pu7pl3:


Becky is about to make Bianca more popular than ever

Qu3sT:

Bianca is not outshining a heel becky if we're being candid.

pu7pl3:


Probably, but she would be more over than she is now after their program is over
If it goes well

Qu3sT:

that 'if' is doing a lot of heavy lifting

We are the watchers

pu7pl3:


We are the watchers

Qu3sT:

werey

make we continue to watch

And ponder the question, what if

100naira:
so WWE are still in the business of ruining their champions eh?

pu7pl3:
WWE NXT REVIEWS RECAPS AND REACTIONS


Culture Clash with The Culture
You all know I love Hit Row probably as much or more than Kyle loves The Blade. They are my wrestling Wu-Tang Clan, and I truly believe they ain’t nothing to F’ with. But there are moments when this beef with Legado Del Fantasma feels like it might go off the rails. The feud plays around with race and ethnic traditions to reinforce the differences between the two factions.
We’re not in cringeworthy territory yet, and I hope we never get there, but I have to acknowledge the giraffe in the room before even digging into the wrestling. Cool? Cool.
Remember a couple weeks ago when I juxtaposed Hit Row’s unity with Legado Del Fantasma’s lack of unity? Yeah that’s not a thing anymore. Santos Escobar’s group worked like a Swiss watch in this match, dishing out punishment to their main target, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, and cutting the ring off in the process. It was a thing of beauty if you’re a fan of tag team wrestling. Eventually, courtesy of Top Dolla, Hit Row took the upper hand because, well, you’ve seen Top Dolla.
At one point in the match, the man had all three members of Legado Del Fantasma on his shoulders and dropped them. A grown man picked up three other grown men and dropped them like they were infants, Insanity.
But then the momentum was riding with Escobar and crew once the big man tagged out and they continued working their tag team magic. That said, it still wasn’t enough to put away the Row. And if we know anything from groups with the word “Row” in their names, you need to have an army of equal size to even compete. Which brings us to the finish.
B-FAB is always the uncommon demoniator here. She looks out for the boys whenever chicanery is afoot. So, in typical B-FAB fashion, she intervened when it looked like Santos didn’t want to play fair. Well, Santos, Joaquin Wilde, and Raul Mendoza can count and they know four beats three every single time.
Enter Elektra Lopez.
Elektra Lopez took a lead pipe to B-FAB’s stomach and that’s when things got weird. After admiring her handiwork—B-FAB rolling around in agony—Lopez tossed the pipe to Swerve, who caught it for...reasons. Then, while arguing with the referee about the lead pipe he wasn’t going to use but didn’t want to drop, Santos rolled him up for a semi-long 1-2-3.
The show, and the match, ends with a four-on-four staring contest.
This was a great match and a dope way to end a fantastic night of television. These two crews hate each other and bringing in another woman to even the odds and give B-FAB something to do is a great idea. But that ending landed like a ton of bricks.
If there’s one thing I hate in anything I watch, it’s when normally smart characters act dumb because the story needs them to. Instead of finding an intelligent way to get from point A to point B, someone acts out of character for necessity. It’s a tad lazy.
It doesn’t ruin the match since clearly this is a new wrinkle, and it definitely doesn’t ruin the show. But there’s a better way to give Legado Del Fantasma the W, add Elektra to the equation, and not make the North American Champion look better equipped for a dunce cap than a championship belt.


That King...He’s Such a Savage
Samoa Joe...I’m sorry, NXT Champion Samoa Joe, is such a poet. The man came out to the ring, grabbed a microphone, and spun a tale of savages, kings, cold stares and colder shoulders. It’s the type of Hip Hop energy I can get behind.
But Pete Dunne, Kyle O’Reilly and LA Knight clearly can’t. Joe wanted a new challenger and these three cats stepped up. And they each have fair points.
Pete Dunne: He and Joe tangoed in the past and he’s ready to dance again.
LA Knight: He’s a smart ass loudmouth rocking my favorite Air Jordan 12 color variants.
Kyle O’Reilly: Not only did he beat Adam Cole 2-1 at TakeOver 36, but he called that man Samoa Joseph, which gave me several chuckles.
Before Kyle could get serious for a moment, the man currently in possession of the best hat in WWE, Ridge Holland, attacked an ailing O’Reilly. Pete Doone Dunne attacked Joseph during the commotion, which brought out Mr. Ciampa from the back to finish the job on Dunne that he didn’t finish earlier.
It’s wrestling, so a brawl ensued. When the dust cleared, Joe and Ciampa engaged in an intense stare down with Pete and his muscle.
Hey, NXT, please choose violence and give me this match. Thanks.


