We can kick this off telling you about an old friend returning at WWE Money in the Bank or old foes going head-to-head at NOAH Cross Over 2021 in Sendai, but by god man: GLEAT is now canon at Happy Wrestling Land!
Enjoy the reads about the fights.
WWE Money in the Bank 2021 (7/18/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
NOAH Cross Over 2021 in Sendai (7/11/21) - Captain Lou
How I Met Your Puroresu: Season 1, Episode 11 - Robert McCauley
AJPW Summer Action Series 2021 (7/22/21) - Captain Lou
AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest Night 2 (7/21/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
Working Man’s WWE TV Review (7/18/21 - 7/24/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
Happy Thoughts – WWE Money in the Bank 2021 (7/18/21)
Twenty minutes into Money in the Bank, it hit me: that warm and fuzzy feeling. My 3-year-old son was laughing as he tried to do the most humongous jumps on the bed and on Peacock TV, a sea of people were waiting for ladies to fall off of ladders. I was home.
The feeling didn’t keep as the night went on: son went to bed, and sometimes WWE really is just waiting for people to fall off of ladders. It was back by the time the show ended though, mostly because the return of John Cena had me nearly doing the most humongous jumps myself.
Welcome back to what is on occasion the greatest show on earth. Not tonight. Not often. But on occasion.
0. SmackDown Tag Team Title: Rey & Dominik Mysterio [c] vs. The Usos
The Usos square off with Rey Mysterio and his actual son, who appear from another dimension — you cannot mess that up, and they did not. They kept it conservative for the Kickoff show, but Rey, Jimmy and Jey are three of the most reliable guys in the history of wrestling (in ring, in ring!) and Dominik busted all his Rey-but-slower spots (which are still pretty cool).
Extra cool moments included Jimmy jumping on the apron in front of Jey to take a 619 and Rey leaping full speed into a superkick, a pair of masterclasses in timing and making a crowd go nuts. Of course they pulled off some great near falls, and of course the Usos got the first This is Awesome chant post-Thunderdome. ***1/4
1. Money in the Bank: Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi vs. Nikki ASH vs. Liv Morgan vs. Zelina Vega vs. Natalya vs. Tamina
Sometimes, especially now, wrestling is about people reacting to stuff. I don’t expect WWE to do an amazing job milking the excitement of returning crowds (and they have not!), but I can’t not ignore the dumb fun in hearing who is still over after all this time. If Fort Worth is any indication, WWE should invest in Liv Morgan, Naomi, and Natalya. Maybe the tag titles are enough for Natalya.
Asuka got a total Road Warrior pop too and went on to be one the bright spots of a completely and utterly normal Money in the Bank match. She or Naomi brought the occasional energy boost and the folks were biting (reacting!) on Liv as an underdog, but in between powerbombs on ladders the people were sort of just waiting for more powerbombs on ladders. In a way that’s reacting.
Nikki ASH’s victory was a feel-good open to the show, though it did happen by way of a finish that made everybody else look like a total dumbass. Oh yes. We are home. **3/4
2. RAW Tag Team Title: AJ Styles & Omos [c] vs. The Viking Raiders
What could’ve been a match in a “tough spot” ended up quite the “hoot” as “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles and those Viking Raiders were fired up and did some quality work together that ensured this wasn’t just about Omos doing a gorilla press slam to Ivar — though that was cool too. ***
3. WWE Title: Bobby Lashley [c] w/ MVP vs. Kofi Kingston
Rare is the WWE match that delivers actual feels, though it’s unfortunate those feels are more often than not ones of a freezing bleak reality. In what felt like a more tragic version of Lesnar/Cena from SummerSlam ’14, Kofi Kingston got a few moves in before Lashley stopped him short, shushed the crowd, and tossed his ass around the ring. After six or so minutes, Lashley hit the Dominator three times and won the match. Let it be known to anyone who skipped the Thunderdome era: this is not the guy pointing to his ass cheeks; he is the WWE goddamn Champion. ***
4. RAW Women’s Title: Rhea Ripley [c] vs. Charlotte Flair
Ripley and Charlotte had one of my favorite matches of the empty arena era at WrestleMania 36 and it’s really been nothing but turds from them since, including the last few months of this repetitive rivalry that resulted in WE WANT BECKY chants as the match kicked off.
