Match Ratings
- North American Title: Dom(c) vs Dragon Lee ***3/4
- Undisputed Tag Titles: Judgement Day(c) vs Owens, Zayn ***3/4
- Global Heritage Invitational Finals ***1/2
- North American Title Contendership Fatal Four Way ***3/4
- US Title: Mysterio(c) vs Escobar ***1/2
- Cage vs Claudio vs Nick ***1/2
- Orange vs Matt vs Penta vs Austin ***1/2
- STRONG Openweight Title: Kingston(c) vs Romero ***
- Women's World Title #1 Contendership: Soho vs Shida **3/4
- Andrade vs Juice ***1/2
- Α&Ω vs Gates of Agony ***
- FTR, BCC vs Aussie Open, Starks, Bill ***1/2
- X-Division Title: Sabin(c) vs Angels ***1/4
- Gresham vs Bailey ***1/2
TV Wrestler of the Week- Dragon Lee
TV Team of the Week- Judgement Day
TV Match of the Week- Owens, Zayn vs Priest, Balor
TV Segment of the Week- Swerve/Hangman Contract Signing
TV Program of the Week- Raw
WWE
BOUT BLITZ this week includes a full pulls from Raw. HERE is my review of the full show (Hulu edition).
On NXT, Butch won a very good one against Joe Coffey, serving as the finals of the Global Heritage Invitational. Gallus were given the boot for those keeping track. Butch won a shot at Dar at No Mercy (coverage coming soon) as a result of the result.
A tricky finish closed the episode's main event, seeing Trick Williams getting the W in a contest also including Dragon Lee, Bate, and Axiom. Great content with a finish that might be polarizing for some.
On SmackDown, Cena is out to plug his program with The Bloodline. He needs a partner still. Jimmy and Solo, accompanied by Paul, would come out and play the numbers game for a while until Knight ran in for the save. LA also signed on the dotted line to be John's partner at Fastlane. This got a good crowd reaction. I thought it was alright.
Escobar challenged his unit-mate, Rey Mysterio, for his United States Championship next. Good shit. The flashpin finish didn't do much for me, but everything before it worked really well.
WWE had some good shit this week. Dragon Lee was the star, though. His Raw debut was a sight and his role in the main event of NXT was enjoyable as hell, too.
AEW
MJF used his dad's boat to take Adam out for some fun on the water. Cole was too busy on the phone with Strong to come out with the champ last week, leading to his injury when he ran out later on. Captain Insano even made an appearance. This was pure entertainment, people!
Claudio, Cage, and Nick Jackson worked a three-way next, with the winner set to get a shot at the International Championship. This was honestly really good. The finish wasn't as smooth they were wanting, but it was fun nonetheless and saw Nick get the nod.
Cole had crutches. I need crutches, too. My foot is fucked. Adam said his is even more fucked than mine is and that their tag belts need to be set free. MJF said fuck that. He's gonna be beating The Righteous in a handicap match and will be ensuring the belts are waiting for Adam when he's done recovering.
Strong screamed Adam's name and came out to whine, alongside The Kingdom. It was an emergency, folks, so Adam hobbled off with his buds to the back, leaving MJF alone. Bullet Club Gold hit the stage, but White made his way to the ring alone. The segment got a weed chant. The two would trade some words in a fire segment. I am one of those that find Jay above MJF, and that's saying something considering my thoughts on the champ. White is just that fucking good.
A fire segment.
Backstage, JR interviewed Darby and Christian Cage. The best use of a dude like JR. Captain Charisma talked shit about Allin's dead uncle, as one does. Darby will leave the TNT Championship to Cage in his will, in case he dies climbing mountains.
Cage might have no balls and thinks that Wayne needs a new daddy.
Solid.
The other Jackson faced Penta, Orange, and one of the ass boys in our next Dynamite pull. This was meant to serve as a preview for WD and was a enjoyable spotfest showcase that did well in that role. Orange landed an orange punch to take out Matt and get the win.
Moving along, Swerve and Page had a contract signing segment, with both speaking a bit of fire on the mic to sell their WrestleDream bout (coverage coming soon). After, before the show could fade to black, we saw White getting attacked by five masked dudes. I'd bet that the masked folk at the end were Cole, Strong, Taven, Bennett, and either Baker or Kyle.
