WWE Friday Night Smackdown 6/25/2021

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 6/25/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/wwe-friday-night-smackdown-6182021.html

Heyman talked to Roman in the back, saying the Mysterio's are acknowleding their tribal chief from their hospital beds. Jimmy Uso came in and said Jey isn't coming tonight and won't be coming back. Roman wasn't happy about this. Jimmy said he would be here for Jey instead tonight. Roman didn't buy that Jimmy could do as well as Jey does for him and Roman told him to prove it.

Bianca came out to talk and was happy at the chants she was getting...of course she didn't seem to notice that they were piped in. Bianca says she can't stop polishing her title. She talked about the title being a symbol of how she beat her bully in Bayley. This wasn't a good babyface promo at all.

Seth Rollins came out and said he overcame adversity too at HIAC by the haters and trolls. Seth called Bianca's win a fluke. Bianca asked why he wanted a high five even though they are facing each other tonight and Seth said because she will be too beaten up to do it after. Bayley came out. She said Bianca's win was a fluke too and called her Bianca Beloser. Bianca then nailed her and Bayley made a comeback. Cesaro then came down and fought with Rollins. Cesaro and Bayley cleared out their opponents then Cesaro swung Bianca into a dropkick on Bayley.

Cesaro and Bianca Belair vs Seth Rollins and Bayley

Rollins came off the buckles and was caught with a backbreaker by Cesaro. Seth ended up hanging over the middle rope to the outsid eand Cesaro jumped up to euro uppercut him. Seth then hit a bad slingblade and a running kick to the back. Bianca got in and pounded on Bayley and hit a back and rib breaker before hitting a standing moonsault.

Bianca ended up getting her neck dropped over the rail and was pushed face first into the post. We went to break and returned. Cesaro got some offense in outside then did a crossbody off the top. Cesaro put Seth in the giant swing and hit a springboard corkscrew uppercut for 2. Cesaro caught Bayley and took a forearm for it, then took a spinning forearm to the back of the head.

Bayley got tagged in when she didn't expect it and was hiptossed in. Seth then got pushed off the apron into a Cesaro euro. Seth prevented a Bianca KOD. Bayley then did her move where she drove Bianca's shoulder into the mat for the win.

This was a mess with the men and women trying hard not to tbe break the rules and the constant tags ruining any flow.

Jimmy Uso talked to Paul in the back. He didn't get what Roman needed proof of. Paul called him "Main Event" Jimmy Uso and told Jimmy to win a match tonight. Jimmy told Paul to find him a match tonight and Paul warned him that there could be problems if he doesn't win.

We had a coronation of Shinsuke Nakamura after he beat King Corbin last week. Boogz did an intro for Nakamura. Nakamura came out in all white. Boogz played guitar for Nakamura as he posed and Pat McAfee got on the desk and threw around water. King Corbin was seen watching on. They tried to interview him but it was hard to hear any of it except him saying "what's the point?". Pearce and Sonya were seen doing air guitar to this.

Seth came up to Pearce and Sonya. Rollins said he wanted to challenge for Roman's title. He said nobody on the roster deserved the shot more than him. Pearce and Sonya said they would consider it.

They showed clips of Otis beating up the Street Profits.

Money in the Bank Qualifier - Apollo Crews with Commander Azeez vs Big E

The feud that never ends continues on. They had a close up shot of E spreading his legs while on the middle buckle that I could have done without.

E hit a big shoulder that nailed Crews in the face hard to start. Crews hit a death valley driver on E on the apron before we went to break.

We came back and Crews hit a big dropkick. Crews worked a chinlock and did Rick Rude gyrations over E. E caught him though and hit a belly to belly. Crews countered a uranage then hit some german suplexes on E.

E put Crews in a standing stretch muffler and Azeez helped Crews get to the ropes. The fought up top and Crews hit a top rope frogsplash then a straightjacket german for 2. They went to the floor and Crews took a uranage on the floor. Azeez pushed E into the rails and the ref threw him out. Crews tried a roll up but E hit the big ending for the win. They did too much here and I didn't like apron and floor moves not counting much towards the finish. I'm also not sure why Crews wasn't DQ'd for Azeez interfering. E said this was over after and said he is getting back on track. I wish this was over.

Sami Zayn was interviewed. Sami said he sees the world as just having a bunch of random chaos. Zayn said he is the messenger of the machine of cosmic justice to stop some of the chaos. Sami was asked about his MITB qualifier against Owens and didn't get why they had to fight since he beat Owens. Sami accused the interviewer of being in on the conspiracy and said now, they are messing with the cosmos.

