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WWE TV - 8/1 - 8/7/2022


Dolfan in NYC

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Decided to watch and honestly, this didn't feel much different than the last time I watched Raw, which was probably when Lashley won the title. I fully admit that I know it's going to take time to work all the kinks out. I also know it's going to matter more what happens week to week as opposed to just one episode. So I'll watch next week, but I'm going to do it like this week and fast forward a lot because three hours is way too long. 

I mean, promos and camera work were still the same and largely sucked. I don't really know what to think about the hi-tech look of everything. Electronic dasher boards? Uh, ok then. Sometimes I just don't want that much hi-tech shit in wrestling. 

Yo, my man Montez Ford is huge now. Whose vitamins did he borrow? This was a guy I thought long ago could be the next top star of the company and so it was cool to see him going one and one with Seth. Unfortunately, that felt like it was more in service of breaking up the Street Profits. Not sure I'm terribly happy about that.

Ciampa won! Twice! That's pretty cool.

While the first triple threat match felt like every other WWE triple threat match, that ending was really, really, really slick.

Bianca is still so good, but I'm not sure how I feel about this makeshift team of Bianca, Bliss, and Asuka already forming to take on Bayley's faction. That's the type of rushed storytelling I don't like, but when you have three hours to fill, what are you gonna do?

So yeah, this largely felt like the same old shit, but what will matter more to me in the long run are changes in match quality, better camera work, improvements in storylines, less weird sounding promos, and better commentary. Camera work is going to take a long time to change if it even does change. All of the other bells and whistles I'll just learn to ignore, like the weird on screen graphics that they still try and push and all of the hi-tech stuff. 

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Let's not forget that hour 1 was COMMERCIAL FREE, and the rest of the show used picture-in-picture (which has been shown to better retain viewers). It's a good number, with caveats.

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It's been a long, long time since I've had any interest in checking out a Raw outside of some particular highlight or segment. My expectations felt in check here. As bookerman, I like Helmsley's emphasis on in ring action and I like his eye for talent, but the NXT shows I researched (skimmed) during the early Wednesday night wars were unwatchable without a ffwd button. Dramatic embarrassing promos being the most clear roadblock - certainly not a surprise considering Heche's own long winded style. Here we open up with exactly that. I spent at least 80% of this show in ffwd mode. The drama, the long winded promos, at least it made better sense to me what Impact Wrestling is trying to emulate. The in ring reminded me of that WWE style I have little flavour for. Everything about WWE feels manipulative and cult-y. Maybe it's my lack of familiarity, but the crowd in particular feels like some sort of political rally I don't want any part of. But not just the crowd - the announcers, the looong video packages, the loooong entrances, the well documented awful camera cuts, the lame name changes, the repetition of nicknames (I guess this is what Excalibur is mimcking with 'Cold Hearted Handsome Devil'), the bad finishes, Seth Rollins (this must be how those Buck n Cole-haters feel) etc. etc. It all makes me want to stop watching. By the end of the show I was barely relenting from the ffwd. All that said, they've clearly got some incredible talent. No surprise there. I liked what I saw of the 3 ways, and I generally hate 3 ways. The women's division seems really impressive. Also, not a surprise. I really like how going from a Men's match to a Women's doesn't require a dropping of standards like so often on Dynamite/Rampage/AEWPPV. I won't be watching next week, but I'm glad, at the very least, that they'll be applying some pressure to keep things honest on Wednesday Nights and Saturday Mornings (er Friday Nights).

