Welcome back to my weekly WWE coverage. We continue the march towards Wrestlemania and this week will mark the beginning of WWE’s European tour with a bunch of shows airing from Spain, Italy, the UK and more. A lot of action to cover this week, so let’s get right into some news
News Bits
- Former NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura has been spotted backstage in NXT taking photos with Giulia, circulating rumours of an in-ring return for the legendary wrestler.
- John Cena’s first appearance post-heel turn has been revealed to be next week on Raw in Brussels, Belgium. Will Bad Boy Johnny have much to say?
- WWE ID are openly advertising their talent for hire to independent promotions as the massive corporation continues to extend it’s tendrils over the wrestling industry.
- Love conquers all, as it appears that Miro and CJ Perry have worked through some of their issues and are living together once again. I hope to see a happy ending for them both.
- Bronson Reed is expected to make his return from injury imminently. I would assume he will return on the Raw post-Wrestlemania.
- Rumoured injury and visa issues seem to be plaguing Guilia, we will see how this has an impact on her match at NXT Roadblock.
- Two big teases happened on Smackdown for debuting superstars in WWE, more on that later.
- Lillian Garcia’s return run as Smackdown announcer has came to an end. She stepped in to replace Samantha Irvin, but it seems that they have prepared a new voice to take over the show. She also teased new WWE affiliated projects she will be a part of.
WWE Raw – 10th Mar. from MSG, NYC
Highlights
Daddy’s On Top?
I was mildly concerned about how the Judgement Day was going to go after finishing their feud with Rhea Ripley. Would they continue to maintain their momentum? Although they are not as far up the card as they were, I am still very much enjoying the backstage interactions between all the members. What I am also enjoying is seeing Dominik Mysterio stepping up to make decisions and call some plays for the Judgement Day. It seems like Daddy Dom might quietly be the new leader of the Judgement Day.
I’m The Captain Now
Cody Rhodes delivers a great promo and he had words for future opponent John Cena. He reveals they will be under the same roof next week on Raw and he wants to hear from Cena himself. Cody does a great job building hype whilst taking shots at John Cena’s integrity. He tells Cena that he is the face that runs the place now, not him.
The New Mr America
The New Day defeated Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee in what was mostly a great match. The LWO seemed to have the match won, until a “mysterious” masked man attacked them. He was wearing an American themed mask and he also held his fingers in the air and shouted “Gracias!” So yeah, it is Chad Gable. Or is it? Later we saw a man wearing the American mask being arrested whilst Gable was being interviewed. I am a huge fan of this angle already and I look forward to seeing where Gable takes this new American Luchador alter ego.
Bianca Finally Gets Serious
I have been very hard on Bianca for a few weeks now, mainly because of how “happy go lucky” she has been even though her supposed best friend has been taken out. The Naomi reveal last week seemed to finally get Bianca back to taking shit seriously again. Good! She comes out to exchange words with her Wrestlemania opponent Iyo Sky and she did a great job.
Iyo Demands Respect
Talking about that promo, damn was it a good one! Iyo comes out happy to be champion again. Bianca comes out to exchange words, then Rhea Ripley comes out to argue about Bianca costing her the match last week. Rhea and Bianca get into an argument, whilst Iyo is feeling a bit forgotten and left out. After a couple of attempts to re-enter the conversation are brushed off, Iyo gets pissed. She whacks Rhea, then drops Bianca. She screams at them both in Japanese, I assume she was demanding respect considering she is the champion they’re arguing over. A phenomenal segment and a good way to set up the rumoured Triple Threat.
Caged Animals
Seth Rollins vs CM Punk inside the Steel Cage was phenomenal. A tale of 2 stories. First, it is about neither man caring about winning the match. No pin attempts made for a while, they just want to torture and torment each other. Both men hold open the cage door and gesture their opponent to leave. Both men would flip each other off in response. They take each other to the limit before trying to end things.
Then, we have the fact that neither man are willing to lose. Both men landed their finishers multiple times. We saw Rollins using John Cena’s STF on Punk. Punk using the anaconda vice. Both men tried everything to win, but both men keep on kicking out. They refuse to lose to each other here.
Seth hits a super stomp and Punk kicks out. He is at a loss. The cage door is open and he considers taking the easy way out and winning that way but Punk insults him for doing so. Before he makes his choice though, the choice is made for him.