Sami went to talk to Adam Pearce. He said he should just be put in MITB and given the contract. Pearce announced the match with Owens would be a last man standing match. Sami said Pearce is playing a dangerous game with karma.

Sonya Deville came out to talk about the competitors for the Women's MITB. She introduced Carmella as one of the competitors. Why the women get automatic entry and the men don't wasn't explained. Carmella complained that she wasn't introduced correctly, then Liv Morgan came out. Liv rightfully complained that Carmella shouldn't get in automatically. She also brought up how she beat her and would then belong in there more than Carmella does. Carmella says MITB is for the real stars. They ended up getting into it. Sonya then said Liv needs to beat Carmella to get into MITB. This was a stupid segment. Carmella gets in for unknown reasons yet Liv has to beat Carmella to get in even though she did so last week. Liv calling attention to her beating Carmella also hurt this as I had forgotten about it.

Liv Morgan vs Carmella

This started after the break. They were fighting outside. Sonya watched from the outside and Carmella insisted Cole talk about how beautiful she is. Liv pushed Carmella face first into the buckles and took a hard superkick. Natalya and Tamina watched from the back.

Carmella started slapping around Liv then Liv hit her bounce off the 2nd rope flatliner. Carmella stiffed Liv with a forearm then superkicked her while she sat on top. Carmella hurricanrana'd her from up there and Liv rolled through it for the win. Carmella was really stiff here and this result made Sonya putting Carmella in MITB look more stupid.

Carmella made the announcer say she was still the most beautiful woman in the world after.

Jimmy Uso was interviewed. He said the pressure is on and he wants to go right through it. Jimmy said he dedicates this win to the family.

Jimmy Uso vs Dolph Ziggler

They went at it early and Uso hit an enzugiri. DZ hit a nice dropkick and an elbow drop. DZ took a hard bump over the top. Uso went to dive on him but he moved and then he nailed Roode instead. DZ then hit a zig zag on Uso on the steps. Uso hit the corner of the steps and that had to hurt.

We went to break and returned with Jimmy not being out of it. Dolph hit another zig zag. They traded shots and Uso won it out of nowhere with a superkick. The match should have ended with the zig zag on the steps. Everything after it was kind of messy and the finish stunk.

Paul and Roman watched from the back and Jimmy went up to him and celebrated. Roman left and Paul said something to Jimmy but it was too hard to hear.

Roman and Heyman took forever to come out. Paul talked about all the people Roman beat. Paul said Roman has wiped out the entire division and said there is no one left. Edge then came out and everyone was shocked. Well, except for production who had fireworks for his entrance set up.

Edge went after Roman and clotheslined him off the apron. He then bashed Roman's head off the announcer's table. Roman hit a superman punch though. He went to get a chair and was speared. Edge went for a conchairto and Jimmy Uso made the save, beating up Edge. Edge did a comeback though and speared Uso through the barricade, which is a spot we have seen too much of lately. Roman and Heyman then escaped. Edge then yelled at the camera asking where Roman is at while Roman was on the stage....

We're going to need some explanation on why Edge is mad at Roman here.

Overall thoughts: Not a good episode of SD. It was light on everything here. The Carmella/Liv segment didn't make any sense, the endless rematches weren't entertaining and Edge coming back is going to have to be explained.

WWE 205 Live 6/18/2021

WWE 205 Live 6/18/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/wwe-205-live-6112021.html

Asher Hale vs Grayson Waller

Waller comes out with a drink called "Grayson Hydration" which looks like a gatorade bottle.

They go to the mat early then trade slaps. GW bangs Hale's head off the floor on the outside after teasing a dive. Waller gets his leg swept on the apron then Hale runs the apron and knee's him.

GW knocks Hale off the top then grounds and pounds him. Nigel says the other announcer is calling GW a liar so GW yells at him. GW then walks the 2nd rope into an elbow. Hale gets put in tree of woe and GW does some forward flips into the corner at him only to put his foot on Hale's jaw. GW then jumping side kicks him for 2. Hale comes back with a kick flurry and high exploders him.

Hale comes off the 2nd buckle with a forearm then does Nagisa Nozaki's reverse axe kick. GW is outside and jumps over the bottom rope into a roll and a cutter but Hale stops it. GW then tries it again and cutters him, then does a footstomp from behind for the win. This was one of the better matches I've seen on 205 Live. These two work really well together and Waller has the potential to maybe do something in WWE.

