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danwhobrowses · 4 years ago

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WWE - Best and Worst Booking from Wrestlemania 36 to 37

Wrestlemania 37 is in the books and so a new saga of WWE booking begins anew.

But the year has had its ups and downs, in the outside world and the booking, so - for doing something new - I'm gonna run down some of the best and worst booking decisions made by WWE from the Raw after Wrestlemania 36 to Wrestlemania 37 Night 2.

I will note, these are my opinions - some of which acts upon hindsight rather than 'in the moment' - and if you're gonna call me an anti-WWE mark rest assured I plan to do this for AEW too after Double or Nothing in May

Also, there is the off chance of spoilers...somehow? But it's worth covering that base

April 2020 Best WORST - Samoa Joe on Commentary On April 27th, Samoa Joe was called upon to replace Jerry Lawler (we'll get to that) on Commentary. Joe provided a great presence to commentary and it kept him on TV, we do still await his return but seeing more of Joe is a huge plus. EDIT: This was best until just now I learn that Samoa Joe has been released, the fuck WWE?

Worst - 'Ramen Noodle Moonsault' Part of what caused Lawler's replacement was the scrutiny caused by an April 13th call by Lawler during a match between Austin Theory and Akira Tozawa. He called a Step Senton a 'Ramen Noodle Moonsault', Lawler is rarely funny nowadays with his dated comedy but this was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Best - Giving Sonya and Mandy the Floor It could've been a huge down not to see Sonya vs Mandy at Wrestlemania after she was outed in manipulating Mandy away from Otis, but their feud managed to carry on strong all the way to Summerslam thanks to Sonya stepping up her game to come off as a fantastically asshole heel - which in turn made Mandy a sympathetic character. Their post-mania build allowed for an anticipated match, it was only unfortunate that an attempted irl kidnapping in August would sour the momentum and cause Sonya to take some justified time off.

Worst - Charlotte Flair on all 3 Shows Charlotte's NXT Title win did not go down as well as WWE had hoped, somehow giving the woman that had won next to everything another title reign at the expense of Rhea Ripley's Wrestlemania debut backfired on them. And unfortunately, exposing Charlotte on all 3 shows did not help matters at all, furthering the criticisms WWE have often faced when they overbook Charlotte on the upper card.

Worst - COVID-19 and Black Wednesday While not necessarily a booking thing, it was very bad of WWE to do what they did at the time. Another outbreak raised some backstage concerns over the conduct WWE, who had tried to not acknowledge the pandemic in the same vein then-president and somehow HOFer Donald Trump had done, were acting towards the pandemic. The worst of it all though was Black Wednesday, a mass exodus of talent in the height of the pandemic was never gonna be great PR, but a lot of the talent let go were very popular - Drake Maverick's video also cast a negative light on WWE even when they rehired him and used it as a storyline. While some found greener pastures to flourish, not everyone landed well on their feet, equally baffling was that WWE would then boast a quarterly profit before rehiring some of the staff they let go.

May 2020 Best - Giving the title to Asuka While we were all surprised to see Becky Lynch survive Shayna Baszler at Wrestlemania, nobody could dispute the post MITB segment on Raw when Asuka was rightfully awarded the title for winning the MITB. Being a shining light in the Empty Arena Era, Asuka was certainly a fan favourite choice to succeed Becky as she embarked on her journey towards Motherhood. A truly wonderful segment which showed that segments can pay off just as much as wrestling.

Worst - Not Pushing Otis While Asuka's MITB victory was done right, the same could not be said for the Men's Winner. Otis had the fan's backing and while his victory was surprising especially given the competition it had potential. Which WWE then squandered and buried as hard as they could. Otis never got to develop beyond a joke act, his love interest and partner taken from him, before he would months later lose it to the Miz.

Best - MVP joins up with Lashley Lashley was in a rough spot here. His main story was cucking Rusev by having an affair with Lana, and then marrying her. The pair was not built to last and mercifully we upgraded to the MVP/Lashley partnership. Together both men began their career resurgence as they now stand at the top of the pile, this was the beginning of the Hurt Business.

Worst - The Brand-To-Brand Invitational Much like how the Wild Card Rule was stupid, the Brand-To-Brand Invitational was also stupid. Often used as a tool for Survivor Series or to bring Charlotte or Corbin over with their bad heat, overall it served nothing for the fans or the booking, regardless of whatever they named it.

Best - The Fight Pit Timothy Thatcher can still do a lot more in NXT, but he still leaves a great legacy in introducing the Fight Pit. When there's not enough people for War Games but a Steel Cage won't do, the Fight Pit sold stiff aggression with its debut affair between Thatcher and Riddle, a brutal match only since done once more. It may have been done twice, but if someone calls for a Fight Pit you know shit's gonna go down.

Worst - Stripping Sami Zayn of the IC title, for staying safe Sami Zayn had finally won a championship on the Main Roster in March, then COVID happened. While WWE did make an outward statement that anyone who didn't wish to risk their health could exclude themselves, when Sami did it he lost the championship. This was rather hypocritical given that Jordan Devlin was still the Cruiserweight Champion and an Interim Champion was being crowned, rather than an official one like Smackdown did. While Sami would return to reclaim his title, his time away is still not acknowledged.

June 2020 Best - NXT start using old show names Partially due to AEW using Bash at the Beach, WWE decided to hold onto some of theirs and WCW's old PPV names. While this was slightly petty, the way they used them proved fortuitous in exuding nostalgia in a big way. To start, we had In Your House but this would also lead to the resurfacing of Halloween Havoc and Vengeance.

Worst - Not Firing Jaxson Ryker During this time the BLM protests were in full swing, so Jaxson Ryker decided this'd be the right time to praise Donald Trump on twitter. The backlash was high and his stablemates suffered for it as well, depushing and taking all the Forgotton Sons off TV. Jaxson Ryker still somehow has a job and tv time in WWE, and that continues to baffle.

Best - Maverick vs Fantasma in the Finals While exposing Maverick's firing was in poor taste, the story of the former GM chasing the title was one we can get behind. Paired with El Hijo del Fantasma finally getting the platform to debut after being hired in August 2019. The finals match would also beget to a strong title reign by Fantasma where he showed his charisma as a heel and birthing his faction Legando del Fantasma, as for Drake it led to a mismatch team with Killian Dain, it could be better but it could be worse.

Worst - Jeff Hardy vs Sheamus' narrative You'd think putting Jeff and Sheamus together would be fine, and the wrestling was indeed good. The storyline however was wrong, very wrong. Rehashing the Jericho/Punk angle, WWE decided a urine test angle would make for good TV - which was a particular low for both men.

Best - Io Shirai at the Top (which she could jump off of) When Charlotte won the NXT Championship from Rhea I vocally worried that this'd mean curtains for Io Shirai, the Stardom Ace had found her footing as the 'Mad Queen' heel character and won a ladder match to contend for the title, but she was going up against Charlotte Flair - WWE's 'Queen' who had already cut the legs from Asuka, Rhea and Bianca Belair - so the worry was high. Fortunately In Your House decided to give Io the much-deserved title win, granted she should've beaten Charlotte and Rhea was there to take the pin but this would begin Io's long reign as the female Ace of NXT, as well as jumping off of anything and everything on each TakeOver.

Worst - Street Profits vs Viking Raiders doesn't happen for Backlash During their time as Raw Tag Champs, the Street Profits engaged in an 'Anything you can do, I can do better' series with the Viking Raiders. The segments itself were mostly silly but some parts were admittedly humorous like the leg of meat popping up everywhere. But the payoff match on Backlash never came to be, instead we continued a cinematic brawl which would've been fine...but it had no conclusion. It ended in a bin, much like the feud was trashed, with the malice of the Viking Raiders mostly thrown away.

Worst - Nia vs Asuka ends in a Double Count Out Backlash 2020 already had the questionable booking of Profits vs Vikings, Braun vs Miz and Morrison and promoting Edge vs Orton as the 'Greatest Wrestling Match Ever'. But another that could not be let go was the women's title match. This was Asuka's first major defense, the storyline should have been her proving that she deserves the title and the best we got was Nia Jax. Like Profits/Vikings it could've been salvagable had there been a legitimate finish, but the match ended in a double count out, only to follow up with a Raw rematch - sadly this would not be the end of Asuka being poorly booked as champion.

Worst - Kairi's Injury Speaking of Nia, in a May taping that released in June Nia faced Kairi Sane in the build to her feud with Asuka. But Kairi came out of the match with a nasty head cut after being thrown into the steps. Unfortunately, this was not the first time Kairi had been injured by Nia so it was not a good look on Nia to repeat herself.

Worst - *Unmasks* 'Old Man Santos Escobar!?' When El Hijo del Fantasma revealed himself as the leader of the masked men, it began the stable Legando del Fantasma. But of course, 'El Hijo del Fantasma' isn't really a heel name that rolls off the tongue, the name change was justified but the choice was not. Using the surname of a drug lord exposed WWE's continued hypocrisy of things - who were adamant in removing Apollo Crews' surname when a killer was also named 'Crews', among their usual obsession with cutting names - but it was worsened by the choice of Santos, which means Saint. It also made it odd that his faction carried his old name but not him, what was wrong with Santos del Fantasma?

July 2020 Best - A New US Championship Design Aside from the 24/7 title, the US Championship design was one of WWE's weakest, fans had been calling for a change for quite some time. During Apollo's feud with the Hurt Business though we got a new US title unveiled by MVP; a slightly better design, it was definitely a good move in terms of booking and merchandising.

Worst - Asuka loses to Shenanigans, and then to Count Out Alas, Asuka's reign hit a bump in the road when the Bayley/Sasha connection set their sights on claiming all the gold. While this would do well for Bayley and Sasha's story, it was once again a story that came in Asuka's expense. She lost stupidly in Extreme Rules and when that was revoked she lost by count-out in a match where nothing was meant to influence the wrestlers on the outside. This was an added blow because Asuka was counted out to save Kairi from being attacked backstage - which effectively wrote her out of WWE, which meant that the attempted save was worthless.

Best - Big E goes his own way, but doesn't split from the New Day Before the WWE Draft split Xavier and Kofi from Big E brand-wise, injuries to Xavier and Kofi left Big E unable to compete for tag titles. However, fans had been hoping for another singles run from Big E and this was the platform for it. What made it good though was that Big E didn't leave the New Day to pursue a singles career, keeping the beloved faction still alive.

