WWE TV - 5/15 - 5/21/2023

[Dolfan in NYC]

So it's AJ and Seth for the new belt.  This week however, we get Shinsuke vs The Miz for... reasons?  

Also tonight, we probably find out who's challenging Rhea and GUNTHER at NoC.   Maybe they'll challenge each other?  

Actually no... I don't want GUNTHER to die just yet.  

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

There’s a battle royal to determine who fights Gunther. 

[Iron Moose]

They ran GUNTHER v 

Spoiler

Gargano

for the first time at a house show this weekend. 

 

I think they've also been running Rhea v 

Spoiler

Tegan Nox

but I think it would be really surprising if she was the NOC match. With the renewed focus on the Prism Lock, my guess would be Nattie. 

[Eivion]

Miz/Nakamura was solid. Curious to see where the rehab of Nakamura leads.

IC Battle royale was fine. Was good seeing Bronson Reed stand out. Ali getting the win was a nice surprise, especially after the opening tease with Riddle going out o his way topiss off Imperium.

Curious to see what they do with JD/Finn given ther student/teacher relationship. I assume it will be a slow build to whatever that is with how small they started here. 

Indus Sher squash was decent. Kind of digging the build to group.

Cody's promo could have probably cut the Scorpion and Frog story, but was pretty good overall.

Raquel/Chelsea was solid. Thought this was probably Chelsea's best showing yet. The pos tmatch attack from Ronda and Shayna was unexpected. I assume that is the actual title match for NOC if Liv is healthy enough by then.

Sami/KO vs. Balor/Priest built into something good. Kind of interesting to see all the multiple angles going on with Sami/KO having feuds set with Imperium and Judgement Day alongside the continuing Bloodline war. 

Thought there was a nice amount of small bits here building to future stories. Not quite what we usually get on Raw. Hopefully they lean towards it more thought it still could have used a couple of extra macthes.

[Gonzo]

Gunther is gonna chop Ali into low-earth orbit.

[The Natural]

[Greggulator]

I am really excited for Ali/Gunther. Ali is really good. It is clear he wants a shot real bad — such a creative, fun personality. He is going to get lit so bad by Gunther and will bump around like a maniac and get in a bunch of fun hope spots. Cool outside idea to give him that spot. He deserves it. 

Sami/KO are just doing some 1 percent work right now with their promos. I love their dynamic so much of kind of like an old bickering couple that despite it all truly love and get each other. 

[dragonzombie]

Vince news 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10076151-vince-mcmahon-to-remain-wwe-chairman-until-death-resignation-or-incapacity

https://wrestlenomics.com/2023/05/12/timeline-of-the-deal-that-led-to-the-merger-of-wwe-and-ufc/

 

[caley]

The Owens/Zayn team has reached a certain formula that works exceedingly well in-ring and out that makes you want to keep going like this forever but also feel kinda bad because both could/should be working World Title matches on the reg. too! I enjoy the Sami mouths off, challengers come out, Owens wants to fight, Sami tries to talk him down format.

Indus Sher looked amazing here. The fact that Graves name-dropped them as potential tag title contenders, along with Oblivion, Imperium and teams from SD, should tell Viking Raiders all they need to know about their WWE immediate futures. Methinks, Excalibur might be shouting "War Machine!" before too long.

I DEAN'ed this episode (fast-forwarding most of the promos and angles, rewinds; brings the show down to a brisk 40 minutes or so (Obviously exaggerating but it really does speed it up), so have no opinion on the lengthy Becky, Cody promos or the Seth Rollins interviews.

Battle Royal was okay, even if there were like 4 guy-eliminates-guy-stares-at-him-til-someone-else-eliminates-him-while-he's-distracted spots in a row there. Was disappointed to see JD McDonagh go out so early, but his post-match attack and promo gives me hope they'll do something with him.

The Domenick Mysterio stuff is really funny and really good, but gets harder and harder to watch with Corey Graves shouting "MAMI!" all the time. Genereally speakin, everything is a little harder to watch with Corey Graves. I wish he would go to Edge's doctor and go back to wrestling because I think there's a number of guys they could plug in to his spot on Raw that would make the commentary instantly better.

