WWE TV - 12/12 - 12/18/2022

[The Natural]

A new week of WWE TV!

[dragonzombie]

Happy Bliss won. Time to get her belt back.

Asuka's face...

Bobbo fired. 

Been waking up during night world now. Haven't seen day time much.

 

 

[Eivion]

Bayley/Bliss was decent enough but rough much of the time.

AJ/Gable was solid-good.

Judgement Day vs. Street profits/Akira was good. Dug the ending stretch with Tozawa going wild before the end came.

Io/Candice was nice. Kind of surprised Io won clean.

The Lumis/johnny/Miz segment was decent though this feud really needs to end. Hopefully next week finishes things.

Rhea/Asuka was good stuff, easily the best women's match tonight. The two just have great chemistry, and I dug how Dom played into the match and eventual finish. Curious to see if these recent losses lead to the evil clown Kana Asuka has have been hinting at on twitter.

Seth/Lashley was solid enough. Kind of indifferent on the finish, and I'm not sure what to think of the post match with Lashley getting fired. best guess is this is supposed to be Lashley going through shit Brock went through to further along that feud.

[DEAN]

Alexa Bliss and Bayley!  They kinda wrestle for a few minutes.  Bliss crushes her own head hitting a Rana.  Bliss hits a Dick Togo Wheel Barrow Plancha off the apron!  Belly to Belly FOR TWO!  Twisted Bliss!  Alexa Bliss is your number one contender!  That was okay.  It's the Alpha Academy!  It's AJ Styles and Luke Gallows!  Oh!  It's Gable versus AJ Styles!  AJ Styles is top five in the world.  Gable is prolly top thirty.  Maybe top twenty.  HE'S A TREE TRUNK! HE'S A LOOAD!  Styles is very dynamic on offense.  Nice German Suplexes by Gable.  Great EVEREST GERMAN SUPLEX HOLD by Gable!  Really fun reversals of submissions!  Northern Lights Suplex FOR TWO!  Gable is in full Steiner mode.  Styles does a roll up and then flips up into a Styles Clash and that's all she wrote.  That was good.  It's Street Profits and Tozawa versus Finn Balor, Damien Priest and the HEAT MACHINE, Dominick Mysterio!  Angelo Dawkins is the face in peril and the crowd REALLY hates Dominick!  THEN! They start beating the life out of Tozawa! Montez Ford is aflame!  Ford drifts into the POUNCING AREA and is POUNCED upon!  Dominick goes on offense and the crowd is ACTIVATED!  Ford makes the hot tag but the REF WAS DISTRACTED!  Dominick tags back in and the crowd gets back into it!  This crowd kinda sucks.  Angelo Dawkins makes the HOTTER TAG!  Tozawa makes the HOTTEST TAG to take on Dominick and the crowd is into anyone beating the shit out of Dominick! Damien Priest takes out the Street Profits!  Tozawa CRUSHES Dominick with a Tope!  Damien Black Tiger Bombs Tazawa and Dominick gets the pin to the horror of the rubes in Wisconsin!  Well, THAT was fun.  IYO SKY!  Candice LeRae!  LeRae is holding her own against the VASTLY more athletic IYO SKY.  SKY is very freakishly athletic.  LaRae beats on IYO to counter the crazy physicality of IYO.  IYO goes on offense by hitting a spectacular dropkick. LaRae hits a Poison Rana on the floor!  IYO hits a fucking BEAUTIFUL EVEREST GERMAN SUPLEX HOLD!  IYO hits a slightly off center but thoroughly magnificent Moonsault and get the pin!  IYO SKY is so fucking awesome.  LaRae is good.  Elias takes on Solo Sikoa!  Sikoa is the TAZ of the modern era.  Solo WRECKED EM when we were in commercial!  Elias is laying it in.  Very nice Spinebuster by Elias followed by a Jumping Knee to the face!  Sikoa hits a Uranagi and gets the win.  That was fine.  Postmatch, Kevin Owens saves Elias from Sikoa killing him with a chair around the head!  Then Owens Stuns Elias!  He still hates the angle he had to do with Elias when Vince McMahon was stinking up the WWE.  Asuka is, I'm assuming from her twitter account, transitioning into her crazy Joker make-up so she wears no make-up tonight.  Asuka is STING!  Rhea Ripley is VADER!  Asuka applies the Cross Armbreaker!  Asuka knock Ripley off the apron!  They start kicking each other a bunch.  Ripley kicks Asuka in the head really hard!  Asuka kicks Ripley in the head really hard!  This is fucking awesome.  Asuka hits Dominick with the MIST!  Ripley hits the Riptide!  Asuka looks like she about to BREAK!  I await insane Asuka soon.  That will be fun.  MUTA! ASUKA! MUTA! ASUKA!  Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley for the number one contender ship to the United States title!  Rollins is bumping all over the ring for Lashley.  Rollins bumps over the top rope to the floor!  Impressive Delayed Lateral Suplex by Lashley!  Rollins hits a Falcon Arrow on the immense Bobby Lashley, which is really impressive.  Lashley slams Rollins head against the ring post.  Rollins avoids the Spear.   Love Machine Splash by Rollins for two.  Ref twists his ankle so he is slow to count the Spear!  Rollins does the Pedigree counter to the Spear and gets the pin!  That was good.  LASHLEY IS FIRED!  WILL HE BE AT DYNAMITE WEDNESDAY!?! OR BACK TO IMPACT!  Whenever they would tape that and show it?  Actually, I don't think he is legitimately fired.  That was a good episode of Pro Wrestling.