Worst - Bye, Kairi Kairi Sane carried a similar star aura that Io and Asuka before her did as the Mae Young Classic winner, former NXT Women's champion and basically being an all-round adorable human. When it was learned that she would be taking an ambassador role in Japan - where she would get married and spend time with her husband also - fans were upset to see her go. But WWE never gave her a proper sendoff, the last we see of Kairi is just her KO'd backstage with Asuka having given up her title to fail in saving her, and that left a bad taste.

Best - Keith Lee: Double Champion Keith Lee had captured NXT hearts with his physicality, athleticism and theme song, he was NA Champion and WWE had decided that double champions are all the rage now, so they pit Lee and Adam Cole against one another. It was a brief run, but the moment Lee held two belts became a big moment signifying a new chapter for NXT.

Worst - 'The Horror Show' Extreme Rules was kind of a low point for WWE. Rather than just continue with the no DQ gimmick they threw all their chips into the Braun vs Bray swamp fight, which tanked horribly. Also Rey vs Seth suffered from it with the daft Eye for an Eye stipulation - which AEW had previously done effectively - it was a great wrestling match marred by its goofy stipulation and thus its ending, all of which was made simply because Rey hadn't extended his contract at this time. Needless to say, overbooking and stupidity left 'The Horror Show' Extreme Rules a dud.

August 2020 Best - Introducing the Thunderdome There was some hesitations about the introduction of the Thunderdome, the fact that it's just screens some of it reused to pair with piped cheers and boos doesn't sound too good on paper. And granted, it has its flaws still, but at the same time the Thunderdome has been more positive on WWE's atmosphere than a purely empty arena has. The NXT cages are probably better paired with AEW's using their backstage staff as the crowd but you get what you give sometimes.

Worst - Retribution Retribution is a lost cause, even to this day. It tried the Nexus-esque debut with big names but shitty masks, as well as their purpose contradicting their actions. It all began here, and shouldn't have happened in the first place, Mercedes learned that one quickly. At least T-Bar has Twitter game.

Worst - Changing Keith Lee's attire, theme, and making him a side character to Drew vs Orton Within a month of winning both belts, Lee would be moved up to Raw where immediately he was pitted against Randy Orton - who was feuding against Drew McIntyre. With a new outfit and new music, Lee was a stepping stone to simply further Orton's feud with Drew rather than influence it, in a single moment WWE had made fans lose confidence that they could book Lee as well as he was in NXT, a worry that continues to this day even with another theme change.

Best - Damian Priest gets a shot A star who needed a chance to shine, Lee's vacating of the NA title left a slot open for someone to get a solid push and the winner was Damian Priest. Having proven himself there and in a prior feud with Finn Balor, Priest was a worthy candidate to hold the title and he still is able to hold that momentum in his main roster pursuits.

Worst - Raw Underground Doing something different is nothing to be afraid of, but sometimes you have to read the room. And Shane McMahon introducing a boiler room fight club was not it. Granted, Raw Underground didn't get the fairest crack of the whip, but it had also not distinguished itself on the card nor did it have as many decent stars to carry it. The repackaging of Babatunde to 'Dabba Kato' didn't sell any seriousness to it either.

Best - Pat McAfee Shines The Adam Cole/Pat McAfee feud did somewhat stumble at the start with WWE's insistence that this was a shoot, but the end result paid dividends. Pat McAfee raised a very low bar on celebrity contributions in wrestling matches, showing what celebrities who are actual fans could do to pull off an athletic and entertaining affair.

Worst - Mauro and Renee leave Mauro Ranallo may've been divisive for some fans in his enthusiastic commentary, but I loved the guy. He actually sold the energy of the matches and he knew the moves. Renee Young was also someone who proved to be a fantastic sports journalist, her commentary times on Raw marred by micromanaging she was a great host for Talking Smack and her podcast showed how relatable and fun Mrs. Moxley truly is. The departure of both had left a void WWE have struggled to fill again.

Best - Dominik Mysterio steps up In Summerslam 2005, the PPV was main evented by Shawn Michaels overselling Hulk Hogan for 20 minutes. The event saw not just titles go on the line but Kurt Angle's Olympic Medal...and the custody of a child. That child was mini-Slim Shady Dominik Mysterio, who in storyline had recently discovered that Eddie Guerrero is his biological father, adopted by Rey Mysterio and his wife. Fifteen years later, Dominik would step back into a Summerslam ring, this time to make his wrestling debut. While he would lose, Dominik gained a lot of positives especially given how he was up against Seth Rollins, Dominik's progression continues to impress as his father ensures that he gets the best training he can provide, the prince of the Mysterio household has a bright future ahead of him.

Worst - Murphy takes the fall in the Mysterio/Rollins Feud Alas, the Mysterio Family vs Monday Night Messiah would only have sporadic good moments and part of that is because Seth would escape mostly squeaky clean. The few times the Mysterio family would win was when it was a tag match with Murphy to take the fall. This wasn't just unfair on the Mysterios since they were being robbed again of 'winning' a feud which involved Seth ripping Rey's eye out but it also was a disservice to Murphy's talents as a former Ace of 205.

Best - Reigns FINALLY turns Heel, and is a Heyman Guy Roman Reigns was consistently booed for about 5 years, earning a reprieve when kayfabe was thrown away to support him in his bout with Leukemia. Given his dialysis, COVID left him as a risk for most of the year, but he made a huge return in the Universal title match between Braun and the Fiend. Debuting a heel persona which would align with Paul Heyman, WWE had finally done what the fans wanted - turn Roman heel. And Roman has been on top ever since, the Tribal Chief Reigns.

Worst - Splitting the IIconics In a bout of trying to raise stakes, WWE decided that the best way to service their women's tag division was for 2 popular teams to fight for contendership - but the losers would have to split up. Between the Riott Squad and the IIconics, the former would win the match - but continue to be underbooked to the point where their reunion after feuding with each other has become fruitless - which meant that one of the few established tag teams in the women's division were splitting...not too long since the Kabuki Warriors had split too. Despite half a year later Peyton delivering a killer promo and Billie showing some comedic flair, neither bounced back from the split - their only solace now is to reunite now that they too just now have been released...

Worst - Velveteen Dream comes back June proved to be a shocking time for wrestling in general when brave people publicly called out their experiences with sexual, emotional and physical harassment and abuse. This rattled all companies and blacklisted a ton of once renowned wrestlers such as David Starr, Jimmy Havoc, Jack Gallagher, Marty Scurll, Travis Banks, El Ligero, Joey Ryan and shut down all of Chikara pro wrestling. Velveteen Dream was among the names listed, accused of having inappropriate communications and grooming minors, this was of course a huge blow to the once-popular rising star. Like they did with Matt Riddle, Joe Coffey, Wolfgang, Jordan Devlin and Sid Scala, WWE decided to investigate rather than immediately release Dream. During this time, WWE should have kept Dream off TV for an extended period of time, instead he appeared a month later on NXT to qualify for the NA Title ladder match Priest would win under heavy scrutiny of the fans. As much as WWE point out that they had found nothing, many still remain unconvinced and while Dream is currently off tv now, having him return so soon did not inspire confidence.

September 2020 Best - Sami gets the IC Title Back After being unfairly stripped of the title back in May, Sami returned to claim himself the true IC champion. Pitted against AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy, the trio would embark on a smart and highly acclaimed ladder match for the title, which Sami would win. Course correction coming into play for Sami to resume his reign, but I still wonder why he was the heel in all of that...

Worst - Changing Aleister Black's Attire and Entrance Aleister Black had the IT Factor, he was a superb striker with a great gimmick of a dark and brooding warrior, rising like a vampire in his entrance with a demonic jacket, he oozed the aura of a main event player. Until Vince changed the music and decided that Black should wear an eyepatch...this of course was done after a span of barely booking Aleister anyway - despite him delivering in his matches - before not booking him at all.

Best - The Prince is Promised Finn Balor's return to NXT had been on a slow burn at this point, but with Karrion Kross having to vacate due to a separated shoulder a new NXT champion had to be crowned. After a 4-way iron man tie, Balor came on top on Super Tuesday Part 2. Finn being champion again was indeed the right choice, while it delays his collision with WALTER indefinitely he has had a superb reign filling in for Karrion Kross, who would reclaim in a good match at Stand & Deliver.

Worst - Telenovela Bullshit The Mysterios/Messiah storyline tangented in a bad way in its ending stages before fizzling out. Aalyah Mysterio had been booked into a romance with Murphy, the acting was like a soap opera and not in the good way. 'But mother, I love him' literally being the weekly storyline of coaxing Murphy away from Seth, all of which became dropped to mean nothing for anyone.

Best - Kyle O'Reilly and Jey Uso enter the Main Event Primarily tag wrestlers for their WWE careers, Kyle O'Reilly and Jey Uso were given unexpected chances at the world champions Balor and Reigns on NXT and Smackdown, and boy did they take those chances. Both men impressed hugely in their matches, enough to get multiple rematches and a bigger role in the main event from it, Jey would join Roman as a heel and support to the Tribal Chief while O'Reilly would come to blows with Adam Cole in an unsanctioned match. Both men can be seen as world champions now.

October 2020 Best - NXT UK Acquisitions NXT UK hasn't really gained the desired momentum, which is a shame because there are a lot of great talent still there, and they sport one of the best looking active belts in Wrestling today. The problem is the limited audience and minimal roster depth, which is why it was refreshing when WWE signed more to the brand, the big name of Meiko Satomura being the headliner but also Rampage Brown and the steal of Ben Carter - now Nathan Frazer - from under AEW's nose. Later they would push A-Kid and sign the former Lucky Kid and Millie McKenzie to further bolster its brand.

Worst - Not Repackaging Retribution On October 5th, WWE decided to turn Mustafa Ali heel and put him as the leader of Retribution, but they would also pit them against the Hurt Business - a heel faction - and reveal himself the 'Smackdown Hacker' - who had unveiled some heels doing heelish deeds. Confusing at the best of times, Retribution never got past losing either, forcing Mia Yim to do tantrums in the ring on a mini-push that came to nothing and elevating nobody. Retribution had chances to save itself, but WWE didn't take those chances.

Best - Sasha wins big! At last, Sasha wins a big title match clean in a storyline payoff against Bayley. Both women at the top of their game, they earned the Hell in a Cell spot and began a title reign that would go longer than any of Sasha's other main title reigns. The Boss was finally standing on top as the main roster finally did Sasha vs Bayley right.