OTC
Seth Rollins is dragged out of the cage by Roman Reigns. Rollins wins the match, but boy does he not feel like a winner. Roman Reigns has returned after being stomped on the steel steps by Rollins at the Royal Rumble. Reigns destroys Rollins on the outside, even stomping him in a measure of revenge.
When Roman looks up after his attack, he sees his wiseman Paul Heyman talking with CM Punk in the middle of the ring. Already enraged, Roman storms the cage and he decimates Punk with a spear. He stands tall to close the show as his rivals are laid out.
Well, it looks like the rumours are true. I imagine Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins vs CM Punk will be booked for Wrestlemania and most likely be a main event match. 3 of the biggest names in modern WWE history with a lot of intertwining stories between them. I am happy with that.
Lowlights
Promoting Andrew Scultz
This is more of a personal one to me but I cannot believe they gave Andrew Schultz such a featured part of this show. Granted, he did his role well of being a local New Yorker to speak against Logan Paul, but it is hard to root for Schultz when he is an absolute tosser. I won’t even dive into how bad of a comedian he is. Yeah I didn’t care for his feature and I thought that AJ Styles deserved a better segment than saving Andrew Schultz from Logan Paul.
Exposed
The New Day vs LWO was almost great, but there was one moment that really ruined the match for me. Dragon Lee takes Xavier Woods out of the ring with a hurricanrana. Woods topples over and lightly grazed a set up table with his back on his way out. He did not hit it enough to break it, yet the table broke. Also, the table broke perfectly in half which made zero sense considering how Woods made contact.
If pre-cutting tables ahead of time makes the work safer, then I do not mind. However, it is moments like this that make wrestling look completely phony and shit. Just do a regular table spot if you have to.
Results & Grades
Jey Uso defeats Grayson Waller, is attacked by Austin Theory and then Gunther (B- Grade)
Logan Paul bullies Andrew Schultz, AJ Styles makes the save (C+ Grade)
The New Day defeat Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee, Tornado Tag (B Grade)
Cody Rhodes demands to hear from John Cena (B+ Grade)
Raquel Rodriguez defeats Bayley, IC number 1 contender (B Grade)
Bianca Belair & Rhea Ripley crash Iyo Sky’s interview (A- Grade)
Seth Rollins defeats CM Punk inside a Steel Cage, Roman Reigns returns (A++ Grade)
Overall, I would gave WWE Raw a B+ Grade.
What is Tozawa Up To?
Welcome back to my favourite segment of the week covering our favourite professional wrestler. Unfortunately, it has been a quiet week on the Akira Tozawa front. No major social media posts and no major match or angle. Jey Uso was not saved by Alpha Academy during his attack which I thought was strange. Whilst Jey is seen to by a doctor, Akira Tozawa & co appear and apologise for not being there for him. They promise that this won’t happen again, they will be there.
I am still hoping to see that 6-man tag that I predicted last week.
WWE NXT – 11th Mar. from MSG, NYC
Highlights
The GOATS
The Hardy Boys retained their TNA Tag Team Championships in the opening match of the night against Fraxiom. Yet again it was nice to see the Hardy’s in action. Their younger and faster opponents were a good choice to be able to carry the load of the match. Do I still think it is silly for this match to be advertised as “determining the best tag team in the world today”? Yes, but if any team deserves to be acknowledged as the best of all time, it is the Hardy’s.
Juggernaut Time
Jordynne Grace defeated Roxanne Perez in another good match on this show. After the unfortunate injury for Cora Jade, it was nice to see Grace get a clean victory here tonight and put the entire women’s roster on notice. The Juggernaut is here and she wants gold.
Big Men meet Big Expectations
We all hoped that Oba Femi vs Moose would be the physical war that we wanted and that is exactly what we got. Oba Femi successfully defended his NXT championship against a game Moose. They beat the crap out of each other and I loved every moment of it. Best match of the night.
Je’Von Gets Ju’Stice
Je’Von Evans defeated Ethan Page in a great Street Fight. They pulled in story elements of this feud as well as maintaining the intensity fitting of their rivalry. The Suicide dive into a cutter through a table was crazy. The amount of height and distance Evans can get is nuts, he should be in the Olympics. Ethan Page still looks great in defeat. Hopefully both men can move on to other things now. They have teased Page and Ricky Saints a couple of times so that would be nice.
