Category: Wrestling Television Musings

RAW (April 3rd, 2023) – Only Doing This Out Of Personal Obligation

So for whatever it’s worth, I’m only watching this RAW show mostly out of personal obligation and not necessarily because I care enough about the product after the bummer ending at Mania 39. And even then, I’m not even bothering to watch the whole fucking show because, again, three hours of a nothing show is not something I have the patience to put up with. I had originally intended to do this in a five-point format because, you know, the RAW After Mania is usually when you have some great stuff.

As I blow through this show, I quickly realize that there is nothing to do this show that makes me hopeful for the future. It opens with Triple H alluding to the sale news and assuring fans that the WWE they loved was never going away. Unfortunately, then came the Cody/Roman interaction, which saw Cody cut the worst kind of promo in his situation, declaring Roman the better man, saying he almost had him beat, and then demanding a rematch… to which Roman said no. Cody then offered a tag match with himself and a partner vs. Roman and Solo. Heyman agreed on condition that the partner competed at Mania and can no longer challenge for the title.

Out come Brock Lesnar and everyone loses their collective shits. What a match to give the fans after a disappointing outcome to last night’s main event. I watch that angle play and the first thought that comes to mind is “Watch Brock Lesnar turn on Cody and beat this shit out of him while Roman walks away.”

Sure enough, Brock Lesnar turned on Cody Rhodes and beat the shit out of him while Roman walked away, presumably onto another long hiatus until he’s needed at the Saudi show. So not only has Cody pulled a Luger at Mania, but he doubles down by pulling a Sting turning his back on Lesnar’s Ric Flair. On top of that, Brock’s back to being a heel, which means eleventy-billion suplexes to put everyone into a collective coma before Cody mounts his little comeback and eventually loses again.

Welcome back, Cody. Hope you enjoy the rest of your stay chasing the 24/7 title when that gets brought back from the dead.

As far as the rest of the show, nothing else of note happened. Matt Riddle made his long awaited return and punched out Miz; sucks to be that guy this weekend. Seth Rollins came out and had people sing his crappy song. And the new tag team champs? They made short work of the Street Profits. So much for the WWE that I loved which produced actual compelling programming that made me want to watch more; now it’s the old WWE with hours of meandering content and horrible shit that goes nowhere.

And people wonder why I don’t watch the weekly shows anymore.

The Mania thoughts will pop up on Friday.

AEW Dynamite (March 8th, 2023): Just A Show

For those wondering, I have yet to see the Revolution PPV, but I’ve heard generally good things. In any event, we have new Trios and TNT champions while Hangman and MJF emerged victorious over their veteran opponents via tap-out submissions. Now color me intrigued in that they’re starting to use the old guys to put over the young guys and possibly start making some stars for this company to hang their hats on (for once).

Anyway, I watched last night’s Dynamite. It wasn’t anything special, save for the fact that we have a new TNT champion, with Powerhouse Hobbs defeating Wardlow (himself having won the title from Samoa Joe at the PPV and then was eventually – legit – robbed of his belongings – wish him the best and hope he gets his stuff back) in a pretty straightforward hoss fight that had interference from QT Marshall, who apparently no longer has a factory… I don’t know why, but there you go.

Another piece of noteworthy news is the rebranding of the AEW All-Atlantic International World Big Gold Western States Heritage Championship to merely the AEW International championship and that next week, to celebrate the release of the new Shazam film, Orange Cassidy will defend the title against JEFF JARRETT. And in Winnipeg, no less. You know what would be really funny is if somehow, someway Jeff Jarrett overcomes the odds and defeated Orange to win the International title, thereby pissing off the All-Elite hardcores… actually, now that I think about it, that is precisely the kind of scenario I wish to see next week.

Beyond that, this was a show. There were a couple multi-persons and tag-matches here and there and if you liked that stuff, this is the show for you. Nothing I’d go out of my way to watch, but an easy two hours of wrestling for better or worse.

P.S. – Apparently, today is International Womens’ Day and to celebrate the occasion, AEW gave the world a quick Ruby Soho promo followed by an extended squash over Skye Blue followed by a run-in from that Willow person that ends in failure and everyone gets spray-painted. Well, it’s something, I guess? Maybe? Maybe not… eh.

AEW Dynamite (March 1st, 2023): So Cold That Montreal Winter Feels Like Ghost Peppers

Yeah, we’re going there.