Enter Big Match Charlotte. I can’t deny it. Instead of flopping under pressure or even worse having a safe and mediocre match, she flipped the crowd off and went to work with the talented Ms. Ripley. They hit hard and bumped big and Ripley’s unbelievable recovery on a deadlift suplex flipped out a crowd that was already biting when the Queen told them to. An action-packed finish not only made the Becky chants feel like distant past but re-affirmed these two as real championship wrestlers. Having a good match is cool, wrapping an unconvinced crowd into your good match is even cooler. ***3/4
5. Money in the Bank: Drew McIntyre vs. Kevin Owens vs. Big E vs. King Nakamura vs. Riddle vs. Ricochet vs. Seth Rollins vs. John Morrison
Here is the best Money in the Bank in years and it’s not just because the crowd was fired up after Ripley/Flair and to pop for all these big names. I mean, it’s a little because the Money in the Bank match hasn’t had a great reason to exist in years. But it’s mostly because some of wrestling’s most extraordinary talents got to the point and kept the hits coming, trying to make the most of each participant.
Big E became the match’s babyface by striking first with a spear through the ropes, Rollins and Nakamura emerged from hibernation with tremendous performances, and I’m mixed on who was the better high-flyer: Ricochet or John Morrison. Towards the end Kevin Owens decided everybody still hadn’t gotten their money’s worth and did a swanton bomb off a very tall ladder through the commentary table. They embraced the chaos but didn’t try too hard – let’s just ignore the mid-match kidnapping. ***3/4
6. WWE Universal Title: Roman Reigns [c] w/ Paul Heyman vs. Edge
Here’s a match that did try too hard. At the very least they could’ve tightened this buddy up. They spent 15-20 minutes trying to build out something special when both Ripley vs. Charlotte and Kevin Owens jumping off a ladder showed much better ways to do that.
Roman has had quality Universal Title defenses with plenty of WWE’s best wrestlers, but in front of a crowd versus dad-era Edge it just kept feeling like they were tacking on too many eras of WWE main event: stalling then arm work then bumps through the barricade then attempted murder then run-ins from the Mysterio Family then counters and finishers, or something in that order. You’d think two guys who use the spear as a finisher would know the value of getting to the point.
It picked up with one of those counters — the very slick backslide by Edge out of a Superman punch from Roman — but some messy interference from the usual suspects kept the match from even closing up strong, which is what these matches rely on so you forget how boring all the early stuff was. It was a match by two guys who are over unless they need a sustained reaction to their 33-minute one-on-one match. **1/2
On occasion WWE does know how to move on, and after Edge got sent packing to a SummerSlam feud with Seth Rollins the familiar horns of John Cena’s theme song hit and that jolly green giant ball of energy burst his way back into WWE like literally nobody else on the planet can. A sea of people was electrified on Peacock TV and my 3-year-old son was fast asleep but damnit there it was: that warm and fuzzy feeling. He was home.
