WRESTLEMENTARY WRAPUP WEEK 5

his is a day late, but I am caught up now.

Ace.

RAW

Well, I liked RAW this week. The action stayed in the ring and the promos were limited, which is how good wrestling shows should be.

Even the opening promo was limited, a little over ten minutes and it did a good job of setting the stage for the Fastlane PPV.

The show started with Heyman and Brock in the ring. Brock did his normal routine, dancing around looking menacing. Heyman went through his spiel about what Brock is going to do at Fastlane . . . Cue . . .

Dean Ambrose! Ambrose tells Brock he doesn’t want to fight him, but he will. He’ll do anything to win the title. There was no physical confrontation, which was refreshing.

Limited, straight to the point and did its job. Good segment, with no Roman Reigns in sight.

They continue to build up Kalisto with a count out victory over Rusev. With ADR ringside, this was basically used as a set up for Kalisto and ADR’s Fastlane match.

Ambrose and Reigns had a brief confrontation with Steph in her ‘office,’ who had the World Title on a podium. She tired her best to put a wedge between them, even invoking Marty Jeanetty, and put them into a main event match with the New Day.

Grammy winners the Usos were announced to face Curtis Axel and Heath Slater with Adam Rose, but instead faced Adam Rose and Curtis Axel, with Heath Slater. Bo Rida is off dropping tracks in the Studios.

This was a nice match that put over the Social Outcasts as they dominated the match, but lost in the end to the Usos.

MIZ TV. It was all about AJ Styles. As it should have been. Miz did a great job of putting over the Phenomenal One. He listed all of AJ’s accomplishments then said AJ needed the Miz to make it in the WWE. AJ snapped and beat the hell out of Miz.

Great segment to put over AJ.

Big Show beats Luke Harper handily, and destroys the Wyatt’s during the match. Afterwards, was a different matter, as the Wyatt laid waste to the Big Show. Where was Roman? Show saved him on Smackdown.

Dolph Ziggler finally gains a sliver of vengeance in a pin fall victory over KO.

Before her match with Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks officially announces she is on her own. So you know, despite claims to the opposite that it wouldn’t end well with Banks and Team BAD. It didn’t. The singles match ended up with Sasha and Becky fighting off Sasha’s former Team BAD teammates.

MAIN EVENT TIME
NEW DAY rocks!
So does this RAW!
So did this main event.

The main event delivered, from NEW DAY promo to the match itself that saw Ambrose and Reigns gain the pin.

Brock rocks Ambrose!

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Best RAW of the year to date. Did a great job of setting up Fastlane. It felt like a go home show.


MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Dolph Ziggler versus KO
IMPACT OF THE NIGHT: MIZ TV
WRESTLER OF THE NIGHT: Dolph Ziggler
LOW POINT OF THE NIGHT: N/A

RATING: 8

SMACKDOWN

My entire thoughts and comments on Smackdown can be summed up by a text from Dave Parrish: SMACKDOWN WAS EXCELLENT THIS WEEK.

How far has Rusev fallen? Once undefeated, now used as fodder for both Kalisto and Reigns here tonight.

Rusev lost to Reigns by DQ when his fellow members of The League of Nations attacked. Ambrose for the save. Eventually Ambrose and Reigns fight off the League, but only after the seeds are planted for a betrayal.

The Feud isn’t over yet between KO and Ziggler. Ziggler was on commentary for KO’s match against Kalisto, and he received Kalisto powerbombed into him for the effort! Kalisto still somehow won the match as KO left licking his wounds.

Ryback would succeed where Big Show failed Monday. He would beat Rowan, then get away before being destroyed.

Am I the only one who remembers Sasha and Becky teamed up in NXT? Maybe. Either way, tonight they agreed to work together again against a common enemy: Team BAD.

Jericho would be on commentary for AJ Styles versus The Miz. AJ Styles looked great against the MIZ. Honesty, MIZ looked great too.

After a really good match, AJ would win with a rarely seen submission: The Calf Killer.

Post-Match, Jericho challenged Styles to a rematch for next week’s Smackdown (should be Fastlane).



New Day Rocks. Social Outcast Trend. I loved it!

Just like on RAW, the Main Event on Smackdown delivered. Roman Reign and Ambrose survived again, winning the match. But are they on thin ice? More seeds were planted for friction between the two.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Excellent.

MATCH OF THE NIGHT: AJ STYLES VERSUS THE MIZ
IMPACT OF THE NIGHT: CHRIS JERICHO VERSUS AJ STYLES REMATH ANNOUNCED
WRESTLER OF THE NIGHT: AJ Styles
LOW POINT OF THE NIGHT: N/A

RATING: 8

TNA WRESTLING

IMPACT

Well, Impact wasn’t as good as like weeks and in some ways furthered last week’s events, in other way ruined them.

Matt Hardy and crew opened the show. Eric Young came down and set his sights on the World Title. Kurt Angle came down and . . . received a World Title Shot? Tonight’s Main Event.

After this they spent the rest of the evening acting as if Eric Young was in cahoots with Matt, which made no sense.

Then came Beer Money. Then Crazy Steve/Abyss. Then The Wolves. Hardy was safely outside. We now have an 8-man hardcore war match set for later.

TNA needs an Authority figure, the wrestlers can’t keep making the matches like this.

Bobby Lashley beat Aidan O’Shea and had another confrontation with the mystery woman, Raquel.

Maria Kinales Bennett cut a promo about the knockouts I didn’t quite understand. Is she stepping back into the ring, or is she going to bring in new talent? She did set herself up as believing she is above all the knockouts, even Gail Kim.

Hardcore War was a good match with a shocking ending. Crazy Steve pinned Davey Richards for the win? Yes, that happened. Steve/Abyss and Eric/Bram beat Beer Money and The Wolves.

Drew Galloway and Tyrus would have had the match if the night if it wasn’t for Mike Bennett interfering and laying out Drew with his feast or fired briefcase.

In a very odd swerve, instead of facing Helms like everyone thought, Tigre Un would lose the X Title to Trevor Lee? Who saw that coming?

Once again EC3 is the shining light, he gave a revealing interview, bared himself to the world and promised to bring Hell down on Matt Hardy.

The main event match between Hardy and Angle should have been a much bigger deal. I understand they had to blow it off quick because of Angle’s contract and pending retirement, but this match would have benefitted from a longer build up.

It was good, but it lacked the emotion and punch it could have had.

FINAL THOUGHT:
A step back from last week.

MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Hardcore War
IMPACT OF THE NIGHT: EC3
LOW POINT OF THE NIGHT: Maria’s Promo
WRESTLER OF THE NIGHT: Drew Galloway


WEEKLY FINAL THOUGHTS:

WWE went full bore, TNA slipped a little.

LOW POINT OF THE WEEK: Maria’s Promo
MATCH OF THE WEEK: Dolph Ziggler versus KO
WRESTER OF THE WEEK: AJ STYLES
IMPACT OF THE WEEK: EC3