[The Natural]

[HumanChessgame]

Akira Tozawa getting something resembling a push isn't something I would have thought I would see at this juncture but I'm here for it.

The women's matches were good, especially Asuka/Rhea. I think the women's roster is as good as it's ever been now.

I've said it before, but Chad Gable is consistently one of the best people on the roster, corny gimmicks aside. He and AJ having a longer program would be pretty damn cool.

Miz, Gargano, and Lumis are ordinarily channel changers for me and this whole angle is pure wrestlecrap, and yet I hee-hawed over parts of this for whatever reason.

[Peck]

Not a huge fan of WWE still making drug puns, etc. about Riddle while he heads to real-life rehab, but that's just me. 

[Villanova Grad]

8 hours ago, Peck said:

Not a huge fan of WWE still making drug puns, etc. about Riddle while he heads to real-life rehab, but that's just me. 

Well, it’s an avoidable situation.  If Riddle doesn’t want the company making jokes at his expense, perhaps he should consider getting clean and staying clean.  Or at least clean enough to pass wellness tests.

I’m surprised it took this long for the situation to come to a head.  Riddle’s history is fairly well known.

Didn’t they used to announce wellness suspensions publicly.  I wondered why They hadn’t been doing much with Riddle since Orion’s injury.

[Dolfan in NYC]

Roxanne ends Mandy's reign at 413 days.  Third longest in NXT history. 

[DreamBroken]

Happy for Rox, but disappointed that they impromptu threw it out randomly on tonight's episode for the end of the groundbreaking reign rather building it up as originally planned to the New Year's show.

Looking forward to more Lyra Valkyria now that she's back, was hoping she would get built up towards Mandy eventually. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Congrats to Roxi she's pretty damn good already. 

Hopefully this wasn't "punishment" for Mandy Rose operating an onlyfans, I don't want to get into the whole Twitter saga but that's not a good look for WWE to punish a woman just for having a fan site. 

[Dolfan in NYC]

I'm honestly thinking it's Mandy getting called back up to Raw/SDL (guessing the latter, especially since Banks appears to be gone).  

Also notable that I believe, Roxanne is the only wrestler to ever start the year as a ROH champion and end it as a WWE champion. 

[Casey]

Mandy is raking in the cash from her “exclusive fan” page, I wouldn't be shocked if she decided to  do that. I mean, if 2k people bought one of her $165 PPV posts… that’s a shitload of money for one post.

It always seemed like one of two things: either the people behind the scenes at WWE were encouraging her doing that because it’s risqué and edgy, or she knew she was leaving soon and said fuck it.

