#lince durado

[hazyheel]

WWE 205 Live 8/13/19 Review

Akira Tozawa vs. Jack Gallagher: Brian Kendrick seconded Tozawa to the ring. The two shook hands before they started, and they immediately started to go hold for hold. Tozawa quickly locked in an iron octopus, but Gallagher fought his way out, only for Tozawa to shower him with chops and strikes. At one point, the two battled in the corner and Gallagher dropped Tozawa right on his face into the ringpost, sending him spilling to the outside for a close count out spot. Kendick rushed right over to him to make sure that he was okay, and it looked like he split something open on his face. The two then transitioned into striking, where Gallagher tried to retreat to the outside, only for Tozawa to meet him there with a suicide dive. The two then fought with some tough striking for .a bit, before Tozawa hit the flying senton for the win. However, Gallagher had his foot on the bottom rope, which Kendrick accidentally knocked off while he excitedly slapped the apron. 

Grade: B. Pretty good match. The two had a nice contest that featured a mix of styles, and they also had a controversial ending with Kendrick accidentally interfering. 

Oney Lorcan backstage: he talked about how he was screwed at Summerslam, and he was actually still selling his throat a bit. He said that although he lost last time, he refuses to this time. 

Humberto Carrillo, Kalisto and Lince Durado vs. Ariya Daivari and the Singh Brothers: before the match, we saw a video showing that someone had attacked Gran Metalik earlier in the day. He was supposed to be in this match, but he was not cleared to compete. Humberto Carrillo replaced him in the match, but he was also the guy who found Metalik on the ground. So right off the bat, there was a wedge in the face team. Carrillo and Daivari started thing off, with Carrillo showing off his exciting high flying offense against the much more grounded type of wrester in Daivari. Daivari quickly tagged out to Sunil, but the faces still beat him down. During the beating, both members of the Lucha House Party were wary about tagging Carrillo into the match, which gave Sunil just enough time to trip up Kalisto as he tried to walk along the ropes, giving the heels control. When Kalisto eventually got to tag out, Durado was pulled off the apron, forcing Kalisto to tag Carrillo. He got some nice moves in, before Daivari ran in and started to take the fight to Carrillo. Kalisto ran in to give him a Salida del Sol, then then ate double superkicks from the Singh Brothers. Durado and Carrillo then launched them to the outside and gave them stereo dives. Durado looked to fight Daivari a bit more, but Daivari walked out on the match. In the finish, Carrillo went up for a twisting splash, only for Durado to tag himself in as he went for it. Carrillo nailed the twisting splash, but wasn’t allowed to make the pin. Durado then nailed a shooting star press as Carrillo rolled away to get the win.

Grade: B-. Pretty good match. A lot of big spots, the luchadores were looking energized and excited for this match. They showed off their high flying, and I think the story building between Daivari, Durado and Carrillo is very interesting. I could see Durado turning heel, first on Carrillo and then on the Lucha House Party. He may even take Metalik with him. Exctiing storylines here.

Drew Gulak Backstage: he talked about how he wanted a real challenger, and said that Lorcan was not good enough to be challenging for his title. He said that he will dismantle anyone who stepped to him when they weren’t ready. 

Tony Nese Backstage: he talked about how he needed to start from scratch, because he has been losing a lot recently. He said that he will do whatever he can to win his title back. 

Drew Gulak vs. Oney Lorcan for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Lorcan started things out with a shower of strikes right away, doing the exact same thing that Lorcan did at Summerslam. Lorcan quickly hit a high angle german suplex and then a trust fall to the outside, but only a near fall out of it. Lorcan was really controlling this match as they started off. However, as Gulak seemed to be losing, he started to target Lorcan’s throat, jamming it into the announce table and the ring apron. Gulak even tied Lorcan up in the ropes, delivering both strikes to the neck and a neckbreaker for a near fall. From there, Gulak continued to nail Lorcan with stiff strikes, mixing in some power moves for good measure as they fought. Gulak went for the cyclone crash, but Lorcan slipped out, so Gulak annihilated him with a lariat to take his control back. At one point, the two battled on the tope rope, and Lorcan actually hit a Half and Half suplex off the top, but Gulak got his foot on the rope as they fought. That failure to win lit a fire under Lorcan, who unleashed a flurry of chops to the chest and neck. He continued to fight with everything he had, but Gulak still was able to counter out of the half and half suplex. He gave Lorcan an O’Connor roll, and then trasitioned from that into a Gulock for the win via stoppage. 

Grade: B+. Much better than their Summerslam encounter, this match had a lot more room to breathe, and it told a very nice and exctiing story. Both men bent the rules a bit by using those chops to the throat, and both men gave this match everything that they had. Gulak beat Lorcan clean, although Lorcan came incredibly close to winning here. An exciting and close contest. Match of the night. 

Overall Grade: B.

Pros: Tozawa vs. Gallagher; main event

Cons: The Singh Brothers still really don’t do it for me

[hazyheel]

WWE 205 Live 7/30/19 Review

First match of the night was Brian Kendrick and Akira Tozawa vs. The Singh Brothers. The heels in this match were being annoying the second that they walked out. Also, on commentary, Aiden English and Vic Joseph were given a Bollywood award by Brian Kendrick for great commentary. How nice. In the actual match, the Singh’s gained control through some cheating, and beat down Tozawa throughout the match. Kendrick eventually got a hot tag, and destroyed them with stiff strikes. The Singh Brothers caused a distraction by stealing the Bollywood award, getting them the advantage. They then went to hit Kendrick with it, but he ducked and caused some friendly fire. He gave Sumir a sliced bread #2, and Tozawa followed up with a senton.

Grade: C. Largely boring match, I do not like the Singh Brothers in the ring. They are funny and annoying characters, but they aren’t very good wrestlers. But I liked the finish, just because they used the trophy as a weapon.

Then we had an interview for the Lucha House Party. They talked about how everyone in 205 Live is Lucha. Then they randomly talked about how Humberto Carrillo wasn’t a real luchadore. Okay, maybe Lince Durado is gonna turn heel.

We went right from that promo into Lince Durado vs. Ariya Daivari. Daivari tried to mock Durado early on, yelling Lucha slowly in his face. Durado looked for the Golden Rewind quickly, and Daivari retreated. Daivari tried to walk out on the match, but Durado caught him and beat him into the ground. Durado then began to pick up the pace as Daivari tried every trick in the book to get the advantage. Daivari hit a really nice DDT at one point, spinning him out like a rainmaker and then nailing a short DDT for a near fall. Daivari also mocked Jerry Lawler, trying the fist drop or whatever the hell it was, but Durado caught him. Durado tried to return the favor with some high flying, but Daivari nailed a superkick to stop him. Daivari then caught Durado out of the Golden Rewind with a million rial dream, and when Durado tried to get out of it, he transitioned into a wicked urenagi for a near fall. The match had an interesting finish where Lince, still on the ground, rolled forward and hit a high kick. He then spun all the way around Daivari’s body and got a rollup with a bridge for the win. 

Grade: B-. Pretty good match, Lince is very talented. And Daivari continues to impress with a brawler style. I love that they renamed the million dollar dream to million rial dream. It’s clever, but maybe I only think that because I work in currency exchange. Anyway, good match, but I have a feeling that the Lucha House Party will be breaking up soon, with Durado turning heel. This was the match of the night. 

Backstage, Drew Gulak cut a promo about his opponent for Summerslam. He said that no one really deserved it. He said that if Kanellis loses in the main event, then he needs a new challenger. He said that it doesn’t matter who he will fight, because he will tie them up in knots and then pin them. Cool.

And in the main event, we had an unsanctioned match between Drake Maverick and Mike Kanellis. Maverick came to the ring in a simple 205 Live shirt, And to the 205 live theme music, interesting. And as he was walking, Kanellis attacked from behind and threw him into the LED boards to start things off. Kanellis beat the living crap out of Maverick, and said that Maverick couldn’t start the match. Kanellis tried to say that he won by forfeit, but Maverick refused to stay down. And the second that the bell rung, Kanellis beat Maverick down in the corner. Maverick sold his ass off here, screaming and flopping around like a fish all the time. He threw him around ringside all over, and even gave him a huge superkick. Next, he set Maverick up in a commentary chair, and superkicked him right out of it. Then he ripped Maverick’s shirt off, and started to whip him with his belt. Maverick sold it like he was getting shots over and over again. Kanellis then locked in a sleeper hold, and Maverick refused to give up. Maverick fought out of it, and fought back a bit, but when he attempted a baseball slide, he was caught and thrown into the barricade face first. As Maverick was on his knees in the ring Kanellis started to shove the R-Truth wanted posters into his mouth. That actually started to fire Maverick up, and he fought back with some of the classic rockstar spud fire. He even gave Kanellis a suicide dive, and a DDT on the table. He tried to give Kanellis an elbow drop through the announce table, but Kanellis dodged it, and Maverick crashed and burnt. Kanellis had the match won, but he wanted to continue the punishment. He tried for a crucifix bomb off the top, but Maverick nailed a last minute counter hurricanrana. Maverick then hit a sliced bread cutter for the win. 