So three things of note to place on this show. Jon Moxley cut a great promo hyping his Texas Death Match with Hangman Page, Hangman Page returned the favor with a great promo of his own despite the less than stellar mic quality, Christian Cage cut a superb promo challenging Jungle Jack Boy Perry to what he calls a “fight” – which is followed by Jungle Boy digging Cage’s grave; them fightin’ grave diggin’ – and the show closed with Bryan Danielson, with only four minutes to spare, cutting a great promo trying to sell people on the idea of a 60-minute Ironman match with MJF, even going so far as to not let Max get a word in and even threatening to kick his fucking head in, which causes the crowd to chant that very thing.

Beyond that, the rest of the show was a chore to sit through. The Battle Of The Cassidies – Orange vs. Bill – was a good opening match, but then you had the Ladder Match that saw a ladder break and half a dozen refs holding the thing up so that Powerhouse Hobbs can grab the inflatable brass ring to earn a TNT title shot next week. And then there was the tag-team battle royale, which was more like a tag-team Royal Rumble than the traditional Casino format that they usually employ. And that match was won by the team of Orange Cassidy and Danhausen.

Well, the good news is that Orange Cassidy is getting a PPV payday. The bad news is so is Danhausen.

Oh yes, there is a PPV from AEW this weekend. Despite the fact that I’ve had two posts mention said PPV – both were written some time ago – I had almost forgotten about it because this company has been cold for a while and this PPV has maybe one match (Hangman/Mox) that I’d actually want to see while the rest of the card seems like it was tossed together at the last minute. Even the 60-minute Ironman match for the World title comes across as something that has you asking, “Who would actually want this?”

I’m not one of those doomsayers that declare AEW dead every time they have a bad show, but I will say that the TV has gotten so cold that every time I take a whiff of that cold Montreal winter breeze, it feels like I’m taking three of those fucking One Chip Challenges. Sitting through this show was like sitting through a bad episode of RAW and that is NOT a feeling you should be aiming to replicate under ANY circumstances.

Yeah, not a great show on its own and not a successful push for the PPV despite a couple great promos. Looks like this is another PPV I’ll be skipping out on for the time being. Maybe ol’ TK should his company a favor and let someone else have the book for a while so he could focus on his Rot Of Honor promotion that he’s desperately trying to make people care about.

Smackdown (Feb. 17th, 2023) – Live Notes And Curiosities

And so here we are… my first live WWE television taping.

This was a Christmas gift from my older brother, which surprised the heck out of me that he’d go so far as to do that. And I am not going to lie; there was genuine excitement over this. I have never attended a live WWE television taping and I could count on one hand the number of WWE house show/live events I’ve attended over the course of my lifetime. I’ve been watching the past couple weeks worth of Smackdowns, I’ve been getting myself prepped for everything that was going on. And as months turned to weeks and weeks turned to days, I was looking forward to this moment. Even if it was from the cheap seats – and the cheap seats are way up there – but it didn’t matter because the energy of attending a live WWE event could not and would not compare to the energy of a live WWE television taping and especially moreso of the PPVs.

And then a week ago, a member of the family was hospitalized. They had a low oxygen count, they were brought in, they got examined, and we found out that one of the lungs were clogged and they’re going to see if it were possible to operate. This family member is in their 70s, they’ve been taking medication for blood circulation, and so there were a lot of factors that had to be considered. All of a sudden, the weekend draws near, almost as a bit of an afterthought considering the sudden family emergency that had emerged.

We almost didn’t attend the show because we wanted to care for this family member, but to their wisdom, they told us to go because otherwise, it’d be a waste of money and even the cheap seats for those shows are pretty fucking expensive. Now I would’ve fine skipping out on one, but we did attend both shows. We did enjoy the shows, had a fun time over there, and at the end of the day, I’m glad that we went and got this temporary reprieve from this serious situation.

Just as a heads up, I’m going to bouncing around from point to point, so don’t expect a coherent or properly laid out format – at least, compared to the usual output.

Continue reading “Smackdown (Feb. 17th, 2023) – Live Notes And Curiosities”

AEW Dynamite (Feb. 15th, 2023): Anything Interesting Happen?

(Note: Hey, kids. I know people would rather I’d talk about last night’s Smackdown show that I attended live, but I’m saving that for when I’ve got time to digest this stuff… and also, by the time this publishes, I’m still not home yet and I ain’t typing shit on my rinky-dink phone. In the meantime, here’s an AEW Dynamite musings that I wrote a couple days ago and never posted because Picard inspired me to put something else up in its place. Later.)

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve last touched a Dynamite show, hasn’t it? Anything interesting happen while I was away.