I really do like Kevin Patrick, though. I think he should be the heir apparent to Micheal Cole.

[Dolphman 3000]

WWE & UFC Merged Company To Be Named TKO Group

[Peck]

Paul Heyman using what appears to be an iPhone XR makes me laugh. 

[Eivion]

Cora/Fallon was solid.

Creeds vs. Dyad was damn good. Just a great showcase for the Creeds with both teams still able to show some great tag work all around. Also dug how Ivy & Ava played into the finish and made it feel a bit bigger.

The Dragon/Dar/Frazer segment was fine.

Hayes/Trick vs. Gulak/Dempsey was good stuff. Loved all the neat transitions and chain wrestling. Was good to see Gulak and Dempsey get some time in to really show what they are capable of and keep credibility despite the loss. 

Kiana/Thea was solid. Was nice to see Thea get tested a bit with her match actually having bit of time to it. Thought she looked good during much of it though it felt like Kiana meandered just a bit when in control. 

Roxanne/Jacy built into something good and is probably the best singles match I have seen Jacy have. A lot of it was on Roxanne, but Jacy held her own here. 

The final segment with Bron, Hayes, and Trick was solid. Kind of like that Bron wasn't bullshitting when he said he brought the security for Hayes and Trick as they clearly tried to keep him from beating their asses. Heel Bron has been a joy. He just feels so much more present and in the zone than he ever did being an average babyface. 

Looking forward to Hank vs. Tank next week and the Women's title semi-finals. I like how the tournament has played out so far. The obvious winners have advanced, but they were also the better wrestlers generally speaking. What I like more ishow they used it as a chance to give their opponents a chance to really shine before the loss alongside each match ending mostly clean despite there being a chance for bs finishes with the various rivalries involved. Curious to see what the Battleground final is. Seems like it has to be Tiffany/Lyra or Roxanne/Cora.

[worldcupfever]

I liked most of last night's show but the Gacy/Wes/Bate segment was godawful.  Wes Lee did the worst performance of Hogan with Andre on Piper's Pit.

@Eivion I totally agree about Creeds/Dyad.  That was a ton of fun.  I was really worried that Ivy in peril was going to cost the Creeds again so it was a relief when that didn't play out.

[Dolfan in NYC]

10 hours ago, Peck said:

Paul Heyman using what appears to be an iPhone XR makes me laugh. 

The tribal chief also looks out for the financial health of his clan.

[caley]

I also liked Heyman keeping Roman appraised of the situation because, seemingly, Roman couldn't be bothered to watch a 3 hour Raw either: "You know my tribal chief, if you just turn on the TV, you could watch all this yourself. No, I made sure that you had USA, it shouldn't be hard to find. Well, it's just then I could go back to the lockerroom and stop standing on the ramp giving you play-by-play. Well, no, yeah, there are a lot of commercials, I understand."

[dragonzombie]

WWE to do live event in India in Sept. Info is from Dr. Nick Khan.

[Greggulator]

Really great Smackdown from what I was able to watch. The Bloodline stuff continues to be the best. Expectedly great stuff from The Bloodline and KO/Sami at the start -- especially with Sami saying The Usos are better than Roman/Solo. I loved the little tease they had with Roman accidentally checking Solo who glared at him and stood in the ring alongside his brothers. The tense conversation in the locker room was aces.

And the main event with The Usos vs. Rey/Santo was damn good. Even in a vacuum it was fantastic. But The Usos character work - their desperation and doubt - really took a very good match and turned it into a great story. 

We also got two other men's tag matches  and one women's tag match. When was the last time we had this much tag wrestling on a WWE show? HHH has really leaned into using tag wrestling to drive the main narrative of the promotion the past few months. It makes sense to do so, as it naturally weaves in some of the company's best performers.

Pretty Deadly vs. The Brutes was a great main roster debut for those delicious snacks. Pretty Deadly are money. The promo before hand was great wrestling ridiculousness. I loved the end of this match so much when dude went back into the ropes to throw the ref off the trail. Hilarious bit of heeling.

[dragonzombie]

The NXT Women tags are Smackdown brand along with the Raw Womens belt.

The Smackdown Womens title is on the Raw brand.

