On July 16th crowds resumed attending WWE’s shows, and after a honeymoon period the verdict is in: TV still isn’t great. It’s been more interesting than usual and mostly beats a Thunderdome show, but those are both things by circumstance: SummerSlam is coming up and they aren’t in a Thunderdome.
Even if the boys and girls work hard and make the right friends backstage, the sloppy shop that’s WWE Corporate keeps wrapping itself around the product with a glass ceiling for everyone. With great power comes great responsibility, and the McMahon Fam and Associates continues to bungle it.
As wrestling fans we like to say positive things about our wrestlers, especially in rough times. I can’t say for sure that any of the 10-12 talents released last week were going to make it in WWE — sans maybe Desmond Troy, WTF guys? But that’s no longer on the talent, not in such a bloated system — it’s on WWE, more than ever. The rest of us are working.
WWE TV Recap (8/1/21 – 8/7/21)
Highlights:
- No Holds Barred – Championship Contender’s Match: Nikki ASH vs. Charlotte Flair (RAW 8/2/21)
- Dakota Kai video promo on Raquel Gonzalez (NXT 8/3/21)
- 30-Minute Iron Man Match: A-Kid vs. Jordan Devlin (NXT UK 8/5/21)
- Edge in-ring promo on Seth Rollins; Rollins appears via satellite (SmackDown 8/6/21)
- Finn Balor/Roman Reigns confrontation (SmackDown 8/6/21)
Stuff Happening: SummerSlam, Cena/Reigns + Balor, McIntyre/Mahal, Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis is Love, Edge/Rollins, WWE Releases Bronson Reed and 12 others from NXT/Developmental
Good Work: MVP, Nikki ASH, Dakota Kai, A-Kid, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns
RAW (8/2/21)
AEW just sold out the United Center and like 3 other shows in Chicago while WWE returned to the Allstate Arena with the same troll job they’ve been running since CM Punk left. On a show I am glad I did not attend, they gave the people what they could not possibly want: McIntyre Handicap Match, Nia Jax singles match, MizTV dick jokes, a Charlotte Flair in-ring promo AND main event… the balls on display!
- At least Drew McIntyre finally used his sword. Not in a stabby way but at least in a way.
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Nia Jax vs. Rhea Ripley was maybe 3 minutes and not good, but the Riptide on Jax after the match felt like Hogan slamming Andre. Nia Jax with her new curly hair and a face covered in blood made for a badass wrestling visual too.
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Mustafa Ali seems to be going back to the good guy squad but got laid out by T-BAR & MACE.
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She’s still just called Doudrop, man!
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Damian Priest vs. John Morrison then Priest and Ricochet vs. Morrison and Sheamus was a segment with talent but they’re all doing stupid things.
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Omos flew solo this week and cut a great promo before his match: “Riddle‘s scooter came first, Riddle’s spine comes next.” That’s right. That’s a wrestler.
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The Keith Lee Situation evolved this week as he got a win back over Karrion Kross – cracking start on RAW for the foundations of NXT the last two years.
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He’s just named Reggie now!
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The Nikki ASH/Charlotte Flair No Holds Barred Championship Contender’s Match (..) main event powered through a redundant stipulation and potentially tough crowd, creating the only real bright spot on the show. Charlotte can do a gimmick main event while Nikki ensured it was never generic, both with her likability and willingness to do insane wrestling things.
NXT (8/3/21)
With imminent releases hanging over the Performance Center (or wherever people train now), NXT aired a taped show that ranged from boring to offensive.
- Hit Row and Legado del Fantasma opened the show with a tag match, then afterwards within maybe 30-seconds did both a heel beatdown AND babyface comeback. Talk about making sure none of it worked.
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On the contrary, Ikeman Jiro did some tremendous biz-ness for returning big guy Ridge Holland. Holland, Pete Dunne and Oney Lorcan are a cool trio on paper but still working out the character chemistry.
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Does Robert Stone have another job with WWE? This man has had a lengthy, legendary run of not much.
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Bobby Fish was one of the names released, and his last match was against former pal Roderick Strong. Hate to say it was kind of boring. They tried to keep it all realistic but never found a groove.