Grade: C+. This was alright. Interesting if nothing else. Honestly, I think that Kanelllis probably needed this win. Especially the way they booked it, as Maverick not being a wrestler but a GM. If he fired up, and they portrayed him as cool and badass, then this would have been a fine finish. But with Maverick being basically just a dude who has to fight, that made Kanellis look weak. Those belt shots were brutal though. 

Grade: C+

Pros: Maverick got his revenge

Cons: Tozawa and Kendrick vs. The Singh Brothers; Kanellis probably should have won. 

[hazyheel]

WWE 205 Live 6/18/19 Review

Before the matches of the night started, Drake Maverick confirmed that the Cruiserweight Championship match at stomping grounds would be a triple threat, between Drew Gulak, Akira Tozawa and Tony Nese. Nice, looking forward to that.

Our first match of the night was The Singh Brothers vs. The Lucha House Party.  Gran Metalik and Lince Durado represented the Lucha House Party for this match. The Singh brothers were being quite disrespectful this night, as they normally are. There was a botched move early on, where Sunil sold a move way too early, which even the commentators were confused about. The heels worked over Durado, and pulled Metalik off the apron when we was about to get the tag. Metalik had a really nice looking hot tag. At one point during the match, Penelope the pinata was destroyed, which allowed on of the brothers to roll up Durado for the win.

Grade: B-. Fine match to open the show. It is not the last match between these teams, that is for sure. Also, the camera angles and work during this match were not very good. I don’t know what it was, but it seemed kinda like they were zoomed in too much and were using a lot of camera guys who couldn’t really follow the action well enough. 

Noam Dar then cut a promo, talking about how he is living the cushy life since the attack from Drew Gulak. He said that he would only come back if there was a change in the work environment. He also said that he was in Spain, which was proven as a lie when Brian Kendrick showed up. He half assedly tried to carry on the lie, which was funny. 

Brian Kendrick was then out against a jobber. The jobber refused to shake Kendrick’s hand, which pissed off the veteran. The jobber then offered his own hand, which Kendrick once again got pissed about, pushing the jobber back into the corner. The ref pushed Kendrick away, so the jobber was able to hit a forearm to start the match. However, Kendrick quickly hit sliced bread for the win.

Grade: B-. Slightly better than most squash matches, because that forearm looked nice.

Backstage, Jack Gallagher was interviewed about the countout last week. He simply said that he wants a rematch, simply because a countout doesn’t really settle things, and he thinks that Gable would agree. Mike Kanellis then showed up to yell at Gallagher, calling both him and Maverick an embarrassment. Gallagher then challenged Kanellis to a match for next week. Kanellis accepted. This was a really entertaining segment, I love the Gentleman character, and I love the sports feel of 205 Live. 

And in the main event, we had Ariya Daivari vs. Oney Lorcan. Lorcan started right away. Early on in the match, Daivari was getting beaten down really bad, so he tried to run away through the crowd. Daivari was able to fight into the match, focusing on the arm mainly to set up the hammerlock Lariat. Daivari locked in a million dollar dream, which I don’t think he has beaten anyone with yet, so he should get a victory from it soon. Anyway, Lorcan was able to hit a half and half suplex, but Daivari rolled out. Lorcan then hit a suicide dive, only for Daivari to hit him with a chair while they brawled on the outside.

Daivari then beat him down after the match, culiminating in being thrown into the LED boards and a hammerlock Lariat on the ramp. 

Grade: B. A fun brawl that clearly is building to a no DQ match. I look forward to that match, and really think that this should have been one. Still, better than their last match I think, this was pretty fun.

Then we had a video package from each of the fighters in the cruiserweight championship match. Love this stuff.

Overall Grade: B-.

Pros: main event

Cons: weird camera stuff

[hazyheel]

205 Live 2/26/19 Review

Of course, we started with a preview from Drake Maverick, discussing the new tournament to determine the new number one contender to Buddy Murphy’s Cruiserweight Championship, and the match will be at Wrestlemania. I don’t know if the tournament was just announced, or if they mentioned it last week, but I love tournaments, so I am excited. And Maverick is just wonderful to see.

Then, we jumped right into the first match, pitting Kalisto against Tony Nese. Before the match, we saw a quick promo from Kalisto and Lince Durado talking about how Kalisto had what it takes to stand on the Wrestlmania stage. The match started with a clear emphasis on Nese’s strength. Nese wanted to keep the match slow, keep Kalisto on the ground. They both showed off their awesome agility, with both countering strikes with flips. Kalisto spent the match taking some pretty nasty bumps, namely a suicide dive onto Nese that may have ended with his head hitting the floor, and a big back body drop over the steel stairs. The pair brutalized each other with huge overhand chops, and brawled on the outside for large portions of the match. Nese even hit a german suplex off the top rope, really spiking Kalisto high on his shoulders. Kalisto hit a 450 splash for a near fall, and the crowd started to care about the match a bit. in the finish, Kalisto tried to roll up Nese, but Nese reversed it, and held him in a rear waist lock, then hitting a sort of reverse wheelbarrow into the bottom turnbuckle, then the Running Nese for the win. So, Tony Nese moves on in the tournament.

Grade: C+. This would have been a B- match if the crowd had tried to get into it. But either way, these two looked pretty good together, and they had a fun match. Nese has become one of the highlights of 205 Live for me. He has an awesome moveset, and he can really sell his ass off when he wants to

Backstage, Jack Gallagher and Humberto Carrillo discuss how to be a good technical wrestler. Gallagher told Carrillo to take notes on Drew Gulak’s match in the main event. In another backstage segment, Mike and Maria Kanellis are talking to Drake Maverick about how they were screwed out of a victory last week. Maverick then tells him that he took Cedric Alexander to his limit, so he will get a match next week. I doubt Kanellis is in the tournament, but he is great in the ring, so I’ll look forward to it.

So into the main event, we had The Brian Kendrick vs. Drew Gulak, in another first round match in the #1 contendership tournament. The two had a fast paced match that focused a lot on grappling, and submission based wrestling. Drew clearly had the advantage in this match, and Aiden English (who is quite good at commentary) made the point that this match would be like a game of chess. Gulak also had a clear strength advantage, evident by a rough german suplex that Kendrick took. In a very Pete Dunne-esque move, Gulak worked over the fingers a lot during the match. Kendrick really couldn’t fight back for most of the match, even in a striking contest. However, it was striking that got Kendrick control of the match a couple times. One cool spot was when Gulak caught a kick from Kendrick, and then twisted it around and was able to hit a trapped-leg German Suplex. Around the end of the match, Gulak was able to reverse a Sliced Bread into a Gulock. Kendrick then reversed the Gulak into a rough looking Captain’s Hook. Breaking out of it, Gulak hit a powerbomb for a near fall. As Kendrick went for another roll up, Gulak grabbed his head and locked in the Gulock for the win. Kendrick passed out in the hold, and Gulak moved on in the bracket.

Grade: B. Good stuff from both wrestlers. This was a very good technical match, they kept things exciting despite there being a clear winner. Kendrick put Gulak over big in this match, and he kinda lost some momentum doing it. Kendrick is a very good talent, but Gulak needs to win the cruiserweight championship soon. Some may even call this a glorified squash match, but I think it was a member of the old guard just not quite being able to stand up to the younger guys. This was definitely worthy of the main event, and was the best part of the night.

Matches scheduled for next week include two more tournament matches, which are Humberto Carrillo vs. Oney Lorcan and Cedric Alexander vs. Akira Tozawa. Plus whatever match that Kanellis will be in next week.

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: two good matches; drake maverick :)

Cons: dead crowd

[hazyheel]

WWE Monday Night Raw 7/15/19 Review

We opened things up with Brock Lesnar coming out, with his newly won Universal Championship and Paul Heyman in tow. Heyman cut the same promo that he has been cutting for a couple years now. He said that he told everyone what would happen, but they refused to believe him. Heyman then announced a Battle Royal, with the top ten wrestlers on both brands, with the winner getting a shot at Brock’s belt. The men were Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Big E, Cesaro, Braun Strowman, Rey Mysterio, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, Bobby Lashley, and Roman Reigns. He said that although any of them could be champion one day, none of them will beat Brock.

Grade: B. Decent promo, we hear it all the time. I was interested in that match a bit though. A smaller battle royal would be very fun, especially with the talent that was involved. 

Next up was Ricochet and the Usos vs. Robert Roode and The Revival in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Right when they started, on of the Usos nailed Dawson with a superkick, and then tagged in Ricochet who immediately followed up with the codebreaker, which has been renamed recoil, for the first fall. The heels then got the advantage, working over Jey for just a bit before getting the hot tag to Jimmy. Dawson then got the win back with a flapjack of all things, bringing the score to one apiece. When we came back from commercial, the match was not gonna last much longer, with the Usos taking out the Revival with suicide dives, and then Ricochet hitting Roode with recoil and the 630 Senton for the win. 

After the match, The Club all came out to mock him, and Ricochet was having none of it. He just suicide dove onto Styles and layed into him. The heels fought off the babyfaces, beat them down a bit. The Usos gave all of the tag teams superkicks, only for Robert Roode to throw Jimmy out of the ring, and then feed Jay to a shatter machine. They were going to continue the attack, but Ricochet nailed all three with a flying crossbody, but then was taken out with a phenomenal forearm, and then a magic killer from the Good Brothers. 

