We’re a little early this week, which might be better than being late. WrestleMania is tonight, and instead of having your Inbox waiting in suspense for two nights of THAT you are getting it right… now.
RIP DMX
This week:
DDT Chris Brookes Produce Show (4/4/21) - Captain Lou
Ganbare Pro Bad Communication (4/7/21) - Captain Lou
AEW Dynamite Performance Review (4/7/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night 1 (4/7/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night 2 (4/8/21) - Dum Dum Daniels
Working Man’s WWE TV Review (w/ NXT UK Prelude) - Dum Dum Daniels
Captain Lou’s Review: DDT Chris Brookes Produce Show 3 (4/4/2021)
‘’Danger & Pleasure Tour ‘96’’ is the actual name of this show and I respect it.
Chris Brookes © vs. Mecha Mummy – DDT Extreme Title
Very pleased to report that there’s been a big production upgrade since the last Brookes Produce. We can actually hear the commentary now! Also, this match ruled. Brookes has limits as a straight-up wrestler, but endless potential as a nerd with crazy ideas. I just can’t say no to a monster comedy match with an ominous David Lynch soundtrack.
They did a great job establishing the Mecha Mummy character early on (weak against water, unstoppable otherwise) and managed to spread out his wacky weapon spots just enough to keep the action engaging. Good use of Shota and Masa Takanashi in manager roles + brilliant finish that saw all of the best Mecha Mummy tropes come together in genius fashion. ***
MOKUJIN KEN saved Brookes from the heel beatdown and I instantly shed a tear of pure nerd happiness. Someone get Dean Rasmussen to review 2021 DDT. I am no longer qualified.
MEN’s Teioh, Makoto Oishi & Hagane Shinno vs. Yuki Ueno, MAO & Keigo Nakamura
I missed the initial MEN’s Club run, but judging by this lineup of characters, I’m going to guess it was a pretty good time. They went for the same Lucharesu nostalgia vibe as the Super Delfin 6-man from Kawasaki Strong and delivered high-flying fun for the whole family. Teioh looked sharp guiding the kids through his vintage sequences, including the always-classic HIPTOSS’O MATIC.
Clearly, everyone was having a blast trying their hand at the retro Michinoku Pro layout – ‘’Strongest Green Boy’’ Nakamura effortlessly hanging with the veterans and springboarding his way into your heart. Bonus points for having Shota on commentary to add some perspective to the MEN’s Club legacy. ***1/4
HARASHIMA vs. Baliyan Akki
Choco Pro ICON Baliyan Akki had a fun match with Takeshita on the last Brookes Produce and this was even better. A full-on Epic Structure with dueling limb work and late-stage fighting spirit forearm showdown is a tough sell in an empty arena setting, but I’ll be damned if these two didn’t pull it off. In large parts because HARASHIMA is such a pro at laying out generous matches for lower-ranked opponents while fully maintaining his Ace facade.
