The WWE went down under, SmackDown Live was loaded with segments and two women blew the roof off Full Sail as we look at the best of the best from the WWE this week.
Monday Night RAW
Surreal
Put aside your feelings on how WWE should focus on young talent, forget that the “end of an era” wasn’t the end of an era and just think about how surreal it is to have Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Kane and Triple H interacting on Monday Night Raw.
Raw has three hours to fill why not allow some legends to give me nostalgia and pop the crowd for 10 minutes? In addition, playing up the history of these guys to build to a future tag match is some of the most straightforward storytelling on the main roster nowadays.
Don’t mention Basketball in Seattle
There is getting boo’d, there’s having heat, there’s Zack Gibson in OTT and then there is this! The Seattle crowd was PISSED! Elias and Owens realized that the crowd were not going to stop any time soon and had to shout the rest of their promo over the chorus of boos.
SmackDown Live
New Day, Becky and Aiden
SmackDown Live was an angle heavy show this week. The New Day debuted their new cooking show New Day Cooks and introduced us to the legend known as Mr. Bootyworth. A classic New Day sketch with all the camp fun you would expect from the trio and The Bar being the fun-spoiling heels. Aiden drawing out the reveal of his terrible One Night In Milwaukee video was heeling 101 as he continues to entertain since the breakup of Rusev Day.
Finally, Becky Lynch should be given a mic and 30 minutes to fill every week AND her own network show. Lynch is a natural at promos and playing her current heel character. She doesn’t feel like she’s playing pro wrestler but instead is a badass who believes their own hype.
Mixed Match Challenge
Tribute
The tribute to Too Cool in the Rusev Day vs Uso and Naomi match was a nice nod to one of the most memorable Attitude Era gimmicks.
NXT
Shayna Baszler
Baszler has transitioned her character from the better than you cocky heel into the determined to get what they want heel perfectly. She has not lost any of her swagger and continues to cut good promos like this one.
Mae Young Classic
Kacy impresses again
As Michael Cole said after the match Kacy Catanzaro is a future superstar in the WWE. Her offense is very innovative and thanks to her size and gymnastics background she can maneuver around a ring in ways that nobody else can. I can’t wait to see her take the next step to NXT and continue her growth
Dream Match
Mercedes Martinez vs Meiko Satomura, one of the most respected veterans in the US indie scene against one of the most respected veterans in Joshi. This first time ever matchup had high expectations with viewers thanks to the two names involved. Did it deliver? DID IT EVER! Fierce chops, hard hits and big moves aplenty as these two had an instant classic that had the crowd in attendance on their feet
Super Show-Down
Cruiserweights Steal The Show
Cedric Alexander vs Buddy Murphy was great. It was worked at a quick pace and had just enough “holy shit” gif-able spots to make it good without going overboard. This match was on the level of what 205 Live has been producing for most of 2018 and they finally got to show it on the big stage. The surprising finish was a feel good moment to see Murphy capture gold as the hometown guy. More of this please WWE!