Grade: B-. A high energy match to open the show. Lots of action, with Ricochet continuing to look strong. The post match stuff set up a rematch for Ricochet with Styles, which I definitely want, and it also set up Usos vs. The Revival, which I do not need to see again. Hopefully these feuds develop more soon, especially the Raw Tag team championship feud, because that is so goddamn dull. 

Then we had a Viking Raiders match, after so long. They fought some local talent, and utterly murdered them. They did the classic “pulling the shoulders up” move. They won with “the viking experience.”

Grade: B-. Inoffensive squash. 

After they recapped the Taker and Roman vs. Shane and McIntyre match, we saw McIntyre challenge Cedric Alexander to a match, and as threatening as he was, Alexander was not having it. He wasn’t scared, and that is a match I need to see. 

That match was next, and McIntyre started by lighting his chest up with chops, only for Alexander to quickly heighten the pace. That back and fourth did not last long though, as he started just chucking Alexander around. Alexander was only really getting flurries of offense here and there. However, as McIntyre was about to hit a reverse alabama slam, Cedric locked him in a pinning combination for the shock win. 

Grade: C+. Huh, okay then. I’m glad Cedric is getting something here, he is an awesome wrestler, and hopefully they get to actually have a match, but this is probably a placeholder while they decide what to do with McIntyre for Summeslam. But if we get a great match out of it, then I will be happy. 

Backstage, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe cut individual promos about their match for later in the night. They mostly said that they would win to get back in the winning conversation. 

Roman Reigns had an interview backstage, talking about how he needs to get this win to complete on of the best weeks of his life. I’d actually be fine with this.

And then we had the aforementioned match, Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe. This match had next to no time to get going before Joe won with a crucifix, and then attacked after the match. He tried to get the Coquina clutch, but Balor fought back, hitting the Coup de Gras.

After the match, Balor’s music was hit, but it suddenly cut out. And the lights started to dim, until they went out. When strobe lights came back on, Bray Wyatt had Balor in a sister Abigail, and drilled him with it. Bray was wearing the fiend mask, and looked great. 

Grade: C. This was going to be a D until that post match stuff happened. Joe looked kinda weak but got a win, while Balor was strong but lost. Neither was particularly benefitted. But none of that mattered, because the debut was really cool. I loved the lighting, I loved the mask, I loved all of it. Bray Wyatt is back. Hopefully his match with Balor will be better than their matches a few years ago, because if they are good, then this should be an awesome feud. 

Then we had Drake Maverick and his wife, checking into a hotel under the name “Mr. and Mrs. 24/7 champion.” They went off to their room after a brief argument about registering their name as that. R-Truth then showed up to ask the front desk if someone named Hornswoggle came in, with a lower case H. But the guy didn’t know who that was.

Then the street profits yelled about how Maverick is a virgin. Then they talked about the women’s elimination match, and Dawkins mentioned how he is in love with Nikki Cross, which was funny. They then made predictions for the battle royal. Okay then, high energy and kinda funny, but ultimately not really worth anything. 

Then we had Zack Ryder vs. Mike Kanellis. Before the match, Maria made fun of Mike for being a loser, and she said that she would beat Ryder. He was able to talk her down, and then entered the match himself. Ryder hit the Rough Ryder right away. The announcer even said that he won in under a minute. Maria then insulted Mike for losing, saying that her, not theirs, her unborn child had a better chance than Mike did. 

Grade: F. Is it really worth Punishing mike and maria like this? They didn’t know they were pregnant when they signed the contracts, so they are burying them on raw, while they are doing fine on 205 Live.  This is just awful.

Next up was another 6-man tag. The Lucha House Party vs. The Club. Styles and Gran Metalik started the match, and the heels just destroyed him to start things off. Metalik and Luke Gallows squared off for a little while, just exchanging huge blows. After a nice little tag combination, they Club all too sweeted, only for Ricochet to run out and attack AJ. There was a wild brawl, and they went to commercial, saying that they would restart the match. When we came back, Lince Durado was in the ring, but he was still on the defensive. He was able to hit a springboard stunner, and get the hot tag to Kalisto. He had a great hot tag, flying around at a million miles an hour. Eventually, all three members of the Lucha House Party hit suicide dives. Kalisto was about to springboard in on Anderson, but Styles distracted him, allowing Gallows and Anderson to hit the boot of doom. They then tagged in Styles for the calf crusher.

He kept the submission on after the match for a little bit, and the heels stood tall.

Grade: B. This was the best thing on the show up until this point. It was a good match with some really fun action. The winners made sense and they showed that the Club are still a very effective team. I have no doubt that Ricochet will fight Styles at Summerslam, but I am uncertain what the Good Brothers will do. Going into the Raw Tag Team title scene would probably be the best use of them going forward. Match of the night

Backstage, Seth Rollins was interviewed about losing the title last night. He said that he has to keep focusing on the future, and it kills him that he isn’t able to hold his belt right now. He briefly mentioned that Becky was not in the building, he said that she would be okay. He said that he would absolutely destroy anyone who is in his way. It was a good promo, he sounded desperate yet badass. Still though, Becky shouldn’t be that injured from the end of days, it is one finishing move. She is a tough girl, she should be fine. Other than that I really liked this. 

Then we had a fatal 4-way elimination match for #1 contendership to the Raw Women’s Championship. It was Natalya vs. Naomi vs. Carmella vs. Alexa Bliss. Nikki Cross was at ringside, as was Becky Lynch. She came out limping, so I guess that finisher is much stronger than we realize. Early on in the actual match, Carmella continuously tried to eliminate Natalya and Naomi. She just kept trying to pin each of them a couple times in a row, to no avail. Bliss hid on the outside for the first few minutes of this match, running in to roll up Carmella for the first elimination. There was an actual commercial break during this match, so I assume everyone just lied around for a few minutes while they were showing commercials. Even after we came back, most of the match was Naomi vs. Natalya, as Bliss was still hiding. Naomi and Natalya had a really good little contest, that was constantly being interrupted by Bliss trying to score a pin. At one point, Naomi went for a split leg moonsault, but Bliss grabbed her leg, allowing Natalya to hit a huge powerbomb, but only a near fall. Nikki was also being funny on the outside, like when Bliss would yell “I know!” at the ref, Nikki would scream at the ref too, in support of her friend. However, despite having some nice action, the crowd chanted “this is awful,” and randomly booed. Natalya then rolled up Naomi for the elimination, leaving just Bliss and Natalya. Just then, Cross grabbed a mic and yelled at the crowd. She told them to cheer for Bliss, which prompted a lot of boos. In the finish, Natalya actually took out Nikki at ringside, and then ran into the ring to lock the sharpshooter in on Alexa for the win.

After the match, Natalya was interviewed in the ring. She tried to give an inspirational speech, but the crowd just wasn’t having it. Becky then got on the mic. Becky told her that there is no way that Natalya could beat her. She said that she has no problem wiping the floor with her. Becky had a weird line saying that she was better in war than love. Natalya then said that she must be a bad lover then, bitch. Natalya then kept up the tough talk, and they had to be separated.

Grade: B. This was a C+ without that promo, but I really liked the promo. Natalya is a new and interesting choice for the spot, its a fresh match that should be good. And Nattie’s mic work here was great. She really held her own against one of the best talkers in the company, which was exciting to see. 

Then we had Dolph Ziggler as a guest on Miz TV. Ziggler implied that there were rumors about Miz right away, saying that he is a corporate puppet. Miz took offense to it, but Ziggler continued to push. He said that Miz is no longer trying to be the best, and he also said that Miz became everything he hates. He then said that all he cared about was fortune and fame, just like his wife. So Miz then attacked him.

Grade: D+. If they are setting up a feud between these two, it was a clumsy way to do it. Ziggler basically said that the only reason he came to be on the show was to cause a problem, which is just dumb. Could be a good feud though, their last one was great. Also, Ziggler said that his match with Kevin Owens was “Goldberg Bad” which was funny but also insulting. I guess we have a new feud then. 

Then we saw Drake Maverick throwing rose pedals on the bed, while Graves said that he normally needed to pay for stuff like this. Drake said that he was ready for love, stripping off his bathrobe with his 24/7 championship around his waist to block is dick. Suddenly, room service came by, and dropped off champaign while Drake desperately tried to maintain an erection. He then realized that the man dropping off the champaign was the ref, and began looking around for Truth. Truth jumped out from underneath the cart, and try to roll up Maverick, but only for a two count. Then Truth gave him a splash onto the bed and won the belt back. Maverick then chased him away, leaving his wife in bed alone. The segment ended with Graves saying that he would have used the small package.

Grade: B+. This was the highlight of an otherwise boring and monotonous show. This was funny, Maverick was funny, Graves was funny, this belt is really fun. Bummed to see Maverick lose it though. It’s also tougher and tougher to separate him from his 205 Live character. 

