By Jeff Knapp
This is the 1st installment of TWIW, and while most casual fans will be paying attention to the WWE and AEW, I will also look at NXT (I will never use the term 2.0) Impact Wrestling. I will also cover the NWA, ROH, MLW, NJPW, AAA & CMLL from time to time.
In the WWE this past Monday, we saw the conclusion of the WWE “draft,” in which we saw some wrestlers get drafted to stay on their original brands and some move from Raw to Smackdown and vice versa. Wrestlers who moved from Raw to Smackdown were Charlotte Flair, Jeff Hardy, Sheamus, Shayna Baszler, and Drew McIntyre. Those who moved from Smackdown to Raw were Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, and Finn Balor. We also saw Hit Row and Austin Theory move from NXT to Raw while Xia Li and Ridge Holland left NXT and are now part of Smackdown. I’m pretty curious how The Brusierweight Pete Dunne handles things without Ridge by his side any longer. Those who are Bullet Club fans will be interested to see what happens with the possibility of him and AJ Styles teaming up.
Although Raw was overall a really good show with Big E & Drew Vs. the Dirty Dogs (Dolph & Robert Roode), Damian Post defended his title in a great match against Jeff Hardy, who might have hinted at a change in character when he moves to Smackdown. Can we say Willow the Whisp?
They also set up the Goldberg vs. Bobby Lashley match for Crown Jewel. Back in the late 90s, I was a vast Goldberg fan even when WCW made it seem like you needed four tanks and a B-52 Bomber to defeat him, but I’m sort of uninterested in this match, but I’m interested to see what type of reception Goldberg receives in Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday with NXT, we saw the debuts of Tony D’Angelo and Parker Boudreaux ( who will go by the name of Harland) and will be in some program with Joe Gacy. I love Joe’s millennial campus virtual signaling type of character. If done right, this will be a great heel character.
Overall this was a solid show, including the surprisingly good Ember Moon vs. Mandy Rose match, the 4-way tag team elimination match between MSK, Grizzled Young Vets, newcomers Briggs and Jensen and Carmello Hayes, and Trick Williams.
For my money, the match between Cameron Grimes and Pete Dunne. This was a solid back and forth exciting hard-hitting match that Grimes wanted to take us “To The Moon.”
Wednesday Night Dynamite:
I love that there is wrestling every night if you plan it out correctly, and Wednesday night is, as JJ on Good Times would say, Dynamite. Although it was announced before the show, we saw the debut of Bobby Fish. I’m from the Hudson Valley, and Bobby is from the Capital Region, only 45 minutes away. As of this writing, Bobby is now All Elite. I’m sure there are AEW loyalists who hate seeing people who previously worked for the WWE show up. I’m not sure why. I’m a huge fan of Bobby Fish, and possibly one day Kyle O’Reilly will join him and reform Redragon.
AEW started with that star-studded eight-man tag, The Super Elite of the Young Bucks, Adam Cole and the AEW World Champion Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage, Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy Jack Perry, and Bryan Danielson. It can sometimes be overwhelming when there is so much going on in a match when you need a moment to process all you’re watching. Overall I loved that match, and I can’t wait for Omega vs. Danielson for the title and Jungle Boy vs. Adam Cole at some point down the road.
I thought the Shida vs. Deeb match was great, and it’s terrible that when Deeb was in the WWE, they wouldn’t showcase her wrestling talent. I’m grateful that the NWA gave her that opportunity and now AEW. I loved how pissed she got and took offense to Shida’s 50th win award. This should grow into a great rivalry.
The main event was the Casino Ladder match for a future AEW world title shot. We saw Orange Cassidy vs. PAC vs. Jon Moxley vs. Andrade El Idolo vs. Lance Archer vs. Matt Hardy vs. The “Joker,” who turned out to be Hangman Adam Page. That was one Hell of a match, and I was on the Edge of my seat for that entire match. Adam Page won and now has a chance to wrestle Kenny Omega somewhere down the road. The only thing was the odd way that Andrade fell off the ladder at the finish. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a delayed reaction to the action on the ladder or if he was supposed to fall earlier and realize it.
The new women’s TBS championship was introduced and will debut in 2022 when AEW goes to TBS. I wonder what will happen to the current TNT championship next year. I’m guessing there will be a Men’s and Women’s TBS Championship unless the TNT championship will only be defended on Rampage. It’s a TV title, so I’m hoping it’s defended every week.