GW teases a handshake but slaps Hale after.

August Grey gets a rare promo backstage. He says he is moving on from Ariya Daivari then Ariya comes in. Ariya says this isn't over. He says it is over when he says it is over. Ariya says Nese is going to beat up Grey's friend Jiro tonight and says he will be out there. Grey asks if he thinks Nese can win it on his own? Ariya says he can and Grey invites Ariya to watch it backstage with him.

We get a recap of Baxter vs Kushida from NXT.

Ikemen Jiro vs Tony Nese

Jiro takes him to the mat early. He kips up from a shoulder and Nese pulls him down via his jacket. Nese shoulders Jiro and Jiro kips up again. Jiro takes a hard shot to the throat and goes outside, where Nese pounds on him.

Nese puts his own jacket on and does Jiro poses, then does a forearm his hand in the pocket. They trade forearms on the ground then Jiro puts Nese's jacket over Nese's head. Jiro hits some jacket assisted shots and hits a great swanton. Nese comes back with a spin kick to the face for 2.

They go outside and Jiro messes up a headstand on the apron but does hurricanrana's Nese's head into the apron. Nese catches Jiro up top with a shotei then hurricanrana's him down for 2.

Jiro superkicks a seated Nese in the face then does a running gamengiri type of kick to win. This was decent up until the end when Jiro botched his move. The finish just didn't fit in here and brought down this one.

Overall thoughts: Not a bad episode of 205 Live with a rare promo, one good match and one match that had some good parts to it.

Stardom Tokyo Dream Cinderella Special Edition 5/12/2021 - Utami Hayashishita vs Syuri

Stardom Tokyo Dream Cinderella Special Edition 5/12/2021 - Utami Hayashishita vs Syuri 

My hand was forced into reviewing this after another overhyped Dave Meltzer rating.

The first 15 minutes were pretty much a waste of time that didn't lead to much of anything. They teased working the arm and leg.

Syuri did a back bump onto the floor from the apron and took an air raid crash on the apron after 20 minutes then Syuri botched a headscissors on the floor. Syuri then took a nasty wheelbarrow german on the apron edge which was a dangerous spot that should have ended the match. Syuri got right back up though 20 seconds later and kicked out of a top rope dropkick from Utami. Syuri hit a sloppy tornado ddt after that and tried another armbar.

They started counting down the time early here and the announcers made it very obvious that the time was going to play a facto here. Syuri then was sitting on the top rope and was german suplexed. Syuri no sold it and then traded slaps with Utami seconds later. Syuri then takes a schwein and is as good as new 15 seconds later. They go to a draw and like a moron, Utami decides to continue this instead of going home and getting the easy defense.

They announce more time and they flurry each other with forearms. Utami gets lawn darted into the buckle then planted with a DDT for 2. Syuri then goes for the armbar again. Utami hits a bounce back german then starts slapping her and Syuri returns fire. They trade forearms and then Syuri puts her in a deem stretch muffler at 35 minutes. Syuri hits a stiff straightjacket sitout powerbomb for 2.

They go up top and Syuri hammerlock suplexes her up there and then hammerlocks her but Utami hits the ropes. Utami comes right back up soon after and germans her then spinning torture rack bombs her for 2. Syuri comes back and armbars her and Utami hits the ropes. Syuri hits an emerald flowsion on Utami's head at 40 minutes but Syuri kicks out at 2. Syuri gets her kick blocked and is powerbombed. Utami then hits the spinning razor's edge and Syuri hits the ropes. Utami hits some bolo punches and they trade strikes.

They then GO TO ANOTHER DRAW as neither girl gets up in time for the ten count and that's it. Total bs finish here. Does Utami not want to fight anymore now after wanting to extend it earlier?

Overall thoughts: The early part of the match was a waste of time. They telegraphed the 30 minute time limit draw. There was little selling here and rating this so high with that ending really doesn't seem right at all. Why would Utami not extend this after doing so at 30 minutes? She wanted to prove something by continuing it, right? I liked the strike exchanges and I wish they would have focused more on that instead of the other stuff. It was better than I expected and despite the length, the match didn't drag as I expected. I'm not seeing anywhere even close to 5 1/2 stars on this though.

