Last Sunday was TakeOver: In Your House, this Sunday is Hell in a Cell, and Samoa Joe is back as the Assistant GM in NXT.
There was a Hell in a Cell on Friday too and Noam Dar has a new t-shirt. Is business picking up? I have no idea anymore.
Working Man’s Recap
Good Work: Kofi Kingston, Samoa Joe, KUSHIDA, Nathan Frazer, Sami Zayn, Tony Nese
World: RAW Still Sucks, Samoa Joe Returns, KUSHIDA’s Cruiserweight Open Challenge, The Tribal Chief & The Usos
Wrestling: Tornado Tag Team Match: Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans (NXT 6/15/21), Hell in a Cell – WWE Universal Title: Roman Reigns [c] w/ Paul Heyman vs. Rey Mysterio (SmackDown 6/18/21)
Entertainment: Samoa Joe returns to NXT (NXT 6/15/21), Sami Zayn reacts to Kevin Owens being laid out (SmackDown 6/18/21)
RAW (6/14/21)
In what should not be a surprise, RAW continued to be bad this week.
The territory died months ago so you’re just hoping for highlights. New Day vs. RK-Bro had some pep, as did Rhea Ripley vs. Asuka.
Jeff Hardy putting up his career on the line against Cedric Alexander felt as important as Elias choosing to get counted out against Jaxson Ryker.
Failed ace Drew McIntyre vs. AJ Styles was the main event until it became a 6-man tag with Bobby Lashley, Omos and the Viking Raiders. WWE not filling up the Thunderdome PPV’s means we’re going to stretch out and wait until we see the Raiders get their Tag Title shot… until it randomly opens RAW in a couple weeks probably. So. It. Goes….
NXT (6/15/21)
Two brands are relied on to introduce new WWE signees: 205 Live and KUSHIDA’s Cruiserweight Title. KUSHIDA vs. Trey Baxter (the former Blake Christian renamed extra generically) was a fine introduction to young Baxter, perhaps more notable for Kyle O’Reilly moving on from the main event and scouting KUSHIDA.
Between this and Samoa Joe, it was the least bleak NXT in a bit. Right: Samoa Joe returned to WWE this week a couple months after being released, albeit now as NXT co-GM and not RAW commentator. Perhaps there are issues with him choking out Adam Cole or the confusing nature of his re-emergence, but the endgame of Joe as new Bill Watts seems positive. Maybe.
Cameron Grimes came to the rescue of Ted DiBiase after LA Knight made a pretty telegraphed turn on the old man, rendering the Ladder Match at TakeOver extra pointless. Breezango upset Imperium then got a flag draped over them; Raquel Gonzalez & Io Shirai vs. Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro went a couple commercials.
The main event was Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans in a Tornado Tag Match, and it delivered whatever it was promising. Chaotic fun was one of the more preferred styles from the COVID era.
MAIN EVENT (6/16/21)
T-BAR & MACE worked a hilariously competitive match with Lucha House Party this week, like they were instructed to prove they could do it but probably got themselves pushed even further off TV by actually trying it. Ricochet downed Drew Gulak in the mid-range 205 Live main event.
NXT UK (6/17/21)
“Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Not this little piggy!” That’s how Sam Gradwell kicked off this week’s show prior to his match with Wolfgang and it kind of ruled, but then the bell rang and they wrestled and Wolfgang won.
With Meiko Satomura winning the NXT UK Women’s Title last week and WALTER preparing for his next once-a-quarter challenge, this was a slower week than usual. Kenny Williams is acting crazy, Noam Dar has a new t-shirt, and Jordan Devlin (in tight white pants) confronted A-Kid (in stylish turtleneck).
There is a Triple Threat between Ilja Dragunov, Rampage Brown and Joe Coffey next week for some reason, so they did a sit-down back-and-forth. Immediately after, Mark Coffey tried to stir shit with Sha Samuels backstage. NXT UK has many things to address, but Joe and Mark Coffey segments back-to-back should be #1 on things not to do — I watch this every week and still could barely tell them apart.
Nathan Frazer vs. Rohan Raja was a full WWE young lions and way more than anyone might expect. Frazer is impressive as both a fiery underdog and confident veteran even at age 22, while I thought Raja weirdly stood out getting squashed by Teoman a couple months back and here he was again pulling this off: competitive hold-trading, wild flying, a finish that didn’t feel contrived – good stuff.
Flash Morgan Webster & Dani Luna vs. Joseph Conners & Jinny was your main event.
SMACKDOWN (6/18/21)
Roman tried to be diplomatic.
WWE announced the Roman Reigns vs. Rey Mysterio Hell in a Cell Match planned for Sunday was moving up two days and going to be on SmackDown. I was definitely looking forward to seeing feud this play out on Father’s Day of all days, but in the Nothing Matters era the move was just another one of those things. The match was still fun, realistically as good as Storyteller Roman and Stem Cell Mysterio were probably going to pull off without a live crowd hanging on everything. Rey brought all the pain he could at Roman with weapons and tools before Roman started beating ass. In the era of crash pads and crazy bumps, the powerbomb from inside the ring to the Cell wall was an incredible way to close up too.
The opening tag (Kevin Owens/Big E vs. Apollo Crews/Commander Azeez) was more about Sami Zayn being a total goof, extra expressive as he entered on commentary then practically horny as he watched Owens writhe in pain after the match.
Shinsuke Nakamura beat King Corbin in a Battle for the Crown, Bayley stepped on Bianca Belair‘s ponytail, and Cesaro pushed Seth Rollins over in a chair.
205 LIVE (6/18/21)
205 Live’s roster has been casually replenished, though I’m not sure what that means for the other guys. Where’s Curt Stallion been?
I either hate or love new guy Grayson Waller and there won’t be an in-between. He gets points for his stupid poses; he loses points for doing a roll-through Stunner.
Messy headscissors off the apron and some general hesitancy aside, Ikeman Jiro had his first standout match in WWE with low key MVP Tony Nese: slick kick setups, great near falls, and quality jacket spots.
