There were four WWE championships defended on TV this week – five if you count the 24/7 Championship at the dog park.
WWE TV Recap (8/29/21 – 9/4/21)
Highlights:
- Triple Threat Match – WWE U.S. Title: Damian Priest [c] vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus (RAW 8/30/21)
- Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax (RAW 8/30/21)
- Ikeman Jiro vs. Roderick Strong (NXT 8/31/21)
- SmackDown Tag Team Championship Contender’s Match: The Usos vs. Street Profits (SmackDown 9/3/21)
- Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins (SmackDown 9/3/21)
- WWE Universal Title: Roman Reigns [c] vs. Finn Balor (SmackDown 9/3/21)
Stuff Happening: Damian Priest, Extreme Rules and Saudi Arabia, NXT Going Through Some Things, Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor, Daniel Bryan and Adam Cole to AEW
Good Work: Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, Roderick Strong, Kay Lee Ray, Emilia McKenzie, Nathan Frazer, Street Profits, Finn Balor
RAW (8/30/21)
Well, what’s the show about? It’s about nothing!
- The RAW roster and its’ championships were actually kind of utilized this week, though it could just be a side effect of disorganization.
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U.S. Champion Damien Priest got picked to show up and show up he did, admirably opening the show with a promo then delivering a tremendous Triple Threat Match with Drew McIntyre and Sheamus. Three tall boys flying all over lit the crowd up, especially when Sheamus blocked the Claymore with a Brouge kick.
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The Miz and Alexa Bliss both did something new last week and this week they were not on the show.
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Nia Jax wrestled two matches.
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The one with Jax and Charlotte Flair will probably be best remembered as unprofessional over awesome, but for a little bit it seemed like they stopped cooperating live on television. The other stuff on the show is ideally better so stuff like this doesn’t stand out, but hey: it’s RAW!
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Reggie escapes, Doudrop endures. Karrion Kross, The Viking Raiders.
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AJ Styles vs. Xavier Woods was OK for a minute, then for another minute Woods struggled in the Calf Crusher before tapping out.
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Goldberg is very angry with Bobby Lashley, who has already moved on from attacking a teenager and teamed with MVP in the main event to challenge RK-Bro for the RAW Tag Team Titles. RK-Bro won.
NXT (8/31/21)
As NXT waits for their reboot in two weeks, they put on a show that kind of felt like NXT Originals vs. NXT New Class if anyone cared or was paying attention.
- Mandy Rose responded to Sarray’s running dropkick by getting counted out – very good.
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Kyle O’Reilly vs. Duke Hudson and Johnny Gargano vs. LA Knight got 10+ minutes each and some decent exchanges were found within, if not a pair of recommended matches.
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They are delivering on Kay Lee Ray’s introduction, or at least Kay Lee Ray is delivering on her own. Good in the ring, good on the mic. Keep going.
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Last I checked Grayson Waller was still undefeated on 205 Live but he couldn’t get it done here as Drake Maverick’s new tag team partner.
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Raquel Gonzalez beat Jessi Kamea to setup a match with Franky Monet, and I was most struck by the humungous fake crowd pop cue for Raquel’s entrance. I wish I wasn’t, but I was.
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KUSHIDA is hurt so Roderick Strong is a Cruiserweight again, or something like that. I try not to think about it too much, but we did get some flashbacks to 205 Live tournament Roddy as he faced Ikeman Jiro in a really intense enhancement match. They opened with a spot where Jiro opened his jacket to show off and Roddy just chopped him. So good.
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Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ridge Holland was all sorts of rock solid, another learning match for big Ridge who is keeping up if not standing out.
MAIN EVENT (9/1/21)
- Jeff Hardy vs. Cedric Alexander wasn’t great but sure was good, two guys who seem to just get each other. Cedric’s screams are the most underrated bit in wrestling.
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Lucha House Party clocked in and wrestled Mustafa Ali & Mansoor too.
NXT UK (9/2/21)
A show that advertised an appearance by Ilja Dragunov for next week.
- Blair Davenport was supposed to open the show against Nina Samuels but instead she beat her up then beat up Sid Scala too. Cool angle, weird participant.
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As far as in-ring action goes, Bomber Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz won a match together and Emilia McKenzie rolled up Amale.
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Outside the ring, a Symbiosis 6-man got setup and Gallus interrupted Pretty Deadly’s TikTok. Those are factual statements.
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The main event was Nathan Frazer vs. Teoman in Round 1 of the Heritage Cup #1 contender’s tournament and it had some tremendous selling if not all-around wrestling. Teoman advanced in a result so unexpected it seemed to kill the fake crowd.
SMACKDOWN (9/3/21)
There were three good matches on this show, but otherwise it felt like a pre-show for MSG next week.
- The Becky Lynch heel reboot is still sorting itself out.
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Toni Storm appeared for the first time in a month in a backstage segment to tease a thing with Dolph Ziggler. I just m-
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The three good matches though – all absolutely formulaic (and each pairing has a better match out there), but the boys went hard.
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The Usos vs. Street Profits for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles was probably the first of a few more, but they work well together and the Usos will always get folks out of their seats for a finish.
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Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins has cooled down as a feud, but the wrestling — they can wrestle.
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Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor for the Universal Title seems like it’ll continue too, but for a 10-minute TV main event it felt pretty great — a cliffnotes version of what they might go for should they make it to pay-per-view, all action and some impressive close calls for Finn before the inevitable.
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For a company that prides themselves on production, the Demon cue post-match kind of sucked.
205 LIVE (9/3/21)
OHHHH we got a format change! Not really. Just 3 matches instead of 2. Anything different gets me excited on this show.
- Amari Miller/Cora Jade, Joe Gacy/Josh Briggs, and Andre Chase/Xion Quinn all went to work and no offense to anyone besides Triple H but it was a pretty sad commentary on WWE developmental.
