WWE TV - 5/8 - 5/14/2023

[Eivion]

Tiffany/Gigi was fairly decent despite some roughness. 

Gallus/Dyad was good stuff. Was nice getting to see GYV showcase their true capabilities once again. The finish with Ivy attacking Ava wasn't too bad either.

Duke/Javi was decent if nothing standout. 

Thorpe/Kemp was generally fine though Thorpe's finish is rather unimpressive. Hopefully he finds something with more punch eventually.

 Ilja/Dijak started out as fired up fight that turned more into a general beatdown angle for Dijak. It was a fun segment. I assume their next match has a stip of some sort involved.

Bate/Dempsey was super solid & fun with the two meshing so well up until the finish with Gacy. Hopefully we get a longer rematch down the line.

Briggs/Jensen vs. Hank/Tank was super short but damn did they go hard. Kind of love how a supposedly friendly match turned immediately into a hoss fight with both teams just trying to run through each other. That was so different than the norm. The fact that they were able to shake hands and being friendly again post match was neat.

Kiana/Lyra was good. Was nice to see Kiana take control and get to show off while Lyra had to work her way back from the brink of defeat.

Bron/Trick might be the best Trick has ever looked. Loved him being so fired up early on and just taking the fight to Bron. The beating Trick too in the middle was nice and really got the crowd behind him even more. Bron is also so much better as heel. He is such a mean bastard with everything he does having this hint of disdain either for his opponents or the audience. Really nice match from beginning to end. The post match beatdown and failed save by Hayes was nice as well.

[NikoBaltimore]

9 hours ago, Dog said:

Some weird guy wore a Nekrogoblikon shirt on NXT tonight!

If you're curious he's Javier Bernal.  He picks fights thinking he can beat anybody but loses pretty much every match he's in.  He's worn some other shirts like that in the past though couldn't tell if they were for metal bands or not.

[The Comedian]

12 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

It might be a problem that Cody Rhodes doesn't really have a move that can convincingly beat Brock Lesnar. A third of Cody's moveset are goofy springboard moves and his finisher is the Roll the Dice. Like maybe Cody can invent a Shining Wizard knockoff and finish guys with running elbowsmashes to seated opponents?

Well, he could always use his double underhook piledriver or Kudome Valentine on Brock...

 

 

 

 

 

...all together now...

 

 

 

 

... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHALOLROFLZ...

[odessasteps]

Bionic Elbow. 

#daddysaidsell 

[Curt McGirt]

14 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

running elbowsmashes to seated opponents

Heh... stealing the BCC elbows would be a choice right there. Probably get some hilarious phone calls back and forth in private between the two parties.

[caley]

Really says something for how well-stocked the women wrestlers are in WWE that they can pluck 6 good-to-great women off the NXT roster (Starks, Indy, Isla, Fyre, Katana, Carter) and still run 3 perfectly solid women's matches on the show (Wait...was the Dani Palmer match on this week's show or last? I just watched last weeks show on Sunday so they're running a little together for me!).

What is going on with the Von Wagner story?! I honestly can't understand what the child photo is supposed to show?! I'll concede I wasn't really watching either this week or last week's vignette but is the storyline that he had a huge head as a child!? I hate to be harsh, but Wagner might be the WORST actor WWE has hired in some time. I think he'd work better either under a hood as some sort of monster, or basically not talking at all, letting Stone talk for him.

NXT's tag situation is really weird right now. Heel champs (Gallus) defating a heel team (Dyad), then being challenged by a pseudo-face team (Tony D & Stacks) whom the crowd really isn't sure how to react to yet. With the Creeds sort of part of the story but not directly.

Fun show overall, lots of stiffness across the board. Well except for Duke Hudson who has basically turned into the Chase U Hulk Hogan (And it's totally working for him) with big goofy strikes and poses. And I have to give a shout-out to Ivy Nile and Thea Hail who were absolutely amazing in their tiny roles: Nile getting on the Creeds for fooling around and a short, intense attack on Raine; and Thea Hail who did not stop gesturing, reacting, stomping or otherwise movie for the entirety of Duke's promo or match. I'd really like to see both of them get a shot at doing something more in NXT, both could really play a Spike Dudley-esque underdog role that WWE rarely likes to do but always pops the crowd. I guess that spot is kinda occupied by Roxanne right now.

[Eivion]

2 hours ago, caley said:

Really says something for how well-stocked the women wrestlers are in WWE that they can pluck 6 good-to-great women off the NXT roster (Starks, Indy, Isla, Fyre, Katana, Carter) and still run 3 perfectly solid women's matches on the show (Wait...was the Dani Palmer match on this week's show or last? I just watched last weeks show on Sunday so they're running a little together for me!).

Dani match was last week.

2 hours ago, caley said:

What is going on with the Von Wagner story?! I honestly can't understand what the child photo is supposed to show?! I'll concede I wasn't really watching either this week or last week's vignette but is the storyline that he had a huge head as a child!? I hate to be harsh, but Wagner might be the WORST actor WWE has hired in some time. I think he'd work better either under a hood as some sort of monster, or basically not talking at all, letting Stone talk for him.

I feel like calling him the worst when Theory is around is a tad much. Honestly there are plenty in NXT who are probably worse as well. 

3 hours ago, caley said:

And I have to give a shout-out to Ivy Nile and Thea Hail who were absolutely amazing in their tiny roles: Nile getting on the Creeds for fooling around and a short, intense attack on Raine; and Thea Hail who did not stop gesturing, reacting, stomping or otherwise movie for the entirety of Duke's promo or match. I'd really like to see both of them get a shot at doing something more in NXT, both could really play a Spike Dudley-esque underdog role that WWE rarely likes to do but always pops the crowd. I guess that spot is kinda occupied by Roxanne right now.