Carmelo Hayes Starts His Own Iliad
Carmelo Hayes says when he comes for the king, he doesn’t miss. The NXT Breakout tournament final was Hayes fighting the mountain of a man and heavy favorite, Odyssey Jones. In a tale as old as time, NXT gave us the David x Goliath story because it always works. Especially when David is so much fun to watch. But in this case, Goliath isn’t a jerk or raving lunatic.
These are two likable cats just fighting for a shot at a title. Hayes didn’t have a slingshot, but he gave the giant everything he had, even his top rope scissor kick. But nothing, not a single thing, kept the big man down. Even when Jones hit the mat, he rose quicker than a kid on Christmas morning.
Carmelo got the W by simply out maneuvering his opponent. Jones was spent and through his exhaustion, he got a little lazy on a cover. Hayes reversed the pin, used Jones’ momentum against him in the crucifix, and now gets a shot at the title of his choosing.
All it took was three seconds of Jones not being at his best for Hayes to prove his cunning can win him a lot of matches. It’s that same attribute that made him refrain from picking a champion to face. Carmelo Hayes is going to pick his spot. Smart man.


The rest
Married in a Hurry!
Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis set a wedding date, and Wade Barrett can’t stand it! Barrett’s distaste of this entire enterprise remains one of the most entertaining things on Tuesday nights. I’ll shed a tear on September 14 when that running gag meets its tragic end.
Wrestling weddings never end well so what type of shenanigans can we look forward to in three weeks? Especially with Indi’s dad Johnny Gargano asking Commissioner Regal to intervene. I guess he wants Regal to schedule a match during the wedding? Or...yeah, I don’t know how he thought that conversation would end.
Either way, look for Johnny Wrestling to do all he can to avoid becoming Johnny Father-In-Law.



Ridge Holland Finally Gets His Wish
Ridge Holland finally got what he wanted tonight. Timothy Thatcher had his moments, most definitely. but this was the Ridge Holland show. Holland is too strong, too big, and a whole bunch of other adjectives one uses to describe someone who looks like Ridge.
Ironically. the thing that revitalized Holland when Thatcher had him on the ropes, was his hatred for Tommaso Ciampa. Rather than focusing on the pain his reconstructed ankle felt while in a submission, he focused on Ciampa and channeled his rage into a mini shouting match.
One Emerald Flowsion later and it was goodnight, Timothy. Oney Lorcan x Danny Burch, back from the dead, showed up to join in on the reindeer games as Holland, Pete Dunne, Lorcan and Burch issued the standard post-match beatdown on the good guys.
Which is a real shame, because I really wanted to see Holland put that hat back on and stroll to the locker room like a true gentleman.Lol
As a result of the violence, Thatcher is out “indefinitely,” inspiring Pete Dunne and his boys to focus their sights squarely on Ciampa. If only he had a Joseph to watch his back...

Kacy Catanzaro x Kayden Carter Are Looking Past the Competition
Kacy and Kayden made quick work of Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne. Once the two high-flying ladies got the W, they immediately took to the commentary table and reiterated they want a shot at the NXT Women’s Tag titles. Which makes me wonder, what in the name of Wu-Tang is NXT doing with those tag titles? I want to know, and so do Kacy and Kayden.
They barely broke a sweat and once those tag titles come out of timeout, or whoever they are, I hope they get to wear them.
As for the losing team? Mandy Rose, looking like a cult leader, consoled them and told them to come with her if they want to live.