Worst - Orton wins big... Randy Orton had been feuding with Drew since beating Edge at Backlash, losing on consecutive title matches until Hell in a Cell, where he won despite the slow burn hints at a Fiend feud. While Randy was at the top of is heel game and Drew didn't have to hold the title all year, the multiple past attempts deflated this story as well as scrutinizing WWE constantly saying 'no rematch clauses' and 'you can't just walk in and demand a title match' but then doing the absolute same thing. Orton's title run wouldn't last either, which makes it all the more meh.

Worst - The Draft The Draft is meant to lead to surprising new dynamics and storyline changes, but 2020's Draft was a misfire. For one, there was no competition for it, Raw got 3 just because it ran longer and a percentage of the draft picks were wrestlers staying on the brand they were already on, making the shock factor limited. The Mysterios followed Rollins to Smackdown to continue their drab storyline, the tag champions swapped belts to remain colour coded and for some reason some tag teams were treated as individual and some not.

November 2020 Best - Undertaker's Retirement Ceremony After 2 previous 'retirements', the Undertaker finally hung up his boots for real this time, ending it where it began: Survivor Series. It was a very tasteful affair with nods to the card he debuted on such as the Gobbeldy Gooker and Brother Love, it was a good time and a good sendoff for one of WWE's greatest characters.

Worst - Survivor Series books it wrong While there was many good matches in Survivor Series, it did suffer from the usual booking mentality of 'Raw Superiority'. Lana became a sole survivor by default of count outs and DQs in a team including Shayna and Asuka, the Smackdown men were completely squashed despite having a strong team and Baron Corbin and finally, no NXT. There was the potential for adding Balor, Io, Priest and Imperium to these matches and that just could've elevated it, the last was more understandable though given COVID.

Worst - Not booking 3 Future Stars Andrade, Aleister and Murphy. All three had shone before reaching the main roster be it for NXT on the former two and 205 Live on the latter. But on the Main Roster their luck was a mixed bag; Murphy had recently beat Rollins clean, but after the Mysterios were about to come down with COVID themselves WWE didn't push anything with him, Andrade was a former US Champion in a faction that all fell apart within the year and Black was a shitkicker who WWE were methodically gutting. All three would soon see themselves not on tv at all, and for two they had an alarming connection.

Worst - Zelina gets fired Zelina Vega was the one who elevated Andrade to a face midcarder to a heel main eventer on NXT, she was also coming along well as a wrestler with some decent bouts with Asuka. But when WWE enacted a policy that their wrestlers couldn't profit from third party stuff like twitch, when Zelina resisted and found loopholes she found herself getting released soon after, Andrade and her irl husband Aleister Black now ominously missing from WWE, it was for the most part pettiness on WWE's behalf to forbid their talent from making money elsewhere by being themselves.

December 2020 Best - Big E wins the Big IC Without his New Day buddies, Big E could continue his singles run despite daft claims from Corey that as a decorated tag champion Big E couldn't do singles wrestling like he did when he was NXT Champion and IC Champion. But on the Christmas Smackdown taping, Big E would win the IC championship to a big babyface moment, which he would carry into Wrestlemania.

Worst - Gargano wins the NA Title (again) I have nothing against Johnny Gargano, but it is odd that he was the one to usurp Damian Priest and then Leon Ruff. To this day he still holds that title despite Dexter Lumis, Bronson Reed, LA Knight, KUSHIDA (who recently just won the Cruiserweight title) and Cameron Grimes all looking like worthy competitors to get a push. It's a strange place where Gargano builds a faction with gold but it doesn't elevate anyone around his waist.

Worst - Charlotte returns just to add another title to her list WWE's obsession with mismatched teams is matched only by their obsession with pitting a champion and no.1 contender against tag champions, both of which are overdone. So when TLC came along with Asuka having a mystery partner to face Shayna and Nia, it didn't quite land that her partner was Charlotte and they went on to win the titles...only to drop it in about a month as they teased a title match between the two. It showed the low pecking order the tag titles had, the lowered stock of Shayna and how the title change was merely to say that Charlotte had won every title in WWE (at that time).

Worst - Miz fails his Cash-In, but gets the Briefcase back The Men's MITB was horribly booked all year and time was running out, WWE had to decide whether they would have to book a failed cash in - and put the Miz in the same list as Sandow and Corbin in those who lost their cash-in (Cena and Braun if we include those who didn't capture gold), making Miz champion or hot potatoing again. At the end of TLC it looked like they picked the latter, which would've tied things up in a bow. But the following Raw, the Miz got his briefcase back because Morrison had cashed it in for him, meaning the saga was forced to continue.

January 2021 Best - Xia Li finally gets a repackage Xia Li has been on the NXT Roster for a long time, like Vanessa Borne and Aaliyah long time, but the best NXT could give her for a long time was 'Chinese Undercarder'. 2021 however made a shift, by turning Li heel with a storyline of her and Boa answering to a mystic overlord, Li turned into a brutish kickass killer, squashes building to her dispatching her former friends. While she still sits low on the card, it's promising stuff that can easily be pushed towards the main title scene, and frankly Xia Li has done her time to earn such a push.

Worst - Goldberg challenges Drew 'for disrespecting legends' The whole Goldberg fiasco was once again a rush job that served nobody except old Bill. Still soured by the fact that he cleanly defeated the Fiend and also had a horror match with Taker, nobody was quite amped to see Drew vs Goldberg at Royal Rumble. His reasoning for feuding with Drew was also confusing since he was claiming that Drew had disrespected the legends on Legends Night when he had been fully supportive and respectful towards them. Mercifully, the feud did not go Goldberg's way.

Best - The Women's Dusty Classic is Announced The Dusty Rhodes classic has in NXT become a platform for tag teams and mismatch alliances to flourish and open into newer storylines, and also to sometimes set up War Games, and with the vast depth of the NXT Women's Locker Room it was the right call for WWE to make a women's variation. The tournament allowed Candice, Dakota, Raquel, Ember and Shotzi to get tv time outside of a world title shot and so their talents weren't entirely wasted.

Worst - Sonya Returns, but as a GM Assistant When Sonya Deville took some time off post-Summerslam, she had proven herself to be skilled on the mic and in the ring. But on Jan 1st's Smackdown Sonya would be spotted and later it was officially announced that Sonya was back on Smackdown, but as Adam Pearce's assistant. Aside from some backstage talks and Street Profits trying to bribe her for a title match, Sonya hasn't seen much TV time - which is a poor utilization of her skills. The position is fine to an extent, but Sonya should be using her position to further her in-ring prospects too, take a leaf from AJ Lee's book.

Best - Edge returns at the Rumble While I was never unhappy with Edge winning the rumble I wouldn't say it was the best booking choice out of the roster. If anything though, Edge returning from Injury at Number 1 was a definite crowd-pleaser, and pitting him against Orton to resume their hostilities set the tone for the Men's Royal Rumble.

Worst - Corbin beats the Mysterios Clean on Consecutive Weeks I don't know what the purpose of this was. After returning from COVID, the Mysterios were put against King Corbin in weekly matches, Rey lost to Corbin clean, Dom lost to Corbin clean, there weren't any interferences or weapons, and there wasn't really a plot to this. Only when Dom beat Corbin thanks to Rey's help did the feud 'end', but it didn't really do anything for them, in the end, Dom cheats to win and not in an Eddie Guerrero way. It was just weird.

Best - The Women's Royal Rumble The Women's Royal Rumble in 2021 was a masterpiece, nearly every woman in that match got some shine and a bit of story. There was depth, context and clarity in the bout and the exciting prospect of the final two being Bianca and Rhea - two NXT prospects who would both later grasp gold. The ending segment solidified a perfectly-booked bout that would set a standard the men couldn't outshine that night.

Worst - The Universal Title Last Man Standing botch Handcuffed on the scaffolding, Roman Reigns looked certain to lose his Last Man Standing match against Kevin Owens as Heyman frantically tried to uncuff him. Of course, this was a botch at the worst of times but instead of attempting to ad-lib something, the Ref just restarted his count after reaching 6. It was a daft choice that killed the sails of the match, they should've either attacked the ref or let Owens - who had lost to Reigns several times already - hold the title for a month or so before dropping back to Roman.

February 2021 Best - MSK win the Classic On Impact the Rascalz were a beloved faction, and when two thirds of them jumped ship to NXT as MSK, fans were eager to see if WWE would go all the way with them, or if they would let the UK uberheel team of Grizzled Young Veterans take the spot. Fortunately they went for the former, which was a big boost for the future tag champions - only slightly delayed by injuries to both MSK and the then-champions Burch and Lorcan.

Worst - Top Tier Bad Booking on all 3 Shows Despite Smackdown and NXT regularly dwarfing Raw in quality, each show had begun a less than stellar narrative to build some feuds among their favoured wrestlers. On NXT, Gargano's faction The Way were having a Dexter Lumis problem - and although Lumis had won a non-title match against the NA Champion he did not get a title shot - one which had its bright parts but was often found goofy especially with the Indi Hartwell romance stuff. Smackdown merely had to keep it simple with Bianca and Sasha, but instead, they decided to go through the 'can they work together' route with Shayna and Nia, again shoddy booking threatened to dampen a Women's Wrestlemania Main Event. But Raw of course had the worst of it, Charlotte would be a babyface feuding with Lacey Evans, who was fucking her father...fans were already aware that Lacey has a husband and child which WWE had acknowledged before, and the feud only ended because Lacey was legitimately pregnant - which they storyline'd to be Ric's too - sparing Asuka of the same fate. It just wasn't a good time.

Best - Cameron Grimes STONKS The Gamestop Reddit Stocks moment came out of nowhere and made people a lot of money, WWE decided that Cameron Grimes would be one of those people. Already exuding charismatic energy and a decent catchphrase, making Grimes rich somehow elevated his character further as a hilariously snobby whackjob. Here's hoping he gets a solid crack at it as he cites DiBiase, maybe like he did Grimes can pay his way to the top.

Worst - Sheamus sucks at history Sheamus turning on Drew was an inevitability, and their matches were strong and entertaining affairs. But WWE really didn't try too hard to think of a reason for Sheamus to turn on Drew, citing his reasoning to be that Sheamus had lived in Drew's shadow. I mean really? We're talking about the same Sheamus who has won every men's accolade in WWE bar the IC title while Drew was doing air guitar with Heath, Jinder and Hornswoggle in the undercard? You have to make things make sense for people to buy into it.