Happy Thoughts: Good vibes, hard work, and John Cena. The opener and closer didn’t hit, but the rest of the wrestling was consistent if not occasionally frustrating. WWE, back on the road… 3.5 / 5.0
Captain Lou’s Review: NOAH Cross Over 2021 in Sendai (7/11/2021)
Nioh vs. Yasutaka Yano
Lil’ Yano is giving me early Atsuki Aoyagi vibes. Not just for the blue trunks, but also for the preternatural high-flying ease. Since the last time I checked on the kid, he’s added the Sayama-style corner backflip and the KUSHIDA hiptoss-into-cartwheelin’ dropkick to his arsenal. Clearly, he’s itching to take it to the skies, but for now he’ll have to settle for getting beaten up by Kaientai Dojo LEGEND Hi69. Nioh totally gets the job done when he’s in full disciplinarian mode so I enjoyed all of this opening match wrestling. **1/2
Masato Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada
Midcard wrestling doesn’t get much better than Mochi and Tanaka schooling some young boys. Actually, I’m starting to think Mochizuki was hired specifically to bring out some fire from Okada. He was trying extremely hard to get a rise out of the Thunderbutt Prince here, but Okada still felt restrained. Personality is not the boy’s strong suit. Junta’s much better at emoting and he did a fine job getting his arm dismantled by the M’s Alliance veterans. Credit where credit is due, Kinya has solid mechanics and played his part well through the ending stretch. That simultaneous PK/Sliding D from Mochi/Tanaka is one of the gnarliest double teams in wrasslin’ right now. ***
HAYATA, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu vs. YO-HEY, NOSAWA Rongai & Ikuto Hidaka
As random as the unit feels, Los Perros Del Mal seem to have completely revitalized NOAH’s tumultuous junior division. The heel work from NOSAWA’s new troupe was sharp as hell here – low on shenaniganz and high on clever double teams. I was getting Crazy MAX flashbacks from their cornerpost cheap shot into flying dropkick. The whole match was a blast, with Stinger feeling much lighter on their feet without Ogawa around. Yoshioka put in a jaw-dropping performance, very much looking like a guy who should still be GHC junior champion right now. The chemistry between him and YO-HEY was on another level and I’d be up for a singles match between the two any day. ***1/4
King Tany, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs. Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin
Pretty much the expected mix of old man comedy tropes and occasional display of shooty competence. Not sure what happened between Yone and Kashin, but the BattlARTS afroman wasn’t in a playful mood and caved in Kendo’s face for a large chunk of the match. Everything else was tailor made for the ol’ fast forward button. **
Daisuke Harada & Hajime Ohara © vs. Haoh & Tadasuke – GHC Jr. Tag Team Titles
The very definition of a show stealer. Three of the junior division’s finest and The Cleaner 2.0 Tadasuke doing their thing and melting some minds. This was the rare case of a match not adhering to any clear-cut structure and just winning you over with straight-up high-quality wrestling. There wasn’t any deliberate babyface in peril section or anything from the Southern tag playbook, just a whole bunch of impressive sequences and creative thinking.
Haoh and Ohara worked the crux of the match together and these two just might be a top 5 NOAH pairing. The build towards Haoh’s tilt-a-whirl DDT was pure genius and the action only got better when they hooked up for the craft-heavy ending stretch. Harada was at his usual high level and Tadasuke impressed with his well-timed contributions. I still can’t get over that Gory Special Bomb/Diving foot stomp combo. Brutal! Take these god damned stars. ALL FOUR OF THEM. ****
Masa Kitamiya, Yoshiki Inamura & Atsushi Kotoge v. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya
As far as overly-long NOAH 6-man tags go, this was way up there. I’ve touched on this in my review of their cage match, but the Agression storyline mirrors the AXIZ implosion in the best possible way. Every potentially-throwaway match now gets a shot in the arm if Nakajima and Kitamiya are across the ring from each other. Everyone went hard for a solid 20 minutes, embracing the signature NOAH physicality and leaning into the hatred.
Inamura/Soya had a test of strength worthy of Hogan/Warrior, Kenoh paid tribute to his mentor Jinsei Shinzaki with a gorgeous Mandara Hineri and Kotoge stepped up to the plate as the perennial underdog babyface. All killer/no filler was the name of the game (also the name of a very good Beastie Boys album). Honestly, the whole match could’ve sucked and I’d still stick to the same rating because of that brutal TAKAIWA BOMB finish. Soya knows the way to my heart. ***1/2
Keiji Muto & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Kotaro Suzuki
It’s 2021 and Keiji Muto keeps reinventing himself. He Moonsaulted his way to stardom in the 90’s and started a revolution in the early aughts with the Shining Wizard. Today, he does it again with a brand-new trick: collapsing out of the ring for 5 minutes as the crowd claps along to prevent heart failure. Watch and learn, indie wrestlers. This is how you get babyface sympathy. To be fair, there were solid parts to the match but my interest in a Muto/Ogawa dream team is at an all time low. In spite of the geriatric opposition, Kaito looked super motivated and brought back some of his tricky dragon screw counters from the first match with Muto. Also popped for Kotaro’s Tiger Driver. **3/4
Naomichi Marufuji © vs Takashi Sugiura – GHC Heavyweight Title
Considering how long the match went and how banged up Marufuji is, this was a bit of a miracle. They pulled off a big NOAH main event epic with all the bells and whistles – physicality, limb work subplots, floor spots and false finishes. I’ll forever be a sucker for this kind of match when it’s done right and this felt very right. Sure, a lot of it came down to Sugiura being one of the most reliable workers in wrestling, but this was also one of Maru’s best performances in ages.