Ivy gives off slight badass vibes and the crowd is willing to buy into that for her. She could be more than a Spike Dudley underdog. 

[Peck]

14 hours ago, caley said:

What is going on with the Von Wagner story?! I honestly can't understand what the child photo is supposed to show?! I'll concede I wasn't really watching either this week or last week's vignette but is the storyline that he had a huge head as a child!? I hate to be harsh, but Wagner might be the WORST actor WWE has hired in some time. I think he'd work better either under a hood as some sort of monster, or basically not talking at all, letting Stone talk for him.

If I had to guess I’d say he was born with some sort of SHOOT~! deformity which is why his face is shaped a little differently.

Perhaps the storyline is he’s been called a freak his whole life because of it and the child photo just triggers those emotions so he wants to avoid it? That’s just my guess. It actually has the potential to be a pretty powerful story if that’s the road they’re going down and they do it right. 

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

22 hours ago, The Comedian said:

Well, he could always use his double underhook piledriver or Kudome Valentine on Brock...

 

 

 

 

 

...all together now...

 

 

 

 

... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHALOLROFLZ...

What about the move he kept teasing during his AEW run? Brock has been pinned by that before. Plus it’s an easy way to suck up to Triple H.

[DMJ]

The conservative wrestling fan in me would say that its too soon to run another Last Man Standing match with Brock not just because the last one was less than a year ago, but because the last one was one of the few really memorable ones they've had in a long, long time. 

But to the WWE's writers/creative/Vince? Nope. The WWE went from having Hell in a Cell matches once a year to multiple times a year to multiple times a night. 

And with that stipulation in place, Cody doesn't need a finisher as much as he needs a set piece to bury Lesnar under. 

[odessasteps]

Is Brocks still vulnerable in the abdomen? 

Stomach claw.

[Curt McGirt]

I just kinda sorta watched but Smackdown seemed good enough. Fuck a three-way but they came up with some really cool spots towards the end, despite botching the finish. Women's tag looked alright. Bianca of course had her b-day ruined but at least they did it immediately. The Usos dressing down was good too, Jey (I think) just can't stop corpsing all the time and paid for it. And WE GOT BLOOUUUUD! And THEY SHOWED IIIIIIIT! Both guys played off the exhaustion well. There could be a way worse first (? I have no idea if they're doing anything connectively with this title) champ for the belt. 

[DreamBroken]

so Owens and Zayn work SaudiManias now? Too bad there will be no Roman defense since Night of Champions used to mean ALL titles must be defended on that night.

[The Natural]

Shocked Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens are working at Blood Money. Only other thing I can see if Zayn gets taken out a week or two before to stop it. Roman Reigns may join the very rare list of holding the WWE Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship at the same time with Solo Sikoa. Can only think of Diesel in 1995, Steve Austin in 2001 and John Cena in 2007. If he does even temporarily, that's another belt on hiatus with Reigns' schedule. Not breaking up the Unified WWE Universal Championship and Unified WWE Tag Team belts has led to this. Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn not winning the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania XXIX and Elimination Chamber 2023 respectively.

Edited May 13, 2023 by The Natural

[Eivion]

Thought both triple threats were pretty good and well above what we got on Raw. The finish to Rey/Edge/AJ was a bit messed up but worked. A bloody Lashley winning his match was a neat visual. 

Corbin/Grimes was more a segment/squash than a match but effective for giving Grimes a big win in his debut.

The Bloodline segment was pretty good. Kind of loved Roman calling out the Usos dedicating a tag title victory to him when Afa and Sika were right there as a great tag team in their family. Was totally not expecting Zayn and Owens to defend the belts in Saudi Arabia. I thought Zayn was banned from even entering the country's as a Syrian though a quick google search says diplomatic talks are resuming after a decade a nothing so I assume that is why. Still feels so weird.

Women's tag titles match was building to something solid until that double stomp/powerbomb combo hurt Dakota. They went to the finish quick and it worked well enough. Hopefully Dakota is fine. 

Lashley/AJ was pretty solid. Both sold exhaustion well, and a still bloody Lashley added something nice as well in terms of struggle he was going through. Still can't help but wonder how this would have been with both guys fresh. Definitely feels like there is an even better match between them. 

Thought Smackdown was generally good. I think the quarter-finals finals delivered a lot more here than they did on Raw. Women's title match was nice up until the injury. Main event delivered well enough. The segments were mostly short and decent setups for future matches and segments. Was good seeing all of the big NXT call ups featured on some small level as well to freshen things up a little. 

[AverageKong]

10 hours ago, Eivion said:

Women's tag titles match was building to something solid until that double stomp/powerbomb combo hurt Dakota. They went to the finish quick and it worked well enough. Hopefully Dakota is fine. 

Yea hopefully it was a work. It kinda-sorta tied into the finish with all the confusion but something seemed off. Poor Dakota. 

Bianca's celebration ceremony seemed like it got cut for time. Good to see Asuka return and make a clear "heel" statement by misting the Champ during her celebration, in front of her family, in her hometown. The layers of disrespect here

It looks like they're possibly moving into a 4 way situation with Bianca v Asuka v Bayley v Iyo. That title needs to come off Bianca and this will be the best way to do it and keep Bianca looking strong. Transitional champion or not they need to take a moment and create a title picture that has more viable threats. 

[Dolphman 3000]