The Face of the Division
The Giulia vs Stephanie Vaquer dream match closed the show and it solidified Vaquer as the top woman in NXT. Deservedly so. Vaquer just has the whole package for me. She is a great wrestler with good understanding of the psychology. She looks great and she has a great connection with the fans. Vaquer absolutely can be a future world champion in WWE. Their match was great, impressive if it is true about the injuries Giulia was carrying into the match.
Lowlights
They’re Back
Yes I am hating on the rookie stable again. I’m sorry! I just don’t like it. So after attacking Fraxiom and Oba Femi in the same night, then destroying the entire backstage area of NXT, we hadn’t seen this group properly for a couple of weeks. At the end of the street fight, both Ethan Page and Je’Von Evans were attacked by the Temu Shield. They hit that impressive shuggy boat into a double powerbomb. That move is awesome, but this team is not. I assume that this is supposed to highlight that they’re willing to attack anyone they want. Fine. We need to start hearing a reason why otherwise all of this is just for no reason and looks a bit silly.
Inconsistent
Giulia has shown a lot of skill and promise in the ring, but I am having some difficulties watching her. There are moments where she seems to run through spots and not taking the time to sell an injury or sell offence she has received. I don’t want to go too hard on her since she was injured, but this is far from the first instance. She needs to shed away those bad habits learned in Japan and elsewhere and learn more psychology.
Results & Grades
Hardy Boyz (c) retain their TNA Tag Championships against Nathan Frazer & Axiom (B Grade)
Jordynne Grace defeats Roxanne Perez (B Grade)
Oba Femi (c) defeats Moose to retain his NXT Championship (A Grade)
Je’Von Evans defeats Ethan Page, Street Fight (A- Grade)
North American Champion Stephanie Vaquer defeats NXT Champion Giulia to win both championships (B+ Grade)
Overall I would give WWE NXT a A- Grade.
Recommendation of the week
Let’s dig up some more Wrestlemania classics shall we? We’re going to Wrestlemania 21 and let’s talk about one of my favourite Wrestlemania matches ever. Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle.
HBK is probably my favourite wrestler of all time and Angle is definitely up there. Two men who completely understood the psychology and the skill of wrestling. This was a highly competitive back and forth match. Kurt showcased his skills as a superior wrestling and technician, whilst Michaels proved that he is more than capable to keep up with the wrestling machine. This feud was built on Angle wanting to prove that he is better than Shawn Michaels.
We saw some gems come out of this feud. We saw Angle win a ladder match and claim to have done it better than Michaels. Marty Jannetty returned to be beaten by Kurt Angle. Sensational Sherri even returned to do a spoof of HBK’s entrance theme. ‘Sexy Kurt’ is an all time promo.
The match was amazing and totally deserved 5 stars even if Meltzer does not say so. Here is a link to check it out yourself.
WWE Smackdown – 14th Mar. from Barcelona, Spain
Highlights
El Audiencia es Mucha Caliente
I love when WWE go to new locations, or places they rarely air from. Why? Because the crowd do not take it for granted. We saw it in Puerto Rico, we saw it in France and we saw it in Germany. Now, we saw it in Spain. The crowd were HOT for this show and made noise all the way throughout. It just elevates the entire show. Even the weaker matches and segments are better with the crowd reacting to it all. The next couple of weeks are going to be loud and awesome.
Jade Improves
We saw an interview segment between Cathy Kelly and Jade Cargill that occurred earlier in the day. I thought Jade did a brilliant job in delivering her promo. She conveyed a lot of emotion and weight to her words that I think has been missing from some of her previous promos. She was great here. Then it was interrupted by heels Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez to set up a future match.
Tiffy Tells Flair The Time
After Charlotte defeats B-Fab, Tiffany Stratton comes out and we get an inseparable brawl between the two. This was a hot segment and finally the champion is presented as such. She takes out Charlotte and a mass of security with a diving swanton from the top rope.
Then a little later, the brawl erupts again at the start of Miz TV and Stratton hits another huge diving Swanton. Stratton looked great and it is about time she did not Flair’s shit again.