Too Much for Her to Bear
You know those matches where someone established is fighting someone who barely gets an entrance? I always feel bad for the person who is clearly cannon fodder. Valentina Feroz played that role tonight as Kay Lee Ray ripped through her like a blow torch through butter. Kay’s dominance in NXT UK makes her a legend, so she needed to make a statement in her first match on Tuesday nights. Consider the statement heard.
Kay Lee Ray toyed with Ms. Feroz until finishing her with a Gory Bomb. Poor, Valentina. Maybe next time?

Here Comes a New Challenger!
Raquel González must feel like the most popular girl in school. First Kay Lee Ray wants a piece of her, now Franky Monet wants some too! Me thinks a triple threat match is in the immediate future.

Diamond Mine is..Doing Stuff
Roderick Strong is doing another open challenge next week. Meh

Surprise, Boa. You Lose!
Boa took his eye off the prize to get directions from Mei Ying, and ate a fist from Xyon Quinn. Sucks to be him. I suppose this is going somewhere. I just hope they let us know where that place is and soon because I’m losing interest.

Monopoly Money Man
So this entire feud between LA Knight and Cameron Grimes over the Million Dollar Championship was all for nothing? Long story short, Grimes returned the belt to Dibiase, only for Dibiase to insist Grimes keep it. Except, it turns out he gave Grimes a replica belt, then cackled off into the Florida night. Nah, this ain’t it.

Grade: A
This was a dope show from top to bottom. I’m not sure how NXT will look in a few weeks—although it will be brighter—but I hope this energy and pace remains. The matches that needed to tell longer stories went long, while the shorter matches served their purpose as well. We even got Kyle O’Reilly into a new feud with Duke Hudson for good measure

100naira:
so WWE are still in the business of ruining their champions eh?

pu7pl3:


Long time no see bro

samistry:
Who got ruined?

100naira:
Bianca

samistry:
Nice review. Ridge Holland built like a fridge. Hmm... Fridge Holland, best hat and good theme song, emerald flowsion is brutal to watch. Congrats to Carmella hayes. That dudes got charisma. I didn't know Joe and Pete dunne faced each other before. Contrary to your view, I think the ending to the hit row vs legado was fine. It was a six man match with lots of chaos going on. Therefore, easy for swerve to get distracted.

Fair point...I'll cut him some slack...

I love what you did with fridge too

100naira:
bro I de, imagine say I forgot that summer slam was on Sunday, work no de gree person see road. Anyways what is happening in the women's division is disappointing, apart from the 4 horse men (flair, Becky, Bayley and Sasha) no other women is built to carry the division in their respective brands and the crap that Nikki ash and Alexa is doing shows that it's not always good to allow certain creativeness to talents. Particularly this Alexa fiend nonsense, e no just bam for me at all and why bring back Eva Marie to be involved in this crap?

Sometimes it looks like there are less women in the division but in actuality it's just less talent to reach the heights that the four horsemen set, at this rate Charlotte might win the titles up to 30 times before she retires and then the one that looks like climbing that ladder they screw her over like a jobber to Becky that hasn't wrestled for over a year, can't they do it as they did the face-off between Roman and Lesnar? The hype of Becky's comeback just went down the toilet for me with the rubbish that followed afterwards. As for the Raw brand, na to kuku bring back Rhonda to give Charlotte a deserving threat because at this point nobody else can.

As for the men's division, hopefully we move on from the Goldberg/Lashley uninteresting feud even though it looks like it's not over but honestly they need to give him a proper feud, the guy is built to be champion but they have not given him any serious threat to oppose his title reign. As for Roman and Lesnar, we no need to talk too much we know what we're getting.

Boss...I dey hail o

Make I send my Aza?

As per your point on Becky, they said she requested to be turned heel so she can help Bianca get more over.
Now that fans are mad she lost the title they would start a program from there...I see potential here

Lashley beat the holy crap out of Goldberg, if the man is wise he should stay the hell away cos he can't beat Lashley...Can't wait for Lashley to also beat the living hell out of Damien Priest

samistry:
I still dey vex till now

The man is working

pu7pl3:


Boss...I dey hail o

Make I send my Aza?