And in the main event, we had the 10 man battle royal. Big E vs. Sami Zayn vs. Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Baron Corbin vs. Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro vs. Randy Orton vs. Braun Strowman vs. Rey Mysterio. Brock Lesnar came out to watch from the stage. Strowman and Lashley started to fight right at the bell, and Corbin nearly eliminated Rollins right away as well. Cesaro ran around the ring for a while and gave just just about everyone a european uppercut. As Cesaro was about to give Big E the big swing, Lashley tackled him and gorilla pressed him out of the ring. Soon after, Strowman eliminated Lashley, and then faced off with Big E. Big E was able to hit Strowman with the big ending, only for Orton to give him an RKO, and then get eliminated by Zayn. Zayn celebrated a little too hard, and ate an RKO then a 619 and an elimination. Reigns then tried to take on Orton, only to eat an RKO and a 619 of his own. Soon after, Corbin elminated Mysterio. At one point, Orton was lying on the outside, leaving Rollins, Strowman and Reigns in the ring with Corbin. So naturally, he got some comeuppance. He ate a huge right from Strowman, a drive by and a superkick before being elminated. Strowman then took on both Reigns and Rollins, and dodged a spear from Reigns, sending him into Rollins. Reigns then desperately tried to pull Strowman out of the ring, so Rollins bodyslammed both of them, leaving just Rollins and Orton. Orton had control here, giving Rollins a rope hung DDT when Rollins refused to be eliminated. However, when we went for the RKO, Rollins was able to hit the curb stomp, and then won the battle royal by eliminating him. 

After the match, Paul Heyman mockingly introduced Rollins as the #1 contender. Rollins grabbed a mic of his own, and said that he was only talking to Brock here. He said that he is a man possessed, and he promised that he would beat Brock by stomping his head into the mat. Rollins even challenged Lesnar to a fight right now, which only amounted to Lesnar throwing a chair in the ring.

Grade: B. A fun main event, but not the greatest match. Everyone did their greatest hits and then Rollins won. He was really the best choice, other than maybe Reigns. But at least they didn’t just give Rollins the rematch, he had to earn it. This story is very similar to Rollin’s title chase earlier in the year, so I think they are just trying to recreate that magic. Hopefully we actually get a match out of this though, instead of a low blow at the beginning of Wrestlemania. If it is a match, then I will look forward to it. I’m sure they can put on something good. 

Overall Grade: C+

Pros: Heyman Promo; Lucha House Party vs. Club; women’s 4-way; wyatt debut; 24/7 stuff; main event

Cons: Mike Kanellis stuff; miz tv; just generally boring episode. 

[hazyheel]

WWE 205 Live 8/27/19 Review

Ariya Daivari vs. Kalisto: neither member of the Lucha House Party stayed in Kalisto’s corner, preferring to let him handle it. Daivari was pretty cocky early on in the match, mostly because he had a significant power advantage. However, Kalisto quickly corrected that mindset with some fast paced offense and flying. At one point, Daivari gave Kalisto a dropkick to the stomach that sent him off the apron and into the barricade. Daivari was actually really impressing here, as his offense was looking totally crisp and clean. Every time that Kalisto tried to pick up the pace, Daivari would decimate him with strikes. Kalisto started to fight back a bit with some high flying luchadore moves and blasting Daivari’s face into the mat. Kalisto then tried for Salida del Sol, but Daivari rolled to the apron and hung Kalisto up on the top rope, only for Kalisto to fire back with an ensiguri and a rana off the apron. Kalisto followed it with a 450 in the ring, but when he went for the pin, he pulled Daivari’s legs into the ropes and caused a break. Kalisto then went for Salida del Sol, but Daivari went for the mask and hit the Persian Twist for the win.

After the match, Daivari attacked Kalisto until the rest of Lucha House Party ran down to his rescue. Daivari mostly squared off with Lince Durado, and the two talked in the middle of the ring, until eventually Daivari just walked away. 

Grade: B-. A strong B-, but it didn’t make it to a B. I like this story between the Lucha House Party and Daivari, and I am loving Daivari’s character work recently. His cheating ways have gotten him a nice little win, and he continues to be vicoius. Also, they are playing out the Lince Durado story in a longer way than I thought they would, which I love. 

The Singh Brothers backstage: the two talked about how they would be taking a bit of a break, because they need to reflect on their recent losses. Alrighty then.

Humberto Carrillo vs. Oney Lorcan for #1 contendership to the WWE Cruiserweight Championship: They two started with a handshake, before tryingto feel each other out and grappling a bit. Lorcan tried to end things quickly with a half and half suplex, but Carrillo slipped out of it and was sure to stay low so as not to take too much impact from Lorcan’s heavy hitting power moves. The two then wrestled to a stalemate twice before getting into the thick of the match. Lorcan worked over Carrillo’s ribs mostly to hurt his offense while he flies. However that certainly did not stop him, as Carrillo picked up the pace and took down Lorcan with a suicide dive. Lorcan mostly had an answer for Carrillo’s flying and employed some hard hitting counters to stop Carrillo dead in his tracks. Carrillo had to break out some new offense, such as a powerbomb, in order to take Lorcan off guard. Lorcan used some flying offense as well, giving Carrillo a pair of trust falls of the outside, and then a third in the ring for a near fall. From there, Lorcan went for the Half and Half suplex off the top, but Carrillo forced him down, only for Lorcan to drill him with a European uppercut and try again. Carrillo then pushed Lorcan to the ground and hit the Aztec Splash for the win.

After the match, Drew Gulak came on the Titantron, and took credit for Carrillo having so much success lately. 

Grade: B-. I feel like this may be a bit of an unfair grade, because I felt myself burning out on WWE programming as I watched it. But it was a pretty good match, with both guys pulling out some interesting offense in order to get the win. Carrillo was definitely the right call here, and I feel like he just might win at clash of champions. Very interesting stuff. Match of the night. 

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: pretty good matches

Cons: nothing overly spectacular. 

[hazyheel]

WWE Monday Night Raw 8/26/19 Review

Sasha Banks Promo: She talked about why she left for the past four months. She kinda started to mix reality with fiction about why she left, but then she said that she left because she was jealous of Becky Lynch for getting to main event with Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair. She was relegated to a tag match, defending tag titles that meant nothing to her. She said that she bided her time, waiting for the best moment to return, and that was when Natalya was paying tribute to her father. It drew out Lynch, which was her intention, She said that she was the talk of the women’s division, because she was the best in the women’s division. She was going to continue, but Natalya ran down and attacked her. The two fought a whole bunch before the officials separated them. 

Grade: C. Love to hear Banks cutting promos again, but the content of it was a bit odd. I get that heel Banks loves the attention and is a dick about it, but this was weird. They devalued those Women’s Tag Titles like crazy with that line, not that they were in a very good place to begin with. But just whining about not getting money and not main eventing when, two months before mania, she cried in the middle of the ring about how happy she was to make history with Bayley? That doesn’t make sense. Those titles were big when she and Bayley held them, and they could have stayed big if they retained at mania. I question this story a lot, but maybe it will pick up. I like the whole “eyes on me” part of the story, but her reason for leaving was bad. 

The Street Profits backstage: They hyped up Sasha Banks’ return, the King of the Ring matches, the United States Championship match between Styles and Strowman, and the tag team turmoil match. They are fun. 

Drew McIntyre vs. Ricochet in the first round of the 2019 King of the Ring: before the match, Ricochet cut a promo backstage. He said that King of the Ring was a childhood goal of his. And he is willing to do anything to beat Drew McIntyre. McIntyre also cut a promo. He said that the former winners were disappointing, and that he would get rid of all the unworthy superstars when he reigns supreme. In the actual match, Ricochet relied on his agility and speed, while McIntyre used his power. McIntyre had the advantage early on by lighting up Ricochet with strikes and huge throws. McIntyre worked over the back quite a bit during this match to weaken the base of Ricochet. But that certainly didn’t stop Ricochet from hitting his high impact offense. At one point, Ricochet went for a poison rana, but McIntyre just powered him up and over into an inverted Alabama slam. At one point, Ricochet caught Mcintyre out of a corner splash, and hit a northern lights suplex. But when he went for the vertical suplex follow up, Mcintyre just caught him and threw him aside. McIntyre then tried to throw Ricochet into the steel steps, but Ricochet jumped off of it to deliver a high kick. He tried to follow up with a flying forearm, but Mcintyre gave him the Glasgow kiss as Ricochet flew at him. Ricochet then countered a Claymore with a superkick, but McIntyre responded right away with a lariat and then a huge powerbomb for a near fall. Ricochet we then thrown to the top rope, where he gave Mcintyre Recoil off the top, and the 630 Senton for the win. 

Grade: B+. This was a really good match. The two put on an above average TV match, with a lot of back and forth. It would have ranked higher if there was more urgency, but it was largely slow. That slow pace helped to sell Ricochet as an underdog, as Mcintyre constantly stayed in the advantage by keeping him on the mat. But Ricochet got some good offense in and got the win. Good booking, Ricochet needs this more than McIntyre. Match of the night. 

Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins Interview: Rollins talked about how he doesn’t mind defending both his titles at Clash of Champions. Strowman then challenged Rollins for the Universal Championship, and Rollins accepted. That match was then made official. Interesting situation. 

