You could call this week of WWE television ACTION ZONE because it was packed with it: two Steel Cage matches, Becky Lynch/Liv Morgan, NXT UK Tag Team Title change, Johnny Gargano’s farewell, the start of a RAW Tag Team Title tournament on Monday plus a 3-Way Tag Team Match to determine who the best tag team is in WWE on Friday.
Well. Terms like “action” are kind of relative. Newton said, “For every action, there is an equal anhd opposite reaction.” WWE says, “Sure about that?”
WWE TV Recap (12/5 – 12/11/21)
Highlights:
– RAW Women’s Title: Becky Lynch [c] vs. Liv Morgan (RAW 12/6/21)
– Johnny Gargano farewell promo (NXT 12/7/21)
– NXT UK Tag Team Title: Pretty Deadly [c] vs. Moustache Mountain (NXT UK 12/9/21)
– Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus (SmackDown 12/10/21)
– Xia Li debuts with lightning bolts (SmackDown 12/10/21)
Stuff Happening: Bobby Lashley attacks Big E, Becky Lynch/Liv Morgan, Johnny Gargano & Kyle O’Reilly leave WWE, Moustache Mountain win NXT UK Tag Titles, Xia Li Debuts
Good Work: Kevin Owens, Riddle, Becky Lynch, Liv Morgan, Kyle O’Reilly, Johnny Gargano, Trent Seven, Sami Zayn, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus
RAW (12/6/21)
Day One happens in a couple more weeks than WWE is used to, so the WWE Title Triple Threat Match probably just became a Fatal 4-Way Match. It’s on!!
- Big E vs. Kevin Owens in a non-title Steel Cage Match opened the show, with Seth Rollins at ringside and Bobby Lashley re-inserting himself into the title picture when he attacked Big E. The match? There was effort and a Big Ending off the top rope, but it really felt more about everything else.
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This week also began the RK-Bro-nament, an eight-team single-elimination tournament that will likely have Riddle doing 80s WWF commentator shtick during and after every match. “What is this, Dateline?” asked AJ Styles indignantly after one match. “Well… kinda” Riddle replied, grinning. The old man has got to get his giggles.
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Omos walked out on AJ Styles after they lost to Street Profits, while Chad Gable looked pretty great teaming with Otis against Dad & Son Mysterio.
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Damian Priest defended the U.S. Title against Robert Roode and probably Dolph Ziggler next. The Bianca Belair and Doudrop saga, also, continues.
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Nikki ASH got squashed by Queen Zelina, then got snubbed for an autograph request backstage by a Jerry Lawler fan. Because she’s an underdog.
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Austin Theory did jumping jacks for Mr. McMahon, then beat up Finn Balor after Balor beat T-BAR.
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Becky Lynch defended the RAW Women’s Title against Liv Morgan in the main event and though it closed a pretty cold show, they powered through with all sorts of good work: big fire from Liv, big selling from Becks. Liv just stomping the shit out of Becky’s ass was an especially inspired mid-match title spot, as was the random Rings of Saturn.
NXT (12/7/21)
“It’s never enough. This is Von Wagner and this was personal.” I don’t think it’s just Von, Wade Barrett.
- NXT also opened with a Steel Cage Match this week, which felt a little off. Maybe it was the repeat gimmick, maybe it was Kyle O’Reilly doing the favors for Von Wagner in what will probably be O’Reilly’s last WWE match.
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There was effort in the work, but again: more about everything else. Even if you are going to put over a new guy to write off the guy you’ve awkwardly been pushing out over the last six months, why also do the write-off in such a not good way?
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The Diamond Mine was very involved this week: run-in with Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams, setup for Roderick Strong/Bron Breakker, and The Creed Brothers losing to Briggs & Jensen by an ol’ rollup.
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That first one came after Carmelo Hayes‘ match with Dexter Lumis.
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Toxic Attraction moved on from WarGames and beat Valentina Feroz & Yulisa Leon, who even in NXT 2.0 may provide the strangest pre-match pose on the show.
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Also: LA Knight got the girl, Wendy Choo woke up from a slumber, and Riddle ended up being MSK‘s “Shaman” because I assume RVD said nah.
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In the last segment of the night, Johnny Gargano delivered a heartfelt goodbye before he was sent off to wherever he is going by Grayson F’Ing Waller. Of all the ones.
MAIN EVENT (12/8/21)
It was Championship Wednesday on Main Event, with an actual championship match on Main Event!
- Dana Brooke successfully defended the 24/7 Title against Tamina.
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Apollo Crews & Commander Azeez got payback for Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin‘s botched win over them sometime ago too.
NXT UK (12/9/21)
With Rampage Brown‘s challenge ending in abrupt KO, NXT UK Champion Ilja Dragunov is moving on to Jordan Devlin.
- Kenny Williams (on Subculture), A-Kid/Nathan Frazer (on each other), and Amale (on herself) handled promos this week.
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Blair Davenport over Emilia McKenzie and Sam Gradwell over Sha Samuels preceded a main event that was really pretty great if anyone was still into this.
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Considering their introduction to WWE, one might think Moustache Mountain of Tyler Bate & Trent Seven should probably be doing something else by now and that thought is probably right. They were always good at compelling tag team matches though, and Pretty Deadly put on the most ridiculous bright yellow wrestling jumpsuits to defend their NXT UK Tag Team Titles in one of them.
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“Trent Seven sells something” is a pretty basic gimmick, but in big situations he is still capable of adding something on top of it like he did — in this case, the grit that goes along with kicking out of everything Pretty Deadly could possibly do until they couldn’t do any more. Somehow, some way… the Mountain’s first NXT UK Tag Team Title run.
SMACKDOWN (12/10/21)
With an assortment of executives and celebrities in attendance, a Triple Threat Tag Match and Xia Li shooting lightning bolts headlined SmackDown’s trip to Los Angeles.
- Otherwise, it was a pretty Brock-based show. Lesnar spent his time in L.A. sparring with Paul Heyman, wheelchair Sami Zayn, and vague authority presence Adam Pearce on the way to Roman Reigns at Day One.
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Do you want to both amaze and confuse a bunch of executives? Have Drew McIntyre and Sheamus beat each other’s ass in front of them, and have them watch Drew put his sword through Adam Pearce’s desk on the big screen too.
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Toni Storm had a Championship Contender’s Match with Charlotte Flair, which she won by DQ when Charlotte kicked her face into the ring post. Then Charlotte beat her up after the match. Because she’s an underdog.
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Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs squashed Los Lotharios, the cast of Jackass (including silver-haired fox Johnny Knoxville) bantered with Riddle (all 3 shows this week!), and King Woods got a new crown.
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Also, Xia Li made her debut by way of some of the coolest use of WWE’s special effects department I’ve ever seen on my television screen. She saved Naomi from a 3-on-1 attack of injustice, but it was really all about those lightning bolts shooting out of her fingers as she made her entrance. That’s a superhero if they want it.
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The New Day, The Usos and guest stars RK-Bro wrestled in the Triple Threat tag main event to determine the best tag team in WWE, and it was at least as good as any Triple Threat tag main event to determine the best tag team in WWE.
205 LIVE (12/10/21)
- Lash Legend made her in-ring debut against Amari Miller and I don’t know what happens next, but for a 5-minute introduction it worked just fine.
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Andre Chase, who has quickly become a guy that can be on SmackDown tomorrow, defeated the returning Guru Raaj. Raaj got light “Guru” chants, which Nigel explained as the crowd chanting “guru” at Chase. The good times on 205 Live!
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In the main event, newcomer Solo Sikoa beat newcomer Malik Blade.