As per your point on Becky, they said she requested to be turned heel so she can help Bianca get more over.
Now that fans are mad she lost the title they would start a program from there...I see potential here

Lashley beat the holy crap out of Goldberg, if the man is wise he should stay the hell away cos he can't beat Lashley...Can't wait for Lashley to also beat the living hell out of Damien Priest

100naira:
Aza ke? me de find bread like this oo, bills need to be paid

Honestly I don't care if Becky won the belt or not I just wished that they respected what they were building with Bianca, at least let them wrestle and maybe Becky cheats and wins then kick starts her heel segment but the manner that they did it doesn't sit well with me. I'm just hoping that Bianca does not go the route that Naomi went, hopefully this doesn't discredit her credibility as championship material.

As for Lashley, we can only hope that the future is bright for the guy.

Debroslink:
Lesnar should take the title off Reigns so that we'll have the dream match which is Lesnar vs Lashley.

As for Belair, I see her going into obscurity just like Naomi.

pu7pl3:


Allow the man to work on her first bro...Bianca has a higher ceiling than Naomi, she is more talented and charismatic and likeable,.

I'm sure when the man is done working on her you would look back and think "wow, maybe I was too harsh on them"

pu7pl3:


Allow the man to work on her first bro...Bianca has a higher ceiling than Naomi, she is more talented and charismatic and likeable,.

I'm sure when the man is done working on her you would look back and think "wow, maybe I was too harsh on them"

100naira:
well hopefully I'm proven wrong

Kaycee7:
You can never be too harsh on Vince and his clown creatives.

pu7pl3:


Allow the man to work on her first bro...Bianca has a higher ceiling than Naomi, she is more talented and charismatic and likeable,.

I'm sure when the man is done working on her you would look back and think "wow, maybe I was too harsh on them"

AnfieldFan:


Used to love WWE... I still do...New faces now....Is Bianca really more talented than Naomi(Is she still with WWE)....What of the Bella twins....

I go through this thread whenever I'm chanced....Keep it up bro...

Yes, Bianca is really more talented than Naomi (Naomi is super talented tho) and has a higher ceiling...
The Bella twins are hall of famers now, they retired from wrestling, they only come back for promotional purposes


I appreciate you man, you're welcome to come more often, maybe we will help you ignite new passion for Pro wrestling

pu7pl3:


Lol, when I say "the man" I'm referring to Becky not Vince

pu7pl3:
Corbin make I send Aza?

Corbin:

No dey laugh send me small thing

pu7pl3:
WWE SMACKDOWN REVIEWS RECAPS AND REACTIONS

The Man, The Myth
Becky Lynch returned to WWE at SummerSlam and instantly created a polarizing moment for the entire fan base. She strong armed her way into a title shot against Bianca Belair and then beat her in 26 seconds using some underhanded tactics, offering a hand shake and then cheap shotting Belair when she went to accept said handshake.
Reports quickly made the rounds that this represented Lynch coming back as a heel, as per her request, and also she may have been inspired by Roman Reigns. This is all information that, because we’re privy to it, can alter our perception of the performance we’re seeing on TV.
To that end, it felt like her promo to open SmackDown didn’t work. That may be entirely because of my own expectation that she would suddenly be acting like some supreme rule breaker, a heel we can relish in booing. She acted like nothing of the sort.
Instead, she played it very much like a babyface. In fact, this was the Lynch we were all mostly expecting upon her return — mischievous, sure, but in that lovable way you can excuse because she’s a bit of an antihero. Without the tint of my aforementioned expectation of how she should be acting, it almost certainly would have played rather well.
If the idea is that she’s a heel, however, I don’t understand nor agree with the idea of focusing on Belair simply not being ready for Lynch because she had prepared for Sasha Banks, who pulled out at the last minute. That’s not necessarily a bad excuse, but why not lean into what actually happened? She’s a fighting champion, who readily accepted the match with Lynch, and she was really only caught off guard because she assumed Becky was honorable when offering a handshake before the fight. Lynch proved her wrong when she used that opening to cheap shot her.This actually makes Lynch a despicable heel while ensuring Belair doesn’t look weak. Anyone can be caught off guard assuming the best of someone and being taken advantage of. It perfectly sets up the comeback as well. That’s a solid story and would do away with many of the complaints of how the SummerSlam match was handled.
To their credit, the story still works well enough as is and they firmly established Belair as the top contender once more by having her win an elimination match, defeating Carmella, Zelina Vega, and Liv Morgan to cement herself as the number two in the division.
They also at least dropped a hint of Lynch going fully heel instead of occupying this tweener space when she said "Nah"
We’ll just have to wait and see on this one.