Baron Corbin vs. The Miz in the first round of the 2019 King of the Ring: before the match, the Miz got on the mic and ran down his accomplishments. Then he said that he wanted to be King Awesome. Corbin came out and started the match by throwing his dress shirt into Miz’s face and laying into him a bit. However, Miz then fired back with a series of stiff strikes, only to be layed out on the outside with a right from Corbin. Corbin also insulted the ref a whole bunch here, similar to Corbin’s match back at Super Showdown. There was a nice sequence where Miz flipped out of an End of Day before kicking Corbin in the knee and ramming his head into the mat with a DDT. Corbin went for his run around the post lariat at one point, but Miz ducked it and hit a skull crushing finale for a near fall. In the finish, Miz went for a springboard lariat, but Corbin caught him in an End of Days for the win. 

After the match, Corbin was sure to try on the crowd and hold the scepter. Then he grabbed a mic and insulted the fans for not wanting him to win King of the Ring, but he said that none of them matter. He said that they couldn’t get anywhere near his accomplishments on their best day. Corbin then said “All hail King Corbin.” 

Grade: B-. Pretty good match here. They blended together well, and they had a simple match with a simple story. Corbin looked strong, and he is back to his winning ways. Corbin needed this win far more than Miz, and it ended up a good match. That line closing the segment was interesting, it sounds like some thing that we may have to get used to saying. 

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows interview: they talked about how Rollins and Strowman didn’t earn their title match, so they don’t understand why they need to earn theirs. But it doesn’t matter, because they will win anyway. 

Bayley vs. Nikki Cross: this match stemmed from the fact that Bayley interrupted a moment of Bliss on Smackdown last week, even though everyone does that all the time. Anyway, during the match, Cross worked over Bayley’s ribs over using boots and body scissors alike. The match was over pretty quickly. Bayley eventually put Cross on the mat and gave her the elbow off the top. 

Grade: C-. A squash that was meant to pad the show. Weird story, and Bayley won randomly. 

Braun Strowman interview: Strowman talked about how he will handle every opponent that he has at Clash of Champions. He will destroy AJ Styles tonight for the United States Championship, and then Rollins for his Universal Championship at the pay per view. Strowman is getting a lot of love lately. 

Tag Team Turmoil; The B-Team vs. The Viking Raiders: The winner of this whole Tag Team Turmoil match will be declared #1 contenders to the Raw Tag Team Championships. Oh the poor B-Team. They were hit with the Viking Experience before they even got off their feet. 

The OC vs. The Viking Raiders: Ivar and Gallows started things out, but both members of the OC quickly isolated each member of the team and beat them down. They were beating down Erik on the outside, but Ivar gave both members a suicide dive. They all rolled back into the ring and they brawled violently until the ref called for a double disqualification. 

Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs. Lucha House Party: Gran Metalik and Lince Durado represented the Lucha House Party, while Kaslito was on the outside. This match was incredibly fast paced for the short time it lasted. Ziggler pushed Durado off the top rope and to the outside, and nailed Metalik with a sweet chin music to the back of the head as he did a springboard for the win. 

Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs. The Revival: Ziggler and Scott Dawson started things up. This new team of Ziggler and Roode made very quick tags over and over to constantly have a two on one advantage. Eventually, the Revival got control back using their superior experience as a tag team. They beat down Ziggler with everything that they had, using mostly suplexes to keep him down. In the finish, there was quite a bit of chaos as Ziggler tagged in Roode while Dawson was legal. He tried to superkick Wilder, but Wilder gave him a tornado DDT off of Roode’s chest, only for Ziggler to stand right back up and give Wilder a Famouser. Dawson then gave Ziggler a brainbuster, and tried to give Roode one as well, but Roode countered into a Glorious DDT for the win. 

Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder: Hawkins was totally destroying both of his heel opponents in the early parts of this match, showing everyone just how underrated he is. Hawkins and Ryder hit a nice neckbreaker/samoan drop combo, with Roode breaking it up. But in the ensuing chaos, Ziggler nailed Ryder with a superkick for the win. 

Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs. Heavy Machinery: Before the match, the heels tried to call for a time out, but Tucker took them both out. Heavy Machinery had some quick tags here, but Robert Roode pulled down the top rope to take him out, before throwing him around ringside to weak him. Ziggler desperately tried to keep Tucker on the mat in the middle part of this match, but Otis got the hot tag. He destroyed the new team with his intense offense. As Otis went for the Caterpillar, Ziggler tried to stop him but he was just tossed in the air like a pancake. Otis then gave Ziggler the caterpillar, and then a huge slam to Roode for a near fall. Tucker went to hit the compactor, but Ziggler cut him off with the Sweet Chin Music. He then gave Otis a Zig Zag onto Tucker, and then Roode picked him back up for a Glorious DDT and the win. 

Grade: B. There were some nice segments here and there, but the best match of the six was definitely the last one, although the Revival were very good as well. Roode and Ziggler blended together really well as a team, and I look forward to seeing how they proceed from here. That should be an entertaining match at Clash of Champions. But the closing stretch at the end was really really nice, with a lot of excitement and a bunch of anticipation. 

Natalya vs. Sasha Banks: Natalya came into the match with an already injured arm, so that had a big red target on it. Natalya started with some vicious strikes and slams early on. They quickly fought to the outside where Natalya continued to throw her all around ringside. At one point, Nattie gave Banks a huge release German suplex that gave her a couple seconds of air time. Banks then took advantage by smashing Nattie’s arm into the ring post, and then tossing her into the timekeeper’s area. From there, Banks started to talk a whole bunch of trash, which only angered Natalya more. However, Natalya went for the sharpshooter, but she couldn’t lock it in, only for Banks to lock in the Bank Statement. Banks even tied up Nattie’s hurt arm to keep up the pressure, and Nattie had to tap out. 

Banks continued the attack after the match a little bit, smiling cruelly as she did. 

Grade: B. Pretty good stuff. Nattie showed a lot of fire here, and Banks looked like a terrible despicable heel. Her heel turn is turning out great so far, and her future is definitely looking bright. I will definitely be into the feud when Lynch gets more invovled. 

AJ Styles Interview: He said that The OC were screwed during the tag team turmoil. He also said that he didn’t need Gallows and Anderson to win, and he said that he isn’t scared of Braun Strowman. He siad that he would give Strowman exactly what he deserves: nothing. Cool line. 

Cedric Alexander vs. Cesaro: the two started out with a bit of shoving, but they started to absolutely mess each other up with strikes. At one point, Alexander went for a suicide dive, but Cesaro nailed him with an uppercut as he did. Cesaro focused mostly on the leg, but that definitely didn’t stop Alexander from nailing a Michinoku driver for a near fall. Cesaro fought back with a huge deadlift superplex for a near fall of his own. The injury to the leg became more and more prominent as the match wore on, as Alexander went for a power move and just collapsed as he tried. Cesaro continued the the work on the leg, including catching Alexander out of a one-legged Neuralizer for an ankle lock. From there, Alexander pulled Cesaro out of the ring, and caught him with a Lumbar Check as he came back in. That scored Alexander the win, but his leg was very injured.

Grade: B. Another pretty good match. I liked the limb work a lot, and Cesaro sold his anger very well. I do feel like this match only happened because they need a reason for Corbin to win next week, but if that is the case then I will deal with it. Alexander still looks really good, and this momentum can only be good for his career. 

Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode interview: Ziggler talked about how they came together. They both knew that the other was hungry for gold, so they gravitated to each other. They called this meeting destiny, and said that they will win the tag team championships because they actually care about each other. 

Street Profits Backstage again: They ran down what happened on the Show, before hyping the main event. They were about to do their predictions, but Bruan Strowman was next to them.

AJ Styles vs. Braun Strowman for the WWE United States Championship: Strowman immediately threw Styles out of the ring and ran him over a couple times, before nailing a chokeslam back in the ring, only for Styles to put his foot on the bottom rope. Strowman then gave Styles a big boot out of the ring. When we came back from commercial, Styles locked in a sleeper. Big men need more oxygen, but Strowman crushed Styles in the corner. He tried for a big boot in the corner, but Styles dodged it and took him out at the leg. Styles then started to work the leg and knees a bit. Styles then locked in the Calf Crusher, with Strowman desperately trying to pull himself to the ropes. However, Strowman then just sat up and gave Styles a headbutt for a near fall. Strowman started again with the shoulder tackles, and was sent into the post as he did. Styles then gave Strowman a dropkick, sending Strowman into the ref. Styles then went to the eyes, before giving Strowman a low blow. Styles grabbed a chair next and started to beat Strowman down with it, only for Strowman to drill him into the mat with a powerslam and got a visual pin. The OC then ran down, but Strowman took them both out with a steel chair. Styles acted like he was down as the ref got back up, and the ref was convinced that Strowman hit Styles with the chair. Styles then won by disqualification.

Strowman beat down the OC with a chair after the match. He gave everyone Running Powerslams, and held the US title for a bit. 

Grade: B-. Fine match, mostly good for the shenanigans. I missed Styles’ awful cheater side, and he was super good with his cheating this time around. The Strowman DQ means that he probably won’t get a rematch, and they still kept the feud going a bit. Strowman then beat everyone up and sent the crowd home happy. Fine stuff, but largely inconsequential.