He knows when to sell and when to remind you who’s boss, which is the exact balance I want from my top wrestlers. If you need any more proof that the man just gets pro-wrestling, look no further than him saving Akki’s botched 450 by selling the legs to the stomach like white hot death. Lots of gnarly striking from both guys and a super satisfying ending stretch filled with callbacks to the earlier leg story. ***1/2
Captain Lou’s Review: Ganbare Pro Bad Communication 2021 (4/7/2021)
Shuichiro Katsumura & Shu Sakurai vs. Minoru Fujita & Yasu Urano
Man, Fujita and Urano are some kind of team. Midlife Crisis Midnight Express with a 2001 CZW esthetic except nowhere near as good as that sounds. The heel shortcuts are there but their drunken sleazebag offense is so low-intensity that you just can’t get behind anything they do. Katsumura and Sakurai were a decent pair of babyfaces but didn’t exactly light the world on fire either. Sakurai is quite passionate about early ROH 3-way spots. Also, love Ganbare but why is the hard cam set up always so bad on these Korakuen shows? **1/4
Meoka Haruhi & HARUKAZE vs. Miyuki Takase & Ayumi Hayashi
Waaaaay better! There was some actual energy to this thing and the action flew really well. I wasn’t familiar with anyone but HARUKAZE and everyone made a good first impression. Working boots were firmly ON, hard dropkicks and foot stomps were thrown and the Actwres girls brought the snappy team work. As much as I hate the Ganbare camera, their wonky setup nicely emphasized the Oooooh’s from the crowd during the very cool ending stretch. Other highlights: HARUKAZE’s Tifa Lockhart cosplay and the absolute Mother of all Muta Locks from Ayumi Hayashi. Fun fun fun. ***
Asuka, Hagane Shinno & Shinichiro Tominaga © vs. Shigehiro Irie, Yumehito Imanari & Yuna Manase – GWC 6-Man Tag Team Titles
GanPro are officially neck and neck with DDT when it comes to high-quality 6-man tag matches. This one didn’t quite reach the heights of the Twitter-conquering GWC defense from February, but it followed the same kind of bulletproof pattern – Yuna replacing HARUKAZE as the babyface in peril who got the shit kicked out of her by both Shinno and Asuka.
On the other side of the hot tag, the pace got cranked up to 11 and everyone started bombarding us with an endless amount of cool shit. Asuka once again stole the show with her sassy acrobatics and razor-sharp kicks, but the rest of the crew wasn’t too far behind. Even guys like Tominaga and Imanari stepped up and contributed a good amount. Wild action and imaginative sequences all over. ***1/2
Keisuke Ishii & Shota vs. Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata
The kind of wrestling match where you can both marvel at the flawess execution and nerd out about the relentless forward-thinking of all four guys. This is a crew that knows how to reward dorks who watch too much wrestling.
Stuff like Ishii/Ueno having a super indie standoff opening that DOESN’T end with a standoff but just flows into the next thing instead. Or Ueno absorbing the All Japan armdrag from his matches with Yusuke Okada. Or Ishii/Shunma putting together a ridiculously-compelling apron sequence in a world where apron sequences are overdone to death.
Ueno’s obviously on a WOTY-type roll, but the match peaked when Shunma and Ishii did their thing. Unreal chemistry between these two. All the big-time Shunma death bumps and rapid-fire counters that you NEED. One hell of a good time. ***3/4
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Koki Iwasaki
If you are into the Naohiro Hoshikawa school of leg selling philosophy, then here’s a match for you. I have no idea if raising up your leg during a bridge would actually cause you more or less pain then just doing the regular bridge, but it’s an undeniably cool visual and a fun callback to Hidaka’s ZERO-ONE matches with Hoshikawa himself.
Now that I’ve dropped all of my Deep Pure-O-Resew references, I will proceed to tell you that this match was GOOD. It took them a while to get to the core leg story and I’m not sure why they bothered with the whole neck detour, but these two are absolute pros and know how to turn borderline filler into watchable wrasslin’.
Most of all, ending the STOP THE HIDAKA run with an Iwasaki win is an extremely inspired choice. The guy is as underrated as it gets and his pinpoint striking brought this baby to another level. ***1/2
Takashi Sasaki vs. Ken Ohka – Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match
All the best death matches embrace simple wrestling themes at their core and you won’t find a better example than this one. Local hero/journeyman shlob Ken Ohka risking life and limb against hardcore veteran and straight-up dangerous dude Takashi Sasaki is a story anyone could get behind.
Despite all the nasty light tube shots and assorted murder bumps, they told that story in the most basic-ass pro-wrestling way. A beloved babyface trying (and failing) to overcome a monster heel in dramatic fashion. This sounds easy enough but this shit is not easy to pull off in the current COVID clap-only climate.
Having the entire Ganbare gang at ring-side added to the magic in a big way, especially since Sasaki was smart enough to play off of them and somehow turned himself into an even bigger dick. Meanwhile, Mr. Bad Communication stayed within his limits and played his part to perfection. He mostly got his ass handed to him, bled to death, sold a lot and brought the fight when he needed to.