The layouts for this type of long-form championship odyssey can get predictable if you watch a lot of them (matwork, limb work section A, dangerous spot sets up limb section B, etc.) and while this didn’t reinvent the wheel, I was impressed by their ability to keep things interesting for so long. Marufuji was flying around with double-jump Moonsaults and Sugiura did a bonkers THROUGH-THE-ROPES-SPEAR. There was always a hook to keep you on board during the slower sections.
A lot of the creativity on display took me by surprise, especially for such a worn-down pairing. The counters were sharp and looked even more realistic (ie: less rehearsed) due to both guys’ physical limitations. Case in point: Big Daddy Sugi snatching the front necklock out of Maru’s Perfect keylock attempt. Could not have been happier to see the Pole Shift Frosion make a return for the finale, as all of Marufuji’s knee strike variants work better as secondary finishers. Great stuff. ****1/4
How I Met Your Puroresu: S1 E11
How I Met Your Puroresu is a series dedicated to providing background information on matches in hopes of broadening horizons. These matches will be no longer than that of a sitcom as to not overwhelm a first time viewer.
Company: Pro Wrestling GLEAT
Match: Yu Iizuka vs Takuya Nomura
Match Type: UWF Rules
Length: 15 Minutes
Production Date: July 22, 2021
Air Date: July 22, 2021
What’s the style that first comes to mind when you read the name Big Japan Pro-Wrestling? Is it death match? A modern take on King’s Road via Daisuke Sekimoto or Yuji Okabayashi? It’s probably not a fast-paced junior style, although they deliver a slice of that as well. Maybe the first guy to come to mind is Takuya Nomura – a man dedicated to bringing an entirely different dynamic to the Big Japan scene.
Earlier this week, after going to a time limit draw in his challenge for the BJW Strong World Heavyweight Championship, Nomura stated that his goal is to bring the title scene back to the ways of his mentor and former champion, Hideki Suzuki. A practitioner of the catch as catch can style, Suzuki was trained by none other than Shigeo Miyato who in turn learned the ropes through Akira Maeda, a favorite of Nomura’s and the owner of the original UWF.
Although the original UWF had a run that lasted less than two years, it was rebranded Newborn UWF later in the decade. This time with Nobuhiko Takada standing alongside Maeda, Newborn folded at a similar rate. Maeda would go on to form Fighting Network RINGS while Takada would keep the UWF name, branding his company UWFi. This company would survive a pinch longer than the first two iterations and would become the place Kiyoshi Tamura became a star.
Starting in the worked-shoot vein of pro wrestling through UWFi, Tamura would work his way to legitimate MMA bouts in the Pride promotion. It wasn’t until early 2020 that his name returned to the wrestling world when it was announced he’d be part owner of Pro Wrestling GLEAT. The mission statement would be to split a card into two halves, one being traditional wrestling while the other incorporated the UWFi worked-shoot style.
Now with GLEAT looking for names in both the wrestling and MMA world, they’ve turned to a man with a similar goal of adding legitimacy to wrestling, Takuya Nomura. Just last month, Nomura faced off with Daichi Hashimoto, son of the legendary Shinya Hashimoto who worked a Tokyo Dome main event in an NJPW vs UWFi match against Nobuhiko Takada. The two brought a similar style match we’d seen between the two legends more than 25 years ago.
While Nomura isn’t an official member of GLEAT, his opponent, Yu Iizuka, is and he carries an equally impressive resume. Before signing with GLEAT, Iizuka was with Pro Wrestling HEAT UP, owned by Kazuhiro Tamura. Trained by Minoru Tanaka who started off in another UWF off-shoot promotion, Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi and later Fighting Investigation Team Battlarts, Kazuhiro Tamura continues to teach his students through shoot-style.
Since his signing with GLEAT, Iizuka has squared off in UWF rules matches (knock out or submission victories only; point system dictates the amount of rope breaks and knock downs you can sustain) against the aforementioned trainer of his trainer, Minoru Tanaka, and a UWF original, Masakatsu Funaki.