[DEAN]

They are heating up Mandy Rose versus Roxanne Perez!  It's Wes Lee taking on Stacks!  They do some wrestling.  Lee hits a COMPLETELY CRAZY TOPE CON HILO!  Wes Lee procures a Headlock while we revel in the picture in picture!  It's 1974!  This is great!  He keeps the headlock until Stacks gets him into the ropes and knocks him to the floor after the ropebreak- allowing Stacks to go on offense.  Stacks does Chinlock Variations as go back to reg'lar screen!  Stacks does a really fine Half Crab!  Nice Backbreaker by Stacks!  Stacks looks pretty good in this and it only feels like it's 60% Wes Lee making him look good.  Lee hits a super flippy finisher for the win.  That was pretty good.  Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley take on Gigi Dolin and Jacey Jayne!  Jayne does a Dick Togo Wheelbarrow Senton to the floor.  Paxley hits a Piscada on everyone causing the DQ.  It's Von Wagner!  It's Odessey Jones!  This is a lumbering hoss fight!  Malik Blade CHEATS!  Jones gets the pin!  That was not very long.  Ikeman Jiro!  It's Javier Bernal!  Jiro kicks him in the face a couple of times and hits a Toprope Rana and gets in another kick to the face for the win!  SKRYPTS CHARGES THE RING!  He now has Jiro's coat!  Awesome!  Brutus Creed takes on JD McDonagh!  This should be good.  McDonagh lays it the fuck in!  McDonagh takes a superfluously crazy bump over the top rope to the floor.  GREAT Suplex on the floor by McDonagh!  Another SWEET Suplex and THAT'S THAT!  That was weirdly squashy.  It's Lyra Valkyria!  She's actually Irish!  Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn are both Scottish (thank you, cagematch.net).  Amari Miller is here to get pinned, I assume.  Valkyria looks great.  Seeing her and Isla Dawn for the first time this week has been pretty awesome.   Damon Kemo and Duke Hudson go at it!  Kemp is the most Steinerly of everyone in the current WWE.  Kemp isn;t being very Steinerly in this, as he is just here to make Hudson look good.  Hudson has good punches.  A Big Boot and that;s the end?  Geez!  Poor Damon Kemp.  It's Roxanne Perez and Mandy Rose for the belt!  I loved the mirror section!  Mandy makes with the Psicosis bump and takes a Tope from Perez!  As we go to picture in picture, Perez is our sympathetic babyface who is now being beaten to death by Mandy Rose.  Rose is such a good Ric Flair.  Roxanne is her Ricky Steamboat.  Top Turnbuckle Rana by Perez but Rose cuts her off by slamming her on her face!  Mandy sinks in a GREAT Shoulder Submission that Perez finally turns her over. V TRIGGER BY ROSE!  FOR TWO!  Small Package FOR TWO!  POP ROCKS ! FOR THE WIN!  ROXANNE PEREZ IS OUR NEW NXT CHAMPION!   Oh man!  I was just about to say that this was kind of a crappy episode and THEN!  THIS!  So fucking good!  That's AWESOME.  Mandy Rose is too awesome to not get called up.  But Roxanne Perez needs to get called up.  Hell, everybody in that Ironman Match needs to get called up.  HHH! HHH! HHH!

[Villanova Grad]

Personally, I thought Mandy’s reign was mostly dull and went on at least 365 days too long.

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Roxanne ends Mandy's reign at 413 days.  Third longest in NXT history. 

Mandy Rose was three days away from tying Shayna Baszler and four to go into second place behind Asuka.

Edited December 14, 2022 by The Natural

[Eivion]

Dug what I caught of Lee/Stacks. Stacks seems to be getting better each time I see him wrestle.

Ivy/Tatum vs. Gigi/Jacy was more of an angle than a match. It was ok in that regard.

Jones/Wagner was decent but short.

Jiro/Javi was nice while it lasted. Skrypts attacking post match was interesting. Kind of like the idea of him and Jiro feuding.

JD/Brutus was nice but short and it felt weird seeing Brutus go down that fast.

Lyra/Amari was a solid showcase for Lyra.

Kemp/Hudson was decent.