They broke a shit-ton of light tubes and carved each other up real good, but the image that’ll forever stick with me is Ohka kicking out at 1 after that Superplex of pure death through the chairs. Your favorite cowboy rocker spitting in the face of adversity. For his Ganbare boys and girls. ****1/2
Performance Review – AEW Dynamite (4/7/21)
“The win-loss ranking system is utter bullshit! Championship matches should NOT be based off wins and losses.”
Mike Tyson was here and Britt Baker has taken issue with the win-loss rankings system. Those were the only fun parts and based on the last few months that is strange to me.
The World
Last week’s Dynamite had three great angles: The Nightmare Factory split in two, The Inner Circle got revenge, and both Kris Statlander and Trent (with Sue) saved the day. Last week’s Dynamite also had Kenny & The Bucks’ drama take a backseat, while this week the drama got the main event and all three angles got weak follow-ups. What the heck, man?
Inner Circle followed up their revenge with Jericho cracking wise; Best Friends followed up on theirs recalling a show from five months ago. Both felt less like last week’s renegade cool cats and more just employees going along with the show like those dorks at WWE. Why did the camera have to zoom in on Sammy and Santana force-laughing at Jericho’s jokes? Someone made a choice to do that.
With the Rhodes Family off this week recovering, QT Marshall‘s follow-up promo and intro to his three students was OK but felt more like a marketing pitch package than the violent psychopaths they were last week.
It was just a weird shift in vibes all over, especially glaring when the vibes last week were so good and not much else is really hitting. Like, I really like Darby Allin – does he necessarily need that TNT Title right now?
Then it ended with another edition of Matt Jackson Shows Emotions.
Performance:2.5 / 5.0 (JUST SOLID)
The Wrestling
This week didn’t speak to me in-ring either, though everything besides the Jurassic Express/Bear Country match was Kind Of Good. That tag was as all over the place as that movie!
Hangman Page beat Max Caster to open the show in a match of guys I dig who I wish were still on the trajectories they seemed to be just a few months ago.
JD Drake had a go at Darby Allin‘s TNT Title and got showcased well enough, though was probably on the weaker end of Darby’s title matches. Tay Conti vs. Allie was a fine sprint (plus picture-in-picture); so was Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs. Jon Moxley & The Young Bucks.
Performance:2.5 / 5.0 (JUST SOLID)
The Entertainment
What we had planned tonight, folks, was Mike Tyson and EXPLANATORY PROMOS!!!
Promo guys are at least good. Usually. Sting, Jake Roberts, Britt Baker, Red Velvet – legends of this sport.
A Tyson/Jericho forgiveness angle kind of seemed weird to shove into this whole thing with The Pinnacle, but it was a rare moment on this show that maintained a charm in its’ ridiculousness.
I just prefer when I am entertained by the wrestling and not asking questions. Too many questions this week, like: when is Hangman Page going to pull himself together? Why did Jericho’s guys have to look like chumps? Why wasn’t the vaguely true “Cody surrounds himself with vanilla midgets to look like a star” line saved for someone who isn’t QT Marshall, who doesn’t already have such a history with Cody that they don’t need that line?
What is the balance between subtlety and stupidity, and why does The Elite always go with the latter?
I can mess with Christian vs. Team Taz though.
Performance:3.0 / 5.0 (JUST GOOD)
Room for Improvement
Relax.
Focus.
Do better next time.
My Favorite Things
Santana’s whole look right now
Jon Moxley does a dive with The Young Bucks
Dark Order’s -1 hugs Tay Conti
Performance Review: 53% [-32%]
Happy Thoughts – NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver Night 1 (4/7/21)
Radio’s Sam Roberts and MMA’s Jimmy Smith hosted the Pre-Show with a call-in from Arash Markazi, host of the Arash Markazi Show on The Mightier 1090 — just seems bad for morale when it already seems bad, you know? Markazi didn’t really seem to get the balance between promotion and just lying either.
Hello. These are Happy Thoughts.