It's nice seeing the Bucks get singles matches, by the way.
Some decent stuff on their flagship this week.
Eddie and Rocky faced off for the former's New Japan STRONG strap in our first look from Rampage. Kingston isn't 100%, but this was solid nonetheless. Rocky, who has been must-see in CMLL this year by the way, was a serviceable opponent for the circumstances. They didn't get a lot of time, but did well with what they had. Shibata, the Pure Champion, made his way out after to share a moment with his WrestleDream opponent.
Shida and Soho worked a number one contender's match next. Meh. I didn't care much for this one, to be honest. Maybe they just don't gel well or something, and the ref bump, sports entertainment vibe didn't help a bunch, but yeah this just didn't land well. At least Hikaru won, though she'll just be a notch in the current reign...
Saraya came out after to remind us of the fact.
Anyway, Rampage had some alright stuff clearly, but neither landed as well as it should have. The show often underdelivers.
On Collision, Juice and Andrade had a good one. Miro's wife was seen watching, backstage. Hobbs might be leaving, but Miro is here for a while. He's not been in a match since All Out. Injury, or the latest example of AEW not knowing what to do with the dude? I honestly don't know but wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter. I also know he's not thrilled with the way they've booked him. I get it. Tony overloaded the roster, and now they're doing the same thing WWE does.
Back to the match, this was a tad overbooked but was still very enjoyable and saw Andrade get the win clean. Mileage will vary.
Jericho teamed with Kenny to face Mogul's Gates duo next. A fun team, for sure. A fun match, too. Kaun and Liona are solid workers and played their roles well. If you haven't seen Dream yet and want a teaser, this worked well!
Chris grabbed a mic after to plug his new friendship. Kenny said he had been brainwashed by Don but has seen the light. They talked a bit more, but despite being an honest fan of both, I just didn't care much. I really am excited to watch their WD match this week, but I am also dealing with a lot of pain and frustration at a PA in Minnesota for fucking up so my attention is limited.
The show's main saw Starks, Bill, and Aussie against FTR and BCC's Bryan and Yuta. Atomico, get-'em-on-the-card stuff. Sabre joined for commentary, but my ankle is too fucked to look for the remote to turn the volume back up. I misplaced it in the time I took between the last match, a quick snack, and a return to writing. Oh well. Good watering can stuff and a solid TV, go-home match.
Ricky and Bill cut a chokeslam/spear combo to get the win, but Cash made the visual save while the three and the bell occurred. A protected finish? A brawl occurred after. The best part was Bryan starting holes at Sabre and the two then having a stare down.
The Tech-Wizard would shove and slap The American Dragon to ignite a short bit of violence. Sabre cut out, holding his jaw to end this.
So, the fact is, AEW is cold right now. Tony welcomed back drama for the sake of $ and fanboy shit and it backfired. I still think it's a consistently entertaining promotion, with most of their TV content being good-great. Their PPV's, while bloated, like the roster, tend to be amazing spectacles, too. They've truly set a high bar for themselves. That's what they always had to do, though. They do good statistically on TV, to be honest, too. They frequently top their spots and have pals in the network.
Still, they are cold, regardless.
There's a major story being told here and I really don't think it's helpful to ignore it, like so many fans tend to do. Fucking WWE house shows are doing better attendance numbers than AEW. It'd help a lot if they'd stop oversaturating markets, of course, but that's only part of the story.
Alas, we must move on, though.
IMPACT
Angels challenged Sabin for the X-Division Championship in our first of two pulls from Impact! on AXS. For a throwaway defense, this worked pretty well. Angels pulled some cheap, low blow shit in the finish, making for a good nearfall but the champ would response with a quick string of offense to retain moments later. One of the better Angels' matches I've seen in a while.
A KENTA package after to make a challenge for B4G.
They went to the well again, giving us another chapter of Gresham versus Speedball in our last pull for the set. It's been a good series, at least. In this edition, Mr. Octopus worked hell and even cheated, grabbing the trunks on a pin in the end to get the W. The ride there was a pretty good, technical clash that landed really well and did nicely to close this digest entry. I'm intrigued!
Post-match, Gresham sold his choice perfectly.
Watch whatever you missed + sounds interesting. Thanks for reading. Have a badass day!
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