You're Family H
The big question coming out of SummerSlam in regards to Roman Reigns and the Universal championship wasn’t so much if Brock Lesnar would come around — we can be reasonably certain we won’t see a lot of him on SmackDown — but where Paul Heyman fits into the story now and going forward. After all, he was Brock’s advocate before he left WWE following his defeat at the hands of Drew McIntyre back at WrestleMania 36. He only linked up with Reigns after.
To that end, I quite liked how it was played here.
Jimmy & Jey Uso were skeptical of Heyman, to the point of almost being openly hostile towards him. They wondered how it could have worked out the way it did and implanted enough doubt in his mind that he didn’t know how to act around Reigns himself.
But when “The Tribal Chief” arrived, he had none of the same qualms The Usos did. He seemed downright confused by how shook Heyman was. Later, when Heyman said their celebration was “a family affair only,” Reigns really drove it home.
“Paul, you are family.”
This was great because it laid the groundwork for something they can come back to later when the time is right. I say come back to it because it’s clear they’re gonna be moving in a different direction for the time being, because the Lesnar match isn’t happening just yet, even if that new direction only lasts a brief time.
Said new direction is going back to wrap up the loose end that was Finn Balor getting a shot at the Universal championship before John Cena stole it out from underneath him. Balor redeemed himself to some degree by acknowledging that that whole situation was bullshit and he plans on dealing with Cena down the road but for now, he wants Reigns and he wants him next week. He was going to wait until Extreme Rules for the PPV showcase but he doesn’t trust anybody anymore, so let’s do it ASAP.
That’s the kind of growth and progression, small as it may seem, that makes a babyface worth cheering for.


All the rest
Edge and Seth Rollins both appeared on this show but only in the form of brief backstage pre-taped promos. Edge vowed to move on, back to chasing the title Rollins took him away from. Rollins, meanwhile, adopted a creepy tone with an unsettling smile to tell us he thinks maybe he needs to be more like Edge in pursuit of his goal of fighting back to the Universal title. How long until he’s pouring black gunk on Edge?

Corbin of luck
I couldn’t even really tell you why I’m so amused by pretty much everything Baron Corbin has been doing of late but this story they’ve got him in has allowed him to become the best version of himself. He was entertaining as hell as the sad sack bum ass Baron Corbin and he’s equally entertaining as the new Happy Corbin who hit big in Las Vegas. It’s great because the bottom is going to fall out on him again and I, for one, can’t wait to see it happen.

Daddy issues
The Mysterio family is suffering through some turmoil, as Rey is thinking more about what’s best for his boy, Dominik, and set him up to fly solo. His first match was against Sami Zayn and when he fell short, he didn’t handle it very well. Dear old dad was unable to console him, and they’ve got a nice set up for Dom to break off into being a man of his own.

BoogsKamura
Generally speaking, I tend to always prefer when singles champions focus on singles programs and stay away from the tag team division but I am fully willing to make an exception for Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick BOOGS, who somehow make for a deeply entertaining team that should absolutely be running both divisions.

Naomi’s reintroduction to the SmackDown women’s division felt like a nice set up to give her an actual push as a weekly television character. Perhaps she’ll be getting an edge to her after getting good and pissed off over being disrespected so openly by Sonya Deville?

Cesaro's return
It doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago that Cesaro had a brief flirtation with the main event scene. He was quickly cast out, disappeared from television, and is now back to try to help get Otis over, who WWE clearly sees something in but is also just as clearly hesitant to fully commit something to. We’ll see where it goes.

This was a solid follow up to a big show that did well to set up future programs.

Grade: B-