0. Zoey Stark vs. Toni Storm
Remember when Toni Storm turned heel, lost in a Triple Threat for the Women’s Title, then did nothing? Man. Memories. This was a match that understood its limitations, a tight solid match that didn’t really get bumping but didn’t necessarily need to. The thing about Zoey Stark is pretty much all her offense looks great so the match had a lot of that, which Toni Storm was there for. Zoey getting the win with an inside cradle was a genuine surprise too. ***
Counterfeit USA chants, bolts of lightning, Vic Joseph – welcome to WWE’s NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver – Night One.
1. KUSHIDA vs. Pete Dunne
KUSHIDA and Pete Dunne are both good technical wrestlers (whatever that means), but it’s the extra — whether Dunne playing bastard on the rise or KUSHIDA a time-traveling underdog — that makes them really work. So it’s weird that this was only promoted as a match between two of the best technical wrestlers on the planet that would surely be the best technical match all year. What do you even do with that?
A lot, or at least they tried. There was a ton of cool wrestling, some annoying wrestling. Tons of nasty strikes and counters of counters usually focused on a man’s limb. The last 5 minutes felt like they got to a point where they could go balls out and try to put it over the top or keep it close for something in the future — think they kept it close. It felt more about them proving they’re good at wrestling than actually good wrestling sometimes, but adaptation to WWE’s weirdness aside these two are very enjoyable to watch. ***1/2
2. NXT North American Title #1 Contender Gauntlet Eliminator: Dexter Lumis vs. Bronson Reed vs. Leon Ruff vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. LA Knight
Look, this is a 6-person Gauntlet Match with NXT’s midcard, which is just perennially strange. The Leon Ruff/Swerve Scott exchanges were tremendous, especially Ruff’s big frankensteiner and that time Swerve just chucked him into the corner. Hate to report I liked LA Knight’s promo on the way to the ring too. Otherwise, a showcase of wrestling if not any one person — even Bronson Reed, the winner. ***
3. NXT UK Title: WALTER [c] vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Always appreciate WALTER showing up every now and again to have one of the best matches of all time. His championship matches maintain a pro wrestling realism WWE can’t manage right now anywhere else, and it starts at the bell when the first few minutes feel like real legitimate jockeying for position: Ciampa wants a way in but can’t just lockup; WALTER knows he’s scary but isn’t afraid to take his time. The first real moment of the match happens after Ciampa avoids a few chops, has a quick go at WALTER, then gets too into it and charges into a chop. He is AGONIZED.
Ciampa had Goldberg vibes going here, and by that I mean old man who psychotically trained up for this one match and he’s just wildly throwing his biggest shots in pursuit of victory. Ciampa’s also way more mobile than Goldberg, so it really really worked. WALTER played a great and occasionally menacing brick wall as Ciampa played guy who is going to try and run through him again and again.
A win for Ciampa always felt impossible, but they managed a few wild near falls as both guys’ showed all possible urgency before and after kickout. Ciampa delivering an Air Raid Crash to WALTER off the top rope was a special thing too. Great wrestling match, great character match, great championship match. ****1/2
4. Triple Threat Match – NXT Tag Team Title: MSK vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Legado del Fantasma
I thought MSK vs. The Grizzled Young Vets at the last TakeOver was just fantastic, but wasn’t sure if another team and the dreaded Triple Threat Match would do anything but muddy up a good thing. And I mean, it kind of did – but it was still really good.
This wasn’t the good solid bordering on great straight-up tag the last one was, but MSK are a special pair of flyers and it was impressive how seamlessly the Grizzled Young Vets played along with 3-way match spots when they’re such … well, you know. Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde have always just ruled too, so it was nice to see them in the big TakeOver match spot. Hated the try-hard #DIY/Revival hand-holding spot near the end, but everything else was a good time. ***1/2
5. NXT Women’s Title: Io Shirai [c] vs. Raquel Gonzalez
This probably isn’t the best match of Io Shirai’s title run but it’s really a masterpiece performance from her, a PPV main event that put over a newcomer and saw her space out and deliver the most amazing tope suicida, code red, moonsault to floor, and dive off the TakeOver set you ever may see. Gonzalez was game, but sometimes with her it still feels more about The Journey to become a successful WWE Superstar than actually being a threat to Shirai.