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Man, I'm really late! I blame the AEW All Atlantic belt.  Go watch Pac versus Connor Mills.  It's awesome.  I had to take my son to praise band rehearsal, then I had to wash dishes, and then I had to take a shower and then I watched DARK and now here we are!  Tatum Paxley and Ivy Nile!  Its Gigi Dolen and Jacy Jayne!  I have to go back and figure out the names of Kayden Carter and Katana Chance- EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE MY FAVORITE TAG TEAM ON NXT!  So fucking annoying.  Yulisa Leon and Valentina Feroz I don't know the names of because I've only seen them wrestle once.  LET'S GET IT ON!  Oh fudge, it's a four way.  Whoa!  Gigi sells a Paxley dropkick that missed by quite a bit.  Leon and Feroz are the surprise superstars early as they crush everybody on the outside.  I dug them and then they got eliminated.  Paxley actually lands a dropkick on Chance  (Chance?  Jesus.)  Chance does a really impressive and athletic jump off the second rope over the head of Paxley.  Jacey Jayne steals the pin of Tatum Paxley from Carter.  It's down to Carter and... Chance.  Versus Toxic Attraction   Toxic Attraction is all intense on offense!  Everybody is laid out!  NO WAY!  CARTER AND CHANCE ARE THE TAG CHAMPIONS!  HHH has spoken!  That was awesome.  Carmello Hayes has an open challenge.  Giovanni Vinci takes too much time to make it to the ring and Nathan Frazier gets the title shot.  Hayes and Frazier are going at a million miles per hour.  Hayes is fun on offense.  These guys are bouncing all over the ring.  This is fun.  Hayes is fucking GREAT going head first two the second turnbuckle to the floor.  Giovanni Vinci CHEATS and allows Hayes to get a lot of air under his toprope Guillotine Legdrop and get the win.  That match was crazy.  Hey!  It's Sarray going for the belt!  HHH is definitely in charge now.  Mandy Rose starts defending the title smack dab in the middle of picture in picture.  That's strange.  Mandy Rose starts beating on Sarray and the crowd gets behind Sarray's STRUGGLE to escape the lowgrade US Pro Style offense of Mandy Rose!  I assume they will try to redo the Rose/Perez match since Sarray is also a pretty sympathetic babyface.  Sarray goes on offense with a SUWA dropkick and a Northern Lights Suplex.  Rose crushes Sarray with a Jumping Knee!  Mandy Rose IS Jumbo Tsuruta!  Postmatch,  Rose attacks Sarray with a chair!  Zoe Stark makes the save!  That was good.  Not as good as Mandy Rose versus Roxanne Perez but that would be a big hill to climb.  Axion vs Duke Hudson starts in the back and goes through the hall way and to the ring!  Duke Hudson is the Factory of NXT.  Axiom is bumping like a total weirdo.  Hudson makes Axiom look like a million bucks.  That was fun.  The Creed Brothers and Tony D'Angelo and what's the name of the guy who isn't Cole Karter?  Ah, Stacks Lorenzo.  So stupid.  Stupid name, perfectly fine wrestler.  Julius Creed is giving Stacks Lorenzo a lot of offense as he becomes our sympathetic babyface being beaten on by our slimy heels.  He makes the hot tag as we go to regular screen and Brutus POUNCES!  Stacks dragging between the fingers of Brutus on the ropes is pretty great.  Brutus is our second sympathetic babyface.  I dig that Stacks Lorenzo is trying to mangle Brutus fingers.  Julius makes the second hot tag and goes COMPLETELY Steiner by suplexing everyone everywhere.  Santos Escobar turns (?) on Tony D'Angelo!  I never followed why Escobar was under the control of D'Angelo.  I guess he is not under him now.  That was good.  Joe Gacey and Jensen wrestle.  (My youngest son decides now is a good time to come in and  start a discussion on the effects of MK Ultra on American society.  It goes on for a while.  I will never get to the end of all this wrestling today.)  Nice DDT by Gacey.  Sweet spinning kick to the head by Jensen.  Pretty Deadly run and distract Bro Country!  Gacey wins!  That was fine.  Alba Fyre and Lash Legend starts in picture in picture.  Legend is very powerful.  Alba is very throwable!  Alba Fyre carries Legend through the first stage of the match, selling Legend's offense.  Fyre makes a comeback and sets up her finisher really well and hits a Swanton and gets the pin.  That was perfectly fine.  Solo Sikoa and Von Wagner are going to have a tiny match unless they go over time.  It's a falls count anywhere match!  I got sidetracked looking up Solo Sikoa's relation to all the other Samoans and I notice that he is the son of Rikishi and brother to the Usos.  He is a cousin to Jacob Fatu.   The WWE should sign Jacob Fatu and have him tag with Sikoa.  That would be great. None of the Anoa'i family are signed to AEW.  It's strange that Jacob Fatu is the only active wrestling member of the family not signed to the WWE.  Anyway.  This match is quite the hoss battle.  Sikoa whips out the fire extinguisher and we go back to the ring!  This is good.  Needs blood.  Great Superfly splash off the top through a table at ringside.  That was fun.  That was some good pro wrestling.

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The 4-way was solid-good. All the teams had some good moments. Glad KC Squared won. Hope Leon/Ferroz are there first challengers. Those two go for broke whenever they get a chance to showcase. Leon was awesome delivering the gorilla press/toss and somersault plancha.

Hayes/Frazer was short but good. The two just gel so well.

Mandy/Sarray was solid though i hate the match starting during picture-in-picture.

The promos from Stratton, Lyons, and Roxanne were all solid.

Axion/Hudson was fun impromptu match.

Creeds vs. Tony/Stacks was solid. Was ok with the finish seeing Escobar's return.

Solo/Wagner was good fun though a part of me wishes it ended in the most dangerous place in wrestling,,,the NXT parking lot. In all seriousness I do miss when falls count anywhere really lived up to their name and ended backstage or on the street.

12 minutes ago, DEAN said:

Mandy Rose starts defending the title smack dab in the middle of picture in picture.  That's strange.

Was just a match. Title wasn't on the line. Mandy wanted the vengeance she never got for Sarray dropkicking her face off last year.

Edited by Eivion
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So how long till Triple H fires everyone in NXT and reboots the show as NXT 3.0?
 