To tell the truth, I haven’t been following much of AEW as of late. I do know about a couple ongoing stories, such as Bryan Danielson’s recently successful bid to earn an AEW Championship match contested under 60-minute Ironman rules, which should be interesting to witness in 2023… and also the ongoing Jon Moxley/Hangman Page feud, which may be coming to its conclusion at the upcoming PPV in the form of a Texas Death Match, so that gives ol’ Mox another excuse to bleed.

Continue reading “AEW Dynamite (Feb. 15th, 2023): Anything Interesting Happen?”

Smackdown (Feb. 10th, 2023) – Paving The Road Forward

Last time on Smackdown, Sami tried to attack Roman and got his ass kicked. But Roman decides to give Sami a title shot for the next PPV, which coincidentally takes place in Montreal, Sami’s home turf. Meanwhile, no one knows where Jey is and that’s worrying because weezu haz title match.

Well, Jey managed to make to the show and the Usos were able to successfully retain the Tag titles over the team of Braun Strowman and Ricochet. However, Jey is still feeling a bit not-Ucey with the whole Bloodline thing. So elder statesmen Paul Heyman tells Jimmy the Usos should watch the PPV at home and get a “television perspective” on the action. Kinda of a clever way to explain the Usos’ non-presence at the show, since Jimmy’s DOA charges prevents him from crossing the board. As for Jey? Well, he gets a fist bump from Sami. Yes, I’m sure they’re very Ucey with each other.

Meanwhile, Nattie taunts Shayna Bayzler for being a Ronda Rousey rip-off, which isn’t fair because I’d much rather watch Shayna Bayzler be a monster ass-kicker than Cold Ronda any day of the week. Regardless, out comes Ronda, who helps Shayna beat up Nattie. And then Shotzi runs out for the failed saved and gets her ass kicked too. Well, that’s a thing that’s going to happen.

Baron Corbin loses another match and JBL, who was his manager for some reason, ditches him. Corbin tries to say that he’ll do better, but JBL mentions something about not being able to polish a turd. I know the idea is for us to feel sorry for Corbin, but I don’t. This is JBL cutting his losses and not wanting to have his name tied to a loser like Corbin and I can’t blame the guy.

Some guy named Madcap Moss gets an title shot against GUNTHER by winning the four-way main event match. I suggest Mr. Moss get his affairs in order.

Oh, and LA Knight is still around, apparently not having been completely killed off in the recent Bray Wyatt brain fart. Good for him, I suppose.

You know what? I’m not going to complain about this show. There was a bunch of good stuff on the show, a lot of stuff being set up for the future… hey, you know what? I’m actually looking forward to this coming weekend. Hopefully, the weather doesn’t suck.

Smackdown (Feb 2nd, 2023): The Road Begins…

Yes, I watched Smackdown. And indeed, I’ll be watching Smackdown next week.

So WWE will be holding their Elimination Chamber PPV in Montreal in a couple weeks… and also a Smackdown the night before. I’ll be attending both shows and I figured that I might as well watch Smackdown to sort of get up to speed on what’s going on. After the PPV, then I’ll go back to my regular inattentive self.

Now you’re wondering why just Smackdown? Why not RAW as well? Well, what’s happening on the RAW side that’s worth a damn? Cody vs. Roman is a lock for Mania, Rhea Ripley is challenging Baby Flair for the Smackdown title, and there’s going to be an Elimination Chamber match for the U.S. title as well as an Elimination Chamber match to determine who is challenging for the other Women’s title. That’s all I need to know; I don’t need to sit through three hours of RAW to get up to speed on that count and if anything happens that’s worth a damn, I’m sure it’ll be mentioned on Smackdown anyway, so it’s not worth the hassle.

But mainly, the big story is taking place on Smackdown. And Smackdown is also taking place in Montreal, not RAW. Therefore, I will only watch Smackdown because that’s where the hot stuff is happening.

And also anything involving Bray Wyatt… well, you can’t win them all.

So we’ll be adopting the ol’ five point format; basically, I’ll bring up five points worthy of mention and that’ll be it. Considering that the good stuff is happening on this show and WWE is on fire right now, I’m sure I could come up with at five talking points… turns out I can only come up with three worth talking about… and none of it involves Bray Wyatt.

Thank fuck for that.