Worst - Miz gets to be King for a Week Following on from Miz's failed cash-in was Miz's successful cash-in after Elimination Chamber - an action he succeeded in thanks to Lashley assaulting Drew post-match. While Miz being world champion again was anticipated for a long time, the timing was not right at all and fans were more or less relieved to see that Lashley would be taking the title from him within the next week. It was mostly a bit of clean up after realising that they don't want to use the MITB in the build to Wrestlemania, afterwards Miz went from WWE Champion to feuding with a rapper - also spare a thought for Morrison who doesn't really get to do anything outside of being the Miz's buddy.

March 2021 Best - Lashley wins the WWE Championship Speaking of Miz's short-lived reign, the one saving grace from it was that Lashley would claim it soon after, looking like a monster in the process. An overdue run for the man who was slowly looking like he was about to fade out of the company the same way that several others had and later would got his position to be WWE Champion, long may he reign.

Worst - La Sombra de El Idolo Andrade remains one of the most talented wrestlers of his generation, he had several paths in WWE that could have moved him to the top of the card, several feuds that people were amped for. And none of it came to be, because Andrade was granted release on his second attempt. Where Andrade El Idolo will appear next remains up for discussion, the likely route being AEW or reconvening with his old Ingobernables, but wherever he lands it'll be on his feet.

Worst - Shane returns just in time for Wrestlemania Season Shane McMahon is the boss' son, with a masochistic urge to be thrown off of things. But he doesn't seem to realise that every time he's on the card someone more deserving is not, not even with a posse as he tries to renew his 3 Minute Warning days. This time around Shane beleaguered WWE's card with a feud against Braun Strowman circulating around Shane calling him stupid and pouring green goo on him...who asked for this?

Worst - Apollo changes his accent Speaking of 'who asked for this?', Apollo's heel turn in embracing his Nigerian heritage was fine, a new edge for the otherwise smiley naive face character. But then Apollo decided to put on an accent, even though he's spent years without it. It was just unnecessary, a stamp that was to say 'I am foreign, boo my foreignness' that certainly has no room in today's wrestling. What's the odds that within a year Apollo's Nigerian Royalty gimmick will be warped into a Nigerian Prince scammer gimmick?

Worst - Women's Tag Fuckery Upon winning the women's Dusty Classic, Raquel and Dakota got a Women's Tag Opportunity against boringly longstanding champions Shayna & Nia, however rather than just pull the trigger and give the titles to them, WWE opted for a cheat finish which had Adam Pearce turn heel for the day just to screw over NXT. This was all a convoluted plan to create NXT Women's Tag Championships, which were awarded to Raquel and Dakota...before immediately losing it to Ember and Shotzi. Just what you want when establishing a new title huh? Quickfire title changes! It was all just very roundabout, should've simply announced the titles for the Women's Dusty Classic prize or given the Women's Tag to a team that could actually use it.

April 2021 Best - Edge and Roman add a bit of YES Alone Edge vs Reigns was still a highly anticipated Universal title bout. But the addition of Daniel Bryan brought in several new layers and conflicts for all characters. Each of them (like Balor vs Kross would) were presented as warriors who were forced medically to vacate the top prize only to come back stronger, each of them main evented Wrestlemania, and each of them were some of the best wrestlers in the world. The triple threat also meant that No DQ stipulations could be opened up, allowing Edge to show more of his heelish and psychotic side, as well as Bryan and Roman's viciousness. All three sold that they wanted that title and it made it stand out.

Worst - That Hurts our Business The Hurt Business was looking to become another success story in modern WWE factions. Masterminded by a resurgent MVP and helmed by now WWE Champion Bobby Lashley, Business was indeed booming. Until the final few weeks of Wrestlemania decided to cast aside Shelton and Cedric - the latter they strived to convince in joining them within the past year - and effectively dissolve the group. The loss of the Hurt Business led to high criticism, especially since Cedric and Shelton fell hard into the undercard only to see King Corbin cross brands to do Lashley's dirty work, it just wasn't a good thing and the possibility of replacing those spots with Mace and T-Bar does not quite fill the void.

Best - Cesaro gets his Push Cesaro had often been haunted by the dangling of the 'brass ring' over his head. Despite a frequent tag champion and also a US champion, WWE shied away from his strong and dedicated fanbase that desired more for the Swiss Superman/Cyborg. In the build to Elimination Chamber, fans were intrigued by Cesaro's clean wins over such names as Daniel Bryan, but were not surprised when he didn't come out on top in the chamber itself. In the aftermath though, Cesaro began a feud with Seth Rollins, someone who could boast an impressive Wrestlemania W/L record, compared to Cesaro - whose only Wrestlemania singles match was last year's Pre-Show. The match was put on Night 1 and was a lovely affair with a clear story, most importantly though Cesaro came out on top with a huge rub and like that, the Cesaro section gets to believe again.

Worst - Fiend Falls to One RKO After spending the last year re-mystifying the Fiend by having him survive all manner of things including drowning and being set on fire, the return of the Fiend to open Night 2 of Wrestlemania left a sour taste in fans' mouths. After 8 minutes of no-selling Orton's offense, Alexa Bliss reappeared with black goo over her face to distract the Fiend, he was hit with an RKO and pinned for 3. The bafflement was high as fans wondered what exactly the intention was for having the Fiend lose on his return, and why it took only one RKO to finish it when so much worse things have struggled to keep him down.

Best - NXT Stands and Delivers before Mania In what was a long and entertaining week of wrestling, NXT said goodbye to Wednesday Nights in style with their Wrestlemania-esque 2-Day Takeover. The shows were good sporting some fun matches, including an entertaining CW unification ladder match and Io passing the torch to Raquel, though NXT weren't invited to Survivor Series or Mania this time, they still put on a great show before moving to Tuesdays.

Worst - Riotts, SD Tag Champions slighted The Riott Squad currently stand as one of WWE's last surviving genuine tag teams, everyone else being singles wrestlers thrown together to avoid Main Event or Superstars. However, they also stand as a team who after multiple attempts are still not tag champions. After carrying the bulk of their Night 1 Tag Team Turmoil, the Riott Squad were unfortunately left to be felled by Natalya and Tamina - who would lose on Night 2 rendering this pointless anyway - and I have to ask, is it ever going to happen? The Riott Squad are not the only tag team hard done by at Wrestlemania, as the Smackdown Tag Championship did not even make it on the card! A fatal 4-Way between the Dirty Dawgs, Street Profits, Alpha Academy and Mysterios could've brought some infectious energy into Night 2 given the amount of talent in those four teams, but instead it got put on a 'Wrestlemania special Smackdown' while Shane vs Braun ended up on the main card. Priorities were not straight there and WWE robbed Dominik Mysterio of a Wrestlemania debut, their only contribution being a video recap and a Dirty Dawgs interview on Night 1 to prelude the Raw Tag Championship match.

Best - Wrestlemania dished out the goods, and the fans In spite of some questionable booking in the early stages, we end the list on a high. Wrestlemania didn't have the best build or go-home show, but it certainly delivered on a blend of storytelling and wrestling, big title changes for Bianca and Rhea and solid matches for the majority of the card meant that WWE ended on a high. Most importantly too, it was in front of a crowd, the ambiance very much missed on the Grandest Stage of them All.

I would rant about April 15th 2021 but I said it's from Mania 36 to 37 so yeah, footnote fuck April 15th. In the end though WWE had its ups and downs, but hopefully they will learn from some of their mistakes and come back stronger

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emblem-333 · 5 years ago

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Why Bayley is Smackdown’s MVP

The numbers haven’t been crunched since 2012, but the Bleacher Report calculates the average length of a WWE Championship run is 60.83 days. As the stars of the past fade into retirement or are booked into obscurity, the new guys the WWE pushes aren't up to snuff and the ones that are have to work extra hard to gain the attention of suits who are likely rooting against them.

Right now, Drew McIntyre is the champion. A hard worker. A fan favorite. Genuinely charismatic. Despite the unimaginable circumstances brought about by the Covid-19 crisis leading to empty arena shows being run exclusively from the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, McIntyre is undaunted.

Having no fans is surreal. But in a state where the WWE is in a long term period of their product being staler than year old bread, it’s given talent a chance to work without being drowned out by fans chanting “what” during a promo, or “boring” during a match.

Smackdown Women’s champion Bayley has been champion for 365 of the last 370 days. Her character suffered from poor booking since being called up from NXT hot as a fire cracker. Perhaps in a bit of overexcitement, Vince McMahon gifted the lovable hugger with the title by defeating Charlotte Flair in a tremendous match. The caveat: it was on free TV. Which is fine for me. A cheap ass who watches his WWE pay-per-views at Hooters or at a friends house. (I know I’m a bad person. Judge me all you want).

But the WWE did a major disservice to Bayley in rushing her accession to the top. As quick as she rose was as fast as she fell back down the card. Whatever the reason, WWE enjoys it when their talent is either self-deprecating or portrayed as idiotic. The feud with Alexa Bliss featured a cringeworthy “This is Your Life” segment. A pitiful kendo stick on a pole match that Bayley had won, but was simply too much of a pacifist to attack Bliss - her tormentor for months - and get her title back. Instead, Bliss walks out with the gold. Nia Jax injures Bayley one week on Raw before her rematch at SummerSlam. Vince makes an injured Bayley address the crowd and, surprise surprise, they boo her out of the building.

In May of 2019 at Money in the Bank, after she became an afterthought to many fans and the energy her fans once had for her transferred to a fully realized Becky Lynch, the WWE revived Bayley by having her win the briefcase and cashing in that same night on the aforementioned Flair. While her feuds with Bliss, Nikki Cross, and later Ember Moon didn’t turn any eyebrows the matches were more than competent and Bayley wasn’t booked as a loser. She was pushing and shoving people. Showing an attitude and an edge desperately needed for her character.

Then she lost to Flair at Hell in a Cell. Five days later, she turns heel and is plugged into a feud with Becky and Shayna Baszler where she is obviously the odd woman out. Then she moves on to a feud with the “Sassy Southern Bell” Lacey Evans and I fully expected Evans to walk out of the Royal Rumble the champion. The heel Bayley character flopped horribly. Evans gaining the upper hand in their feud entering the squared circle that night I believed Bayley was about to relinquish the belt and return to the basement.

But she didn’t. She won. Then Covid hit. Her character was allowed to hit her stride without any cynical fan turning the cold shoulder prematurely.

When the WWE does return to running shows with live crowds they’ll have tons of goodwill that they’ll blow through quicker than you can say “it”.

