CoolUsername:
Johnny Boxing

samistry:
I was wondering where the hell this guy was? Among the pandemic releases this was one guy I wanted back. I even thought he would be signed to AEW after they picked up his wife and other ex-wwe talents

pu7pl3:
WWE SMACKDOWN REVIEWS RECAPS AND REACTIONS

Samoan rift?¿
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn opened Friday Night SmackDown this week to talk about how uncertain things are in WWE right now, what with a Draft coming up, and no one knowing who is going where or what the hell is going to happen. The one thing they do know, however, is The Usos will be coming for a rematch for the tag team titles they lost at WrestleMania.
At some point.
The Usos showed up to agree but also to reiterate that there are no cracks in The Bloodline and, actually, they’re just as strong as ever. Instead, Jey attempted to create division between Owens and Zayn, claiming it would be Sami to turn on his “brother.”
Zayn, in the easiest position one could be in as a babyface, got to simply speak the truth. Jimmy & Jey can ignore the obvious but it doesn’t make it any less damning. It’s only a matter of time before the ticking of the clock stops.
All that’s left at that point is the kaboom.
Naturally, a fight broke out and Matt Riddle once again showed up just in time to even the odds. His beef with Sikoa goes back to last year. So Adam Pearce booked a match between the two for the main event.
Later in the show, Sami apologized to Riddle for his part in what happened to him last year while telling him to be careful. Owens said to hell with that, go get pissed off and take it out on Sikoa. Riddle settled on doing his own thing — getting payback.
Later still, just before Riddle and Sikoa could get to scrapping, Paul Heyman hopped on the microphone to let us all know a rematch for the tag team titles has indeed been booked for two weeks from tonight in Corpus Christi, Texas, with some help from The Tribal Chief himself and some muscling of WWE management. What was notable about this was the fact that Heyman made sure to say a title change would happen because Reigns is losing patience with “two of you” and while he was pointing at Zayn & Owens, he was looking towards The Usos when he said that.
Foreshadowing?
Finally, it was time for Sikoa vs. Riddle and it was very much a main event style Bloodline match. The Usos and KO & Zayn were tossed out by the referee fairly early but both just flat out ignored those orders and came back later to brawl at ringside. Riddle did a dive to the outside to help deal with it but ended up eating a Samoan Spike in the ring and taking the loss.
After the match, he slammed Riddle onto the announcer’s table, which didn’t break, and then quite literally buried him by tipping it over on top of him. One hell of a way to end SmackDown, with Owens and Zayn tending to Riddle and The Bloodline standing tall.


Complaints department
They did a championship celebration for the new tag team champs, Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez.
Here’s my question — if Trish Stratus took out Lita so that she could work her way into the title match alongside Becky Lynch so that she could turn on her, wouldn’t that indicate she threw the match on purpose? You could have argued that she worked that match in earnest if she didn’t take Lita out beforehand but her doing so means she had to have thrown the match just to set up backstabbing Becky.
Which means they did a celebration for a team who won the titles because someone basically gave them away.
Yes, I actually did sit and ponder this for way too long, why do you ask?
Anyway, The Complaint Department, Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green, interrupted the aforementioned celebration to, you guessed it, complain about the fact that they’re being overlooked. The champs actually welcomed the confrontation and even went so far as to say they’d talk to Adam Pearce and get a tag title match booked.


Strong style
A big part of the promotion for this show over the past week centered around the return of Shinsuke Nakamura, who hadn’t been seen dating back to last year. Then, for whatever reason, he wasn’t given a featured spot on the show.
Weird!
Despite this, he hit the scene with some sweet new gear to await his opponent for his return match, Madcap Moss.
Yeah.
Emma told Moss behind-the-curtain before his entrance that “we need this” and he needed to go out and show why he’s worth a high draft pick. Naturally, he went out and got absolutely ran through. Emma tried to get Moss to attack him after the match and Nakamura embarrassed him again.
After, Scarlett was shown with a card that had Nakamura on it. She set it on a table, just in time for Karrion Kross to slam his fist on it.
“Tick tock.”
Hey, this could be fun!


All the rest
-After being set up with a backstage segment last week, and built to with impassioned promos on social media in the days leading up to it, Xavier Woods and LA Knight got together for a singles match. Woods mentioned there being so much more to him than anyone seems to realize and he sure looked like he was working his ass off out there. The match was far better than likely anyone suspected it would be and had an interesting finish — Knight trying to win by holding the tights on a rollup and the referee refusing to count because of it only for Woods to do the exact same thing right after and score the victory because the ref didn’t see him holding the tights. I’m interested to see where they take this from here, but it is notable they protected Knight to some degree with that finish.
We didn’t have to wait long to find out, as Woods went backstage and played some trumpet to interrupt an Imperium conversation. He goofed off just enough to piss GUNTHER off and they booked an Intercontinental championship match for sometime before the upcoming Draft.