Last year Minoru Suzuki came to BJW to celebrate the final wrestling show to take place at the Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium where he had one of his first professional matches and he called out Nomura. Suzuki, a former member of the Newborn UWF, gave Nomura the largest profile match to this point in his career.
Yu Iizuka and Takuya Nomura both come into his match incredibly well-trained and battle tested. Each are currently in their mid 20s and are the perfect age to try and bring back a style that’s been sitting underground waiting for a revival.
Captain Lou’s Review: AJPW Summer Action Series 2021 (7/22/2021)
Takao Omori, Osamu Nishimura & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Jun Saito, Rei Saito & Ryoma Tsukamoto
This was Tsukamoto’s debut, so here’s a few notes on the lad. First of all, he has Akira Taue’s color scheme, so I already love him. Secondly, he was blessed with some Animal Hamaguchi Gym pre-training before hitting up the AJPW dojo, which gives him an unfair advantage over the Saito twins. Nishimura welcomed him to the world of professional wrestling by unloading about 128 European uppercuts on his ass and it was beautiful. There’s a likeable energy to the kid and he can throw a dropkick. That’s all you need at this stage. **
Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO vs. Ryuki Honda & Dan Tamura
Something’s happening with big-boned youngster Ryuki Honda. He’s been getting more spotlight than usual throughout this tour and picked up a clean win over rising star Aoyagi in this very pleasant midcard wrasslin’ match. With all of the heavyweight gaijin stars disappearing and Violence Giants getting increasingly banged up, All Japan need to refill their plate of chunky power fighters. If given the right push, Honda could be the guy to fill this void. He has the size and a Daisuke Sekimoto-esque deadlift German suplex to achieve beefy success. **3/4
TAJIRI, Yusuke Kodama & Hokuto Omori © vs. Yoshitatsu, Seigo Tachibana & Carbell Ito – AJPW 6-Man Tag Team Titles
Not much to write home about, but Tachibana taking center stage and scoring the upset was pretty cool. This guy’s sleazy schtick never fails to crack me up and his presence alone raises the world famous Yoshitatsu Kingdom to a whole new level. There was a fun dynamic between him and Hokuto here, young Omori leaning into the dickishness and Tachibana playing a competent babyface in peril. **1/4
Zeus & Izanagi © vs. El Lindaman & Issei Onitsuka – All-Asia Tag Team Titles
As much as I was looking forward to T-Hawk working with Zeus, his replacement sure made the most of the opportunity. Onitsuka showed up with his usual over-the-top energy and absolute balls of steel, getting into the Z-Man’s face right off the bat. Retribution was swift but the Strong Hearts spitfire still made some converts in Korakuen Hall thanks to his tenacity/stupidity. Although the match lost a bit of steam when the challengers went to work on Izanagi, the action picked right back up for the finish and ended things on a solid note. ***1/4
Kento Miyahara vs. Koji Iwamoto
Another rock-solid outing in Iwamoto’s current openweight graduation storyline. They essentially took the core interactions from the 2020 RWTL finals and built a singles match around them. Kento was in his usual cocky asshole mode and Iwamoto portrayed the pissed off underdog that will crush your face if you test his patience. Lots of no-selling dickery to fuel the fire. As with all Iwamoto babyface performances, you’re always left wanting a bit more emoting and personality – the kind of stuff that could truly elevate him in his war with heavyweights. That being said, the wrestling was on point and I dug the Shutdown German vs. Koko No Geijutsu battle that wrapped up the match. ***1/2
Suwama, King Tany & Hikaru Sato vs. Yuma Aoyagi, SUSHI & Takuya Wada – Atsuki Aoki Memorial Match
I never get tired of Big Wama stiffing the be-jeezus out of SUSHI. These two came up together during the Muto/AJPW era and even joined forces as the young boy team of the 2005 RWTL. Today, one of them is a multiple time Triple Crown champion and the company’s most respected star. The other is SUSHI. Anyway, making most of the match about King Tany’s new Funky Express schtick was a perplexing choice, but it did give us some hilarious Yuma reactions, so I won’t complain too much. **1/4
Francesco Akira © vs. SUGI – AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title
One hell of a high-flying showdown between two guys who can flip with the best of ‘em. SUGI was able to bounce off Akira’s natural babyface energy by leaning into a more heelish, veteran energy. The tiny masked terror doesn’t look like much, but he was pasting the champ with some hard shots during the early sections of the match. Let’s not pretend the match was a character-based masterpiece though – this was all about the spots and the spots looked tremendous. When it comes to aerial wackiness, Akira keeps raising the bar in every new match and he did a lot of cool new shit here (looking at you: springboard plancha of white-hot death). I would’ve cut a reverse Frankensteiner or two, but otherwise the ending stretch brought the excitement and SUGI was game enough to indulge all of the Italian Warrior’s Child nutty Spanish Fly fantasies. ***3/4
Jake Lee © vs. Shotaro Ashino
When Jake turned heel and started getting the big push, this is exactly the kind of match I was hoping he would have as Triple Crown champ. He took the laser focus of his 2020 Arm-Work Jake Lee gimmick and mashed it up with the present-day Dark Knight Jake Lee tropes to great effect. Putting the wrestling aside, he just feels like a different guy now – in the best possible way. From the gloomy tyrant entrance to the Castlevania villain outbursts, his character is on a whole new level.