Impact
For the 2nd night in a row, a wrestling show started with a match. We saw FinJuice & Chris Sabin take on Chris Bey, Hikuleo, and El Phantasmo, who are part of the current edition of the Bullet Club. I’m not going to say they are a terrible team because Bey is very entertaining and has been getting better each time I see him, but for these 3 to be Bullet Club seems like something is missing. I’d like the announcer to mention on Impact that Hikuleo is related to a founding member of the Bullet Club and is a legacy, just like in a fraternity in college. Please give us some history on why these three men are in the group.
The match ended with a low blow by Phantasmo and Bey picking up the pinfall on Sabin.
I like things that Impact and things that bother me, and sometimes I nitpick. I love what Josh Alexander has been doing ever since Ethan Page left for AEW. I don’t know if he’s the guy that can carry Impact or not. Christian Cage has the name and star power on the marque, and I don’t see him there yet. I also don’t know why Christian isn’t mentioned as the Impact champion when he’s on AEW.
The next thing that bothers me is the next match that happened that night, and that’s the 2nd six-person tag team match between Brandi Lauren & Kimber Lee & Penny Frost vs. Tasha Steelz, Savannah Evans & Mercedes Martinez. Brandi has to be one of the hottest women in all of wrestling, but when I see her wrestle, it seems like she needs more in-ring time, and it shows. She is stunning and sweet, so I’m far from giving up on her. I was disappointed to see the 30 seconds of ring time that Lady Frost and Mercedes Martinez received. What was the point of having Tasha not tag her in? Did something happen that caused her to lose trust in her? I love the size of Savannah Evans, but I’d like to see her more one one-on-one and dominate some opponents down the road. Can I also see Tasha make more than one move before she celebrates?
Can we also get Joe Doring not to stand there looking like a pissed-off Kid Rock? With that being said, I liked his hard-hitting match a while back against Doc Gallows, and I’d like to see him square up against W. Morrisey. Speaking of VBD, anytime Eric Young is on the mic, I’m glued to the TV.
Impact has been killing it lately with their X-Division matches, and this week’s match featuring Black Taurus vs. Steve Maclin vs. Petey Williams was no different. I love Black Taurus, but I have no idea how he performs in that giant mask.
On a side note, I can’t be the only one who has a crush on Rosemary? He wearing that Slayer shirt last night kicked it up a notch.
By the night’s end, I can’t wait to see Christian Cage wrestle Josh Alexander.
WWE Friday Night Smackdown:
As usual, the WWE started things out with 20 minutes of talking. The segment between Becky, Sasha, and Bianca was entertaining and got me excited for their match, which I’d rather see anywhere but at Crown Jewel.
They are crowning the new king and queen of the ring, and it got rolling with an excellent Sami Zayn vs. Rey Mysterio match. When given the time, Sami is always capable of giving us a great match. By the end, we are seeing what will become a father vs. son match somewhere down the road in the not-so-distant future.
We saw Finn Balor, Zelina Vega, and Carmella also advance in that tournament.
I’m excited to see the Hell In a Cell match that Edge challenged Seth Rollins to, but I’m confused if it will happen at Crown Jewel or will it be saved for the US audience?The entire segment with Baron Corbin and Madcap Moss was the worst thing all night. It wasn’t entertaining, funny, or got me angry, which they wanted us to be, but it was more like go away heat, then I hate them because they are heels.
Thankfully I was utterly captivated by the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman. Although their match is at Crown Jewel, I may break protocol and tune in to watch this. I may wait for the replay, still undecided,
AEW Rampage.It’s always wonderful to see CM Punk back and in a match. Seven years was way too long for me. I have to say this was the best match I’ve seen Daniel Garcia in a while in AEW.The tag team watch was on fire. Rey Fenix is so good, and I’ve been a fan of his and his brother Penta since the days of Lucha Underground. They had another great match against The Acclaimed, Anthony Bowens, and Max Caster, who is hysterical with his pre-match raps, but is the song of former NFL player Rich Caster who played for the Jets, Oilers, Saints, and Washington between 1970 and 1982.
We also saw Jade Cargill in action. This amazingly beautiful woman has had my attention since she 1st stepped foot on TV. I’d love to see the ultimate forbidden door open and see her vs. Bianca Belair.
The main event was Absolute Ricky Starks vs. The Machine Brian Cage. Cage is an absolute beast, but I think it would be wise not to sleep on Starks. I only heard of him for a short time when I saw him on NWA Power.
Next week, I’ll cover this and possibly the NWA, MLW, and ROH.