-The Judgment Day came by the blue brand this week so Damian Priest could cut a promo on Bad Bunny, warning him off putting his hands on his crew lest he end up going through a table like he did last time. This was a lead-in to his match against Santos Escobar of the LWO, which, like Woods vs. Knight before it, was way better than it had any business being. The LWO and Judgment Day getting involved only added to the fun, but it was an awesome straight up singles match even before that. In the end, Priest won with South of Heaven. Priest went to follow up the win by putting Escobar through the announcer’s table but Rey Mysterio hit the scene to fight him off, then have an awesome little short exchange with Dom before Priest and Rhea Ripley pulled him out of there. Still a ton of heat here, and just so much fun watching Rey in there with his son going crazy.

-The Viking Raiders attacked Braun Strowman & Ricochet backstage, with Strowman getting blindside tackled out of the picture and Ricochet getting put through a table. Erik, Ivar, and Valhalla just stood there and screamed at him after doing so. Intense!

I really liked this show!

Grade: B+

CoolUsername:


Once upon a time, he was one of my favorite wrestlers. His athleticism and parkour-like in-ring style were very cool.

I remember that he had a very brief stint at AEW under the name Johnny Elite. However, not much came out of that.

Apparently, he's doing all right as a content creator now. He just fought and won a boxing match at Creator Clash 2, accompanied by a bunch of other wrestlers like Karrion Kross, LA Knight, Scarlett Bordeaux, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Mojo Rawley, Josh Barnett, and NXT commentator Vic Joseph.

He even called KSI out after the match. On the off chance he lands a match with KSI he would be laughing to the bank.

CoolUsername:


Once upon a time, he was one of my favorite wrestlers. His athleticism and parkour-like in-ring style were very cool.

I remember that he had a very brief stint at AEW under the name Johnny Elite. However, not much came out of that.

Apparently, he's doing all right as a content creator now. He just fought and won a boxing match at Creator Clash 2, accompanied by a bunch of other wrestlers like Karrion Kross, LA Knight, Scarlett Bordeaux, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Mojo Rawley, Josh Barnett, and NXT commentator Vic Joseph.

He even called KSI out after the match. On the off chance he lands a match with KSI he would be laughing to the bank.

samistry:
They should have pulled the trigger on ending the bloodline at mania. Now, it appears everything is just drifting along.
The Sami/Owens v. Usos feud should have been a one and done match. On the plus side, it's nice of them to recall the reason for Riddle beef with Solo.

The women's tag title scene further justifies the reason Sasha and Naomi quit. They don't give a damn about it. I thought Papa H booking would be better but alas.
Damage Ctrl had a long but nothing reign only to lose to Becky and lita. Who further lost it to another team in less than a month.
No disrespect to Liv/Raquel team as they have good chemistry with a powerhouse/underdog dynamic but we need credible challengers.

I expect Karrion Kross to go over Nakamura but then what happens? Kross can't challenge Gunther or Reigns as both guys are heels, still in the midst of their undefeated streak.

The Mysterio fued still has more legs on it; coupled with the addition of Bad Bunny keeps it fresh. They will draw more eyes from the latino audience as the PPV/ PLE will be held in Puerto Rico.
Bad Bunny and Damien priest also have history which is a good long term story telling.
Only nitpick is Santos Escobar being a sacrificial jobber for the feud.

Look how they massacred my boy, LA Knight. Yeah

pu7pl3:


I just can't get myself to taking all these influencer boxers seriously tbh.
I know they make alot of bank but I just don't see them as real Boxers I don't just know why.

pu7pl3:


LA Knight will win MITB

You heard it here first. YEEEAAAHHH

CoolUsername:


They aren't real boxers. They are just popular content creators boxing.

ValeeLove:
Pu7pl3 how would you feel if Brock gave Cody a John Cena squash?

pu7pl3:


I'd feel like I've been ripped off by fraudsters

ValeeLove:
Pu7pl3 how would you feel if Brock gave Cody a John Cena squash?

ValeeLove:
lol. That's quite right. Don't be surprised IF it happens though.

CoolUsername:


Then me and my friend Mark will stop watching.

Seriously though, I'll be complaining alongside the IWC.

