Welcome to a new weekly article here on AYW. I will compile all my reviews for Raw, Smackdown, NXT and PLE’s into a concise report, as well as some other WWE content. Let’s get things started with some headlines.
News Bits
- “Oh, you didn’t know?” D-Generation X continues to takeover WWE backstage as ‘Road Dogg’ Jesse James is now the head writer for Smackdown. Your ass better call somebody.
- Ivy Nile has confirmed she is fine after an injury scare on Raw.
- WWE 2k25 have revealed their mammoth 300+ roster. You can play as your favourite wrestlers B-Fab, Tonga Loa and of course, Akira Tozawa.
- Ricky Starks is no more, he will now go by his new alias of Ricky Saints. More on that later.
- The Hardy Boyz are scheduled to make their WWE return… on NXT?
- WWE introduce the Men’s and Women’s ID Championships, to be determined in a tournament and defended across the indie scene.
- The location for Wrestlemania 42 has officially been confirmed to be in New Orleans, the third time ever ‘The Big City’ has hosted the ‘Granddaddy of them All’.
WWE Raw – 17th Feb. from Charlotte, NC
Highlights
One More Time
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens will collide once again, this time where it all began for them both. Toronto, Canada. The same city Owens initially betrayed Zayn in WWE as well as their home country. Adam Pearce refused to make it official, it will be an Unsanctioned match. A great opening promo by Sami and this match will be awesome.
No Yeet
Gunther enters through the crowd, mocking Jey Uso and his fans. He cut a great promo belittling Jey’s chances of beating him. He threatened Pat McAfee who supports Jey’s championship pursuit. Jey comes out to brawl with the champion to save Pat. This feud is HOT.
Zero Miedo
Penta defeated Pete Dunne in a very good match. It is great continuing to see the evolution of Penta. His transition to the WWE style has went mostly smooth. After Ludwig Kaiser got involved in the match, we can expect to see a triple threat sometime in the near future.
The Prodigy Has Arrived
Roxanne Perez defeated Raquel Rodriguez to qualify for the Elimination Chamber match. There was a heavy assist from Bianca Belair and Naomi, who were after revenge after learning that Raquel and Liv Morgan may be involved in the attack of Jade Cargill. However, Perez did not get dominated by her larger opponent. She proved she can hang on the main roster, showcasing how good she is and how great she is going to be.
“Get Well Soon Rey”
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods continue to do the best character and mic work they have done in years. Kofi reminds us he has won more titles than Rey in WWE and he has technically been here longer. Rey left WWE briefly for a couple years in the late 2010s. They mock their attack on Rey last week until the LWO come out and kick their asses for some revenge.
Another Banger
Whenever Finn Balor and Seth Rollins step in the ring together, you can expect greatness. That is what we got in an absolutely FIRE main event of WWE Raw. Rollins got the win over his long-term adversary as expected, but not without many near falls for the Prince of the Judgement Day. Both of the Elimination Chamber matches are now fully booked. All members of Judgement Day lost tonight. I am sure there will serious discussions about their future next week.
Lowlights
Production Issues
It is nothing new to talk about Netflix’s streaming issues. It has improved mostly, but on this show there were some clear moments of audio cutting out or being out of sync. Mildly infuriating.
Premature Rematch
Dakota Kai defeated Ivy Nile to earn herself another shot at the Women’s Intercontinental Championship. Why? I don’t see how this benefits anyone. Lyra Valkyria has already beaten Dakota Kai, so doing it again doesn’t really prove anything.
If Dakota Kai wins, which she won’t, that cuts off Lyra’s reign incredibly short and makes her look like a weak champion. If Kai loses, she looks weaker for failing to win the title once again in a short period of time.
Furthermore, Ivy Nile now looks silly for talking a big game for weeks and failing to get herself an opportunity at the championship.
Nile eliminated Lyra from the Rumble, her being the next challenger seemed like a foregone conclusion. This felt like a swerve decision for the sake of being a swerve to me.
Do Naomi and Bianca even care about Jade?
After seeing footage that puts Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez near the scene of the attack on Jade Cargill, they promised to turn up and get some revenge tonight.
They did that by running out to try and attack Liv Morgan, causing a distraction and costing Raquel her match. Then, they try to attack Liv but Raquel drags her out of the ring and they both run away.
The women’s tag champs then stand in the ring smiling and posing for the crowd? Why are they having the best time in the world? They should be pissed!
Later in the night, both of them are full of smiles and quick to focus on their upcoming Elimination Chamber match rather than the recovery and justice for their supposed friend.
Now Jade’s attacker HAS to be both of them, because if not it will make them look like incredibly shitty friends and babyfaces. I already suspected it might be one of them, but now it has to be both.