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: Ricochet vs. McIntyre; tag team turmoil; Banks vs. Natalya; Cesaro vs. Alexander

Cons: Banks’ reason for leaving; bayley vs. cross

[hazyheel]

WWE Monday Night Raw 6/10/19 Review

We started with Seth Rollins coming out, a chair in his hand, to address his victory in Saudi Arabia. He very cockily talked about how no one in the WWE could beat him down and beat him. He talked about how happy he was to beat up Lesnar on friday, and Baron Corbin came out to interrupt him. Corbin was booed out of the building, and he couldn’t even get a word out. He said that the ref was the whole reason why he lost on Friday, which is fair enough. He said that for the rematch at stomping grounds, he gets to pick the ref. Rollins ran him down about how no one liked him, when Sami Zayn came out. He said that he was on team corbin, and he wants Rollins to drop the belt so that he goes back to being the old, down to earth Rollins. An interesting way to take this. Rollins then pulled the truth out of Zayn, who wanted to get a favor from Corbin if he won. Seth asked who would have Zayn’s back, and so Kevin Owens came out. Rollins then challenged Owens to a match in the main event. Rollins then stormed up the ramp, but the heels just let him by for some reason.

Grade: C-. I didn’t really care about this, it was a boring and convoluted way to set up the main event. The promo didn’t really do anything for me. Same way we always open Raw, so kinda lame.

Lars Sullivan was out next for a 3 on 1 handicap elimination match. Sullivan attacked before the bell. Kalisto was the first guy to try to take on Sullivan, who was eliminated right away with a freak accident. Then was Lince Durado, who was taken out with a powerbomb. Then he beat down Gran Metalik, even picking him up before the pin. He then walked to the outside, threw Kalisto onto a pinata and gave Metalik a freak accident, and lifted him up, walked back to the outside to throw Durado into the post headfirst, and then went up top to give Metalik a flying headbutt for the win.

Grade: B-. This is everything that the match in Saudi Arabia should’ve been. I don’t like that he didn’t use much of his moveset, just finishers, so that hurt it, but this is how you get a monster over. I don’t know why they didn’t do this in Saudi Arabia.

Backstage, R-Truth and Carmella ran away from people who wanted the 24/7 championship. They got in an elevator with a bunch of people, but there was no ref, so he couldn’t be pinned. Then the elevator got stuck. So R-Truth, Carmella, Cedric Alexander, EC3, Drake Maverick and Heath Slater were trapped together. Funny stuff actually, I was wondering when the whole “ref being present” thing would come up. I would’ve preferred if there was just a champion who used to beat the crap out of all referees so that he couldn’t lose the belt, but this was funny. 

Then we had an interview from Becky Lynch and Lacey Evans. Lynch doesn’t want someone like Evans to be the champion. Evans wanted to be the champion. It wasn’t really much of anything. It was a pseudo promo for the tag match later.

Grade: F. This added nothing to the show and did nothing. It didn’t need to be here. 

Backstage, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross were talking about how Cross wanted to be a tag team against the IIconics. Bliss said that she now has that tag match with Evans against the women’s champions, so she couldn’t this week. Bliss then told Cross that Bayley was a manipulative bitch, and was always mean to her and that she was just putting on a facade about being a nice girl, basically described herself. So she is clearly manipulating Cross. Finally, a story. I was worried that Bliss turned face.

Then we had Miz TV, with Samoa Joe as the guest. Joe said that he won his championship back by choking out Mysterio when he was relinquishing the title. Miz ran him down a bit by saying that Joe shouldn’t have threatened Mysterio’s family, and Joe said that there was no line he wouldn’t cross. Joe then seemed to threaten Miz’s family, when Braun Strowman came out. He challenged Joe, but then Bobby Lashley came out as well to challenge him. Ricochet was next, followed by Cesaro. Cesaro just sucker punched Ricochet, and then everyone in the ring started to brawl too. The faces all stood tall in the ring.

From there, we transitioned into a 6-man tag: Bobby Lashley, Cesaro and Samoa Joe vs. Ricochet, Miz and Braun Strowman. Miz was beaten down for most of this match. Ricochet was the hot tag, and he wrecked everyone on the heel team, and looked awesome doing it. After we came back from commercial, Ricochet countered a popup powerbomb into a spike rana which looked good. Miz looked pretty good in a hot tag of his own. Cesaro gave Miz a super long swing, to almost silence from the crowd, then locking in a sharpshooter, but Ricochet broke it up with a codebreaker. At one point, Joe ran out to break up a pin, but Braun caught him and nearly hit him with a running powerslam, so Joe booked it. Braun was going to chase him, but Lashley caught him with a spear. Ricochet then took out Lashley with a splash to the outside. The faces then won after Miz countered out of a neutralizer to hit a skullcrushing finale, and then tagged in Ricochet for the 630 senton. Cesaro looked to have a knee injury after the senton. 

Grade: B-. Good closing stretch that put this in the positive for me, but otherwise pretty paint by numbers stuff. Seems like they are setting up Joe vs. Strowman, which sucks for Joe because he won’t win that match. Ricochet looked awesome, so I hope that he gets put in a program with Joe rather than Strowman, because those matches will be awesome. 

Backstage, Corbin was interviewed about who he wanted as the guest referee, and Sami Zayn appraoched him about something. It was definitely the spot. 

Then we had Becky Lynch and Bayley against Alexa Bliss and Lacey Evans. Bayley was the one that was worked over here, building to a hot tag with Lynch. There was one good point where Lynch went for a tag to Bayley with the ring completely cleared, and Evans charged in and tackled her back to her own corner, and I liked that kind of tag psychology. At another point, Lynch was chasing Evans around the ring, until Evans shoved Nikki Cross at Lynch. Lynch pushed Cross away, and got hit with a woman’s right. Evans then drilled Bayley with one as she tried to grab Evans. Bliss went for twisted bliss, but Bayley had the knees up. Evans then ran in, I guess she was legal, and hit women’s right to Bayley and pinned the champion.

Grade: C+. Just barely a C+, because I liked the exciting ending stretch. Also, Evans looked good to me here, which just shows that she is very inconsistent wrestler: good sometimes, terrible others. But this was a fine match, and Evans now should get a shot at the smackdown women’s championship too. That sucks, but it would make sense. 

Backstage, Sami Zayn was talking to Shane McMahon about being the special guest ref for the main event. He wanted to audition for the spot in Corbin’s match, suggesting that he be the ref on the outside. Shane then suggested the same thing like it was his idea, and Sami said he was a genius. I like this, Shane is annoying, but he is supposed to be, and Sami is an awesome character.

Then Paul Heyman was out, and he claimed that Brock Lesnar didn’t cash in on Monday because he said that he could beat Rollins any day of the week. Heyman made it sound like Lesnar was a big victim here. In response to the attack at Super Showdown, Heyman refuses to say when they will cash in. That makes perfect sense. He then implies that Lesnar may be the ref during the universal championship match at stomping grounds. He also said that Lesnar will beat the living crap out of Rollins, and then take the title from him. 

Grade: B. Good promo, as usual from Heyman. Problem was that the topic of the promo was something that should have been the case from the second that Lesnar won the briefcase. But he made a really good promo out of it. 

Back in the elevator. Everyone was freaking out and arguing about getting out. EC3 said that if they don’t get out soon, he will have to start eating people. Truth had a cellphone, but no bars, which Cedric Alexander questioned because Truth is a rapper, and Truth said he changed providers. Drake Maverick said that he was getting married soon so he needed to get out. EC3 was pissed that he didn’t get an invitation to the wedding, and Maverick told him that he was the best man. Truth said that he didn’t want to leave, because he didn’t want to lose his championship, and that he was scared of everyone, referring to Maverick as Hornswoggle. Heath Slater started freaking out because he has kids and he needs to see them again. They started arguing and they cut away. 

The IIconics were out next, for a promo. They talked about how they are fighting champions. They found a couple jobbers, and said they were the best in the world. They posed on top of one of the jobbers, and everyone on commentary were being funny because they didn’t care. Graves didn’t even make up facts about them. He just said that one of them was a descendant of los conquistadores, the alter egos of Edge and Christian.  They pinned a jobber after some move. 

Grade: C+. Squash match that was inoffensive.

Back in the elevator, they all seemed to be getting along. This does not bode well.

Then we had Shane’s celebration for his win at Super Showdown. He and Drew McIntyre were out in cute matching leather jackets. He put himself over about how he beat Reigns. McIntyre then said that he would destroy Roman at Stomping grounds. They drank a bunch of champaign out of the world cup, which was a cool sight. Shane then brought the Revival out. He said that they were only invited to the party if they won the championship match.

Grade: C. As shane promos go, this was far from the worst. I loved him drinking out of the world cup, but again, this was pointless. The world cup was a good heel move though. 

Then we went into the Raw Tag Team Championship match, The Usos vs. The Revival vs. Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. Backstage, Hawkins and Ryder talked about how they were a cinderella story, but it isn’t midnight yet. The faces quickly got rid of the heels and faced off. Jimmy Uso had a good looking hot tag. Ryder was able to hit Jimmy with a rough ryder, but he had just tagged Jey in, so Jey showered everyone with superkicks. Jey then went for the splash, but was tagged out by Dawson right before he jumped. Jey hit the splash, only for Wilder to pull him off and Dawson get the pin for a shocking win. 