Ashino was the perfect dance partner for this type of limb-heavy scenario. Ever the consummate babyface, he sold like a pro and once again won the crowd over with valiant comebacks. I rarely break out the FORENSIC ANALYSIS KIT when it comes to limb matches, but Ashino’s attention to detail truly deserves all the praise. The guy really went out of his way to only use the non-damaged arm and it added a ton of drama to their story.
The galaxy-brained moments came fast and furious during the back end of the match. Ashino eating a high kick but snatching on the ankle lock on the way down + Jake getting a massive near-fall off an ARM-TRAPPED Backdrop both popped the hell out of me. Whip-smart wrestling and satisfying character work all over the place. Here’s to a long rivalry between these two. ****
Performance Review – AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest Night 2 (7/21/21)
“He once stabbed his opponent in the jugular. He once robbed a bank with no mask on! Ladies and gentleman, labor number two… Nick freakin’ Gage!” – MJF
It was pretty obvious pro wrestling was holding back until they were in front of clapping hands but I did not expect so much to happen at once.
The best part is none of it has actually, like, happened – in the traditional sense.
But sometimes that’s the best thing about wrestling.
The World
So this is the world that probably has CM Punk and Bryan Danielson now, the one that already had so much going for it.
It’s the one where Paul Wight (the Big Show!) is hanging out on B-show commentary and Malakai Black just showed up a couple weeks ago, where Hikeulo is introduced as a legit championship contender and Nick Gage shows up as the second-best possible Chainsaw Charlie.
Along with teases of a punk made in Chicago, All Out in September seems headed towards Kenny Omega/Hangman Page and Chris Jericho/MJF. Andrade el Idolo got Chavo Guerrero as a mouthpiece and called out Death Triangle, Santana & Ortiz had more words with FTR, and maybe if AEW gets their shit together Britt Baker will have a good title defense.
One might say this will get “bloated” – I have before, maybe in this same review. But when you can accomplish all this and still have time for Sting and Orange Cassidy trading comedy kicks during a match, that is what you call momentum — and it’s pro wrestling’s currency.
Performance:4.5 / 5.0 (ABOUT TO POP)
The Wrestling
Besides the main event (which rocked), this was a week “whole greater than the sum of its parts” TV wrestling.
5 Labors of Jericho: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Spears – In 2021 but probably since Trump got elected, the best possible Jericho is the one that doesn’t try to wrestle and just embraces the out-of-shape bar fighter vibe. He tried to keep up with Spears before an awesome Judas Effect out of nowhere.
Frankie Kazarian vs. Doc Gallows – Gallows just trounced the Elite Hunter and it felt strange, like the worst possible Lashley/Kofi. Guess that is a lesson to not try and model your new badass persona off of Yoshitatsu.
Darby Allin w/ Sting vs. Wheeler Yuta w/ Best Friends – Wheeler Yuta impressed for the second week in a row as the Best Friends’ new workrate guy, while the babyface vs. babyface match is quickly becoming something AEW is very good at. Darby is so over that even if they weren’t it still would have worked.