But Shirai, man. Shirai. Shirai is a legend folks, and we are blessed to watch her do her thing. ***3/4
Happy Thoughts: TakeOver’s Night 1 read like the weaker of the two on paper, and maybe it still will be. But everything was really good, and in some cases downright incredible. A show that over(stand and)-delivered. 4.25 / 5.0
Happy Thoughts – NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver Night 2 (4/8/21)
Appreciated Samoa Joe being the guy to suddenly provide the two main events actual backstory after months and months of NXT TV by just interviewing the people in the matches before the show.
1. NXT Tag Team Title #1 Contender Match: Breezango vs. Killian Dain & Drake Maverick
I’ll say this: the Peacock fast-forward/rewind capability whether on TV or mobile is way better than the WWE Network’s, though there is also the fact that the WWE Network probably gave up on any interface upgrade projects a couple years ago. Anyways, this was a ** tag match that I am docking a quarter of a star because of how everybody — Drake Maverick included — played up Drake Maverick doing Fandango’s hip swivel. Dain/Maverick vs. MSK, there’s a match we want to see. *3/4
1. Ladder Match – Undisputed NXT Cruiserweight Title: Jordan Devlin vs. Santos Escobar
I liked the approach to this if not the whole thing itself, a match where they rarely wavered in wanting to hurt each other. Devlin seemed a little more concerned with the grace of his moonsaults than kicking ass sometimes, but only sometimes. The wrestling was solid, and the ladder spots were more purposeful and less about CREATIVITY! – though sometimes they were about that too. Good effort, so-so as far as standing out from all the other ladder matches… or even probably needing to be a ladder match. ***1/4
2. NXT Women’s Tag Team Title: Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart [c] vs. Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell
If I can push my spectacles up for a second, these teams had a pair of good matches back-to-back on the 2/10 and 2/17 NXT’s, with Ember & Shotzi’s Dusty Classic (and by proxy NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles) win in between at TakeOver: Vengeance Day. I liked those and I liked this too, but I wish this title match felt like a cut above and it just didn’t. Still has a mental Shotzi dive to the outside. Also has Ember Moon dancing and yelling “SUCK IT” on a comeback. So, yeah. ***
3. NXT North American Title: Johnny Gargano [c] w/ Austin Theory vs. Bronson Reed
I want Bronson Reed to work, but his first match of real note being getting his ribs worked over by Little Johnny Gargano in the confinements of a Good TakeOver Dream Match is another strange bump on the road. I’ve come around on Johnny the heel character, but Johnny the heel wrestler just feels like he’s wrestling the wrong match sometimes. That’s on my own weirdo expectations, but I watch this lifeless 15 or so minute attempt at an exciting match from two capable professionals and wonder what’s going on. I mean they blew a few spots too, but there were way more issues here. **1/2
4. NXT Title: Finn Balor [c] vs. Karrion Kross w/ Scarlett
A dread overcomes me as the prophecy foretold one year ago comes true, the warning after new NXT Champion Karrion Kross went down with injury that the year ahead would simply just be killing time week after week until NXT could get back to where it was then: NXT Champion Karrion Kross. Match felt like the mechanical execution of a team project deliverable with a toxic teammate. *1/2
5. Unsanctioned Match: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole
Every wrestler in WWE has had to adapt to whatever uhhh THIS has been, a live audience exchanged for silent fans on screens or a few rows of people in masks and WWE merchandise. The best ones found ways around it, whether a credibility in their work or finding a void to fill or just being so spectacular it’s undeniable.
Of course, WWE hasn’t adapted themselves — that’s not in the business model, bay-bee! You can tell because of how often they stubbornly go back to the stuff they’ve deemed reliable even if that stuff keeps proving it isn’t: for instance, the big long feud-ending gimmick match that is just kind of a bunch of stuff.