As their roster dwindles due to the talent (understandably) not wanting to risk catching the virus, the WWE is rewarding those who stuck around and kept working. The cast is centralized and we know who our main players are. Rarely is the skimmed down cast is focusing on obscure figures. Raw is McIntyre, Rollins, Asuka, and a little bit of Zelina Vega. Smackdown is more female driven. The banner for Smackdown on Twitter is none other than Bayley. It’s her, Sasha Banks, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Lacey Evans, A.J Styles, Daniel Bryan and Otis (not Tucker. No I do not know why Heavy Machinery aren’t the tag champs).

No one has benefited from these circumstances than the woman formally known as the “Hugger.”

Now watch how she loses the title to someone not named Sasha.

#bayley #sasha banks #Smackdown #WWE #Raw #Drew McIntyre

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placetobenation · 4 years ago

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Hard to believe folks, but we are less than one full month away from WrestleMania. In any normal year, we’d already have half the card planned for wrestling’s biggest stage. Yet, here we stand with only one match solidified going into April 10-11’s two-night event in Tampa at Raymond James Stadium.

We’ve got Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. That’s it. The only other match that’s close is the Universal Championship match with Edge taking on whoever walks out of FastLane as the champ – either Roman Reigns or Daniel Bryan. Everything else is up for grabs or better yet, Vince McMahon’s whim.

It’s a WrestleMania like no other and with the FastLane PPV, the first ever on Peacock, coming next Sunday, it’ll be a mad dash after the PPV to get things in shape and hyped up for Tampa. Sure, we have our guesses as to who might fill out the rest of the card. Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre or maybe it’s a returning Brock Lesnar could be on tap. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair maybe? Randy Orton vs. The Fiend or whatever he’ll come back as. Bad Bunny & Damien Priest vs. The Miz and John Morrison is sure to happen as well. Whichever way they go, the WWE has its hands full and not a lot of time to get it done.

RAW

RESULTS

WWE Championship Match: Bobby Lashley defeated The Miz to retain title

No DQ Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus went to a no-contest

Xavier Woods defeated Shelton Benjamin

Riddle defeated SLAPJACK

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defeated Naomi & Lana to retain titles

AJ Styles defeated Randy Orton

I’ll give it to RAW the past few weeks. It’s been better and that trend continues again this week.

The Hurt Lock signaled the end of the match and @fightbobby remains #WWEChampion!#AndStill#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/CcKEsEZZj8

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

Talk about starting with a bang. No need for one of those cliche championship celebrations. All new WWE Champion Bobby Lashley did was remain dominant and make quick work of The Miz to make his case to highlight a main event at WrestleMania. It’s a quality move by the WWE to make Lashley look as strong as possible headed towards April.

THIS IS AWE-SOME!

#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/8DMXiSQHqc

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

We praised Drew McIntyre and Sheamus last week for a wonderful one-on-one contest. This week, Sheamus wants more after attacking Drew backstage. Now, just when we were getting more of the brutal beatdown between the two behemoths, oh my the welts on their backs with those kendo sticks, the duo decided to pick up the steel ring steps and collide into each other. Instead of taking out the other, they both take out themselves to end it in a no-contest. I’m sure match three will be on tap for Fastlane.

"Oh, Randy… Not yet."@AlexaBliss_WWE's mind games continue to plague @RandyOrton. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/N5cYmLQ2It

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

To complete a trio of kudos, AJ Styles and Randy Orton put on a very good main event. Of course, the ending was a bit predictable with Alexa Bliss distracting Orton from the big screen just long enough for an explosion, more black goo spewing from Randy’s mouth and a top rope forearm splash from Styles to give him the pinfall. The Fiend’s resurrection is coming. We’ll just have to wait a bit longer for it, right Miss Bliss?!

Otherwise, Xavier Woods earns The New Day a tag team title shot with a singles victory over Shelton Benjamin. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler get an uneventful championship match win over Naomi & Lana. BTW: not a big fan of putting Reginald with Nia and taking him out of the mix of SmackDown even for one show. Reggie deserves better. Plus, Riddle takes out SLAPJACK. If it’s not Riddle vs. Ali, which we get this Monday night for the US Title, I’m not interested in RETRIBUTION.

There’s so much left to be done to set up for WrestleMania and with Fastlane being the bump in the road to get there, I’m sure a lot will happen over the next 10 days. Take Charlotte Flair for instance, her only appearance of the night was to tell Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose to bring it when it comes to asking for a RAW Women’s Championship Match against Asuka. Something tells me Rhea Ripley is soon to be added to that mix.

Yes, I’ve left Shane McMahon and Braun Strowman for last. That may have been one of the worst 10 minutes of RAW in many a year. I get it that the WWE wants us to hate Shane and cheer Braun, but that promo from McMahon not only made no sense, it hurt my head to try and listen to it. And, not for nothing, why not give Braun a microphone. Nothing about that segment or the storyline is making me have any interest in it. It’s just more square pegs trying to be pounded into a round hole.

NXT

RESULTS

NXT Women’s Championship Match: Io Shirai defeated Toni Storm

Pete Dunne defeated Jake Atlas

NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon defeated Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez to win titles

Xia Li defeated Kayden Carter by DQ

Legado del Fantasma defeated Grizzled Young Veterans

NXT Championship Match: Finn Balor defeated Adam Cole

Raw emotion. Pure talent. #AndNew #WWENXT Congratulations @ShotziWWE & @WWEEmberMoon! pic.twitter.com/pZFQDxKXhK

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 11, 2021

So, that didn’t take long! General manager William Regal wasted little time in banging out the two “game-changing” announcements for the NXT brand. First, we get a two-night TakeOver: Stand and Deliver during WrestleMania week. Then, after last week’s tag team fiasco, Regal declares Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez as the first ever NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long for Kai & Gonzalez as Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart take them out in their very first title defense. It’s a good way to keep things moving and doesn’t leave any room for doubters to say that the champs were just handed the titles. Moon and Blackheart won them in the ring and move on with the gold.

In an incredible battle for the #WWENXT #WomensTitle, @shirai_io retained against a determined Toni Storm! pic.twitter.com/QjVZmjHd2s

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 12, 2021

Io Shirai just keeps going strong. No matter who or where the challenge comes from, Shirai continues to prove she’s the best thing going these days in NXT. I really thought it could be Toni Time for Storm in this one, but Shirai made her tap out surprisingly clean. Next up for champ, she wants Raquel Gonzalez. Now that’s an easy way for her to forget about a quick tag team title loss.

Jordan Devlin is back from the travel ban and yes, ladies and gentleman, it looks like we’ve got a fight for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship next week!

A tip of the hat, or is that a space helmet tip to Breezango as MSK distracts the Grizzled Young Veterans enough to give Legado del Fantasma the win. But, not to be left out, Breezango arrives to give Legado a little payback for last week’s beatdown. Maybe we’ve got an 8-man tag team in our future between these teams.

Kacy Catanazaro’s got a little fire in her belly, taking the crutches to Xia Li during her match with bestie Kayden Carter. Unfortunately, while getting some payback, she also costs Carter a chance at a win, giving Li the DQ victory. This one’s far from over as Kacy gets over her knee injury at the hands of the badass Li.

LA Knight vs. Bronson Reed? Could it be with Knight’s in-ring debut coming next week?

It looks like Imperium wants to grow and is recruiting Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa. Interesting mix to say the least although it looks like Ciampa has his sights set a bit higher on WALTER and the NXT UK Championship. Now that would be a fun fight on either side of the pond. But first, it looks like we get a fight between the four coming up this Wednesday night.

"What took you so long?"

#WWENXT @FinnBalor @WWEKarrionKross pic.twitter.com/U7zaOlGJDX

— WWE (@WWE) March 11, 2021

Finn Balor vs. Adam Cole – thumbs up! Terrific main event between two of the best in NXT. Both men had their chances near the end and Kyle O’Reilly’s appearance ringside distracted Cole just enough for Balor to get the Coup de Grace and the win. It was a clean victory that I wasn’t sure was in the making. O’Reilly gets his licks in on Cole after the match to boot as well leaving the ring clear for the face-to-face between Balor and Karrion Kross. Finn’s line – “what took you so long” was perfect to end the show too! I hope they build it up for the main event of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver instead of rushing to it too soon. O’Reilly ripping The Undisputed Era armband off Cole was nice symbolism as well.

I don’t know about you, but NXT was so good this week, it felt like it was over in about five minutes rather than two+ hours. Great in-ring matches. History-making announcements. Storylines opened and advanced. Really good show folks.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

The Street Profits, Rey & Dominik Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Chad Gable & Otis

Cesaro defeated Buddy Murphy by DQ

Tamina & Natalya defeated Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair

Intercontinental Championship Match: Big E defeated Sami Zayn to retain title

"You're better than this… But you're not better than me."

#SmackDown @EdgeRatedR @WWEDanielBryan pic.twitter.com/PUQKdgX4lf

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

Just in case there’s an upset at FastLane, Edge and Daniel Bryan sure did a nice job starting off SmackDown giving us some really good personal heat between two of the bigger babyfaces in the company. You wonder if Edge will do whatever it takes to make sure Roman Reigns wins, even if it means costing Bryan a shot at WrestleMania.

I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed the 8-man tag team match. With The Street Profits joining forces with The Mysterios to get the better of the tag champs, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode, along with Otis & Chad Gable, it set the right tone and put both teams in line to make their case for a title match. There was never a down time in the match and there were bodies flying everywhere. Solid action to start the night in the ring with the good guys going over.

Poor Reggie! Nia Jax is smitten over him! That shopping spree made me harken back to the days of the Tuesday Night Titans skits. A bit too long, but got the job done. I will say this though. Shayna Baszler is about to snap. Book it. She’s beyond tired of the Nia-Reggie show already and it’s only a matter of time before she takes them both out.

Speaking of Reginald, he cost Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks their tag match against Tamina & Natalya. Something that made Belair not too happy and continues to build the heat between Banks and Belair with Banks continued attention to Carmella’s fired old friend.

After a vicious attack on @WWECesaro, It seems like @WWERollins has the attention of @ShinsukeN!

#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/GcGIOYJKC8

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

Buddy Murphy vs. Cesaro, part 2 was really just there to set up Seth Rollins attack on Cesaro of course. The most intriguing part though comes after the match. Is Shinsuke Nakamura about to join the Messiah against his former mate? Maybe the evil side of Shinsuke is about to return? I like it. And let’s be honest, Nakamura would be one heck of an upgrade over Murphy.

