WWE TV - 9/30/2024 - 10/6/2024 - Cause Baby, Now We Got Bad Blood

[blitzkrieg]

Thoughts on Smackdown:

"The Phenomenal Forearm" AJ Styles~!  Solid opening segment to start to reestablish AJ after his feud with Cody and to continue to let Melo grow. Liked the "He's not him" chant from the crowd. Not sure how to judge the match that followed as there wasn't much to it before the (angle) injury to Styles. Melo/Knight if that's what we get next should be fun.

Million billion bonus points for the garbage bag train. The dumpster match was a fun spectacle. The senton with Chelsea in the trash can looked nasty. The power bomb through the table into the dumpster was a creative finish. Appreciate Chelsea's commitment to covering herself in gunk to sell the loss and then the walk of shame in the back. Look forward to seeing who they bring up from NXT to be her evil ENT doctor.

Solid promo with Bayley, I still wish they had done more to keep Bayley/Nia heated since Summer Slam. Poor Tiffy got so frazzled that she called Bayley by her real name. The crowd so desperately wants Tiffy to cash in on Nia that I feel like it might have killed the crowd a bit with the transition into Naomi/Tiffy. That said they did a good job of getting the crowd back into the match. Naomi and Tiffy really have a similar style which seems to allow them to be creative with working into their signature spots. Assume that Naomi picked up this win to set up a potential title match if Tiffy cashes in at Bad Blood.

Loved Jacob as the high priest of the church of Solo. 

I thought they did a really good job of actually working the triple threat ladder match as an actual match and not just a bunch of car crash spots. You had DIY and the Street Profits working together early on to take out the Tongans only to let them back in the match when they started fighting among each other. That's not to say that there weren't plenty of crazy spots in the match. The bump Dawkins took on his dive onto the Tongans holding the ladder, the crazy attempt of Monte to jump over a ladder into a super blockbuster, and then his frog slash to the floor through the table were all crazy. But ultimately the match ended as it started with the Tongans taken out but DIY and Street Profits fighting among themselves allowed the Tongans to take them out and get the win without any Bloodline interference. Also it's a crazy world where the craziest spot in a ladder match might have been just getting the tag titles down.

Not the best pre-PLE Smackdown but a really good one. I appreciate that the pre-PLE Smackdowns aren't treated like "go-home shows" and instead end up being full of matches that could arguably be PLE caliber matches. 

47 minutes ago, hammerva said:

I think it is obvious who they were promoting with the race cars in Detroit and if you didn't know the Brazilian announcers spoiled it 

 

[Eivion]

The Styles/Hayes/Knight segment was decent and worked well as a lead in to Styles/Hayes. Styles/Hayes itself was decent while it lasted, but either something went legit wrong with Styles leg or they wanted Hayes to get a cheap win. As an angle it kind o works either way. I actually wish WWE would do referee stoppages a little more often just to add a different kind of finish to the norm.

Mia/Chelsea was a fun plunder match that didn't go too crazy with dumpster aspect outside of the finish which garnered a big reaction from the crowd. Hopefully Green and Yim walked away from this with more fans than before because they deserve it.

That Bayley/Nia segment was decent and one of their better ones though I wish they would build Nia/Tiffany as friends more than the eventual enemies they will be. The segment also served as a decent lead into Tiffany/Naomi which was pretty solid. Was happy to see Naomi pick up the win.

Street Profits vs. DIY vs. Guerrillas of Destiny was pretty solid with some decent crazier spots in the later portions of the match. Was surprised to see G.o.D. win the match on their own, but they do need to be something of a threat without Jacob and Solo there so it makes sense. Have to agree with Johnny Sorrow earlier about the titles being way too damn high here. Having Tanga Loa be the guy to retrieve is arguable attempted murder. Hopefully they don't do that again.

Match wise the show was fairly decent though nothing was blow away. The dumpster match was the highlight for me though Naomi/Tiffany and the ladder could be easily argued as better matches in general. Segment wise once again nothing stood out too strong though nothing was particularly bad either. Thought this was pretty decent show on the whole playing off or building up longer running stories that have been going on the past few months, but we surprisingly only got one match really getting further build for Bad Blood tomorrow in Bayley/Nia. it served as a good moment for Bayley so I have no complaints. It just feels a bit weird for the go home show.