AEW Women’s World Title: Britt Baker [c] vs. Nyla Rose – Britt Baker is basically a babyface in AEW just for how much she improved as a heel, while Nyla Rose – presumably the good guy – has Vickie Guerrero managing her. It’s so modern, but probably the most interesting thing about this. Their tournament match in March was a lot better.
Orange Cassidy vs. The Blade w/ The Bunny – Match #5 on the Dynamite setlist is quickly becoming the easiest to skip, even if it is usually your best shot at seeing a non-regular. This pretty easy layup of a comedy match ended up being a bunch of not-funny near falls.
Texas Death Match – IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Jon Moxley [c] vs. Lance Archer – They brawled, bled, and Archer used a fan as a weapon. For the second week in a row, AEW chose chaos for the main event. Archer finally winning a big match against MOX of all people was awesome too.
Performance:3.75 / 5.0 (MOSTLY REALLY GOOD)
The Entertainment
A lot of the fun in AEW last week came from just scrolling through Twitter, but Orange Cassidy trading kicks with Sting was peak pro wrestling and this show had so much tremendous weirdness from Nick Gage to Hikeulo to Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Jon Moxley had a kid like two months ago and is bleeding on television.
Miro and Team Taz dropped some good promos too, though with so many promos in the arena too the short bits between matches can sometimes get lost. What I am trying to say is we need less Don Callis and more Taz.
Performance:3.75 / 5.0 (ALSO REALLY GOOD)
My Favorite Things
The crowd loudly chants “1-2-3!” for Darby Allin’s win
Lance Archer finally wins a Big One
Orange Cassidy and Sting trade kicks
Room for Improvement
“The Women’s Division”
Tighten up the music cues!
Excalibur, please stop saying “hair’s breadth” – it sounds like hair’s breath
Happy Wrestling Land Power Rankings
Hangman Page (-)
Kenny Omega (-)
Darby Allin (4)
Miro (3)
MJF (NEW)
Jon Moxley (10)
Britt Baker (5)
Eddie Kingston (6)
The Young Bucks (7)
Cody Rhodes (9)
Performance Review: 80% [-]
Working Man’s WWE TV Review: 7/18/21 – 7/24/21
The people are back and so is JOHN CENA! Or is it John Cena is back and so are the people?
No… this time I think it’s the first one.
With people back there is plenty of stuff happening in WWE, some of it pretty cool too. Some of it’s stupid and counter-productive, too. But some of it is pretty damn cool.
WWE TV Recap (7/18/21 – 7/24/21)
Highlights:
John Cena challenges Roman Reigns (RAW 7/19/21)
Keith Lee vs. Bobby Lashley w/ MVP (RAW 7/19/21)
Drew McIntyre attacks Jinder Mahal with a chair (RAW 7/19/21)
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Austin Theory (NXT 7/20/21)
LA Knight forces Cameron Grimes to hit Drake Maverick (NXT 7/20/21)
John Cena in-ring promo (SmackDown 7/23/21)
Seth Rollins interrupts Edge (SmackDown 7/23/21)
Roman Reigns turns down John Cena and Finn Balor challenges Reigns (SmackDown 7/23/21)
Stuff Happening: Crowds Back, SummerSlam, Cena challenges Reigns, Keith Lee Returns, Goldberg challenges Lashley, Jeff Hardy beats Karrion Kross, Nikki A.S.H. wins RAW Women’s Title, Karrion Kross attacks William Regal, WALTER/Dragunov II Postponed, Big E wins MITB, Edge/Seth Rollins Feud, Toni Storm Debuts, Balor challenges Reigns
Good Work: John Cena, Keith Lee, Charlotte Flair, Cameron Grimes, Kyle O’Reilly, Laura di Matteo, Big E, Seth Rollins
RAW (7/19/21)
RAW took place less than twenty-four hours after the return of John Cena so it had that going for it, though they also treated it as a mini RAW after Mania and I was entertained.
PACKED arena.
John Cena is just the value statement of all this, an energy and clarity that makes it feel like wrestling has to exist.
Yes, give the people their 6-man tags: Viking Raiders/Riddle vs. AJ Styles/Omos/John Morrison was fun stuff with some high-quality banter from Miz and Morrison.
Jaxson Ryker, I still can’t believe it.
Charlotte Flair and I have had our ups and downs, but she crushed it this week.