You and your friend Mark need to chill especially Mark

pu7pl3:
WWE SMACKDOWN REVIEWS RECAPS AND REACTIONS

This was an interesting episode of Friday Night SmackDown if only because, well, there was no real narrative flow to it. It was very much just a series of matches with a couple of backstage segments thrown in.
There was only one in-ring promo the entire evening — though you could argue there were two, if you count the few words The Complaint Department said before they challenged for the tag team titles. The Usos were the ones (I’m sorry) who got that time, vowing to defeat Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn to win their titles back next week.
That was also the lead-in to the main event, Matt Riddle taking on Solo Sikoa in a No Disqualification match that had maybe the most obvious ending in the history of television. It was a No DQ match, The Usos were in the building, but Owens and Zayn were not.
Gee, I wonder how that would play out.
Sure enough, Jimmy & Jey interfered, Riddle was pinned, and then The Bloodline put him through a table, standing tall to end the last episode for the blue brand before we head into the Draft.
The match was fine. It was all fine.
But that doesn’t mean Roman Reigns’ presence isn’t sorely missed. I quite like Sikoa and think he’s got a bright future as a singles star apart from The Bloodline but there’s only so much story they can tell without The Tribal Chief around.
I guess that’s why they just went back to beating Riddle again.


All the rest
-This show opened with the LWO and The Judgment Day continuing their issues in the form of a tag team match pitting Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar against Damian Priest & Finn Balor. It was both an incredibly fun match and a great opportunity for commentary to promote the ever loving shit out of Bad Bunny appearing on Monday Night Raw next week. With apologies to Escobar, it was also an easy way to get Judgment Day a win without having to pin Mysterio. Oh, also, did you remember Bad Bunny will be on Raw? If you didn’t, Priest got on the mic and made sure to mention it before going to the back. After, they cut to the announce table and wouldn’t you know it, Michael Cole and Wade Barrett also made sure to immediately mention that, hey, guess, what, Bad Bunny is coming to Raw next week. Nobody is better at driving home a message than WWE.

-Zelina Vega made an impassioned plea to Adam Pearce to get a title shot against Rhea Ripley at Backlash. She’s the only Puerto Rican wrestler in the women’s division, and the LWO has been having issues with Judgment Day. She’s also an underdog who badly wants to prove herself. Why not? Pearce made like he needs to talk to upper management — not to mention the champ — but it was made official later in the show and this makes an awful lot of sense for a B-show title defense for Ripley.

-Shinsuke Nakamura got a nifty little video package that bled right into one from the man he will be feuding with next, Karrion Kross. The pre-tape was maybe a little cheesy but you can always see why Triple H likes Kross so much — he’s got a certain charisma to him where it seems obvious he has such potential if he’s given a good story to work with. I don’t know if that’s what this Nakamura thing will be, but I’m certainly hopeful. The story Kross started telling here is that you can’t know someone’s identity until something is taken from them. He took Drew McIntyre’s temperament, he took Madcap (who he called Riddick, for what it’s worth) Moss’ joy, he took Rey Mysterio’s patience, and now he plans to take Nakamura’s honor.
Hey, just real quick, did you guys know Bad Bunny is coming to Raw next Monday?

-The Viking Raiders launched a surprise attack on Braun Strowman & Ricochet and that resulted in a match between the two this week. I wasn’t expecting much while they were making their entrances and I’m not even sure why because they tore the house down. In the end, Ricochet pinned Ivar after an elevated Swanton Bomb from Strowman’s shoulders.

-I’m not entirely sure why I feel this way but Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez, despite being the champions, still feel like a thrown together team to me. Meanwhile, Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green, who are also a thrown together team, feel like a legitimate duo. That’s probably just a testament to how good they both are. Despite this, they came up short in their quest to win the titles, in part because the babyfaces cheated. Cole claimed it was fine because the heels deserved it. I guess.

-GUNTHER successfully defended the Intercontinental championship in his match against Xavier Woods, who was outstanding as the babyface underdog giving it his all. They were up against it, considering no one on Earth really believed Woods was ever going to win this match, but they managed to pull off a couple of good near falls anyway. In the end, GUNTHER submitted Woods and it was simply yet another good TV match.


This show felt like Triple H through and through. Good matches and not much else. It feels a bit like treading water — kind of amazing, considering there were two title matches, but still — until the Draft next week, which looms large over every show now.

CoolUsername:


Did you see the announcement that Seth Rollins would face Omos at Backlash? How random is that?

Sometimes I think that Seth Rollins is too talented for his own good. They probably feel they can just slot him into any program and he'd make it work. I know he'll make it work against Omos. To Omos's credit, he has been getting better in the ring and moves pretty well for his height. I'm sure the match would be perfectly ok. However, I can't help but think that Seth Rollins's character has no real direction.

