This Week In WWE

Due to having a lot of university work on my plate recently I have been unable to get weekly reviews out for WWE TV. Leah is taking the slack where she can but I thought I'd introduce a new article where I take a quick look at what happened during the week on WWE TV.


This week's Raw was uncharacteristically good, with good matches and sensible booking throughout. In terms of in ring action, the opener between Reigns and Jordan was a great effort that went around 20 minutes with Jordan looking every bit the in ring star. That isn't his problem though. It's his shit gimmick.

There was a nice touch after Jordan had called out, and been choked out by, Samoa Joe, where he gave Angle a look that said 'Try it motherfucker!'.

Absolution continued their path of destruction and have now taken out everyone with the exception of Nia Jax and Asuka, which is sensible. Paige and Sasha Banks put on a really good match too.

Elias called out Kurt for his nepotism and got rewarded with a match against Braun. Luckily for Elias Kane continued his unhealthy obsession with Braun, stopping Elias from getting fully murdered. Braun deserves better.

There was a 4-way cruiserweight title contenders match that was easily the best match the 205 division have had on Raw. My boy Gulak won that too, and will face Swann next week in an actual number one contendership match, which was nice.

Asuka took the soul of Alicia Fox for her collection.

Matt Hardy officially became BROKEN, no sorry I mean WOKEN. The name change is daft but it was exactly the kind of bizarre start that the character needed.

In the main event slot Shesaro retained their title against Ambrollins in another really good match. These two teams have great chemistry and they can have as many matches as they like as far as I'm concerned. It was nice to see the champions retain too as the change to the Shield members would have seemed too predictable here.



Could Smackdown follow on from Raw's unexpected quality? No, not really. There weren't any really good matches on the show, even the Zayn vs Orton main event underwhelmed, and some of the promo work was a bit grinding.

Owens and Zayn were quality again, with Zayn explaining in great detail how they outsmarted Shane last week. Shane still comes across like a heel to me, he just seems like an arrogant dick.

Owens and Zayn: We are sick of Shane screwing us over.
Shane: I'm not involved in your problems.
Owens and Zayn: You repeatedly interfere in our shit.
Shane: I've told you that it's nothing to do with me and I'll prove it by inserting myself in your match at Clash of Champions.

Every day is Rusev Day, and long may it continue. You can celebrate forever with this shirt.

Whoever is booking the women's division on Smackdown appears to think that having them scream at each other insufferably is the way to go. It's not.

Bludgeon Brothers do some jobber murder.

Roode, Corbin and Ziggler built their title match. It was neither here nor there.

Charlotte and Tamina have a match. Can Charlotte carry Tamina to a good match? Nope. The opposite happened and it was possibly Charlotte's worst match ever.

AJ Styles was AWOL today. He was missed. Mahal was also absent too. His absence was less bothersome.



205 Live was a show that happened. The crowd didn't really care and I can't really blame 'em.

Drew Gulak is fucking great. His powerpoint stuff is top notch.

There was a time when Noam Dar was a solid wrestler. I miss those days. Cedric Alexander has skills for days though.

Kendrick and Metalik have a solid match. You wouldn't really know it but Metalik is an excellent wrestler.

Gulak refers to the Zo Train as Justice League. Daivari is Wonder Woman due to his fierce warrior spirit and mad fashion sense. Seems legit.

The main event between Swann and Nese was alright but nobody cared. The faces got to stand tall.



In stark contrast to 205 Live, NXT was great. It's usually the easiest WWE TV show to watch but this week was particularly good.

This week started the tournament to crown a new number one contender to Almas' title. They also announced that in 2 weeks Tyler Bate will be having his rematch against Pete Dunne. I expect greatness.

Almas has his title celebration. That belt looks good on him. Zelina Vega has been a revelation.

There were a number of press conference style promos on this show. NXT is always looking at different ways to do promos and I applaud them for it.

Killian Dain continues his march towards becoming a main event level competitor. He defeated Trent Seven in a short but fun match. Dain advances in the tournament.

Undisputed Era cut a promo about being great.

Sonya Deville had her best match so far, in a No DQ encounter with Ruby Riot. This served as a final match for both women and had a really well thought out finish, with the lack of rope breaks costing Riot. It was a nice callback to their previous match.

There is a tease for Shayna Baszler.

The main event between Ohno and Gargano is a belter. In all honesty it is probably the best match on weekly WWE TV this year (****1/4 - ****1/2). Ohno is possibly the best gatekeeper in pro wrestling today and Gargano plays the underdog to perfection. Both are incredible wrestlers too. The match is well structured and builds nicely to Gargano's victory. Cracking stuff.

Show of the Week - NXT

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