Grade: B+. Good match, but it could’ve used a bit more time. Ryder and Hawkins are criminally underrated, and it really sucks that they lost the titles after not appearing on TV for weeks. But now the Revival have then, probably a ploy to get them to re sign with the company. But the match was pretty good, lots of action. I’d love to see a rematch where they had some more time. Match of the night here. 

Backstage, Rollins was interviewed about Sami being the outside referee. He said that there are plenty of threats, but he is ready for all of them. Also, he called Charly Caruso chuck. So that was funny.

Back in the elevator, everyone was comforting Drake Maverick about his marriage, because he was having second thoughts. EC3 said true love is real, because he had been married 5 times. Truth said that if they weren’t always chasing him around, they would realize that they were more alike than they thought. They started to sing we are family, when the elevator door opened and the carnage continued. 

Grade: A-. This was actually the best version of the 24/7 championship that we have seen. It was really funny, it was a gag that lasted the whole show, and while we didn’t have some title changes, we didn’t need to. Good stuff here, and it was really the highlight of Raw for me.

Into the firefly funhouse, Ramblin Rabbit told everyone that it was bad to eat your friends, like Mercy the vulture tried to do. Ramblin Rabbit then threatened to expose the funhouse, so Bray crushed him with a hammer, and he bled out. Bray then tasted his blood. Creepy, awesome. 

And in the main event, we had Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins, with Sami Zayn as a referee on the outside. Sami made a big show of checking Rollins for weapons, loudly asking if he had a knife. Owens and Zayn were talking as he checked, such as Owens asking Zayn if he had a knife under the wrap on his ribs, and yelling at the other ref, saying that he never touched Owens like that. Rollins rolled up Owens for a visual pin, but Zayn was distracting the inside ref. Zayn then also stopped Rollins from attacking Owens while on the outside. Rollins also got cut right above his eyebrow. The two continously traded big kicks back and forth, and Rollins went for a frog splash, only for Zayn to run in to check on Owens and stopping the frog splash. After Seth through Owens out of the ring, he gave both Owens and Zayn a suicide dive, and hit Owens with a curb stomp. He was about to get the win, when Zayn pulled Nicolas’s dad out of the ring and tried to call for a DQ, and he eventually did so when Rollins put his hands on him again. 

After the match, Rollins beat the crap out of Zayn, only for Corbin to run down and try to injure the ribs again. Corbin introduced a chair, but Rollins got a hold of it and beat down Sami with it. Giving him a curb stomp at the end. 

Grade: B. Good match, lots of shanenigans. But they were fun, and Zayn and Owens together are always funny. Zayn was perfect in this smarmy role. They put on a pretty good match as well. Good main event, and it leaves a possible rematch open. 

Overall Grade: C+

Pros: Heyman Promo; raw tag team championship match; firefly funhouse; elevator problems; main event

Cons: opening promo; lynch and evans promo; Shane o’mac promo

[hazyheel]

WWE 205 Live 8/6/19 Review

Maverick opened with a backstage promo. He said that he will not be a regular competitors on 205 live, and he told Mike Kanellis that not only is he welcome on the 205 Live brand, but he will not be treated any differently than any of the other superstars. He said that he is booking a six pack challenge for #1 contendership. He announced the participants, and wished everyone luck. 

The first match of the night was Humberto Carrillo vs. Lince Durado. This is certainly stemming from Durado’s comment that Carrillo wasn’t a real luchadore. Gran Metalik was out with him, but Kalisto was left in the back to prepare for the 6 pack challenge. The two started a bit of a feeling out process, showing some impressive escapes and agility. The two showcased their incredible high flying offense, including one spot where they both kiped up at the same time and tried to kick each other in the gut, but they caught each other’s feet. They then put them down at the same time and shared a hand shake. Durado worked over Carrillo’s arm a bit, and the two actually started to slow it down a bit. Not really in terms of action, but I think they started too fast and couldn’t keep it up. The two continued to fight, and Durado went to the top rope for a moonsault, but Carrillo crawled to the ropes, so Durado nailed a leg drop on the apron. He tried to follow it up with a splash, but Carrillo dodged and nailed a disaster kick for a near fall. The two then fought their way up to the top in a violent slugfest, but Carrillo ended it by dropkicking durado off the top rope and to the outside, followed by a twisting tope con hilo. The two then struggle to get in the ring, with Carrillo about to make it, but Durado swept the leg and made him faceplant on the apron. The match ended in a double countout. 

Carrillo seemed very upset about this finish, and he gave Metalik and Durado a top con hilo and wiped them out. He looked pissed.

Grade: B-. A bit of a rough match. The two didn’t really have the greatest chemistry in the world, but they had a good start and end. That bump from the top rope to the outside looked brutal. I like the fire shown by both of them, showing respect in the beginning and slowly getting more frustrated. If Durado couldn’t win the match, then he refused to let Carrillo win either. Carrillo was so pissed at the outcome that he attacked his opponents after the match. No one really came out looking good in terms of morals, so this could be an interesting feud that could result in a tweener Lince Durado. 

Backstage, Tony Nese said that he needs to be the #1 contender to redeem himself. He wants Gulak again, and he knows that he can win. If he doesn’t, then he doesn’t know where he stands on 205 Live. 

Backstage, Ariya Daivari talked to Durado. He seemed to be trying to weasel his way into being Durado’s manager. He told Durado that he could be the breakout star of the Lucha House Party, but Durado refused. Daivari said that Durado deserved to be in the six pack challenge rather than Kalisto. He told Durado that if he wins the Cruiserweight Championship, then his first opponent would be a revamped Lince Durado. Gran Metalik came by and said shooed Daivari away, but Durado was definitely thinking about it. 

That brought us to the main event, Kalisto vs. Tony Nese vs. Jack Gallagher vs. Ariya Daivari vs. Oney Lorcan vs. Akira Tozawa. The winner gets to challenge Drew Gulak for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at Summerslam. Daivari just walked out of the ring, so Tozawa just gave him a suicide dive and threw him back into the ring, and all of the other competitors beat him down. Daivari tried to fight back with a splash, but they all avoided it and he face planted. They rolled him out of the ring and things broke down. Nese was fighting with reckless abandon here, throwing out as many moves as he could to take down his various opponents. Nese and Lorcan had an exciting chopping contest in the middle of the ring, and they looked absolutely brutal. There was a fun spot where Lorcan, then Nese and then Gallagher (with his umbrella) gave everyone suicide dives. Kalisto tried as well, but the competitors caught him and threw him over the announce table. Daivari took advantage of that chaos by throwing the faces around ringside, and isolating Lorcan in the ring. Lorcan fought back by intercepting a splash with a european uppercut, and the there was a nice spot where Nese locked Lorcan in an Indian death lock, while Tozawa locked in an iron octopus, only for Daivari to break both up. Chaos continued to ensure, culminating with a tower of doom spot from Nese, Gallagher and Kalisto, where Nese sat up from the tree of woe to hit a german on Gallagher and give Kalisto a superplex. Tozawa then nailed Nese with a cannonball in the corner, while Daivari nailed a splash for a near fall. Daivari and Lorcan once again squared off, with Daivari nailing Lorcan with the hammerlock lariat. He went to start giving Kalisto some offense, but Kalisto countered with the Salida del Sol, only to be hit with the flying senton from Tozawa right afterwards. Gallagher then ran in for a huge headbutt on Tozawa, and Nese then slipped back in the ring for a german suplex into the corner and a running nese. As Nese prepared for the pin, Lorcan came in and hit the half and half suplex for the win. 

After the match, Drew Gulak came out to the ring. They both hit their poses as the show ended. 

Grade: B+. Good stuff here. Multi man matches in the cruiserweight division always impress, and this was no different. Everyone had a chance to shine, everyone looked good, and everyone even hit their finisher. That closing stretch was kinda a spotfest, but it makes sense for something like that in a chaotic six pack challenge. Nothing really felt out of place. Lorcan was both a surprising and sensible winner. He and Gulak can have a good match at Summerslam, I’m looking forward to it. Match of the night. 

Overall Grade: B.

Pros: main event

Cons: Durado and Carrillo didn’t have the chemistry one might hope for. 

[hazyheel]

Monday Night Raw 2/18/19 Review

Well this show had a lot of ups and downs. Several of the matches did very well, but there was not a lot of plot progression. Still, the debut of several of the main event NXT stars created an exciting atmosphere throughout the night.

We started out with a pretty basic promo from Triple H, putting over Sasha Banks, Bayley, Finn Balor and Kofi Kingston. Weirdly, he put over Becky Lynch for attacking Charlotte and Ronda Rousey, acting like he is just one of the fans who thinks that Becky is super cool. He also talked about how D Generation X is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, including Chyna. He then announced a couple new faces from NXT that are coming to the main roster, Ricochet, Aleister Black, Johnny Gargano, and Tommaso Ciampa. Then Triple H hypes up the crowd for the next match. The promo was not bad, even if Trips did stumble a bit when talking about NXT, but it just felt unnecessary. The results of last night’s show could’ve been revealed throughout Raw, and I think a surprise debut from the NXT superstars would’ve been more fun. I am pretty sure he was only really out there to officially announce that D Generation X was gonna be in the Hall of Fame, so I kinda get that. Glad to see that Chyna is finally in the Hall of Fame though.