I think that they should have looked a lot more intense and bloodthirsty out there, considering how severe they’re claiming the attack to be. Bianca’s cookie-cutter good-girl image is getting stale to me.
Results & Grades
Sami Zayn cuts a promo promising to inflict more pain on Kevin Owens than he has ever done before. (A Grade)
AJ Styles defeats Dominik Mysterio w/Carlito (B Grade)
Dakota Kai defeats Ivy Nile in a Number 1 Contender match for the IC Championship (B- Grade)
World Heavyweight Champion Gunther mocks Jey Uso’s chances of defeating him, before the two rivals get into another pull apart brawl (A- Grade)
Penta defeats Pete Dunne (B+ Grade)
Roxanne Perez defeats Raquel Rodriguez w/Liv Morgan to qualify for the Elimination Chamber (B- Grade)
The New Day taunt “locker room leader” Rey Mysterio (B Grade)
Seth Rollins defeats Finn Balor to qualify for the Elimination Chamber (A Grade)
Overall, I would gave WWE Raw an A- Grade.
What is Tozawa Up To?
Welcome to a new segment here, where we follow what everyone’s favourite wrestler Akira Tozawa is up to.
Unfortunately, there is no segment or match on TV for “The Ninja Master” but he did post a reel on his instagram. He is helping follow Alpha Academy members Otis and Maxxine Dupri take notes during the Ivy Nile vs Dakota Kai match.
Akira must be helping Dupri study to try and achieve her championship dreams in WWE. You can watch said clip here.
Make sure you check back with us every week so you can find the answer the the age-old question. What is Tozawa up to?
WWE NXT – 18th Feb. from Orlando, FL
Highlights
MOOSE
Oba Femi begins NXT with his eyes set on the four “mysterious” men who attacked him at Vengeance Day. He was expecting to see them come and face him, but he did not expect to see the TNA X-Division Champion.
Moose comes out and tells Femi they have to wrestle each other. Oba Femi tells him they will. Such a simple but effective tease.
This is an absolute dream match between two big heavyweights. I am excited to see this match whenever it comes around.
A Bright Future For Women
We got a pair of good women’s matches in the lower midcard of this show. Karmen Petrovic defeated Kelani Jordan and Jaida Parker to earn a shot at the North American Championship.
She got a mild assist from Ashante Thee Adonis. They wrestled a good match, I am very impressed by Jaida and Kelani. I want to see them in a singles match soon.
Petrovic will be a solid first opponent for Vaquer to defeat. Jaida continued her attack after the match, frustrated at her loss.
We also saw the mismatched team of Zaria and Sol Ruca pull together to get a win over the Meta Girls, Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend. This was a very fun tag match.
Sol Ruca and Jakara Jackson wrestled well, but my eyes are still firmly set on Zaria and Lash who I see as future women’s champions in NXT.
Both matches proved how deep and exciting the NXT women’s division is. There is a lot of young talent that are far from their best yet, they’re showing their potential every week.
Starks Becomes a Saint
We finally have the name confirmed, Ricky Saints signs for NXT in an electric contract signing segment. He was interrupted by two men before he was able to sign. First, Ethan Page.
These two men are familiar with each other in their previous employment. Page praises Saints for following his example, but says there is only room for one Ethan Page in NXT. Saints mocks Page’s insecurities and appearance before Je’Von Evans comes out to resume his beef with Ethan Page.
Then, Wes Lee comes out and he wants first dibs at the new star. Earlier in the show, an interviewer cut her time with Lee short to grab a quick interview with the arriving Ricky Saints. Lee felt disrespected by that and wants to teach the new hire a lesson. Saints has no problem with that.
Saints showed how great he is on the mic in this segment, whilst also planting seeds for his first major feuds in NXT. I cannot wait for Saints vs Page at an NXT PLE.
Team Extreme!
No Quarter Catch Crew want a championship match, but they are looking past the NXT champions Fraxiom. They call out the TNA Tag Champions, Matt and Jeff Hardy. It is confirmed that the Hardy’s will return to WWE next week on NXT!
Absolutely crazy. I am shocked they’re bringing back the Hardy’s on a small scale, but I kinda love it. NXT will only benefit from it, TNA will benefit and the main roster don’t really need the Hardy’s any more. They’re doing fine. The story is NXT vs TNA, so NXT is where the Hardy’s should be.
Statement Made
In the main event, Jordynne Grace teamed up with North American champion Stephanie Vaquer and the NXT champion Giulia to defeat Fatal Influence. It was a great match between these 6 women.
Jordynne Grace come out of this looking spectacular, a dominant force to be reckoned with. She hit someone with a clothesline, whilst holding someone else up in a muscle buster position. That is insane.
These 3 women are positioned at the top of NXT now, but one of them does not have a championship. I imagine Grace will want to change that sooner than later.
Lowlights
Was He Ever Injured?
