The people are back and so is JOHN CENA! Or is it John Cena is back and so are the people?
No… this time I think it’s the first one.
With people back there is plenty of stuff happening in WWE, some of it pretty cool too. Some of it’s stupid and counter-productive, too. But some of it is pretty damn cool.
WWE TV Recap (7/18/21 – 7/24/21)
Highlights:
- John Cena challenges Roman Reigns (RAW 7/19/21)
- Keith Lee vs. Bobby Lashley w/ MVP (RAW 7/19/21)
- Drew McIntyre attacks Jinder Mahal with a chair (RAW 7/19/21)
- Kyle O’Reilly vs. Austin Theory (NXT 7/20/21)
- LA Knight forces Cameron Grimes to hit Drake Maverick (NXT 7/20/21)
- John Cena in-ring promo (SmackDown 7/23/21)
- Seth Rollins interrupts Edge (SmackDown 7/23/21)
- Roman Reigns turns down John Cena and Finn Balor challenges Reigns (SmackDown 7/23/21)
Stuff Happening: Crowds Back, SummerSlam, Cena challenges Reigns, Keith Lee Returns, Goldberg challenges Lashley, Jeff Hardy beats Karrion Kross, Nikki A.S.H. wins RAW Women’s Title, Karrion Kross attacks William Regal, WALTER/Dragunov II Postponed, Big E wins MITB, Edge/Seth Rollins Feud, Toni Storm Debuts, Balor challenges Reigns
Good Work: John Cena, Keith Lee, Charlotte Flair, Cameron Grimes, Kyle O’Reilly, Laura di Matteo, Big E, Seth Rollins
RAW (7/19/21)
RAW took place less than twenty-four hours after the return of John Cena so it had that going for it, though they also treated it as a mini RAW after Mania and I was entertained.
- PACKED arena.
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John Cena is just the value statement of all this, an energy and clarity that makes it feel like wrestling has to exist.
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Yes, give the people their 6-man tags: Viking Raiders/Riddle vs. AJ Styles/Omos/John Morrison was fun stuff with some high-quality banter from Miz and Morrison.
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Jaxson Ryker, I still can’t believe it.
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Charlotte Flair and I have had our ups and downs, but she crushed it this week.
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24/7 Champion Reginald who does handspring backflips to avoid confrontation might have legs.
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Drew McIntyre wearing all black with no theme music beating up foreigners… maybe they do want him to succeed.
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Jeff Hardy got “No More Words” back and he beat the NXT Champion – like Cena, Hardy is a crowd man.
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A PPV rematch with a DQ finish for the main event was very WWE, as was the make-good with Nikki A.S.H. cashing in Money in the Bank.
NXT (7/20/21)
Between a main event cut short by injury and general low effort elsewhere, this was a forgettable night of Tuesday rasslin.
- KUSHIDA/Bobby Fish vs. Roderick Strong/Tyler Rust re-affirmed all the boys can hook, baby. Diamond Mine should win a match though.
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The Way is both a good time and appears headed for a break-up.
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Kyle O’Reilly vs. Austin Theory was unironically good TV wrestling. Kyle went back to is roots and Theory showed growth.
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Odyssey Jones squashed Andre Chase to advance in the Breakout Tournament.
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Imperium is still here without WALTER.
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I thought the angle with LA Knight forcing Cameron Grimes to punch Drake Maverick was excellent, just quality old-school heat in 2021 at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
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I also just realized I’ve been referring to LA Knight as “Eli Drake” for the past month on Happy Wrestling Land.
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Samoa Joe was looking for Karrion Kross all show, presumably because he got chumped out so bad on RAW. When he found him, Kross had beaten up William Regal.
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The build to… something… continues…
MAIN EVENT (7/21/21)
Main Event has got crowds back and the original 205 Live roster and it’s still just nothing.
- Angel Garza vs. Drew Gulak and Ricochet vs. Cedric Alexander were the matches this week.
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Am I recommending them? Nope.
NXT UK (7/22/21)
NXT UK was re-formatted to account for WALTER/Dragunov II being postponed (either due to injury or decision to push the match to TakeOver), though it wasn’t much better. Triple H, HBK and William Regal making the announcement may have been my favorite part. DX 2021 has the cool factor of a sales manager announcing someone quit and their accounts will be dispersed shortly.
- Symbiosis and the Teoman gimmick may hit in a WMAC Masters kind of way. May.
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Laura Di Matteo got a “great showing” against Nina Samuels.
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Blair Davenport is already the WORST.
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I’ll deny it if you say I told you but Supernova Sessions with Noam Dar is legitimately funny.
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Joseph Conners doing Supernova Sessions then re-entering for a singles match right after was some real studio TV stuff, I loved it. The match wasn’t much.
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Jordan Devlin and Moustache Mountain both did promos with the strangest lightning.
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Pretty Deadly retained the NXT UK Tag Team Titles over Subculture in a main event of two teams at a crossroads, one trending upward and one re-inventing itself but both continuing to have the same match.
SMACKDOWN (7/23/21)
It’s a few days later and I still can’t believe how bad WWE handled filming at the Rolling Loud festival. The middle of SmackDown was a sea of people in Miami waiting for Bobby Shmurda as WWE put on two matches they couldn’t even see, with matches worked and filmed as if they were back at the Performance Center and COVID just hit.
- Other than that, OK show.
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John Cena is just better at this – who else adds “pretty please” to a wrestling challenge?
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Finn Balor squashing Sami Zayn (with a few twists) just hit different after a year of no crowds and both guys re-building themselves.
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Big E – he’s over.
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It’s a few days later and I still can’t believe how bad WWE handled filming at the Rolling Loud festival. A cool idea with comically corporate execution.
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Edge and Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin – these are guys with good on-screen chemistry.
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Toni Storm and Jimmy Uso won matches.
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Roman Reigns rejected Cena’s challenge (along with a longform missionary sex metaphor) to end the show, though that was answered with a challenge from Finn Balor – one of those confrontations that is so logical and cool that WWE rarely does it. The people are back and so is the movement.
205 LIVE (7/23/21)
205 Live continues to fulfill its’ contractual obligations.
- Guru Raaj vs. Asher Hale and Jake Atlas vs. Ari Sterling were the matches this week.
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There’s still talent here, but they’re working WWE stale style and the end game might just be a loss on NXT.
