We went Beyond Thunderdome, and now we’re back. NXT is on Tuesday’s now!
Working Man’s Recap
Good Work: Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, WALTER, The Way, Drew Gulak, Nathan Frazer, Noam Dar, Bianca Belair, Montez Ford
World: Post-WrestleMania(ish), NXT’s 3 Musketeers, 4/15 Releases, Superstar Bianca Belair
Wrestling: Bobby Lashley w/ MVP vs. Riddle (RAW 4/12/21), Most of NXT 4/13/21
Entertainment: Raquel Gonzalez/Rhea Ripley/Bianca Belair reunion (NXT 4/13/21), WALTER and Imperium’s warning (NXT 4/13/21), Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman promo (SmackDown 4/16/21), Bianca Belair’s Victory Party (SmackDown 4/16/21)
RAW (4/12/21)
Like a RAW After Mania from the 90s, and by that I mean not much happened. Viking Raiders and a run-in from T-BAR and MACE, yeah? OK.
Charlotte Flair is back too, and will re-define herself by being the same.
Bobby Lashley vs. Riddle to start the show was random but a good competitive match and I can’t believe Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods actually got something out of Elias & his MAGA friend.
Asuka and Rhea Ripley had a clunkier sequel from WrestleMania, and I can’t say I was entertained by any of the following: Nia Jax slipping. Alexa Bliss‘ new doll. The Firefly Fun House.
That suck-up Drew McIntyre showed up for work again too after he was humiliated on Saturday, and he wrestled Randy Orton and Braun Strowman in a triple threat that really just brought this all back down to earth.
NXT (4/13/21)
The first Tuesday show had some good wrestling with that lovely dull vibe NXT gives off so much.
MSK vs. Drake/Killian for the NXT Tag Team Titles had Drake fired up to do the wrestling, while KUSHIDA beating Santos Escobar for the Cruiserweight Title seemed like a sudden if not sensible choice. Leon Ruff vs. Swerve Scott had the best bits from TakeOver’s Gauntlet Match, so that was nice.
The Way is hilarious and I dug the 8-man/woman main event, something that felt actually different on NXT.
The debut of Franky Monet and her dog was quickly overshadowed by a reunion of WrestleMania weekend’s three new champions, all allegedly products of the WWE Performance Center: Raquel Gonzalez, Rhea Ripley, and Bianca Belair – the latter of whom felt like a major major star. Very cool.
Loved WALTER sending in threats from enemy territory too.
MAIN EVENT (4/14/21)
The Wednesday Night Wars can continue if you time it just right. Hope they do something again with these fellas on RAW or SmackDown, but on Main Event you can see Mansoor taking a German suplex on his head from Tozawa and Drew Gulak doing wacky submissions to Humberto Carrillo.
NXT UK (4/15/21)
A week after Prelude, NXT UK is back to “finding itself” – though Noam Dar and Sam Gradwell are legit funny.
Nathan Frazer is comically ready for a run and had a good opener with Saxon Huxley, highlighted by a totally psychotic tope. Piper Niven meanwhile is dealing with the trauma of not winning the Women’s Title so she’s trying to buck up Jack Starz. Mixed bag, this show.
A match between former tag team partners Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan headlined the show. They tried. They tried.
SMACKDOWN (4/16/21)
This was also a pretty quiet follow-up to WrestleMania, though you can do a lot worse thanRoman Reigns promos and Main Event Jey Uso.
Nothing but love for the Bianca Belair celebration and the very thought of a Rey Mysterio vs. Otis match, too.
Street Profits lost to Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode; Shayna Baszler to Natalya. They ran back Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn and Apollo Crews introduced Commander Azeez. Ah JEEZ!
Cesaro got all the shine against Jey Uso in a fun main event that ended with Seth Rollins interference, meaning we’ve got ol’ Double C feuding with both Reigns and Rollins right now. What a world.
205 LIVE (4/16/21)
205 Live continues to be Main Event starring Nese and Daivari. Jake Atlas beat Ashante “Thee” Adonis and August Grey beat Tony Nese with Ariya Daivari on commentary.
