By Jeff Knap
Welcome to TWIW, and the 1st thing I’d like to do, and this is a little late. Still, I’d like to congratulate Alex Hammerstone in winning the MLW World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Jacob Fatu. He held the title for just over two years, which is almost unheard of in today’s wrestling industry. I still remember the old MLW on the Sunshine Network right around 2002. Satoshi Kojima was the champion. That’s where I 1st heard of CM Punk.
WWE RAW
This past Monday, the WWE started to finalize everything for this coming Sunday’s Crown Jewel PPV. We will get to see WWE Champion Big E. defend his championship against former champion Drew McIntyre. Xavier Woods and Jinder Mahal advance to the King of the Ring tournament semi-finals, where they will wrestle this Monday to see who wrestles Finn Balor at Crown Jewel in the KOTR finals. We also saw Shayna Baszler and Doudrop advance to the semi-finals, and that winner will face Zelina Vega in the Queen’s Crown finals at Crown Jewel.
NXT
Isaiah Swerve Scott and the rest of Hit Row are getting ready to move over to Smackdown because of the draft, and Scott planned on taking the North American Championship with him. Santos Escobar planned on winning the championship and keeping it in NXT, but Swerve had other plans and ended up defeating Escobar. That’s when Carmelo Hayes cashed in his breakout star contract and defeated Scott, and became the NEW NXT North American champion.
Although NXT has its fair share of things that irritate me, I’m intrigued by Joe Gacy and his relationship with Harland. I love the Joe Gacy character and its plan on the way certain groups of people are feeling and acting at the current time…snowflakes, lol.
The thing that gets me is the need for them to push Von Wagner. I have zero interest in him, and I just don’t get excited by his in-ring work. I find it boring and uninspiring. I’m sorry to body shame. His forehead is HUGE, and I can’t stop staring at it.
Why does Ikemen Jiro have to wear that jacket to the ring? Is there a reason? I could understand if he was a heel, and it was loaded with a foreign object that helped him pick up a victory. Lash Legend is a beautiful woman, but her Lashing Out show does nothing for me, and when it’s on, I usually head to the bathroom or fast forward if I’m taping it.
The match featuring Duke Hudson and Grayson Weller wasn’t horrible. It’s just I’m just trying to figure out why I should care about these two men? I understand they are both up and comers, but give me some back story or a reason to care about them.
WWE – Smackdown
Anytime you put Sami Zayn and Finn Balor in the ring, you will produce magic, and this past Friday was no different. I knew that Sami would lose since it’s well known that he would never be going to Saudi Arabia.
After Crown Jewel, I’m excited to see where the story of Carmella and Liv Morgan goes. I’ve been pulling for Liv Morgan to get some spotlight for some time now, and I hope this is the start of it.
In my opinion, the Seth Rollins promo heading into Hell in a Cell was not just a home run but a grand slam. Besides Brock vs. Roman, if that promo didn’t make you want to tune in on Thursday, nothing will.
Impact
We found out that one of my favorites from NJPW will be making his Impact debut, and that’s Minoru Suzuki and the lineup for next Sunday’s Bound For Glory PPV, which sadly starts at 10 pm, is rounding out. The main event alone is worth the price of admission, with Impact Champion Christian Cage taking on the MVP of Impact, Josh Alexander. This past week Rohit Raju, Willie Mack, who I’m a massive fan of, and El Phantasmo battled out to see who will be the third man for the three-way X-Division match at bound for glory. We saw El Phantasmo pick up the victory and will now face Steve Maclin and Trey Miguel. We now have found out who will be in the three-way for the X-Division match.
To end the night, we saw W. Morrisey win the 20 man battle royal and enter last in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match, with Chris Sabin, the 1st entrant. On a sad note for those fans of this segment, but Impact bid a sad farewell to the Swinger’s Palace.
I will have to make up for AEW since the night changed, and I was on dad duty during that time.
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