[TheVileOne]

The Styles/Hayes segment felt like an injury angle because they seemed to call too much attention to it for it to appear legit. Plus, it looked somewhat rehearsed. Could be wrong though.

Michin/Chelsea Green was fun, and the crowd was totally into it. Chelsea Green continues to over-perform with whatever she's given, and the crowd eats her up. This match is a perfect example of why WWE could use a women's midcard title now. A solid TV win for Michin at least.

I was very impressed with Jacob Fatu's promo during the show. Dude really has it and looks to be the complete package, more so than Sikoa. 

[Cliff Hanger]

Whoever put together Chelsea's outfit deserves a cash bonus, that was amazing. Match was fun as hell too.

I thought Styles's injury was legit right up til they showed the video of him getting ready for the X-ray.

Ladder match was tremendous. I know the Bloodline need to hold the belts til after War Games but the Profits are due.

I still have not successfully watched LVLUP since the time change and I'm frustrated that it's gone from "catch it live or watch it on Hulu with 30 minutes of Raw recap added" to "watch it live or you can wait a damned month." And my work watching of early NXT ended with 1 ep left in 2012 so I guess I'm doing NXTUK now.

[Greggulator]

Chelsea Green rules. She truly gets it. I don’t want to see her get a title push because they have more than enough women who can have title matches. They don’t have anyone else who can take a table bump in a garbage dumpster and show ass amongst the heel tag teams like Bobby Heenan. That 15 minutes an episode of excellent wrestling midcard stupidity is so badly needed on a show or else wrestling starts to take itself too seriously. Keep Chelsea Weird. 

Naomi and Tiffany was a really good match. I really wish we got to see Naomi if she started her career a little later when she could have had her earliest reps in wrestling with The Horsewomen and not as a Funkadactyl. She’s so athletically gifted. It’s just that the in-between moments of her matches — the actual storytelling components — she struggles with at times. Tiffany is also athletically gifted (duh) but also learned about how to do a lot of those little things. Kind of fascinating to see them paired up in that way and a fun match.

That main event was something special. I loved the bookended story of DIY and the Profits both hating The Bloodline, but The Bloodline figuring out how to take advantage of that at the end. So many really great spots in this, too. Very imaginative stuff.

 

 

[blitzkrieg]

2 hours ago, Cliff Hanger said:

I still have not successfully watched LVLUP since the time change and I'm frustrated that it's gone from "catch it live or watch it on Hulu with 30 minutes of Raw recap added" to "watch it live or you can wait a damned month." And my work watching of early NXT ended with 1 ep left in 2012 so I guess I'm doing NXTUK now.

Hopefully they get a better solution in the near future, I will say moving it back 40 minutes is helping me but it'll be doomed once the NBA season rolls around.

Quick thoughts on Level Up:

Only two matches because they're stretching the last CWC tapings to cover the two weeks of touring. I've only seen Lainey Reid twice but she's really impressed me in both matches, feel like she is a shoe-in for next year's Breakout Tourney. First time seeing Rizzo in a while and I still don't think her character work has caught up with her character work. Harlem Lewis made his Level Up debut and his in-ring work impressed me a lot more than his ring gear. Is Dante Chen the NXT equivalent to the guy that is on the roster to wrestle in try-out matches?

[Cliff Hanger]

2 minutes ago, blitzkrieg said:

 

Only two matches because they're stretching the last CWC tapings to cover the two weeks of touring. I've only seen Lainey Reid twice but she's really impressed me in both matches, feel like she is a shoe-in for next year's Breakout Tourney. First time seeing Rizzo in a while and I still don't think her character work has caught up with her character work.

This is where i realize that after last year's Festival of Tournaments, we haven't had ANY of them this year. We never got a women's Dusty Cup in the 23-24 season either. Just "Oops all tournaments" and then "fuck tournaments." I would have liked to see the Heritage Classic return with better booking, but clearly I'm in the minority.

 

6 minutes ago, blitzkrieg said:

. Is Dante Chen the NXT equivalent to the guy that is on the roster to wrestle in try-out matches?