CoolUsername:
May 27th, Acknowledge him!☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️

pu7pl3:
WWE RAW REVIEWS RECAPS AND REACTIONS

The World is Yours
I’m only putting this up here because it’s important: WWE crowns a new WWE World Heavyweight champion at Night of Champions. If you have a thing for championship belts, then feast your eyes on this thing as soon as humanly possible. It’s gorgeous and looks like the current belt had a baby with WCW’s big gold belt. It looks classy; less like a toy and more like a championship belt.
As an aside though, in another universe, I might convince myself Triple H cut a promo on Roman Reigns. He noted that Roman negotiated a great deal that sees him defend the title less, which is exactly what Trips might do if given the chance. He gave Roman all the props in the world for his acumen in the ring and outside of it. But after unveiling the belt, he told the crowd that this new champion won’t have to ask for their acknowledgement because he’ll earn it Night of Champions. He also talked about the audience feeling pride for this new champion.
I’m not expecting these two in a match any time soon, but those things stuck out to me.
Anyway, the new belt rocks the world. My hope now is they remodel the other belts as well. Everything works better when the belts all fit in the same world. One belt having a wildly different aesthetic than the others just irks me.
And maybe that’s just me but I’m also the one writing this recap. Just my thoughts, right or wrong.


B-Sides
I Shot Ya
Okay, did Roman piss someone off? Seriously. First came everything I wrote above this section and then came Seth Rollins. Seth addressed Chicago and quickly turned his attention towards the new championship belt sitting ringside. Seth noted all the nice things Haitch said about Roman while underlining the fact the name missing from the long list of Roman’s conquests: his.
Okay, cool, no problem. But then it felt personal when Seth said this new belt is for people who have a different vision than Roman. “Some of us still want to fight!” said Seth. This belt, according to Seth, is about more than “politics and part-timers.”
Sure, Omos showed up and Seth gassed Omos’ height, skill, and talked about his plans for Omos at Backlash, but all that talk about the new championship and subliminal shots in the Tribal Chief’s direction stayed on my mind. They’re still on my mind.
I’m not bugging, am I? Someone tell me if I’m bugging.

Mess You Made
It goes without saying that most of us know the Frankenstein story by this point. Maybe not verbatim but we know the general idea. WWE potentially has their own version of that on their hands now with Bad Bunny formally challenging WWE to a street fight in Puerto Rico.
Bunny showed up after Damian got himself disqualified during his match with Rey Mysterio. I like this new mode for Damian where winning the matches don’t matter so much as humiliating his opponents. Like he said earlier in the show, he’s a bad guy. Damian plays his heel role better than most right now and Rey plays the perfect opponent for that.
I didn’t expect a one-on-one match between Bunny and Priest but I like it. This was always the smart move, right? Damian brought Bunny into this world. They teamed up for their first match and within storytelling, Damian taught Bunny everything he knows.
Fittingly, Bunny turns that knowledge against his former teacher at Backlash in a full-circle moment. Plus, Bunny defends Rey’s honor, and the street fight stipulation means plenty of outside shenanigans from the Judgment Day and Papa Mysterio.
While there might be better matches on paper at Backlash, this one might very well steal the show. Bunny looked great attacking Damian with a kendo stick and Damian sold everything like a seasoned vet, hold the adobo.
Right now, Damian’s angle is he doesn’t tell Bad Bunny how to perform so Bunny is out of line getting involved in wrestling. That’s fine but I hope they play the Frankenstein angle next week and on social media.

One Day
The LWO is over. And it’s not just a Chicago thing, although the Chi-Town crowd showed them so much love.
The more Santos Escobar we see on television the better. I wish the LWO got more Ws but I’m happy the LWO angle puts Santos in front of these crowds on big stages. He killed it tonight but not just him; Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde impressed as well. Again, there’s a reason the crowds love these three.
Of course they took an L to the Bloodline because the Usos have a tag team championship match on the horizon and Solo Sikoa is, well, Solo Sikoa. Their victory makes complete sense in that light but I hope WWE utilizes Santos, Cruz, & Joaquin better going forward. And by going forward I mean the very near future.