.@WWEApollo blindsides @WWEBigE after his #ICTitle Match with a vicious attack! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/jI9lQqcMvJ

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

Oh my Big E! That’s as serious as it gets for The New Day’s biggest superstar. “I need to end you.” WOW! But, instead of getting Apollo Crews and some justified payback, Big E made Sami Zayn his latest Intercontinental Championship Open Challenge victim. Zayn’s loss only comes after he steals King Corbin’s attempt to accept the challenge. Zayn’s right, you snooze, you lose Corbin. Apparently, Crews caught Big E snoozing celebrating his victory with a brutal post-match attack. Damn, what is the WWE’s love for those ringside steps these days. It’s only a matter of time before these two will be battling again for that I-C Gold. UPDATE: WWE has added a title match between the two to FastLane.

Not too shabby! That’s one way to liven up your tired old contract signing. First, Daniel Bryan guilts Roman Reigns into signing the contract for the match at FastLane. Then, when Jey Uso tries to force him into the equation as the special enforcer, Edge ups the ante, challenging Uso next week for that job at the PPV. It’ll be the first time in over a decade that Edge is back wrestling live on the blue brand. Now, that’s how you dot the “I’s” and cross the “T’s” on a go-home show next Friday night.

Parting shots:

@PeytonRoyceWWE just went OFF on #RawTalk. She wants an opportunity against #WWERaw #WomensChampion @WWEAsuka! pic.twitter.com/alnsKByeYA

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

If you missed RAW Talk this past Monday night, you missed Peyton Royce getting as personal and as real as she’s ever gotten. Her best promo of her WWE career, hands down. Talking Smack continues to be must see watching on Saturdays on the WWE Network.

Coming up this week:

RAW: RAW Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day vs. The Hurt Business United States Championship Match: Riddle vs. Mustafa Ali

NXT: Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott LA Knight’s in-ring debut Dexter Lumis vs. Austin Theory

SMACKDOWN: SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax Edge vs. Jey Uso – winner gets to be special enforcer for Universal Championship at FastLane

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at [email protected]. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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placetobenation · 4 years ago

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What a week in the WWE!

First things first – Happy Halloween to all! It’s not quite the Halloween we all envisioned in 2020 as we’re still in the midst of a second wave of COVID-19 around the World, but we make out of it the best we all can, right? In that vein, I think the WWE is doing the same. With a quality Hell In A Cell PPV, Halloween Havoc and SmackDown, it was an entertaining week across the brands.

I did like the fact that Hell In A Cell was simplified. Six matches (seven if you count the kick-off show) left plenty of time for the three Hell In A Cell matches to play out in three very different ways. Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso set the tone of the night with an emotional story of family members struggling with their lot in life and where they fit in. In the end, Jey Uso quit to say his brother Jimmy from the Tribal Chief. Then, we got Sasha Banks get revenge in a brutal (in a very good way) battle of best friends, taking Bayley’s SmackDown title to end her over-a-year-long reign at the top. Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton was simply a physical beating the literal hell out of each other, complete with a McIntyre nod to Shawn Michaels by falling off the side of the cage onto a table. Seeing both on top of the cage in the ThunderDome was pretty cool too!

As for Halloween Havoc, we’ll get into the details later in our NXT recap, but suffice it to say, I loved it! Ditto for SmackDown! It continues to beg the question – why are NXT and SmackDown running so hot while RAW continues to be stuck in the mud?

Hell In A Cell PPV – Results

WWE Championship Hell In A Cell Match: Randy Orton defeated Drew McIntyre to win title

Universal Championship Hell In A Cell I Quit Match: Roman Reigns defeated Jey Uso to retain title

SmackDown Women’s Championship Hell In A Cell Match: Sasha Banks defeated Bayley to win title

Money In The Bank Contract Match: The Miz defeated Otis to win MITB Contract

Elias defeated Jeff Hardy via DQ

United States Championship Match: Bobby Lashley defeated Slapjack of RETRIBUTION

24/7 Championship: R-Truth defeated Drew Gulak

Star of the Week:

…AND NEW #WWEChampion, @RandyOrton!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/66t8VrLtHb

— WWE (@WWE) October 28, 2020

Randy Orton – When you win your 14th WWE title inside Hell In A Cell against the dominating Drew McIntyre, you need to get some star love. He’s easily been one of the stars of the pandemic era, doing some of the best work of his 20-year career. I expect him to keep the title until facing Edge at WrestleMania!

RAW

RESULTS

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: AJ Styles defeated Jeff Hardy

Lucha House Party defeated Akira Tozawa & Drew Gulak

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Keith Lee defeated Elias

Elimination Match: The Hurt Business defeated RETRIBUTION by DQ

Drew McIntyre defeated The Miz

Fatal 4-Way Match: Lana defeated Peyton Royce, Lacey Evans & Nikki Cross to join Team RAW

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Sheamus defeated Matt Riddle

On its face, RAW seemed a bit disjointed this week after a few weeks of getting better. Coming off the Hell In A Cell PPV and kicking off the road to the Survivor Series, you would think that things would be micro-focused. But, in watching Monday night, it just didn’t seem that way.

The build to Survivor Series basically got done in one backstage segment with The New Day and Asuka telling us all the matches with a big screen. It truly will be just RAW vs. SmackDown this year as we get champion vs. champion on all fronts (Orton vs. Reigns, Lashley vs. Zayn, The New Day vs. The Street Profits and the traditional 5-on-5 match) which is fine, but there won’t seem to be much, or any consequences coming out of it. We got three qualifying matches that saw Keith Lee, Sheamus and AJ Styles advance to Team RAW. None of three really stood out. Not bad, not awesome, so just really there and seemingly put over the right superstar. Don’t get me wrong, the matches at SS will be fine and could have a few “moments” but do they really help the individual brands when it’s done? At least last year, there was excitement with NXT being involved and it kept going through the Royal Rumble. I’m not sure that’s going to happen this time around.

That's … six.#WWERaw @NiaJaxWWE @LanaWWE pic.twitter.com/bBkRNayywU

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 27, 2020

For the women, why oh why do we get subjected to Lana winning matches and being put through more tables? Does WWE really think that we’re going to start cheering for Lana just because she’s being put through tables each week by Nia Jax or Shayna Baszler? I don’t think so. I think it’s a lost storyline there that I just yawn over.

"We decide when you get shut down." – @AliWWE#RETRIBUTION still has work to do. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/WEsbiv2Lgi

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 27, 2020

This week, we get another match in which RETRIBUTION loses, but then afterwards, Mustafa Ali says they will decide who suffers and when it gets shut down. HUH?! While we are it, what the heck was up with the Mia Yim acting like she’s having a seizure and that bugs were all over her? Totally offensive. Back to the group – The Hurt Business is their collective Daddy and it just makes the weak. Let them beat someone else and gain some momentum. Otherwise, move on. It’s been a lost opportunity here with RETRIBUTION and I don’t see it getting any better on a consistent basis.

#FireflyFunHouse has taken one wild turn with @AlexaBliss_WWE!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/nj0KlQMJm9

— WWE (@WWE) October 28, 2020

Welcome to the Firehouse Funhouse Alexa Bliss!

#WWEChampion @RandyOrton has to deal with #TheFiend AND @DMcIntyreWWE.#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/whVc58eI9O

— WWE (@WWE) October 27, 2020

Even in the last segment of the night, Randy Orton on A Moment of Bliss with Alexa Bliss, there was no clear road as to where they were going. Sure, we thought Orton would be confronted by The Fiend, but yet we get Drew McIntyre back out to confront Orton again with Alexa Bliss laughing maniacally on the top rope. A cool sight, yes indeed. And yes, we loved the “burned it down” reference by Bliss to harken back to the time that Orton burned Bray Wyatt’s house down. Good detail there. But then as The Fiend shows up on the ramp to stop Orton, Orton and McIntyre just continue the brawl as the show seemingly ends. At least McIntyre got some positivity earlier in the night by beating the newly crowned Money In The Bank holder, The Miz, in an easy match. So, where does The Fiend and Drew fit in here? There not getting a match at Survivor Series, it’s Orton vs. Reigns. Will they become teammates on the RAW Survivor Series team? Will they get a separate match on the card? Or will they just mess with Orton so that he loses against Reigns? It’s not clear with only a few weeks left to the PPV, which of course leads to little build-up and buy in from us, the fans. I would like to see Orton vs. Drew vs. Orton, but I know I’m not getting it, at least for a while.

Overall, a step back for RAW this week after a few glimmers of hope.

NXT

RESULTS

NXT North American Championship Devil’s Playground Match: Johnny Gargano defeated Damian Priest to win title

Non-title NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match: Santos Escobar defeated Jake Atlas

Haunted House of Terror Match: Dexter Lumis defeated Cameron Grimes

Rhea Ripley defeated Raquel Gonzalez

NXT Women’s Championship Tables, Ladders & Scares Match: Io Shirai defeated Candice LeRae to retain title

Tables, Ladders & 𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙨… OH MY! The WHEEL has spoken for @shirai_io & @CandiceLeRae's #WWENXT #WomensTitle match! #HalloweenHavoc @ShotziWWE pic.twitter.com/7Q0YvGoSeB

— WWE (@WWE) October 29, 2020

Loved the concept going in with Halloween Havoc returning from its WCW roots to take over a night of NXT! Shotzi Blackheart being the host was perfectly cast and she hosted a night of fun, excitement, costumes and surprises. Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal! Yes! I hope they make this an annual event on NXT!

SCREAM? #WWENXT #NXTNATitle #HalloweenHavoc @JohnnyGargano @ArcherOfInfamy pic.twitter.com/drCGbHARHy

— WWE (@WWE) October 29, 2020

Right from the get-go, this show delivered a pair of title matches to bookend the show. Johnny Gargano vs. Damian Priest in a Devil’s Playground Match with basically no rules allowed them to fight everywhere at the WWE Performance Center. So, who was in the Scream costume to help Gargano win the title with a lead pipe and by sending a headstone through Priest? Was it Candice LeRae? Was it Indie Hartwell? Was it a mystery superstar? Good intrigue as the Gargano Way is back on top with a championship. Then, in what I will call a bit of a surprise, Io Shirai held on to her NXT Women’s Championship against Candice LeRae. I truly thought it would be a double-title night for the Garganos, but it wasn’t meant to be as Blackheart thwarted the mystery Scream person’s attempt (Johnny Gargano or Indie Hartwell) to help LeRae climb the ladder to win the match. A fabulous match with amazing bumps through ladders, tables and other assorted weaponry in this Ladders, Tables and Scares match.