How am I supposed to believe the seriousness of an injury, if they’re able to return from it so quickly and without issue? Je’Von was taken out by Ethan Page, he returned a few weeks later to get revenge but was “injured” again after being punched in his broken jaw.
They made a big deal about how Evans managed to get cleared for Vengeance Day but the doctors were not sure. Ava even made Evans sign a waiver in case anything happened. Je’Von lost at Vengeance Day and it looked like he had been injured again, TWICE. A damaged ankle and again the jaw injury reaggravated. He comes back to attack Ethan and it is like nothing happened.
All they needed to do was one of two things. Option 1, have Je’Von stay off TV for a few weeks before returning and being 100% cleared of his injuries. Option 2, have Je’Von come out and actually sell the damage he has taken only 4 days prior to this event.
He shouldn’t be sprinting and flipping around like a lucha libre match. He should be hurt and beat up. It’s stuff like this that makes it incredibly hard to get behind Je’Von. He is incredibly talented as a performer, but he needs work on the smaller details.
No One Is Safe
Okay, I know it has only been a week but I am a little hesitant to get invested in this new storyline. Are the men who attacked Fraxiom the same people who attacked Oba Femi. If so, why are we acting as if it is a surprise who these people are?
It is supposed to be some big mystery, but we saw all 4 of their faces attack the tag champions. I don’t know who they were, but commentary name-dropped some of them. Why are we pretending we did not see that?
I would assume that since the entire of NXT was attacked and trashed backstage by these “mystery men” that the attacks are supposed to be by the same group. The attack at Vengeance Day looked cool, they reminded me of a new attempt at the Shield.
However, this stuff that we saw on NXT? I did not like it. It stinks of Retribution. The segment wasn’t helped by Ava’s bad acting. I am not going to call it a fail before it even becomes a thing, but all I am saying is that I did not like how their presence was felt on this episode of NXT.
Results & Grades
Oba Femi calls out his assailants, but meets TNA’s Moose (B Grade)
Karmen Petrovic w/Ashante The Adonis defeats Jaida Parker & Kelani Jordan in a Number 1 Contender match for Women’s North American Championship (B- Grade)
Sol Ruca & Zaria defeat Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson (B Grade)
Ricky Saints signs his NXT contract, comes face to face with Ethan Page and Wes Lee (A- Grade)
Shawn Spears defeats Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo (C+ Grade)
Eddy Thorpe defeats Andre Chase (C Grade)
Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer & Jordynne Grace defeat Fatal Influence (B+ Grade)
Overall I would give WWE NXT a B Grade.
Recommendation of the week
In this segment, I will briefly cover a match from the past that I recommend you go and check out if you haven’t seen it before. Since we are a couple weeks away from the Elimination Chamber, I will recommend one of those matches.
Maybe not the best Chamber match of all time, but it has one of my favourite moments of all time. In February of 2017, Elimination Chamber was exclusive to the Smackdown brand and was contested over the WWE championship.
John Cena defended against Baron Corbin, The Miz, AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose & Bray Wyatt. We have a few feuds crossing paths in this match on the way to Wrestlemania. Styles just lost the WWE championship to Cena at the Royal Rumble and he previously feuded with Ambrose.
Ambrose has been feuding with The Miz and Baron Corbin, whilst Bray Wyatt has a history with both Ambrose and Cena. On top of that, Wyatt’s ally Randy Orton is the Royal Rumble winner and is still yet to announce who he will face at Wrestlemania
Corbin and Wyatt go into this match as the only men without a world title to their name, so they were fighting to prove they deserved to join the history books. This was a great Chamber match full of physical action and suspense. Once the match gets down to the final 3, it really heats up. Here is the link to check it out for yourself.
WWE Smackdown – 21st Feb. From New Orleans, LA
Highlights
Louisiana’s Own LA Knight?
R-Truth introduced his tag partner, who he claims is a hometown hero, LA Knight. Unfortunately, Truth has gotten confused again. Although LA is the initials of Louisiana, LA stands for Los Angeles because Knight moved there.
He is actually from Maryland. R-Truth continues to be a hilarious, wholesome legend. Their tag match against Carmelo Hayes and The Miz wasn’t anything special but it had some funny comedy spots and solid action. The ‘Melo Don’t Miz’ pairing could be mutually beneficial.
Moment of Silence
The moment of silence DIY have started doing is fun and a great way to get heel heat from the crowd. They’re really coming into their own as heels on the main roster. Unfortunately their match with Pretty Deadly was cut short after a run-in from the Street Profits who attack both teams.
Peeping Kevin Owens
We get another awesome video recorded promo by KO, this time he is outside of Sami Zayn’s house and we see him recording Sami interacting with his wife and kids.
He says he will never forgive Sami for making him end his career next week and hurt Zayn’s family. He is the perfect unhinged, delusional heel. Owens has been on a generational heel run recently.