Mandy/Roxanne was good. Solid action with the two generally gelling well together. The occasional worry in Booker's voice on commentary along with the excitement in it at Roxanne's win made it all the better. Feels weird seeing Mandy's reign end here, but at the same time its so damn good to see Roxanne as champ. I dug Mandy as champ, but I also think it probably should have been a good 100-200 days less. Mandy's reign didn't feel like it added much past 200-250, and she would be more useful on the main roster at this point.

Solid episode for mandy/Roxanne, but I do sort of wish they went 1-2 matches less. JD/Brutus or Jones/Wagner could have extra time.

[dragonzombie]

We'll see what they do to Mandy Rose. Maybe they will release her.

[caley]

I think there was too much lingering on Mandy at the end for her to be going anywhere except a rematch with Roxanne, then maybe we see some movement. Also Mandy's arm was very close/possibly under the bottom rope, so I wonder if they use it as grounds for a rematch.

MVP of this shw was possibly Booker T. He had so many great moments. Getting annoyed at Malik Blade for wearing his dead dads sweater: "You need to let that go once you turn 10". When Woods was talking about Kofi having the most tag team titles in history he was going "That's not true. I had 16. I did some research." Then when he was rooting against Duke and Vic asked him where his school spirit was he said "I hate school. I skipped class. I even skipped recess" or something like that. Then him admitting he was not going to be very unbiased and being so happy for Perez. Then just maniacal/happy laughter as the show goes off the air. 

Some strange clean wins tonight. JD McDonagh pinning one of the Creeds relatively cleanly and easily. Ikemen Jiro beating Javy rather easy (Only an upset because of how much more airtime Javy gets). Duke walking over Damon Kemp after the latter got so much TV time, push and write-ups about how impressed the brass was with him.

[hammerva]

The ultimate goal of the Mandy Rose title run was to prove that she wasn't some Eva Marie clone and that she could actually go in the ring.   And she actually proved it.  Unfortunately that was proven after the NXT and NXT UK unification match and they then decided to make Alba Frye look like an idiot for the next 2 months after that. 

There are a bunch  of women that should be called to main roster.  Especially Mandy Rose.   Whether they actually will because they are worried that Vince is coming back is the story.  

Also don't believe she lost the title because naked pictures of her are floating around.  Given her gimmick  that would have probably helped the cause.   

Edited December 14, 2022 by hammerva

[Iron Moose]

I guess I'm an uncomfortably low voter on Roxanne right now.

In-ring I think she telegraphs too much and that her finisher is out-of-character and something she struggles to make look good. Others might telegraph to a similar degree, but because she's set up as being good in the ring, it stands out more. Based on her story so far, I would expect her fundamentals to be quick and solid, but there often seems to be an extra second or two on most of her preliminary grapples. Her mastery of basics could be more prominent in her match layouts rather than her resilience, but her needing a moment to psych herself up for a dive is good stuff.

Broadly, in terms of character work, I don't think she's managed to hit the right balance of prodigously talented and underdog. There's a dissonance to someone with 'prodigy' on their entrance jacket while playing sheepish, and I feel it's something that people will sour on pretty quickly. In terms of attire, I also think she should be trying for something easier for kids to copy -- her gear comes off as a bit of a CAW right now and the asymmetrical sleeve is confusing.

[Dolfan in NYC]

Looks like NXT PLE's are finally moving out of the PC:

 

 

[Niners Fan in CT]

13 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

I'm honestly thinking it's Mandy getting called back up to Raw/SDL (guessing the latter, especially since Banks appears to be gone).  

 

5 hours ago, hammerva said:

Also don't believe she lost the title because naked pictures of her are floating around.  Given her gimmick  that would have probably helped the cause.   

 

Welp.. they released her. 

 

 

 

[hammerva]

So basically this is like the Zelina Vega situation only it being OnlyFans not Twitch  

More thing change the more they stay the same

 

[Dolfan in NYC]

I mean, we're talking about sex work (which is what Mandy is apparently getting dropped for) and a mandate saying no one can appear anywhere but WWE TV.  

I'm not saying that dropping her is wrong/right, but there is a difference.   Especially when the content the worker makes is adult in nature.  

Also, we don't know if the WWE asked her to tone it down/stop, and she refused.  Which, based on what SRS said, appears to be likely.