I mean there's a reason they call him The Gatekeeper and act like it's a compliment. I feel like he deserves better but not that much better, if that makes any sense at all. I feel a little bad for the guy

[Eivion]

55 minutes ago, Cliff Hanger said:

This is where i realize that after last year's Festival of Tournaments, we haven't had ANY of them this year. We never got a women's Dusty Cup in the 23-24 season either. Just "Oops all tournaments" and then "fuck tournaments." I would have liked to see the Heritage Classic return with better booking, but clearly I'm in the minority.

I would love to see the Heritage Classic return. That was fun. I guess with the the women's tag titles gone they decided to skip the Dusty Cup. Surprised the Breakout tournaments haven't started. We did get the the men's Dusty Cup this year so presumably they will wait until next year.

[Cliff Hanger]

They're saying AJ has a Lisfranc injury, and I hope he successfully has the rainbows, kittens and unicorns removed from his foot in such a way that he can make a full recovery.

[Doragon]

The winner of the WWE Speed Women's Championship 

Spoiler

Candice LeRae

And at Crown Jewel 2024, the inaugural Crown Jewel Champion and inaugural Women's Crown Jewel Champion will both be decided.

[Jamal]

22 hours ago, Greggulator said:

Naomi and Tiffany was a really good match. I really wish we got to see Naomi if she started her career a little later when she could have had her earliest reps in wrestling with The Horsewomen and not as a Funkadactyl. She’s so athletically gifted. It’s just that the in-between moments of her matches — the actual storytelling components — she struggles with at times. Tiffany is also athletically gifted (duh) but also learned about how to do a lot of those little things. Kind of fascinating to see them paired up in that way and a fun match.

I was listening to a recent Layla El interview and it is astonishing that Naomi is still around and flourishing because they truly did not give a damn about the women of that era lol 

[blitzkrieg]

23 hours ago, Cliff Hanger said:

This is where i realize that after last year's Festival of Tournaments, we haven't had ANY of them this year. We never got a women's Dusty Cup in the 23-24 season either. Just "Oops all tournaments" and then "fuck tournaments." I would have liked to see the Heritage Classic return with better booking, but clearly I'm in the minority.

This made me realize how bad I am nowadays with placing things as when they actually happened. That said it looks like the Women's Breakout Tourney happened in October last year and the Men's Breakout Tourney happened in December/January, so they technically still have time to do them if they want to. I also wouldn't be surprised if we didn't get them this year.

Put me as another person that would like the Heritage Classic to return. Think the only problem is that the Heritage Cup probably hasn't felt as important since it moved out of Dar's orbit.

[Cliff Hanger]

So, coming back to something that has rolled around in my head since Tuesday but I haven't voiced: NXT has a Roxy problem. Everyone here already knows she's my favorite person in WWE right now, it's not hard to figure out from other posts. But she's been the queen of NXT for too long, with and without the title, and it's clear that Levesque wants her to be treated like a world-beater while not actually pushing any of the established stars on the touring shows out of the way. My ideal would be to have Giulia or Vaquer butcher her at Havoc, and either put her on the shelf until the Rumble and make her look strong there as a setup for one of the post-Mania women champs, or send her on excursion to Marigold on the condition that she be a big deal. It's clear that DX know that she's special, but she has spent too much time as a big fish in a small pond and it's hurting other performers. 

[blitzkrieg]

10 minutes ago, Cliff Hanger said:

So, coming back to something that has rolled around in my head since Tuesday but I haven't voiced: NXT has a Roxy problem. Everyone here already knows she's my favorite person in WWE right now, it's not hard to figure out from other posts. But she's been the queen of NXT for too long, with and without the title, and it's clear that Levesque wants her to be treated like a world-beater while not actually pushing any of the established stars on the touring shows out of the way. My ideal would be to have Giulia or Vaquer butcher her at Havoc, and either put her on the shelf until the Rumble and make her look strong there as a setup for one of the post-Mania women champs, or send her on excursion to Marigold on the condition that she be a big deal. It's clear that DX know that she's special, but she has spent too much time as a big fish in a small pond and it's hurting other performers. 

I think the counterpoint is that no one else on the roster is on Giulia or Vaquer's level. I think you squeeze three out of Cora and Roxanne and then have Roxanne drop the title to whomever wins the Iron Survivor. You can then kill some time till the draft.