Grade: C-. It was a harmless segment but it did not really need to be included. Raw can just start out with a match sometimes, and given that it was a fun stipulation match, that would have been refreshing.

So then we went right into the next match, a tables match between Baron Corbin and Braun Strowman. This is a logical continuation of their feud given how the No Disqualification match ended. Early on it was very bluntly explained that Strowman has a rib injury, so naturally Corbin worked them over during the match. Corbin had a weird strategy during the match of getting rid of tables. Maybe that was a character thing to show that he is a dick and wanted to punish Strowman more, but I just saw it as stupid. There was a cool spot where Strowman Irish whipped Corbin towards a table in the corner, and he did the slide out of the ring and close line move, which was a cool application of the move. But in the finish of the match, Corbin tried that same trick, but Strowman caught him and put him through the table for the win. After the match, Paul Heyman was coming out for his segment, and Braun grabbed him. Heyman looked like he was about to piss his pants, but Braun ended up letting him go. It was nice to see that Braun wasn’t forgetting his history with Heyman.

Grade: B-. The match was surprisingly fun, even if it was just a bit of a rehash of last night’s match. It made sense for the feud, there was a clean finish, stupid hardcore fun. I’m sure that they will have at least one more match before transitioning into their respective Wrestlemania feuds, which is a drag, but this seemed like it was the best part of their incredibly long feud so far.

Into Paul Heyman’s promo, he was a bit frazzled by Strowman’s attack. He talked about how everyone was jealous of Brock Lesnar, and then showed a video package of Brock being dominant, because he grew up on a farm I guess? That was a weird bit. Heyman flaunted Brock’s accomplishments, and said that Seth Rollins couldn’t come close to beating him. Finn Balor then interrupted, with his new Intercontinental Championship. And I guess Heyman’s promo was over

Grade: C. No new information from this segment, but it seems like there will be a running series talking about Brock Lesnar’s accomplishments in the WWE, so that could be interesting, but he didn’t have any new points and he was quickly cut off.

Balor then started talking about how proud he was to be holding the Intercontinental Championship, but he got interrupted by Lio Rush quickly. Rush said that Bobby Lashley deserved to be the champion, given that he wasn’t even pinned. Bobby Lashley then attacked Balor from behind, and the two beat him down, and Ricochet came out for the save. The brawl turned into a tag match. Rush and Ricochet had a great sequence to open up the match, and it is clear that Rush will have a storyline where he is desparate to please Lashley. A lot of the match was the faces completely dominating Rush, lest we forget that he is a cruiserweight. The finish of the match was very well done, with Lashley chasing Ricochet around the ring, only to be ambushed by a shotgun dropkick from Balor. Ricochet then hit his 630 senton on Rush for the win.

Grade: B. Another surprisingly good match. Ricochet and Finn Balor have great chemistry with Lio, and even Bobby Lashley was wrestling well tonight. There were some great spots, fun tag team fundamentals, and it was a fresh match. I would’ve preferred Ricochet in a singles match for his debut, but he definitely was the star of this match. I am kinda confused about why Rush and Lashley are still together, but I think that this is the kind of story where, eventually, Rush gets abused too much and leave Lashley. So I am okay with this for now.

Backstage, Drew McIntyre confronts Triple H about wanting in on the Wrestlemania main event, and he wants Rollins. Dean Ambrose then shows up and slapped McIntyre, challenging him. The match was booked.

After a quick video package recapping the Raw Women’s Championship scene, we came to another tag match. Lucha House Party, consisting of Gran Metalik and Lince Durado, against Zack Ryder and Kurt Hawkins. There was a bit of a miscommunication with in the LHP early on, but the match was going pretty well. But the match ended very abruptly, with Durado pinning Hawkins after a hurricanrana. 

Grade D. The action was good, but it ended very quick and it seems to have no storyline relevance, so it is hard to care. Plus it was not given any time.

Immediately following the match, Charly interviewed Heavy Machinery, who were hitting their catchphrases, before getting interrupted by Lacy Evans. She did a catwalk, and then Heavy Machinery did a similar catwalk to their entrance music of loud construction noises. It was funny, but nothing else really happened during this.

Grade: D+. It seemed like WWE had a good grasp of Heavy Machinery for a while, but then lost it, and Lacey Evans feels like she will get lost in the shuffle if she actually joins the women’s division right now. So even though this segment was pointless, I am going to give WWE the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are building their characters because their respective divisions are too crowded right now. Still, does not save it from a bad grade.

Backstage, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa are discussing their match, when the Glorious Ones confront them about why they are getting a match with the champions. They do not really get an answer before the Revival interrupt and try to intimidate the old #DIY. The segment ended just as quickly as it began, and we jumped to entrances. The match was very good from the start, really recreating their old magic from their NXT Days. Awesome double team moves, quick tags, classic tag wrestling. WWE is really playing up these teams’ rivalry from NXT, which is something they always should have done. In the final stages of the match, Gargano hit a superkick to Dash on the outside, before hitting a slingshot spear to Dawson in the ring, tagging in Ciampa, and the pair hit the superkick and running knee combo for the win.

Grade: B+. Think of this as a weak B+. The match was very good, not their best but still quite exciting. And I would love to see these guys in more matches together. The reason why it is weak is because the Revival just won the belts last week, and they are already losing in a non-title match. That is not a good look, even if this is the debut of Gargano and Ciampa. I couldn’t bring myself to lower the score after a questionable booking decision given the quality of the match. Still, this was a very good debut for the two Champions in NXT, and could even be building to a triple threat tag team match with these two teams and the Glorious ones.

Backstage, Charly interviews Finn Balor and Ricochet. Finn quickly puts over Ricochet, and Ricochet talks about how being on Raw was always his dream. How nice to see. Kevin Owen’s then had another little promo, where he really just seemed like a normal dad. I do not know what his character will be like when he actually returns, but it should be interesting.

The new Women’s Tag Team Champions, the Boss and Hug connection, came out to a chorus of You Deserve It chants. And they really do. They are out to cut a promo about how they made history as the first every Women’s Tag Team Champions. They talk about how their relationship has been a rollercoaster, how they couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone other than each other. They say that they will defend them wherever there are challengers, even NXT. But as they finished up, Nia Jax and Tamina came out to confront them. Nia quickly tries to sow seeds of doubt in the champions’ partnership, and says that Sasha always loses championships on her first defense. They brawl a little bit, but the Boss and Hug Connection come out on top.

Grade: B. It is still very emotional to see the Women’s Tag Team Championships on Raw, and now we have a clear view of the first challengers to the Boss and Hug Connection. Nia has really been doing well with her heel character, even with Tamina was a partner, so I want to see how this feud will continue down the line.

Next up, we had Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre. They started out fast and furious. and looked like they were gonna have a good match, but McIntyre quickly hit a Claymore, before waiting for Ambrose to get up and hitting another one.

Grade: D-. I think that McIntyre and Strowman are on a colliison course for Wrestlemania. So they are both are in filler feuds until that comes to fruition. I assume that this is just a throwaway match meant to bury Ambrose, which it did. I just didn’t care, and I am sure that it does not matter.

We cut back to more of the Brock Lesnar accomplishment package, where Heyman just listed all of Brock’s wins since he broke the streak. No real reason that we had to split the package up, but whatever. Backstage, Charly interviewed Seth Rollins, where he continues to say that he will win the match, and he does not care about what happens to him during the match. Ambrose then approaches him in the back, and scolds Rollins for not helping him. Rollins asks if Ambrose has lost his mind, because they are not friends. Ambrose stares at him for a while, and says eh, before walking away. har dee har.

Elias was out complaining that he is being disrespected and interrupted. He was about to sing a song, but Aleister Black’s music hit. Good match, stiff hits. These guys definitely have chemistry. Black won with a Black Mass.

Grade C-. While the action was fine, Black didn’t get in nearly enough offense. Easily the least impressive debut of the night. I expected this to be a dominant display of Black’s striking, but instead it felt like any other match. WWE needs to step up their game when it comes to this booking.

And in the main event, in an Elimination Chamber rematch, was Ronda Rousey vs. Ruby Riott for the Raw Women’s Championship. Ruby Riott got a jobber entrance. However, this match is much closer given that the rest of the Riott Squad is in Ruby’s corner. Rousey was selling a lot to Ruby, eating a rough looking senton. Riott even hit the Riot Kick, but Rousey was able to kick out. As Rousey ascended to the top rope, the Riott squad distracted her and Ruby was able to hit a Riott Kick off the top for another near fall. Ruby then went to the top rope for a senton, but Rousey countered into the arm bar, only for the Riott Squad to pull Ruby out of the ring. Ronda then hit a shaky looking crossbody to Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan on the outside. After Rousey hit an Alabama slam into the turnbuckle on Riott, she then locked in the arm bar to retain the championship.

Grade: C+. The match was okay, but the result was never in question. While these two did put together a good match, it was an odd choice to have a rematch right after Rousey basically buried Riott the night before, and to also have Rousey kick out of two riot kicks. This match did not really forward the story on the road to the main event, but it was still an alright match.

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: Tables Match; Ricochet’s debut; DIY vs. The Revival

Cons: Dean Ambrose’s burial; Aleister Black not getting enough offense; a couple pointless matches and promos