CANDICE. LERAE. THAT'S IT. THAT'S THE TWEET.#WWENXT #NXTWomensTitle #HalloweenHavoc @CandiceLeRae @shirai_io pic.twitter.com/8xhVaBm4DW

— WWE (@WWE) October 29, 2020

WE ARE THE NEW KINGS OF #WWENXT #THATSUNDISPUTED @ONEYLORCAN @strongstylebrit @PeteDunneYxB pic.twitter.com/N2qvOapGZV

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 29, 2020

I’ll give Pat McAfee credit. The dude delivers on whatever platform he’s on. Whether it be the NFL, ESPN, his own internet show, Mad Dog Radio on Sirius XM or in the NXT, he’s got IT. Not only did he come back and connect all the dots on how he got back at Adam Cole and The Undisputed Era, but he took it to another level. Bringing back the BruiserWeight, Pete Dunne to swerve Kyle O’Reilly and join his faction with Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch gives him another edgy person to try and take over NXT. Very well done.

I could see Ripley and Gonzalez go at it a few more times too. The battle of NXT behemoths was a good one. So too was Escobar vs. Atlas as Legado Del Fantasma never seems to disappoint on any occasion.

It's like a danger zone right now….here comes @KillianDain! And @WWEMaverick is ready to 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙘𝙠 his tag team partner at #WWENXT #HalloweenHavoc! pic.twitter.com/DhJ6ThiZsa

— WWE (@WWE) October 29, 2020

Finally, the cinematic Haunted House of Horror Match between Lumis and Grimes gave us the entertainment for the night, complete with dancing zombies. It kept Lumis strong as this menacing, brooding man in the shadows while Grimes is growing on me as some comic relief. At the beginning, he was just annoying. Now, I’m starting to believe a little more. And speaking of funny, how about Drake and Killian Dane reliving Halloween Havoc 1995 with Hulk Hogan, The Giant, Yeti and yes, the ShockMaster? LOL my friends!

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Kevin Owens defeated Dolph Ziggler

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Bianca Belair defeated Natalya and Billie Kay

Non-title SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits defeated Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Jey Uso defeated Daniel Bryan

It doesn’t get any more real than what Roman Reigns and Jey Uso continue to give us each and every Friday night. This week, the consequences of his Hell In A Cell match loss to Reigns brings Uso to tears to kickoff SmackDown, forcing him to say he hates him, as Reigns say he’s always loved him. So simple. So gripping. So entertaining.

.@BiancaBelairWWE is headed to #SurvivorSeries!#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/PWhmI95zeT

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

The Survivor Series five-on-five teams continue to get built with Kevin Owens and Bianca Belair winning qualifying matches Friday night. I don’t know about you, but Natalya seems to be wasted playing the whiny, “I deserve it all” character these days. Belair is a superstar in the making and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her be a sole survivor. As for Owens, it’s always good to see him get rewarded and this will only boost his cause in trying to and help out the rest of the blue brand as he’s said he wants to be there for his fellow superstars in the past few months.

#SmackDown @WWE_Murphy pic.twitter.com/gA8ykd5DoX

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

How about Lars Sullivan! The Freak actually speaks. Good sitdown with Corey Graves to give him a little depth. And speaking of depth, the romance contiues to blossom between Aalyah and Murphy. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop there even though Murphy’s apology to the Mysterio family seemed genuine until Seth Rollins predictably butted in. In the end, Aalyah professes her love for Buddy and they’re one step closer to going to the dark side together.

What does @CarmellaWWE have planned for #SmackDown next week?

pic.twitter.com/06KIQOP0zP

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

So, it looks like we’re finally going to see why Carmella is so untouchable. Nice tease for next week!

No matter how many times I see it, I’m always amazed at how high Montez Ford gets flying through the air. Michael Cole has it right – “from the heavens.” The Street Profits vs. The New Day is going to be a classic. Dawkins and Ford took care of business against the former tag team champions Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura with another clean victory. I think the WWE has run out of ways to use Cesaro & Nakamura though. Too bad.

Apparently, it’s USA vs. The World when Bobby Lashley meets Sami Zayn at Survivor Series. Ok then.

It's #BossTime on #SmackDown!#WomensTitle @SashaBanksWWE pic.twitter.com/9pQGGwOxPN

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

Long live the chair. Even though Hell In A Cell is over, the chair that has highlighted the feud between Sasha Banks and Bayley has survived and is moving forward. The storyline is not ending and we’ll get another championship match next Friday night.

#SmackDown @WWEUsos @WWERomanReigns @WWEDanielBryan pic.twitter.com/nQTRtZ0L3z

— WWE (@WWE) October 31, 2020

Actions have consequences and we knew they were coming for Uso by the end of the night. So, having Reigns come out in the middle of Jey’s qualifying match with Bryan made absolute sense. Reigns didn’t even give Uso the chance to relish his well deserved victory over Bryan before he made him say the words “I’m with you” to Reigns. Jey firmly understands, attacking Bryan after the match and he’s now fully with the Tribal Chief on the dark side. It looks like the faction led by Reigns is getting bigger and should be growing in the upcoming weeks. The USOs will be the henchmen, IMHO. Great job by Paul Heyman as well staying out of the way. It only builds him and the entire group up. Less is definitely more!

SmackDown continues to be WWE’s best show of the week.

Parting Shots:

With the Survivor Series celebrating 30 years of The Undertaker, I do hope we get some Brother Love and Ted DiBiase sightings over the next few weeks and at the PPV. It’s good to see the WWE Network embracing the podcast game too with additions of Lillian Garcia, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott’s Swerve City, Sam Roberts and Corey Graves After The Bell. Content is king and it’s good to get the different perspectives, especially seeing WWE superstars in a different light outside the ring too.

Survivor Series – Updated Card:

WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns

Raw Women’s Champion Asuka vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks

Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits

United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn

5-on-5 Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Match (Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Lana vs. Bianca Belair, TBD, TBD, TBD, TBD)

5-on-5 Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Match (Keith Lee, Sheamus, AJ Styles, TBD, TBD vs. Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, TBD, TBD, TBD)

Coming up next week:

RAW: The Fiend & Randy Orton appear Guitar on a Pole Match: Elias vs. Jeff Hardy Non-title RAW Tag Team Title Match: The New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander Non-title WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose Survivor Series Qualifying matches NXT: Tommaso Ciampa vs. The Velveteen Dream Ember Moon vs. Dakota Kai

SmackDown: SmackDown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks vs. Bayley Survivor Series Qualifying matches

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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placetobenation · 4 years ago

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Well, we asked you the question last week on how long it would take the WWE to break its own Draft rules. Well, it didn’t take long for our answer.

One week!

Just one week into the new landscape of RAW and SmackDown, we get SmackDown stars on RAW that weren’t supposed to be there. Otis, as El Gran Gordo, showed up to help his former Heavy Machinery partner Tucker. The Riott Squad, Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott took part in a fatal-four-way challenge to Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler.

But, in the very same season premiere episode of MNR, we are reminded that Big E can’t be with his New Day teammates due to the draft, so Big E shows up in the ThunderDome crowd to cheer on Kofi Kingston against Sheamus. Mixed messages? Damn straight.

See, that’s the thing about the WWE lately, especially on Monday Night RAW. They EXPECT you to not remember (or care) about the rules and the common sense. Storylines should, at the very least, be able to make sense and have us follow along at home. That’s how we get invested. It’s not that hard. NXT and SmackDown, along with other wrestling companies, understand this. I’m not quite sure why Monday nights don’t work the same way. But, then again, I do. It’s three words: Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Enough said.

Now, it’s on to the week that was as we head straight to Hell (In A Cell)!

Star of the Week:

Love at first fright.#WWERaw @WWEBrayWyatt @AlexaBliss_WWE pic.twitter.com/on2qkL09H0

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 20, 2020

The Fiend & Alexa Bliss – Just one week in, they’ve taken over Monday nights. And we LOVE IT!

RAW

RESULTS

The Hurt Business defeated RETRIBUTION

AJ Styles defeated Matt Riddle

RAW Women’s Championship Match: Asuka defeated Lana

Non-title WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defeated The Riott Squad, Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke and Peyton Royce & Lacey Evans

Kofi Kingston defeated Sheamus

El Gran Gordo (Otis) & Tucker defeated The Miz & John Morrison

Braun Strowman defeated Keith Lee

LOVED IT:

#TheFiend didn't forget.#WWERaw @WWEBrayWyatt @AlexaBliss_WWE pic.twitter.com/WfE0olSIdq

— WWE (@WWE) October 20, 2020

Opening segment(s) – Gotta be honest, I haven’t been a big fan of the RETRIBUTION storyline, but having them mingled between The Hurt Business and The Fiend with Alexa Bliss to open the show Monday night is a chance to give them new life. Granted, having them lose cleanly to The Hurt Business again isn’t helpful, but hopeful it’s just the beginning of the storyline. The Fiend and Alexa Bliss are megastars and having them in multiple segments on Monday nights will make it more watchable. Also, kudos to Mustafa Ali for a well-done promo giving some backstory to RETRIBUTION. It’s something we thought we were getting last week, but good to see they didn’t forget about it entirely.

No #HurtBusiness for @TitusONeilWWE. Just hurt.#WWERaw @fightbobby @The305MVP @Sheltyb803 @CedricAlexander pic.twitter.com/cxNUpwXI3f

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 20, 2020

The Hurt Business – Speaking of the strongest faction going in the WWE right now, The Hurt Business continues to be strong and do what they do best – whatever the hell they want. This week, it’s beating down Titus O’Neill after he wanted to bring his Worldwide brand to THB. THB is starting to remind me of the Four Horsemen, if only Bobby Lashley was the World Champion. And let’s be honest, MVP could outwrestle JJ Dillon any day.

Raise your hand

if #ElGranGordo is your new favorite @WWE Superstar.#WWERaw @tuckerwwe pic.twitter.com/hF1MVkNRWi

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 20, 2020

El Gran Gordo – Yes, I know, having Otis break the one-week old draft rule is worrisome, but I’ll take the entertainment of the storyline over the common sense for now. Having Otis, as El Gran Gordo, don a luchador mask to be Tucker’s tag team partner against The Miz & John Morrison is throwback to the days of the Machines (Andre, Roddy, Hulk, etc.), The Big Yellow Dog (JYD) and The Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes), not to mention Tommy Rich in mask in Atlanta.