One could say this ADHD generation just can’t pay attention to a 40-minute piece of business like this; one could also say that all that generation is yearning for is a reason to be roped in and focus. One might ALSO say that generation is in the match and just isn’t the greatest at using all this time.
I saw chairs, chains, a general commitment to kicking each other’s ass and looking menacing doing it. I saw a crazy man get kneed in the face as he sat in a chair that collapsed into another chair. I saw quality selling by wrestlers surrounded by the usual sales pitch from WWE. I may not agree with Kyle O’Reilly’s style choices, but I sure enjoy watching him wrestle. Don’t think I like watching him wrestle in what at this point I can only describe as WWE’s “look kid, you’re a star!” style though. ***
Happy Thoughts: This show somehow peaked at the opener, a pretty good Ladder Match — and then it ended with a big set piece that wasn’t a show-saver. Stand & Deliver Night 2 is lucky Night 1 exists. 1.75 / 5.0
Working Man’s WWE TV Review: 4/4/21 – 4/10/21 (WrestleMania Week)
Tonight is WrestleMania, though Sunday night is too. Thanks to years of refined hype and even after a year (years) of passionate attempts to claw it away, the week before usually gets its’ shit together and brings the pro wrestling fan to a place of pro wrestling excitement.
I’m almost there.
Working Man’s Recap
Good Work (WrestleMania Employee of the Week Edition): 1) WALTER, 2) Io Shirai, 3) Sasha Banks, 4) Roman Reigns, 5) Daniel Bryan, 6) Big E, 7) Bianca Belair, 8) Zoey Stark, 9) MSK, 10) Tommaso Ciampa
World: WrestleMania Week, WALTER World Domination, RAW’s Gimmick-Led Angles vs. SmackDown’s Wrestler-Led Angles
Wrestling: Pretty much every match on TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night 1 and NXT UK Prelude
Entertainment: Samoa Joe does TakeOver Pre-Show interviews, Daniel Bryan, Edge, Bianca Belair, Sasha Banks and Big E go-home promos (SmackDown 4/9/21)
RAW (4/5/21)
They crossed all the things off the Mania To Do List, but RAW’s list suuuucks.
Boring Drew McIntyre opened the show arguing with Bobby Lashley (The Champ) then closed it wrestling King Corbin for 20 minutes. It was actually kind of good. Corbin tried MMA stuff. Best part of the show.
Braun Strowman cut a big anti-bullying promo, but it’s too late to make the Shane McMahon feud not the worst. Miz & Morrison messed up Bad Bunny‘s car, so now it’s a tag match at WrestleMania. Omos got tricked and AJ Styles got pinned, all on their way to challenge The New Day for the Tag Team Titles.
Someone flipped a switch and now Riddle is making over-the-top weed jokes and has rainbow-colored CGI doves that fly all over the screen as he enters the ring. Still isn’t hitting; can’t say it does much for the Sheamus match either.
Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler got interrupted by their ten challengers after wrestling Asuka & Rhea Ripley, who tried to co-exist just days before their blah blah blah…
Rating:1.0 / 5.0
NXT TAKEOVER: STAND & DELIVER (4/7/21 & 4/8/21)
TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night 1 seemed like the weaker one on paper, maybe not by quality but possibility. Everything more than delivered though, and sometimes on a wrestling-heavy show all you need is good wrestling.
WALTER/Tommaso Ciampa was another epic and unique NXT UK Title defense, Io Shirai closed the show with a masterful performance against Raquel Gonzalez, and MSK made a Triple Threat Match kind of work. Even the Pre-Show Zoey Stark/Toni Storm match was good.
Night 2 is lucky Night 1 exists. The Ladder Match opener and Women’s Tag Titles matches were good, but lacking. Gargano/Reed and Balor/Kross were just bad. And then there was the Adam Cole/Kyle O’Reilly experiment. I had thoughts about it in the Happy Thoughts.
NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver didn’t get me any more or less excited about NXT, but Night 1 had some pro wrestling I really enjoyed. Night 2 you might want to skip. Call it in the middle.
Rating:3.0 / 5.0
MAIN EVENT (4/7/21)
The Main Event Crew continued riding the clown car to WrestleMania: Mansoor beat Drew Gulak out of nowhere with a really cool leg-trap rollup, then Lucha House Party and the random team of Angel Garza & Akira Tozawa kind of tore it up for a few minutes. I need Metalik vs. Garza in front of a big crowd stat.
Rating:2.5 / 5.0
NXT UK PRELUDE (4/8/21)
This week’s NXT UK had the normal one-hour runtime, but it seems that a few weeks ago someone realized it was airing prior to TakeOver Night 2 so it was given the name NXT UK Prelude and off to work went the NXT UK office on putting together a 3-match card. They ended up with what was by default a top 2 or 3 episode of NXT UK because sometimes on a wrestling-heavy show all you need is good wrestling.
Time was still allotted for the Earlier this Week promos too: Andrews & Webster, Dragunov, Piper Niven, Jack Starz, Jordan Devlin, Amir Jordan, Kenny Williams.. all of them got to kind of sort of move their thing along.
Tyler Bate vs. Noam Dar (with Sha Samuels now) for a shot at the Heritage Cup was all psychologically sound and whatnot, Bate getting the first pin right away off a flash cradle and then both guys targeting each other’s legs which was a theme they used to jockey for control all match — including when Dar caught Bate’s rope-rebound thing with a legbar to get a fall. One of the rounds ran out during an airplane spin and Bate just absolutely nails a koppou kick – fun wrestling.
Meiko Satomura/Millie McKenzie vs. Kay Lee Ray/Isla Dawn was twenty steps ahead of any random high-flying tag the NXT UK dudes have put on, just a serious bunch of wrestling that will help re-energize the whole division. Looks like Aoife Valkyrie may help with that too.
WALTER went back-to-back great matches this week, first the epic with Ciampa and here something completely different as Rampage Brown was treated like an equal and tossing WALTER around right away. They had a pretty straightforward slugfest as the tension built and it eventually became a matter of Rampage kicking out again and again, putting WALTER in a pretty weird freakin’ position. It overstayed its welcome a little as Nigel McGuinness screamed about Kobashi/Misawa, but Rampage did throw one particular lariat that would make Kobashi proud.
Rating:4.5 / 5.0
WRESTLEMANIA SMACKDOWN (4/9/21)
Alright: I’m fired up, baby. Like RAW, SmackDown checked off the Mania To Do List but their list is pretty great.
Daniel Bryan, Edge, and Roman Reigns took us home with three excellent promos: Bryan’s intensity, Edge’s emotion, Roman’s disgust that he even had to do one. Rarely is the tone so on point, especially three for three.
Big E took us home, ready to kick Apollo Crews‘ ass in Tampa Bay. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks took us home, especially Sasha who has basically become The Rock.
Rollins/Cesaro just got a video. What else is there to say!?
The matches weren’t much, a couple bummer WrestleMania Kickoff matches. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode retained the Tag Titles in a Fatal 4-Way against three way more interesting teams, one of them Rey & Dominik Mysterio who not only got bumped from WrestleMania but didn’t even get to enter together because the match started with a brawl. Real father-son character building stuff.
The Andre the Giant Battle Royal was more forgettable than ever before, though Jey Uso was a good pick to win. I guess there was a Nia Jax/Tamina match too. Why does everybody have to always be brawling??
Fired up.
Rating:4.0 / 5.0
205 LIVE (4/9/21)
It’s a busy week, who has time for a fresh 205 Live!? Nigel McGuinness got the call to host a look back at three quality Cruiserweight Title matches: Cedric Alexander/Mustafa Ali at WrestleMania 34, Buddy Murphy/Tony Nese at WrestleMania 35, and Santos Escobar/Isaiah “Swerve” Scott at TakeOver 31.
Rating:2.0 / 5.0