24/7 Champion Reginald who does handspring backflips to avoid confrontation might have legs.
Drew McIntyre wearing all black with no theme music beating up foreigners… maybe they do want him to succeed.
Jeff Hardy got “No More Words” back and he beat the NXT Champion – like Cena, Hardy is a crowd man.
A PPV rematch with a DQ finish for the main event was very WWE, as was the make-good with Nikki A.S.H. cashing in Money in the Bank.
Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
NXT (7/20/21)
Between a main event cut short by injury and general low effort elsewhere, this was a forgettable night of Tuesday rasslin.
KUSHIDA/Bobby Fish vs. Roderick Strong/Tyler Rust re-affirmed all the boys can hook, baby. Diamond Mine should win a match though.
The Way is both a good time and appears headed for a break-up.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Austin Theory was unironically good TV wrestling. Kyle went back to is roots and Theory showed growth.
Odyssey Jones squashed Andre Chase to advance in the Breakout Tournament.
Imperium is still here without WALTER.
I thought the angle with LA Knight forcing Cameron Grimes to punch Drake Maverick was excellent, just quality old-school heat in 2021 at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
I also just realized I’ve been referring to LA Knight as “Eli Drake” for the past month on Happy Wrestling Land.
Samoa Joe was looking for Karrion Kross all show, presumably because he got chumped out so bad on RAW. When he found him, Kross had beaten up William Regal.
The build to… something… continues…
Rating: 2.75 / 5.0
MAIN EVENT (7/21/21)
Main Event has got crowds back and the original 205 Live roster and it’s still just nothing.
Angel Garza vs. Drew Gulak and Ricochet vs. Cedric Alexander were the matches this week.
Am I recommending them? Nope.
Rating: 2.75 / 5.0
NXT UK (7/22/21)
NXT UK was re-formatted to account for WALTER/Dragunov II being postponed (either due to injury or decision to push the match to TakeOver), though it wasn’t much better. Triple H, HBK and William Regal making the announcement may have been my favorite part. DX 2021 has the cool factor of a sales manager announcing someone quit and their accounts will be dispersed shortly.
Symbiosis and the Teoman gimmick may hit in a WMAC Masters kind of way. May.
Laura Di Matteo got a “great showing” against Nina Samuels.
Blair Davenport is already the WORST.
I’ll deny it if you say I told you but Supernova Sessions with Noam Dar is legitimately funny.
Joseph Conners doing Supernova Sessions then re-entering for a singles match right after was some real studio TV stuff, I loved it. The match wasn’t much.
Jordan Devlin and Moustache Mountain both did promos with the strangest lightning.
Pretty Deadly retained the NXT UK Tag Team Titles over Subculture in a main event of two teams at a crossroads, one trending upward and one re-inventing itself but both continuing to have the same match.
Rating: 2.5 / 5.0
SMACKDOWN (7/23/21)
It’s a few days later and I still can’t believe how bad WWE handled filming at the Rolling Loud festival. The middle of SmackDown was a sea of people in Miami waiting for Bobby Shmurda as WWE put on two matches they couldn’t even see, with matches worked and filmed as if they were back at the Performance Center and COVID just hit.
Other than that, OK show.
John Cena is just better at this – who else adds “pretty please” to a wrestling challenge?
Finn Balor squashing Sami Zayn (with a few twists) just hit different after a year of no crowds and both guys re-building themselves.
Big E – he’s over.
It’s a few days later and I still can’t believe how bad WWE handled filming at the Rolling Loud festival. A cool idea with comically corporate execution.
Edge and Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin – these are guys with good on-screen chemistry.
Toni Storm and Jimmy Uso won matches.
Roman Reigns rejected Cena’s challenge (along with a longform missionary sex metaphor) to end the show, though that was answered with a challenge from Finn Balor – one of those confrontations that is so logical and cool that WWE rarely does it. The people are back and so is the movement.
Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
205 LIVE (7/23/21)
205 Live continues to fulfill its’ contractual obligations.
Guru Raaj vs. Asher Hale and Jake Atlas vs. Ari Sterling were the matches this week.
There’s still talent here, but they’re working WWE stale style and the end game might just be a loss on NXT.
Rating: 2.0 / 5.0