@RoxBlackburn
Normally the Raw & Smackdown before a big PPV are the ‘go home’ shows where nothing is expected to happen, what a week in WWE.
After months of bashing my head against a wall, I finally see Finn Balor gain some momentum. In fact, his match with Dolph Ziggler will likely make my ‘Matches of the Month’ Finn’s best showing in weeks.
Everyone is talking about the Nia Jax botch on Becky Lynch’s face at the end of Raw. I don’t for one second think she did it on purpose and the more I think about it, I actually think it would have been better if she had. At least she could have owned it and built some character depth. But instead it’s another giant ‘whoops’ for someone who is so noteably green, it’s cringeworthy. She already has a fragile relationship with fans at best and this does nothing for her credibility.
Becky Lynch is the hottest thing in WWE right and I’m confident she is smart enough and over enough to turn any situation into a positive. But fans feel robbed of Lynch v Rousey, although I am hearing whispers it may happen at Mania instead.
And what about Daniel Bryan taking the WWE Championship off AJ Styles?! Total shocker tbh. AJ has been an amazing champion, truly amazing. He is arguably one of the best wrestlers and one of the most beloved characters in the world but I do feel the time was right for him to pass the torch. I would imagine he’ll take a little time off now.
I read an article recently that states Smackdown is moving to Friday’s and will be on a seperate network to Raw, which will continue to air on Mondays. Both networks are likely to want WWE top talent performing, which is likely to result in the merging of the rosters to some extent and a superstar shake up. I don’t feel it out of place to suggest guys like Rollins, Ziggler, Strowman, AJ, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton and perhaps some of the ladies Becky, Charlotte and Rousey at least, will work across both brands.
For the full article, please visit: http://www.espn.co.uk/wwe/story/_/id/25294304/wwe-survivor-series-2018-mark-end-era-raw-smackdown-new-fox-tv-deal-2019
My week in wrestling has been fairly basic insofar as it has mainly consisted of waiting for the next wXw show to drop (20th November) and catching up on some matches I’d fancied checking out before.
I’ve not watched the whole run yet, but I’m intrigued by the WALTER/Jordan Devlin storyline in OTT. I’ve checked out the match where they teamed with Low-Ki and David Starr respectively, and it was a great match, so I look forward to checking out the rest of the storyline that so many people are really getting excited about. In general, OTT is getting people very excited and is the place to be checking out at the moment, or so it seems.
The other big match I watched was the completely bonkers Nick Gage versus David Arquette match from GCW. To wake up one morning to find out that Arquette has ‘shot on’ Gage was mad, and the reality was more bizarre somehow than the former movie star being in the match in the first place. As much as Gage gets stick from some, his handling of Arquette’s legitimate freakout due to the amount of blood – I can wholeheartedly understand – was really good as he just cradled Arquette for a quick three count. Worth a watch as much for the WTF factor as anything.
I have been watching some old territorial stuff recently, as always, and the particular highlight of this week was the Rock and Roll Express taking on Hercules Hernandez and Ted Dibiase. Hernandez would use a headscarf in order to choke out Ricky Morton and pick up the win, but it was a great television match for the time period. Another feud that has been very exciting has been Chris Adams and Kevin Von Erich. The brawls have been wild ever since Adams turned heel, and the real sense of wildness and urgency has been ever present in late 84 WCCW.