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Cameron Grimes and LA Knight continues to be fun, even if history teaches us the positives coming out of it will not be taken advantage of.
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Joe Gacy beat my boy Desmond Troy to qualify for the Breakout Tournament to begin with, so I was just tickled to see him go down to Trey Baxter in the first round. I wish these Breakout Round 1 matches were designed to standout, but they are not.
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Io Shirai introduced Zoey Stark to sushi as if it was bull dick or a cockroach and I just don’t think they are going to be the next Team Hell No or something. Worst possible version of the Murdoch/Adonis skits.
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That loser Karrion Kross and Samoa Joe are still headed towards a match for the NXT Title at TakeOver 36. How does that follow WALTER/Dragunov? I’m getting nervous.
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The Dexter Lumis vignette featuring shots of past art he’s drawn was the most effective match build-up WWE has done since Michaels/Undertaker, and the show ended with him beating Johnny Gargano in a Love Her or Leave Her Match to secure the affections of Indi Hartwell. It was a nice moment, as NXT’s soap opera within a super indie within a soap opera rolls on…
MAIN EVENT (8/4/21)
- With crowds back, it both expected and obscenely strange that Main Event continues as the same exact show.
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Lince Dorado vs. Angel Garza and Jaxson Ryker vs. Cedric Alexander were the matches this week.
NXT UK (8/5/21)
After maybe 15 promos to setup next week’s card, this show ended with A-Kid vs. Jordan Devlin in a 30-Minute Iron Man Match. There are worse things you can end on.
- First, Blair Davenport beat Xia Brookside and she used two variations of the V-Trigger to do it.
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Flash Morgan Webster slapped Wolfgang so hard to setup a match. Just insanely hard, it may be one of 10 NXT UK things I’d recommend seeking out just for how insane it was.
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Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz had their first tag match together, the start of something that hopefully doesn’t end like Killian & Drake.
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Overall, I don’t think the Iron Man Match justified its’ runtime. It had plenty of incredible action, but only here and there — by the end it went 2-1 like almost every other Iron Man Match, and in between there were patches that I just couldn’t buy into. Still, A-Kid does a backflip off the second rope into a sleeper hold. The guy is amazing, and they delivered an amazing 15 or 20 minute match stretched to 30 and broken up by some pins.
SMACKDOWN (8/6/21)
John Cena wasn’t on this show, and when you are going all in on John Cena you don’t want to just not have John Cena.
- Sasha Banks equals pop.
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Dominik Mysterio vs. Jey Uso was not near the opener Rey/Jimmy was last week, though Dom can hit that tope sunset flip powerbomb almost as good as pops.
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The Championship Contender’s match bug hit SmackDown, and the people were quiet for King Nakamura/Apollo Crews before it ended on a DQ. Bianca Belair keeps being a star, but the match with Zelina Vega just did not move me much.
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Natalya is out with injury so suddenly Tamina is a singles star, as if we can not improvise anything else. Shotzi & Nox were back and Nox beat her by tank ball. Toni Storm remains MIA.
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Edge is such a WWE promo, effective enough for a casual crowd but the same thing every single time. Seth Rollins of all people has changed his whole thing up, and by the time he responded to one of Edge’s quips with a laughing “hallelujah” I knew I was watching greatness.
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Finn Balor was mean to Kayla Braxton backstage, squashed Baron Corbin‘s broke ass, and pushed the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns down before getting laid out by the Usos in what was a great angle to setup maybe the pay-per-view after SummerSlam.
205 LIVE (8/6/21)
This was the second 205 Live this year featuring two guys that got fired earlier in the day. If there is one thing I don’t like in my wrestling, it is a general sadness.
- Leon Ruff is a tiny man but had too many great performances to just get dropped without exploring the lovable underdog potential. He said “how y’all doing?” to the crowd during his entrance too, like come on. And he beat Grayson Waller. Someone isn’t talking to somebody in Stamford.
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KUSHIDA vs. Ari Sterling was only a little over 5 minutes, so more a showcase than a match but it was a solid showcase. Alex Zayne will accomplish things, just maybe not here. Definitely not on 205 Live.