AEW Dynamite 6/18/2021

AEW Dynamite 6/18/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/aew-dynamite-6132021.html

I think this is the last of the friday shows and I'm happy for it. It just messes up my schedule and there's other things on.

We see Hager and Wardlow heading to the cage then we see the MMA cage.

MMA Cage Match - Jake Hager vs Wardlow

This got off to a slow and boring start. It picked up in the 2nd round as they started doing more wrestling moves. Wardlow did a bad powerbomb on Hager into the cage and he did a running hurricanrana. Hager had him in a head and arm choked and slammed him before making him pass out.

I tried to write something like this a long time ago and the problem is that you can do anything you want in wrestling really so there's no reason for MMA rules where you can do less. If wrestlers weren't punching each other all the itme, maybe it could be pulled off, but that's not the case here. It just implies wrestling isn't real and we don't want that. I wasn't a fan of Wardlow being chocked out but unless you go to decision, someone was either getting chocked out or knocked out. This company clearly has no intention to protect Wardlow and this is probably his 4th, 5th or 6th loss in AEW.

Spears attacks Hager after and Jericho comes to fight him. MJF the ncame in and put Jericho in an armbar on the injured arm. Dean Malenko then came in to stop MJF and MJF forearmed him. Sammy Guervarra then came in and MJF and Wardlow left.

The bizarre combo of Penta, Kazarian and Eddie Kingston did a promo before their match tonight against Matt Jackson and The Good Brothers. Kaz was quoting bible verses which was odd and Penta was wearing Joker facepaint. Eddie said he hopes God takes their souls because their @sses are his. 

Team Taz did a promo without Brian Cage. Taz tells Starks the feud with him and Cage has to stop. Hobbs cuts off Starks and says Starks and Cage left him out to dry. Taz challenges Adam Page to face Hobbs.

Darby Allin vs Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page

I didn't like this at all. It went on too long and the heels took a ton of offense when it should have been an easy win. This just hurt the heels here and made no sense as a match.

The Wingmen did an inset promo. Avalon says OC is frustrating him as OC didn't reply to their text. Nemeth and Bononi said they will make OC pretty. OK....

Orange Cassidy vs Cesar Bononi

Both guys came out with their friends. OC was thrown out and Nemeth sprayed tanning spray on OC. Avalon then brushed OC's hair outside and they put him in Nemeth's jacket. OC's friends let all of this go on without doing anything.  OC tries to dive on the heels but they caught him and threw him back in. OC's crew then threw him back out there onto them with a swanton. OC ended up winning this with an orange punch and this wasn't any good and made everyone look dumb.

Alex Marvez tried to interview Jungle boy, who looked silly with a backpack on. Omega, Nakazawa and Callis arrived on a golf cart. Omega said he packed a basket with knuckle sandwiches for JB and said he was never punched in the face before. JB said he'd rather fight in the ring next week instead of out here. Omega offered JB a free shot. While JB was looking at him, Nakazawa hit him with a laptop from behind. They fought and Nakazawa had to help. Kenny and Don ran off in the cart and threw Nakazawa into JB to end it. This sucked and Kenny's goofiness doesn't work at all.

Hardy Family Office was interviewed. Hardy says he's going to drop Christian if he keeps coming for him. Christian then tried to charge at him but got locked in a storage cage. Hardy gave him a check and told him to retire. Christian told him to open the cage door and Hardy said no. Hardy said he will end Christian's career if he keeps coming for him.

Cody Rhodes and Brock Anderson with Arn Anderson vs Aaron Solow and QT Marshall with Nick Comoroto

As he has done before with Lee Johnson, Cody gets the big fireworks entrance and Brock only gets to come out after. What an egomaniac. Brock has no real body at all.

Brock hit some nice corner flurry spears here but almost botched a gutwrench. Cody hit a drop down into a canadian destroyer and ran up toe buckles into a crossbody on QT. Brock thankfully picked up the win here and did not lose on his debut like so many AEW wrestlers do.

Archer and Jake did a promo from a broken down hut. He said Archer has no patience and doesn't want to wait. Jake said he doesn't know what to do and the promo cut off.

Jim Ross did a promo with Andrade. He said he can't go anywhere without being spotted which I doubt. They had to put up subtitles here. He said he wants the TNT title then the World title. He said he chose to go with Vicki as she was around Eddie Guerrero for a long time and both their families and his family have a long history in wrestling.

The Dark Order was interviewed with Page. He said he was worried about beer, not Team Taz. He talked about some of the things the D-O has been up to and then Uno was down when it got mentioned that he lost last week. Then they said he is a still a champ to them and they celebrated him.