Ms. Jackson
I loved this segment between Sami Zayn & Jey Uso. Jey, reveling in his team’s victory, bumped into Sami and the whole mood changed. Sami asked the one thing we all asked after Jey & Jimmy dedicated their upcoming championship match to Roman Reigns: What happens to you if you lose? Not only that, but, to Sami’s point, dedicating the match to Roman means they’re not even fighting for themselves.
These two are really like two people after a breakup. Sami still cares for Jey and Jey feels the same, even if his lips don’t say it. Jey even asked Sami why he cares what happens to Jey. Sami only mustered that “feels bad” but the truth is he cares about that mans’ wellbeing. But, as Jey said, they both made their choices.
Jimmy called it mind games and Sami just getting in Jey’s head, but Jey asked his brother that same question: What if they don’t win?
Jey sees what’s up. He knows how this story ends for them. The fact that Jimmy of all people turns a blind eye to the facts speaks volumes about his delusional dedication. Turnabout being what it is, Jimmy played his own mind games with Sami. The way Jimmy tells it, Kevin Owens turns on Sami the second they lose those championships because of everything Sami did to him as the Honorary Uce. And Sami realized that whether he likes it or not, Jimmy has a point.
Sami and Jey, just kiss and make up already!

I’m Back
Finn Balor and Cody Rhodes should wrestle each other more often. Cody returned to the scene of perhaps the defining moment in his WWE return, and aimed his words directly at Brock Lesnar. He called Brock a coward for hitting him int he back rather than living up to Brock’s reputation as the “most decorated combat athlete in history,” which is another WWE turn of phrase that annoys me. But I digress.
The best moment came when Cody showed his battle scar from that fateful night when he wrestled with a torn pec. The crowd ate it up and everyone enjoyed themselves until Finn Balor showed up.
Finn made a good point about Cody getting screwed at WrestleMania and that he needed a crew. I expected an Elite/Bullet Club reference but alas, Finn let me down. Either that or I missed it, so someone let me know.
Cody turned down Finn’s Judgment Day invitation because he’s the good guy and Finn took several buckets of umbrage with that rejection.
I liked their match a whole lot. I do wish we got some chicanery just to protect Finn, especially after Finn defeated Rey Mysterio earlier this August. Cody loses nothing with a DQ win but I also don’t know how Finn factors into their future plans. BUT, with a new championship, and commentary hinting at Finn competing for said championship, then yeah, keep his shoulders off the mat.

Remember the Times
Remember when it looked like a holy entity might bless us with the Hurt Business reunion? Yeah, good times. Instead of that we get Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander getting easily beaten by the Street Profits. The hook for the match was the idea that the WWE Draft might change these teams irrevocably. Cool, cool. But I just preferred seeing all four men doing anything meaningful at this point. A throwaway match on the last Monday in April isn’t that.

Whutcha Want?
More Damage CTRL dissension this week. This time, it came when the group interrupted Bianca Belair’s backstage interview and IYO SKY basically said she’s not waiting for Backlash. Bayley translated that into a six-woman tag team match that neither IYO or Dakota Kai seemed thrilled about. Bianca partnered with Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan, proving Bailey forgets all the people not giving Damage CTRL Christmas cards this year.
No huge miscommunication moments during the match for Damage CTRL, but Bianca pinned Bayley. Maybe Dakota & IYO turn on Bayley instead of the other way around. They both clearly have issues with her “leadership” and they left this match as a duo, not a trio.

Bad Meets Evil
Austin Theory had himself a night on the microphone. He held his own against the Chicago crowd, got a nice shot in at Bobby Lashley, and telegraphed he has the new World Heavyweight championship in his sights. Once Bobby got physical with the champ, Bronson Reed hit the scene and the heels did the double team thing.
This is wrestling so obviously that alliance was short-lived. Bronson stood tall after a Tsunami, and the belt looks good in his hands. Austin wants a new belt, Lashley probably contends for that same belt, so giving Bronson the rub at Backlash makes a lot of sense.

Chi-City
I’m still not down with Mustafa Ali’s new gimmick. I get it completely but I don’t like it. That said, it felt good seeing him get the W against Chad Gable in his hometown. The big story here concerned Maxxine Dupri and Chad fighting over who gets Otìsè after the Draft. Maxxine even accompanied Chad to the ring—along with Otìsè—just to prove her point that Chad’s type lame.
Chad losing just ups the drama, so I’m with it.

I really enjoyed this week’s Raw. Consistent across the board and satisfying minus the tag match that apparently served as WWE Draft drama fodder.
We also got a Trish Stratus showing where he continued her great heel work. And she’s carrying this thing without Becky Lynch at the moment so more power to her.
But the headline is the championship and the ‘90s hip hop-level subliminals thrown at Roman Reigns. Whew, Lord have mercy. Even while writing this, I wonder why. But drama aside, that belt is gorgeous and I can’t wait for a new champion.

ValeeLove:
what I want to know is did Trips acknowledge the Big Gold Belt in some fashion?

PurpLChi:


Acknowledge it how?

ValeeLove:
did he mention it or reference it since this belt is an obvious copy of that.