You either die a hero or blog long enough to see your website’s name become something that people might confuse for a Baron Corbin fanpage.
WWE TV Recap (9/19/21 – 9/25/21)
Highlights:
- Big E promo on winning the WWE Title (RAW 9/20/21)
- The New Day vs. The Bloodline (RAW 9/20/21)
- Triple Threat Match: Big E vs. Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley (RAW 9/20/21)
- Tony D’Angelo, Andre Chase and Ikeman Jiro vignettes (NXT 9/21/21)
- Handicap Match: Odyssey Jones vs. Darren Ciapetta & Cary Millman (NXT 9/21/21)
- Tommaso Ciampa & Bron Breakker vs. Pete Dunne & Ridge Holland (NXT 9/21/21)
- Becky Lynch/Bianca Belair in-ring confrontation (SmackDown 9/24/21)
- Montez Ford backstage interview on The Usos (SmackDown 9/24/21)
- Montez Ford vs. Roman Reigns (SmackDown 9/24/21)
Stuff Happening: Extreme Rules, WWE Champion Big E, Nikki ASH & Rhea Ripley Win Women’s Tag Team Titles, Bron Breakker Rising, Double Digit Introductions on NXT 2.0, Becky Lynch/Bianca Belair
Good Work: Big E, Roman Reigns, Bron Breakker, Andre Chase, Odyssey Jones, Ikeman Jiro, Becky Lynch, Montez Ford
RAW (9/20/21)
Open and close your show with the infectious joy of Big E and two good matches and you’ve got the best RAW in a while. Just kind of by default.
- A six-man tag between The New Day and The Bloodline opened the show, a good reliable match with a Big E/Roman Reigns staredown that was just miraculous.
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Doudrop finally has a less goofball look and that’s good news, but you really shouldn’t be able to put on a TV show where someone is named “Doudrop.” WWE seems allergic to actually giving her an actual babyface moment too, which really felt like the whole point.
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Nia Jax vs. Shayna Baszler brought some pain and punches for a bit before a very loud scream when Shayna messed up Nia’s arm. Or leg. I don’t remember.
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Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss had a mic exchange I can only describe as Britt Baker/Ruby Soho Lite. It’s a new world now.
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AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus were a pair of Perfectly Fine Matches from four Men of a Certain Age. Usually reliable, mostly boring.
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In a development that felt like it skipped a step or two in the WWE Universe, Nikki A.S.H. & Rhea Ripley won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles.
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A Triple Threat between Big E, Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley closed the show, an actual blast of a match that kept the action flowing and made E look like a killer.
NXT (9/21/21)
What happened here? A lot. NXT 2.0 is spending effort on not just Big & Tall Vince Guys but some of the recent 205 Live additions from Ikeman Jiro to Joe Gacy. Everything isn’t hitting 100%, but watching it all back-to-back is a lot better than watching characters WWE assumes are already established going through the motions every week.
- Roderick Strong (with Diamond Mine) beat KUSHIDA for the Cruiserweight Title in about 5 minutes with a rollup, then got challenged by Grayson Waller. It all happened so fast.
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Also: WWE’s First Singaporean Superstar Dante Chen made his debut, Trey Baxter got a kiss, Briggs & Jensen drank beers, The Creed Brothers did suplexes, Ikeman Jiro got a video, Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams refused disrespect, Odyssey Jones no-sold a chairshot, and Joe Gacy tried out some kind of shitlib gimmick. So! Much! STUFF!
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Not satisfied with stealing the show at In-Dex’s Wedding, Andre Chase‘s University might be the best new bit of all. I’m as surprised as you are.
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Tony D’Angelo! Lash Legend!!
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New good boy Bron Breakker teamed with Tommaso Ciampa against Pete Dunne & Ridge Holland in the TV main event, and among other assorted spots that made Bron look strong he casually gorilla press powerslammed big Ridge. Until next week on WWF Superstars…
MAIN EVENT (9/22/21)
- Cedric Alexander over Lince Dorado and Karrion Kross over Ricochet were this week’s matches. Cedric caught Dorado’s handspring elbow and turned it into the lumbar check, and I thought that was very cool.
NXT UK (9/23/21)
It was a quieter show than usual for the lads this week, and that really is saying something.
- Wolfgang advanced to the finals of the NXT UK Heritage Cup #1 Contender’s Tournament with a win over Teoman, which really doesn’t speak very well of this whole tournament.
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Jinny beat Isla Dawn with Joseph Conners‘ help, suspended Blair Davenport made threats, and Charlie Dempsey debuts next week.
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A-Kid became the #1 Contender for Ilja Dragunov’s NXT UK Title when he beat Nathan Frazer and Rampage Brown in the Triple Threat main event that would’ve probably been better if it was just A-Kid vs. Nathan Frazer.
SMACKDOWN (9/24/21)
More than anything, Friday night was a show that experimented with singles star Montez Ford and HEY — it was really fun.
- In a quality go-home segment before Extreme Rules, Bianca Belair demanded Becky Lynch “put some respect on my name” and Becky straight-up slapped her in the face.
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Rick Boogs suplexing Commander Azeez on the floor was the best spot of a Shinsuke Nakamura/Apollo Crews Intercontinental Title match.
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In advance of her match with Carmella at Extreme Rules, Liv Morgan lost to Zelina Vega with Carmella’s help. Very good, very creative.
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Happy Corbin introduced his Happy Time talk show, giving this very site a serious identity crisis. Riddick Moss also showed up as Happy Corbin’s heater. This is the most effort WWE has put in a new character since The Fiend.
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Nikki A.S.H. & Rhea Ripley look to be moving on from Natalya/Tamina to Shotzi & Nox, just as The Usos are setting up their next thing with Otis & Chad Gable and Roman his thing with Brock Lesnar. It’s called storytelling.
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Roman Reigns vs. Montez Ford headlined and Montez was just cool under pressure all night: cut two great promos, went toe-to-toe with big Roman in a TV main event, and when he stepped onto the commentary table and it broke under his weight he paused and recovered like an absolute all-star professional.
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Ford has everything WWE could want in a superstar besides size, so it was fun to see him overcompensate against Roman with overhand chops too. The frog splash guillotine choke counter finish was nice too. Good wrestling.
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“The Demon” showed up too.
205 LIVE (9/24/21)
WWE still has so many people on the roster that it’s nice when they’re like, “Hey! We should have one of the more experienced ones work with one of the newer ones.”
- Xion Quinn looks the part and, well, he squashed Oney Lorcan.
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Ikeman Jiro beat Malik Blade in a decent match.
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Ember Moon crushed Cora Jade with an Eclipse in the main event. Weird Developmental continues.