Point #1 – Braun Strow Man and Ricochet to Challenge Usos For Tag Titles
So, for those who don’t know, the team of Braun Strowman and Ricochet came to be because Braun had a shit match with some big dude in Saudi Arabia and bragged about it on Twitter while putting down the flippy flops. This resulted in him jobbing to Ricochet and both guys apparently became buddies. Okay, fair enough. So these guys won a tournament, beating Gunther’s associates in Imperium in then finals to earn a shot at the Usos’ tag titles. The match is set for next Friday. I would ask why they’re not doing the PPV, but then I remembered that one of the Usos (I think it’s Jimmy; I don’t recall) has some legal issues that prevent him from coming into Canada – the PPV is taking place in Montreal, by the way. So there you go. That’s something.

During the show, the Bloodline addressed Jey’s absence. If you’ll recall at the Rumble, Jey was the only one who didn’t participate in the group’s beating of Sami after the match. He simply walked away. Now there’s a number of things you could do with Jey; possible singles run, maybe try and go for Roman himself… but in terms of the story being told, there’s only one direction that makes the most sense. Which leads me to my next point…

Point #2 – Rey Beats Dominick In A NASCAR Race
Yeah, so they do this vignette where Rey Mysterio and convicted felon Dominick bicker for a bit at a race track and both decide to have a race. Rey wins the race, prompting Dominick to whine about how Rey cheated and if Mommy was here, he’d win. Well, that was certainly a thing that happened. On the bright side, I’d much rather see Rey and Dominick Mysterio race each other on a NASCAR speedway than watch another shitty Bray Wyatt match.

Point #3 – Roman Accepts Sami’s Challenge, Will Defend Title At Elimination Chamber
So let’s start with the big takeaway; Roman Reigns addresses the crowd, stressing that he’d rather talk about Cody (who won the Rumble and thus deserves his attention), but the crowd wants Sami. So Roman talks about Sami being greedy until Sami comes out and attacks Roman. Roman flees, but Sami challenges Roman to a match for the Undisputed title, only to get ambushed by Jimmy and Solo. Roman taunts Sami and blames him for tearing apart his Bloodline before accepting Sami’s challenge for a title match. And he will defend the title in Montreal at the Elimination Chamber PPV where Roman can embarrass Sami in front of his family, friends, etc.

Roman is so angered by Sami’s betrayal that the mics have trouble keeping up. That’s twice in a row these mics fail to capture the noise. It’s like they’re not used to a hot crowd… and given the television that they’ve produced over the past few years, I can’t blame the mics.

Most folks figured this would be the way things would go and you know what? I approve. If you’re going to give Roman a challenger at the PPV, may as well make it the hometown guy with the huge following and further that story along. Most people would’ve liked to have seen this match at Mania, possibly even see Sami be the one to end Roman’s two-year reign as champion. Those people are fucking dumb.

Look, I like Sami. He’s a talented guy. He’s got a wave of momentum on his side. He’s being pushed farther than he has any business being pushed. This is pretty much the hottest run of his career. I am beyond stoked that he’s getting a title shot on home turf and I am all but certain that Sami could very well have a run with the WWE title at some point. That having been said, Sami Zayn is NOT the guy who should be ending Roman Reigns’ run as champion, especially on a B-level PPV with Wrestlemania on the horizon. He can have a good match in Montreal, he can come close, and then you can have Jey Uso show up, screw Sami out of the win, and then do the thing where Kevin Owens makes the big save, he and Sami reunite and challenge the Usos for the tag titles.

THAT’s the story being told. Roman isn’t the endgame; he’s just a peripheral player in the story being told. And the story being told is KO and Sami getting back together, challenging the Usos for the tag titles at Mania, and possibly winning the titles. It’s the story that makes the most sense. I don’t care if it’s predictable. That’s not the important thing. The important thing is the journey. And if the journey and the story being told makes sense and feels important, then the endgame being a foregone conclusion isn’t something to begroan; it’s something to anticipate.

The way I see it, I’ve got two matches to look forward to this year at Mania; Cody vs. Roman… and KO/Sami vs. the Usos. For the first time in a long time, I’m actually excited about Wrestlemania. Please don’t ruin that feeling with a kneejerk reaction that makes no sense.

Oh… and there were a couple women matches. Flair retained her title. And Nattie is in the chamber. Meh.

AEW Dynamite (Jan. 11th, 2023) – No Mone To Be Found Here

Well, for anyone who gives a shit, the rumored Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone debut didn’t happen during the Saraya/Storm vs. Dr. Britt/Hayter match. Instead, what happened was Shida tossed a stick into the ring and Britt used it against Storm. Shida appears shocked as a result, though I suspect she’s faking it because she still feels slighted that stupid Saraya slighted her last week. I don’t care how they’re promoting this; Shida’s the babyface in this story as far as I’m concerned and that’s the bottom line.