Fun – Monday Night RAW has missed some of its fun, comedic elements of late and having El Gran Gordo and The New Day around will help fix that. The New Day can bring levity to any segment and it’s a nice breather in a three-hour long show. Plus, they can still bring it in the ring as the tag team champs. Good to see Big E in the ThunderDome crowd! Again, why can Otis, The Riott Squad and others appear on RAW but Big E can’t? Hmmm…..

Go home segment – Randy Orton’s final segment promo inside of the Hell in a Cell was gripping. As he went through of his HIAC matches with the likes of John Cena, The Undertaker, Daniel Bryan and others, it reminds us how good Orton truly is. One more notch on his belt I think is coming this Sunday to capture his 14th WWE title with a win over current WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. Great way to end it too with McIntyre cutting his way into the cell and yelling “your ass is mine” to Orton as the final shot of the night. It sets up a MUST-SEE match Sunday night.

Why?

Lana – We told you it was a complete waste last week to have Lana win the Battle Royale to face Asuka and the match proved it. It was a complete waste of time, only there to set up Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler and a fatal-four-way tag match. Asuka deserves better than this. It’s like having a non-title match on WWE Challenge back in the day.

Elias – Another concert and another guitar shot. At what point do we get more from Elias than just the singer who gets interrupted gimmick. The ironic thing is that the Jeff Hardy vs. Elias feud could be pretty decent.

Big things to come?

To say this was a HUGE win for @AJStylesOrg would be an understatement. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/q9FyGwHRc0

— WWE (@WWE) October 20, 2020

AJ gets a bodyguard – Well, it looks like the end of RAW Underground is here (thank God!) as the official bouncer of RU, Omogbehin, is now AJ Styles new bodyguard. It’s more of the old school coming back in 2020 and I like it! It’s so striking the size difference between Styles and Omogbehin. Unfortunately, I don’t think Omogbehin is going to be that good in a ring to ultimately turn on AJ and face him in a match. But then again, one never knows in the WWE world of booking. Very good rematch by the way between Styles and Matt Riddle, who continues to shine win or lose.

Battle of the low blows – Who’s the good guy? Who’s the bad guy? I can’t tell at this point between Braun Strowman and Keith Lee. Both of been tweeners, complete with a couple of low blow spots (look familiar Roman Reigns?). Not quite sure where this one is going or if it’s going to help either guy and just go the way of 50-50 matches for a few weeks. Speaking of 50-50, it was no shock to see Strowman get the win after being submitted, or is it passed out, by Roman Reigns last week on SmackDown.

NXT

RESULTS

Triple Threat Match: Kushida defeated Tommaso Ciampa & The Velveteen Dream

Ember Moon defeated Jessi Kamea

Bronson Reed defeated Austin Theory – twice

Legado Del Fantasma defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Jake Atlas & Ashantee “Thee” Adonis

Ever-Rise defeated Drake Maverick & Killian Dain by DQ

Kacy Catanzaro defeated Xia Li

NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Danny Lorcan & Oney Lorcan defeated Breezango to win the titles

LOVED IT:

𝑲 𝑼 𝑺 𝑯 𝑰 𝑫 𝑨 !@KUSHIDA_0904 gets the better of @NXTCiampa & @DreamWWE on #WWENXT on @USA_Network! pic.twitter.com/oTpajmfYmy

— WWE (@WWE) October 22, 2020

KUSHIDA – It keeps getting better and better for KUSHIDA. I hope they push it all the way to him vs. Finn Balor for the NXT Championship! Sure, he got a little help from The Velveteen Dream’s armed cast, but a win is a win, especially over Tommaso Ciampa!

*STOPS ON BURIED ALIVE* "WHY DOES THIS WHEEL WANT ME DEAD?!" #WWENXT (via @WWENXT)pic.twitter.com/YIzr9bewFU

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 22, 2020

"Spin the wheel, and FEEL the pain." – @ShotziWWE

#HalloweenHavoc #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/2ixrDrIsJv

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) October 22, 2020

Halloween Havoc build – Spin the wheel and feel the pain! Brilliant from your host Shotzi Blackheart. Plus, now we get a Haunted House of Terror match between Dexter Lumis and Cameron Grimes. Should be a tasty treat come Wednesday night!

Six-man tag – It’s no surprise that they killed it again, but Legado Del Fantasma simply brought it against Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Jake Atlas and Ashantee “Thee” Adonis. The cruiserweight division is no afterthought with Santos Escobar and his boys at the top. Quality each and every week!

Beat-down to a build-up:

IS THIS FOR REAL?!?

@PatMcAfeeShow is BACK! #WWENXT #NXTTagTitles @ONEYLORCAN @strongstylebrit pic.twitter.com/cj3Zi34NHr

— WWE (@WWE) October 22, 2020

The Undisputed Era/Pat McAfee – Nice twist to the tag team title match between Breezango and TUE. First, Bobby Fish gets beat down. Then, Roderick Strong gets beat up. So, in goes Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch to sub for them. And the mystery man, Pat McAfee gets revenge on Adam Cole & TUE by getting his boys, Lorcan & Burch the tag team gold. Brilliantly done. Never saw it coming! Now while I liked Breezango as entertaining champs, this keeps them in a mix for the titles with a bigger feud and higher profile storyline. It works on every angle.

Friends and foes:

Kacy vs. Xia – When Xia Li needed a match, her one-time friend Kacy Catanzaro stepped up for the fight and to Li’s surprise, beat her. Then, as Li attacked after match, Raquel Gonzalez tore in Li, Catanzaro and Kayden Carter to give her a boost heading into next week’s Halloween Havoc match with Rhea Ripley. A good use of all four, plus Kacy gets a surprise victory.

Bye-bye:

"That's it. I'm done… I QUIT." – @austintheory1 #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/ox4OEwX58P

— WWE (@WWE) October 22, 2020

Austin Theory – Did he really quit after getting beat (twice) by Bronson Reed? Probably not. Probably a re-dux coming.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens & The Street Profits defeated Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura

Bianca Belair defeated Zelina Vega

Lars Sullivan defeated Short G

Seth Rollins defeated Murphy

LOVED IT:

We will never be equal. Never bite the hand that fed you. #BossoftheCell pic.twitter.com/5ICEaF4N3e

— $asha Banks (@SashaBanksWWE) October 24, 2020

Sasha seals the deal – So, Bayley wouldn’t sign the contract for Hell In A Cell? No worries. Sasha Banks just beat her senseless into submitting to it. Well done as the infamous chair takes center stage once again! I can only imagine the carnage that will come Sunday night inside the Hell In A Cell!

They got you, @WWERomanReigns. #SmackDown #HIAC @HeymanHustle @WWEUsos pic.twitter.com/6rMqaRPuSJ

— WWE (@WWE) October 24, 2020

Double Trouble – Jey Uso brings out Jimmy Uso to try and dupe Roman Reigns. Jey’s physicality gave us a little belief that he could have a chance in the family feud come Sunday. As for the consequences for the I Quit Match inside Hell In A Cell that Roman promised? Reigns puts the family on the line if things don’t fall into line from Uso on Sunday night.

Watch her shine, now!

#SmackDown @BiancaBelairWWE pic.twitter.com/K5T9oZRKn8

— WWE (@WWE) October 24, 2020

Bianca Belair – She’s a superstar folks! Nice start to her SmackDown career with a victory over Zelina Vega.

Didn’t we see that before?

Shorty G is no longer. It's GABLE now, CHAD GABLE. #SmackDown @WWEGable @ScrapDaddyAP pic.twitter.com/qtg9upfXKs

— WWE (@WWE) October 24, 2020

Shorty G – So, Shorty G quits..well, at least he quits his name. He’s back to being Chad Gable again, which is a good thing. Gone is the gimmick that needed to go a long time ago. But, hey, didn’t we just the quit angle on NXT two nights earlier? Seems a little forced but a nice way to put forth another Lars Sullivan squash match to build him up.

Wild and fun:

8-man tag – Anytime you can get the amount of in-ring talent that the opening match gave you – Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens & The Street Profits, Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura – it’s going to be good. I like the idea of Owens and Bryan joining forces too to go after the tag titles. Plus, having The Street Profits get the pin makes perfect sense.

ORDER IN THE COURT.

Per Judge @JCLayfield, @otiswwe will battle @mikethemiz this Sunday at #HIAC! The winner will 𝒈𝒆𝒕 and 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 the #MITB contract! #SmackDown @tuckerwwe @TheRealMorrison pic.twitter.com/pb5n9ieoFQ

— WWE (@WWE) October 24, 2020

Court TV – While not as wild as the tag team match to start the night, Otis vs. The Miz inside a courtroom with JBL as Judge and Ron Simmons as bailiff in an APA reunion was some comedic relief for the night. Not only did we get a pay-off from The Miz to win the trial, but we get a pay-off in a match for this Sunday as Otis has to put his Money In The Bank contract on the line against The Miz. But, again with the draft breaking rules with Asuka showing up on SmackDown as a witness. She’s funny, but can’t we just abide by the rules at any point?

Same ol’ story:

Seth vs. Murphy – Different night. Same storyline. Same result. Count me as one who is no longer interested in Murphy vs. Rollins with the Mysterio family as the sidebar. It’s time for Rollins to turn Aalyah or move on.

Parting Shots:

Having Talking Smack follow SmackDown was a nice idea. Probably would’ve been a better idea for WWE Backstage to be in the timeslot back when it started though. If it did, it might still be around. The Paul Heyman segment/shoot about what makes a true Heyman guy was fantastic. So much realism and truth there. No scripts needed and a breath of fresh air. Again, something we thought WWE Backstage was going to more of, but wasn’t.

Hell In A Cell PPV – Updated Card

WWE Championship Hell In A Cell Match: Drew McIntyre vs Randy Orton

Universal Championship Hell In A Cell I Quit Match: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso

SmackDown Women’s Championship Hell In A Cell Match: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks

Money In The Bank Contract Match: Otis vs. The Miz

Jeff Hardy vs. Elias

Predictions: Randy Orton takes his 14th WWE title. Roman Reigns remains at the head of the table. Sasha Banks gets her revenge in the match of the night. Otis keeps his MITB contract. Elias takes part 1 vs. Jeff Hardy.

Coming up this week:

RAW: Hell In A Cell fallout

NXT: Halloween Havoc Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal NXT North American Championship Match: Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal NXT Women’s Championship Match: Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae Haunted House of Terror Match: Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Gonzalez

SmackDown: Hell In A Cell fallout

Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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