Debut Teasers
We got two major teases on this show. We saw a masked luchadore running the ropes drenched in an orange glow. Then we saw some smoke followed by the number 4. Rey Fenix and Aleister Black are absolutely showing up in WWE and I am HYPED.
Homecoming
World Heavyweight Champion Gunther wrestled the NXT Tag champion Axiom who is Spanish. Although the result was inevitable, Axiom was given plenty of opportunity to showcase his talent. Not only was this a great moment for Axiom to wrestle in front of his native people, but he also got to wrestle the world champion on the main roster. He looked great and hopefully made a lasting impact on the viewers.
New Champions
After a 4 year drought, the Street Profits finally reach the top of the mountain once again. They beat DIY in the main event of Smackdown in a great match. DIY’s run as champions has been great, but a miscommunication saw Gargano take out Ciampa with a superkick. After losing the titles, will this cause Ciampa to break and once again betray his best friend? I guess we will find out.
Lowlights
Why B-Fab?
Seriously, why? Out of all the women for Charlotte to face in her first singles match in over a year, we picking B-Fab? The match was okay, B-Fab is not very good in the ring but Charlotte is good enough to carry her to something passable. The match wasn’t interesting, but the post-match brawl with Tiffy was.
Disappointing Miz TV
The Miz introduces Cody Rhodes. The WWE champion comes out, drops Miz with the Cross Rhodes and says he refuses to talk to anyone other than John Cena. That was it. Considering how Miz TV w/Cody Rhodes was a main selling point of the show, this was very underwhelming. It wasn’t bad and I understand its purpose and what it achieved. I still think it sucked as a segment and I would be a little pissed as a paying member of the audience.
The Nakamura Problem
I assumed that Nakamura’s reign was coming to an end because he would take time off for personal reasons, someone close to him dying. Yet, he is still here. So, what is the deal? He had the worst US title reign ever and now I am questioning if there is anything WWE can really do with him. Outside of his NXT run, Nakamura in WWE has been a complete flop. Although WWE hasn’t been great booking him, some responsibility falls to him too.
The best wrestlers in the world are able to take bad creative and make the best of it. Shinsuke Nakamura cannot apparently. I honestly think it would be for the best in Shinsuke Nakamura go elsewhere if he still wants to be a wrestler, because it is not working for him in WWE. I think he could be a very valuable trainer for WWE though so if he is retiring soon then that could be a good option for him.
Results & Grades
LA Knight, Jey Uso & Braun Strowman brawl with Solo Sikoa & Co, 6-man set up (C+ Grade)
LA Knight, Jimmy Uso & Braun Strowman defeat Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga (B Grade)
Jade’s interview interrupted by Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (B+ Grade)
Charlotte Flair defeats B-Fab (C Grade)
Charlotte Flair brawls with Tiffany Stratton (B Grade)
Miz TV w/Cody Rhodes (C Grade)
Damien Priest defeats Shinsuke Nakamura by DQ, Drew McIntyre attacks (B- Grade)
Randy Orton defeats Carmelo Hayes (B Grade)
Gunther defeats Axiom (B+ Grade)
Paul Heyman declares today Roman Reigns Day (C+ Grade)
Street Profits defeat DIY (c) to win the WWE Tag Team Championships (A- Grade)
Overall, I would give WWE Smackdown a B Grade.
Top 10 of the Week
1) CM Punk
2) Seth Rollins
3) Oba Femi
4) Moose
5) Je’Von Evans
6) Ethan Page
7) Montez Ford
8) Tommaso Ciampa
9) Johnny Gargano
10) Stephanie Vaquer
Match of the Week
CM Punk vs Seth Rollins, WWE Raw
Next Week
Raw
Jey Uso vs Austin Theory
Penta vs Ludwig Kaiser
Bron Breakker (c) vs Finn Balor, Intercontinental Championship
Dakota Kai vs Ivy Nile
John Cena & Cody Rhodes under the same roof
NXT
Eddy Thorpe vs Trick Williams, Underground Match
The Family vs The Culling
Ricky Saints vs Ridge Holland
Chelsea Green (c) vs Sol Ruca, US Championship
Smackdown
Jade Cargill vs Liv Morgan
Zelina Vega vs Piper Niven
Braun Strowman vs Jacob Fatu
Roman Reigns returns
I’ve been rebooking all of the Wrestlemania’s from 1 to 40. Check out the most recent one I did!
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