titles so AJ Styles & Omos could challenge them, Damian Priest squashed Jaxson Ryker so The Miz could attack Bad Bunny, Shane McMahon poured slime on Braun Strowman, and Alexa Bliss challenged Randy Orton to a wrestling match. Did I get all that right?
Oh, Mustafa Ali got really mad at Retribution again when he lost to Riddle. I mean, I’d be mad too.
The Tag Titles switch was random but pretty good, and I’ve got to say: Bobby Lashley and Sheamus put in some work in the main event.
Otherwise, RAW continues to be bad and I do not recommend spending any time with it.
NXT (3/17/21)
NXT continues to feel too much like talented wrestlers inserted into all the lamest WWE beats. Finn Balor and Karrion Kross challenging for the Tag Titles before their Title match is a beat; Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly getting arrested is a beat. Even Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon teaming up to tell mom jokes feels like the result of some machine.
There were wrestling matches on this show, though none really stood out from the other: Dexter Lumis/Austin Theory, Breezango/Legado del Fantasma, Dakota Kai/Zoey Stark, Eli Drake/August Grey, Tommaso Ciampa/Marcel Barthel – matches in a vacuum. Bronson Reed flexing to tear up Drake’s ring jacket was the most exciting part.
Of course, NXT is usually just an injection of UK talent away from being good. Pete Dunne and Toni Storm added some weight a few months ago, and this week saw not only the U.S. return of Jordan Devlin but WALTER too. I lost it when ol’ WALT showed up to try and recruit Timothy Thatcher, and hope he kicks Karrion Kross’ boring ass too.
MAIN EVENT (3/17/21)
Main Event always gets a little sadder this time a year, as commentary has to repeat once a match the concept that the wrestlers are looking to prove themselves on the Road to WrestleMania. The truth is: if they are here right now on Main Event, they are probably not going to be on WrestleMania. Except Akira Tozawa, who lost to Lince Dorado this week but will somehow end up in a bit with Matthew McConaughey or something on Night 2.
Angel Garza vs. Humberto Carrillo was the other match. I miss those guys.
NXT UK (3/18/21)
This week was built around Trent Seven challenging Jordan Devlin for the Cruiserweight Title, which ended up a pretty average match that Seven lost. So that is a bummer. How did Devlin get back to the U.K. so fast!?
Nathan Frazier beat Ashton Smith in a match of two guys who finally have real TV gear. Meiko Satomura had a quality squash match with Dani Luna. Xia Brookside is kind of bullying Nina Samuels. And Rampage Brown pushed down WALTER.
How did WALTER get back to the U.K. so fast!?
SMACKDOWN (3/19/21)
SmackDown having a vague plan going into WrestleMania rewarded it with another solid show this week, including strong go-home angles for Roman Reigns/Daniel Bryan (what a promo!) and Big E/Apollo Crews (what a promo!!). Edge returned to the ring against Jey Uso too, and it was kind of as unremarkable as the whole run has been.
The Sasha Banks/Bianca Belair feud is getting very WWE silly but Sasha had a good title match to open the show with Nia Jax, who she has a special chemistry with. The tag division played some WWE games too with a pair of short TV matches, though you can do a lot worse than Rey & Dominik Mysterio, The Street Profits and monster Otis. Like Dolph and Bobby.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are gonna fight on the pirate ship, right?
205 LIVE (3/19/21)
Real torch-passing show this week: Ashante “Thee” Adonis” downed Ariya Daivari; Jake Atlas downed Tony Nese. Welcome to the new school. Maybe.