Personally, I’ve got some reservations about Trip’s vision of wrestling.  I am skeptical NXT 1.0 could have worked on the bigger shows.  I really didn’t like NXT that much before the reboot.  It will be interesting to see what indie talent he can sign with AEW competing.   
 

I won’t say a Ciampa push in 2022 can’t draw some money, but I don’t think it’s going to make me switch over from football next month.

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I haven't found anything online about if they will change NXT 2.0. Nor re-hiring men they they released. 

Triple H is a guy noted for not liking to fire people. Unless he really must.

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2 hours ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

So how long till Triple H fires everyone in NXT and reboots the show as NXT 3.0?

For that matter, how is the current version only 2.0? Were the reality-show versions 0.1 and 0.2 or something?

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I wouldn't expect massive changes in 2.0. I would guess we see something similar to how Black and Gold changed when more indy wrestlers were hired only they try to avoid going full super indy. Listening to clips of Regal's podcast the first few years and 2.0 are probably more in line with what HHH wanted for NXT than the years Gargano, Ciampa, and UE were at top. Regal admitted they all kind of knew and acknowledged changes were needed as far back as 2019.

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Most highly doubt small indy guys will be back. If they do hire some, they're  gonna be tag team guys or lower card dudes.

Shawn and his crew are in charge of NXT. They still call Shawn the boss.

The Smackdown brand is the next brand to have further booking changes applied.

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11 hours ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

  
 

I won’t say a Ciampa push in 2022 can’t draw some money, but I don’t think it’s going to make me switch over from football next month.

Maybe not, but Rhea Ripley: "Unstoppable Hurt Mistress" is certainly going to do some work in the new TV14 era...

I know, I know, settle down LWP-netico.

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I don't usually watch nxt, but have caught bits and pieces of the last few weeks probably the first time since the first 2.0 episode. I like a lot of the womens division. The battle royal a couple weeks ago was a lot of fun and I'm a big fan of Zoey Stark since her brief Impact run where she came off like star then. I'll definitely try to catch her and Mandy. 

Last week when I saw Roxanne with Madusa, I was hoping that was Rox handing her the title thus announcing her as new her tag champion partner. But the way it turned out is cool too, always loved Kacy Cat or Katana now, so it's great to see her become a champion. 

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16 hours ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

So how long till Triple H fires everyone in NXT and reboots the show as NXT 3.0?
 

Personally, I’ve got some reservations about Trip’s vision of wrestling.  I am skeptical NXT 1.0 could have worked on the bigger shows.  I really didn’t like NXT that much before the reboot.  It will be interesting to see what indie talent he can sign with AEW competing.   
 

I won’t say a Ciampa push in 2022 can’t draw some money, but I don’t think it’s going to make me switch over from football next month.

HHH has admitted in interviews in the past that he knows NXT won't work on the main roster, it's just a matter of figuring out what tweaks need to be made when someone if called up. Looking at the numbers, NXT gets roughly a third of what Raw does in ratings so you'll have some folks not familiar with people coming up and will need to tweak things.

If you run NXT like an old territory, then I think that's the best route and it keeps the rosters fresh, the move to USA stopped the changeover and we got UE kind of having the upper card in a chokehold.

Also I'm sure Dean and back me up on this, but Zoey Stark had a good run in CWFH too. She had a best of something (5 or 7) series with Heather Monroe that was fun. Also who did Monroe piss off that she can't get picked up by one of the bigger promotions?

If they get rid of the silly transformation stuff with Sarray, then I'll be happy. Also, I actually watched Raw Monday and I dug it, mostly because they gave matches time. Promos will be some work, since they've all worked a certain way for a long time and habits will be hard to break, and HHH's signature was long promos so we'll see what happens.

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3 hours ago, Ramo2653 said:

Also I'm sure Dean and back me up on this, but Zoey Stark had a good run in CWFH too. She had a best of something (5 or 7) series with Heather Monroe that was fun. Also who did Monroe piss off that she can't get picked up by one of the bigger promotions?

Oh yeah, but she is miles farther along now.  I think everyone gets twice as good after wrestling Toni Storm. As for Heather Monroe, there are like ten indie wrestlers that are mysteriously unsigned and she usually hovers in that group.

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So gonna be Gauntlet match to determine Liv's challenger for the SD Women's Championship at WWE CatC. Raquel Rodriguez vs Xia Li vs Sonya Deville vs Shotzi vs Aliyah vs Shayna Baszler vs Natalya.

Some people online think Sasha is returning tonight.

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Feels like if Sasha was returning she would be put in that match so I'm guessing not yet, if at all.

Hope Shayna wins that match. her vs. Liv would be fun and flow into a heel Rousey returning if that is the plan. If not Shayna then Raquel.

I am sort of surprised Lacey Evans is nowhere to be found. Wonder if they are rethinking her current character with Vince gone.

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