NXT ArRival (February 2014)

NXT Arrival – yeah, I’m not sticking with their weird formatting – you’ll have to settle for the title if that’s your thing – has a couple distinctions. Not only is it the first ever NXT PPV-style special event to air on the WWE Network, but it is also the first live television event to air on said Network, as it had launched a few days prior to… let’s just say “less than stellar” reactions. I’m not sure I could talk about the WWE Network’s early days because Canada didn’t get it until much later and only the live feed which ended up being a premium channel on cable systems; the On-Demand Stuff not coming along until much, MUCH later.
But enough about that; let’s talk NXT Arrival because naturally, I have not seen this one. And with Triple H taking the creative reigns of WWE, we might as well look at the first major WWE Network event under the NXT banner. We’ll dive into the last few Summerslams starting next week.

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AEW Dynamite (July 27th, 2022): Fight For The Fallen

Well, after several weeks of promotion joint New Japan ventures and a Ring Of Honor PPV that only a minute number of hardcore ROH fans will care about, Dynamite returns to form pushing some AEW talent on its AEW program. I’ve largely zoned out of the AEW cycle for the past few weeks and only caught glimpses here and there. I’m not going to dwell too much on the past (you can listen to the DTM-Cast episode posted yesterday for that), but I just want to talk about this Dynamite show, which has been, again, a return to form.

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Lana Cries Foul At Brock Lesnar Not Being Buried Because He's A Professional

Source: https://rajah.com/node/cj-lana-perry-calls-out-wwe-giving-brock-lesnar-special-treatment-compared-sasha-banks-naomi

Reposting a comment I left on the article:
“What’s the difference between Brock walking out and Sasha and Naomi walking out?”

Drawing and star power aside, Brock came back and did his job, thus making him a professional in their eyes. Sasha and Naomi didn’t. Anyone with one-eighth of a functioning brain could figure this out even if they don’t agree with it.

Oh, by the way, remember when Steve Austin walked out in 2002 because he didn’t want to job to Brock Lesnar? Because I do. And I don’t remember him getting special treatment. He got suspended, buried, and had domestic issues. He eventually came back, but that was months after the fact.

If Sasha and Naomi come back, it’ll be water under the bridge. If not, then it won’t.
There’s having your girls’ backs and there’s being a brain-dead idiot. And unfortunately, she’s not the only one who has this mindset.

RAW (July 26th, 2022) – A New Era (Allegedly) Begins

For whatever reason, I felt compelled to waste three hours of my life watching last Monday’s edition of RAW, which is significant due to being the first RAW following the retirement/resignation of Vince McMahon and the ascension of Paul “Triple H” Levesque as the new head of WWE Creative. Also, the show was taking place in MSG, so it had to be special right?
First segment that opens in Miz and the Youtube guy brawling… that’s followed by a CGI Roman Reigns figure that looks like ass. Fortunately, we’ve got a long Roman Reigns promo that saw Paul Heyman do most of the talking, who is interrupted by that Theory kid, who is taunted by Roman because “Daddy’s not here anymore.” This leads to Theory in a match against Drew McIntyre, who gets ambushed by Sheamus and friends, which prompts Bobby Lashley to come out and turn this into a TAG TEAM MATCH, PLAYA! And then I zoned out.
The rest of the show was just stuff that happened. Rey Mysterio celebrated 20 years in WWE by cutting a humble promo, followed by a tag match with him and his son Dominick beating Finn Balor and the Priest guy. This leads to a backstage bit where the Rhea girl pushes the Mysterio girl and I guess theyz haz match?
The more this show went on, the most I zoned out. All throughout the night, the dog is restless and needs to go. So I let her into the yard for a bit and she comes back ten minutes later. Finally, I take her for a long walk and by the time I came back, RAW was over.
I had the show DVR’d, but really, the best thing I could say about this episode of RAW is that it was largely inoffensive and there wasn’t much in the way of stupid shit. It’s still RAW, it’s still three hours, and it’s still a waste of time. Certainly didn’t make me interested in this weekend’s upcoming Summerslam show.
With that said, this show played out as I expected it to: business as usual. I’m sure those who regularly watch the show – my condolences, by the way – will be able to spot for any minor differences that are supposedly there, but those expecting this show to outright change overnight should tempered those expectations. HHH just got the head creative job and as good as his run on NXT has been, you can’t expect those same results from day one. These things take time. Whether people have the patience to sit through it or not is another story.
I can say I watched the first RAW after Vince’s retirement, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I am willing to give the new regime another shot in about a month or so, but for now, I’d say it’s going to be a while before things start to feel different from the same old routine.