 

[Phantom Lord]

Tonight wasn't a bad show. The stuff with The Bloodline continues to be good. I loved Jimmy and Jay trying to get favor with Roman by attacking KO and Sami and Roman was having none of it. It's like no matter what they do, he'll never approve. 

The main event was really good. I liked how they highlighted the desperation of The Uso's to win. 

Good to see the LWO got a win for once. 

[Cobra Commander]

On 5/16/2023 at 11:11 PM, Peck said:

Paul Heyman using what appears to be an iPhone XR makes me laugh. 

I got my XR in the middle of 2019 and it's lasted longer than the iPhones I had before. Gotta credit Apple for not doing forced obsolesce so quickly on this model. Also, 2020 limiting the opportunities to batter the battery helped it last longer than the previous versions that would be struggling after 2 or 3 years.

[Eivion]

Brawling Brutes vs. Pretty Deadly was a nice debut for the latter. Dug the pre-mtc promo they showed as well. Glad to see things starting off right for PD, hope it continues. They have been such a highlight in NXT the past year. 

Street Profits vs. Knight/Boogz was decent. Thought it worked well as a showcase for Boogz. 

Asuka/Zelna was pretty decent with Asuka giving Zelina plenty and making it look like Vega had a chance even if it was just via a flash pin. The finish and post match stuff with Bianca was alright. Kind of like the Joker esque vibes Asuka is giving off right now. I only wish this feud had more time to simmer instead of being rushed to presumably finish out at NOC. 

Fyre & Dawn vs. Leon/Feroz was just a quick squash. Was disappointing to see Leon's first televised match back be a squash where she gets to do nothing. Her team with Feroz always showed good potential in NXT. Still not sure what the plan is with Fyre & Dawn still being NXT tag champs. 

Sucks to see Liv and Dakota were both injured as suspected last week. hopefully neither is out too long. Curious who Raquel's partner for the 4-way decision match will be. Maybe Aliyah is healed up?

The opening segment with the Bloodline & Sami/KO was good. Dug how it built into the finish of Usos vs. Rey/Santos which was pretty solid-good match alla round. So happy to see Escobar get the pin in the main event. 

[Peck]

1 hour ago, Cobra Commander said:

I got my XR in the middle of 2019 and it's lasted longer than the iPhones I had before. Gotta credit Apple for not doing forced obsolesce so quickly on this model. Also, 2020 limiting the opportunities to batter the battery helped it last longer than the previous versions that would be struggling after 2 or 3 years.

There's a joke in here somewhere about Paul buying an iPhone 14 but the check bounced.

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

7 hours ago, 赤い竜 said:

The NXT Women tags are Smackdown brand along with the Raw Womens belt.

The Smackdown Womens title is on the Raw brand.

 

Which will eventually change. Why are we being told something we’ve seen for weeks already? Clearly NXT gets their belts back, and the two main brands will swap womens titles. Nothing looks goofier than a person on Raw (and only Raw) being a “Smackdown” champion.

[Norwegian Rudo]

3 hours ago, LF2 said:

Which will eventually change. Why are we being told something we’ve seen for weeks already? Clearly NXT gets their belts back, and the two main brands will swap womens titles. Nothing looks goofier than a person on Raw (and only Raw) being a “Smackdown” champion.

I wouldn't be surprised if they rename the titles instead of swapping so they don't face the same problem yet again down the line.

As for the NXT women's tag titles, the division looked pretty empty after the draft, having just broken up several teams as well, but with the return of Leon and having built up a few teams on LVL Up they suddenly look fairly healthy again.

Speaking of LVL Up, look out for Kelani Jordan (former Michigan State gymnast Lea Mitchell). She debuted last week and was on again last week and she looks REALLY good. Obviously she's got good athleticism, but what stands out for me is how good she is at the little things, like her selling and her facial expressions.

 

[AverageKong]

Zelina's vulnerability has turned her into a decent baby face. However, I feel like her ring work just isn't on the same level as most of the roster. Her past couple of matches have been against 2 very intense women, but the matches have felt watered down bc it looks like they're trying not to loose Zelina. 

Asuka is continuing to heel it up and its quite entertaining. She's likely putting Belair over at NOC but I hope to see a DQ finish with things getting really brutal for Belair. We need this Asuka bad.