Week in Review - 8/17 to 8/23

Okay, here’s the deal. Last week I ended up way behind from watching Summerslam, attending the Smackdown taping Tuesday night and dealing with personal issues (long, stupid story involving getting the run around for approval and setting an appointment for a follow up angiogram I need).

I have done a Summerslam review and a TNA Impact Review. I have made the decision to go ahead, do a Week in Review, and cover last week’s Raw and Smackdown briefly, instead of doing full reviews and only continuing to be behind.

I will have a full review of last night’s Raw tomorrow.

Week in Review

8-17 to 8-23

This past week was a really good week for professional wrestling fans when it comes to TNA and WWE. TNA put on their best broadcast in perhaps a year or more and we got three solid broadcasts from WWE (Summerslam, Raw and Smackdown).

SUMMERSLAM

My full review and thoughts on Summerslam can be read here: http://wrestlementary.blogspot.com/2014/08/summerslam-sizzle.html

MONDAY NIGHT RAW

Last week’s Raw was the best Raw in a long time, months even. This was closer to the Raw we should have had BEFORE Summerslam. Everything clicked, like a puzzle when all the pieces fit together. We had title matches, champions defeated in non-title matches, Mark Henry standing up for America, Sister’s fighting and crying, women acting like scorned lovers and Dean Ambrose’s head put through Cinderblocks! That was my favorite part – in that we saw a glimpse of the old Kane.

Oh, and in a nice segment Lesnar was presented with a brand new WWE title belt. The belt looks nice and with the diamonds and gold reminds me a little of the Million Dollar Belt.

Final Rating: 7

Match of the Night: Seth Rollins versus Dean Ambrose. Even with a non-finish (but what a finish), this was the match of the night.

Impact of the Night: Rollins and Kane putting Ambrose head first through a group of cinderblocks. How could this not be the impact?

Wrestler of the Night: Goldust and Stardust. Massive victory over the Usos.

SMACKDOWN

I was at Smackdown live Tuesday along with Dave Parrish; we sat five rows behind Michael Cole and were on camera a few times. This may skew my opinion a bit, but Smackdown was an awesome show. It delivered on everything it had to and furthered the storylines. Seeing wrestling in person is truly something different then on TV.

Each match and segment had a purpose. Even the promos you saw on the television broadcast were actually aired on the titantron during the live event, which was kind of odd.
Before Smackdown, they taped Main Event, which aired that evening. It was odd seeing Seth Rollins and Jack Swagger go face to face where Swagger challenged Rollins to a match tonight (Tuesday), only to have Rollins say no, but he would fight Swagger on Friday.

That match took place an hour later on Tuesday!

Final Rating: 7 – On par with Raw.

Match of the Night: Seth Rollins versus Jack Swagger
Wrestler of the Night: Seth Rollins
Impact of the Night: There wasn’t one.

IMPACT

My full review and thoughts on Impact can be read here: http://wrestlementary.blogspot.com/2014/08/impact-stress-test-passed-this.html

Final thoughts – best week for Wrestling in a while, and TNA put out their best this year if not longer.

Match of the Week: Ambrose versus Rollins lumberjack match (Summerslam)
Wrestler of the Week: Gail Kim
Impact of the Week: EC3 beat down of Rhino. It’s something EC3 needed and what no one would have thought he could do.