Started and Ended Well
A show’s best matches should be at the start and the end, which is one of few things Smackdown managed to do right this week. Jimmy Uso got a shock fluke victory over Drew McIntyre in the opener.
Damian Priest and Braun Strowman toppled Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu in the main event in a big man tag match. Both matches were performed well and got positive fan reactions.
Lowlights
Stating the Obvious
Why is Damian Priest telling Cody Rhodes that after Elimination Chamber he is coming for his title? Um, Duh? If he wins the Chamber, he gets a shot at the WWE title. Even if he loses, he is on Smackdown, where the WWE title is. The promo was supposed to make him look like a respectable badass but he sounded like a goon.
Shut Up Bianca
Not only do Naomi and Bianca Belair continue to be jovial when discussing Jade’s attack, but now Bianca just ruined the result of a blockbuster match on Raw in 2 weeks. She says that either her or Naomi will win the Chamber match and face Rhea Ripley at Wrestlemania.
Of course, Rhea has a match with Iyo Sky on the Raw after Elimination Chamber. Whilst I do think that Ripley winning is highly likely, the result has been spoiled here. Why else would Belair name-drop Rhea as the champion at Wrestlemania unless that was the plan?
Hot Mess Snubbed
Chelsea Green protests to have a match at Elimination Chamber in Toronto, Canada. Her home country. She is getting a match on Smackdown. Lame. She deserves a PPV appearance and I hope that there is a last minute change that leads to her getting a match. There is only 4 matches scheduled on the card, none of them are a standard singles match.
Huh?
Who exactly does the Rock want to be? Does he want to be the fan favourite and the people pleaser? Or does he want to be disrespectful, takes what he wants Final Boss? He comes out as a fan favourite to announce Wrestlemania 42 in New Orleans, before calling all of the fans STD riddled trash.
Then he introduces Cody Rhodes respectfully, gives him a hug and says they have become good friends. I am getting whiplash from this. He praises and insults the crowd back and forth. It is confusing.
Then we have the confusingly vague “my champion” promo. What does he actually want? I assume that he basically wants Cody to be the corporate champion and follow his guidance rather than be a crowd favourite.
It was not very clear though what he wants, to the point that the crowd don’t really react to any of it. Rock actually sounds a little pathetic here constantly talking about how he and Cody are friends,
The Rock says the thing he wants ultimately is Cody Rhodes’ soul and then holds “his brothers” face? What is happening? Did The Rock huff carbon monoxide in his car? Cody Rhodes looked so weak in comparison to The Rock, he looked almost cucked.
This whole promo was bizarre, detrimental to both men and the show.
Results & Grades
Jimmy Uso defeats Drew McIntyre (B Grade)
Carmelo Hayes & The Miz defeat LA Knight & R-Truth (C Grade)
Tiffany Stratton addresses Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax & Candice LeRae interrupt (C Grade)
Tiffany Stratton defeats Candice LeRae w/Nia Jax (C+ Grade)
Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez assault Naomi & Bianca Belair (C- Grade)
The Rock calls out Cody Rhodes (D Grade)
DIY (c) defeat Pretty Deadly by DQ to retain the WWE Tag Championships (C Grade)
Damian Priest & Braun Strowman defeat Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu w/Tama Tonga (B Grade)
Overall, I would give WWE Smackdown a C- Grade.
Top 10 of the Week
1) Seth Rollins
2) Finn Balor
3) Jordynne Grace
4) Giulia
5) Stephanie Vaquer
6) Sami Zayn
7) Gunther
8) Penta
9) Roxanne Perez
10) Ricky Saints
Match of the Week
Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor, WWE Raw
(Check out the most recent Pro Wrestling Rant here!)
Next Week
Raw
Lyra Valkyria (c) vs Dakota Kai for Intercontinental Championship
Bianca Belair & Naomi (c) vs Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez for Tag Championships
NXT
Hardy Boyz (c) vs No Quarter Catch Crew for TNA Tag Championships
Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs Karmen Petrovic for North American Championship
Moose (c) vs Lexis King, TNA X-Division Championship
Ricky Saints & Je’Von Evans vs Ethan Page & Wes Lee
Smackdown
Chelsea Green vs ?
Elimination Chamber: Toronto
John Cena vs CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins vs Logan Paul vs Damian Priest, Elimination Chamber match for WWE Championship match at Wrestlemania 41
Liv Morgan vs Bianca Belair vs Naomi vs Roxanne Perez vs Alexa Bliss vs Bayley, Elimination Chamber match for Women’s World Championship match at Wrestlemania 41
Tiffany Stratton & Trish Stratus vs Nia Jax & Candice LeRae
Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn, Unsanctioned Match
Cody Rhodes answers The Rock’s proposal
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