Other than that, there was some good matches on here. Bryan defeating that Takeshita fellow to up his win streak in a great match, Hangman killing (not literally, though it could’ve been) Mox in a glorified hockey fight (not complaining – those are my favorite), and of course, the Elite get their Trios belts back. Not a grand slam show or anything like that, but for those who appreciate good wrestling, you’ve got your share on this show… and that women’s match was a thing too.

AEW Dynamite (Jan. 4th, 2023): The Tokyo Dome Post Show

AEW Dynamite returns with a new look just after New Japan holds their annual Tokyo Dome Wrestle Kingdom show, which featured the long-awaited debut of Mercedes Mone – the former Sasha Banks – who challenged reigning women’s champion KAIRI to a match for the title by laying her out. Oh goodie, a Sasha Banks vs. Kairi Sane WWE-style match. That’s going to get me excited to watch New Japan.

In all seriousness, though, I wish her nothing but the best in her current endeavors, whatever they may be. Said current endeavors probably doesn’t include AEW, where she had been teased (and hyoed by fans) as Saraya’s mystery partner in her upcoming match against Dr. Britt and Jamie Hayter. And then we found out that said partner would Toni Storm, which Saraya announces while also sitting next to former women’s champion Hikaru Shida, who seemed somewhat miffed at this rejection.

I’m watching this scene and two thoughts come to mind; first off, those Sasha Stans are going to be pissed. And you know what? Fuck them. The other thought is that this blatant disregard for Shida on Saraya’s part leads me to believe that there is a possible heel turn in her future. Let me tell you folks something; Shida was the one being wronged here, so as far as I’m concerned, she’s the babyface.

Other than that, this was a pretty good Dynamite., which introduced a new look of having a bunch of screens show a bunch of lines in a bunch of colors. On the one hand, it looks fresh; AEW’s original set design was somewhat unique, but clearly something needed to change or at least be refreshed, especially if said set has been used for nearly every AEW show, including some of the PPVs. On the other hand, though, the new design being a bunch of screens reminds me of WWE’s own minimalistic set design, though nowhere near as massive. It’s something I’m going to eventually get used to, but it loses the uniqueness that AEW once had… which is something of a recurring ailment with the company in recent weeks.

Continue reading “AEW Dynamite (Jan. 4th, 2023): The Tokyo Dome Post Show”

IMPACT (December 1st, 2022) – The One Where Eric Young Is Murdered…

I haven’t watched Impact in a good long while. Not for a lack of wanting; I just never got around to it lately.

I don’t know if people know this, but I actually do have Impact set on my DVR so the thing will record episodes  And every once in a while, I’ll skim through an epsidoe, something will come up, and I’d forget about it. So it’s not like I’m actively trying to avoid Impact these days; I just never get around to watching it. Same deal with AEW.
So one day, I set aside some time to watch an episode of Impact. I load up an earlier episode from this month and someone rings the door. I go answer it, I miss a good chunk of Impact because I forgot to pause it. And then when I get back to it, what’s the first thing I see?
Cody Deaner stabbing Eric Young to death in a prison cell.
And that’s when I stopped the episode, turned the TV off, and moved on to something else.
So the bit was nicely shot, like a low-budget production of a TV show or something; one thing that I will also credit Impact on is that their backstage segments are often well produced and makes for a unique presentation. And sometimes, they’ll do good backstage bits. But then sometimes, they’ll do this bit where Deaner and Young are in a prison cell and after a bit of a conversation, Deaner kills Young with a blade or something. Apparently, this is Impact’s way of writing Young off TV since he is apparently going back to WWE.
So, look, it’s not that I’m offended by the bit. I’ve seen stupid shit in wrestling and this is right up there… but I’m looking at this bit of Eric Young being stabbed to death and I’m like… “What’s the point of this?” Is Cody Deaner going to be the new leader of this Violent By Design faction that’s going on in Impact? Does it make him more of a threat? Does this mean Eric Young is never coming back to Impact? What about the next time he makes a big return when his latest WWE run comes to an end because Vince decides he wants to come back or something?
This isn’t the first time Impact has “killed” off talent who were leaving – I still remember the bit with Allie and Rosemary and all that stuff. That was pretty fucking stupid too. And yeah, you could argue it’s entertainment and such. And I’ll argue “Yeah, it’s funny in a vacuum, but in the grand scheme of things, this is stupid.”
So yeah, I wanted to watch Impact, but one bit in jail killed off my interest.
Ha-ha. Ding.