Julia Hart vs Penelope Ford

Ford won this one with an indian deathlock. She refused to breka after until the Varsity Blonds stopped her. This wasn't too bad for the women. Neither really blew anything.

Miro came out after. He asked Ford where Kip is. He said it is not fair she is outnumbered 3 to 1. He then nailed Griff. Pillman did a springboard forearm and they wrestled around as the refs broke it up. I LOL'd at Aubrey trying to restrain anyone.

I skipped an interview with Tony Schiavone and Britt Baker.

They ran down next week's card.

They did a video promo on FTR and Santana and Ortiz. They argued over who had the harder life and both said they would remember the other once they beat them.

We got another Mark Sterling and Jade Cargill promo. They said they have a partnership with the Toronto Four Seasons. Jade said they only want elite partners in hotels, not just any hotels. They then talked about how Jade will continue her win streak on all AEW programs and plugged Rampage.

Penta El Zero Miedo, Eddie Kingston and Frankie Kazarian  vs Matt Jackson and The Good Brothers

Kaz jumps Karl at the bell. Matt did his new and stupid Shawn Michaels bumping when he got his head banged off the buckle. They all brawled outside and Matt dove off the ramp onto Eddie. Doc and Karl held up Matt and used his feet to battering ram Eddie.

Eddie overhead belly to belly suplexed Matt and Kaz got the hot tag in. Kaz hit his springboard legdrop on Karl for 2. Penta then got in and cleaned house on the heels then flip dived onto Karl and Doc. Penta did a springboard off the bottom rope into a ddt on Matt. Penta hit Matt with a package piledriver, then Kaz did an angel's wings for 2.

Karl reversed a move into a neckbreaker on Penta. The faces tried to make a comeback the heels stopped it then Penta botched a backstabber. Penta went up top and Nick sprayed stuff in Penta's eyes. Karl then came off the top with a cutter onto a standing Penta and won it. Lame and unnecessary finish here with Anderson's finisher looking like crap. It was your usual trios match and I didn't think it was exceptional or anything.

Overall thoughts: The first hour sucked but the second hour was better.

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 6/18/2021

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 6/18/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/wwe-friday-night-smackdown-6112021.html

We get a package on Rey and Roman to start.

We then see the Hell in the Cell being lowered down and they say it is the first time it has been done on SD. This really makes no sense to do 2 days before a PPV. They explained it as Rey saying he can't wait anymore on social media and wanting it tonight. Roman then agreed on social media.

Rey Mysterio came out. He said he didn't know when Dom would be back since Roman injured him. Rey said he couldn't wait one more day to get his hands on Roman and says he wants it tonight. He calls out Roman as he says he wants to hear from the man himself then the cell starts lowering on Rey.

Roman comes out. He says Rey doesn't want to be locked in the cell with him and what he did to Dom will be nothing compared to what he does to him. Roman said he tried to do it Heyman's way by being diplomatic, but tonight they do it his way.

Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez do an inset. Crews says his secret weapon steps into the ring for the first time. Azeez said his opponents would feel the heal of his boots and Apollo said they would feel true pain.

Kevin Owens and Big E get interviewed in the back. Owens says he couldn't have a better partner than E and E just says he's good in a hushed tone because he is mad at him from before. E then says Azeez and Crews will feel their power in a more perked up tone.

Big E and Kevin Owens vs Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez

Sami Zayn comes out and says he is doing some commentary. E hits a nice belly to belly on Crews to start then splashes Crews before Owens sentons him. Azeez is wearing his full suit for this in the ring and hits a great face kick to E. Azeez then slams E on the floor.

We go to break and return to Azeez hitting a nice suplex on E. Crews hits a nice dropkick on E then Crews gets dropped body first on the apron by E. Owens swanton's Crews for 2 then pop-up powerbombs him. Azeez takes down both opponents and lariats E on the floor. He then throws Owens into the post. Sami tries to take a shot on Owens and when Owens goes back in, Azeez hits him with the Nigerian nail for the win.

The finish didn't look good at all here and happened too fast to catch. Other than that, Azeez had some highlights here. Azeez hits the nail on Owens again after the match. Sami then goes to the back and laughs at Owens on the monitor.

We get a battle for the crown promo with Nakamura vs Corbin.

Owens goes up to Pearce and Sonya in the back. He is holding his throat and coughing and says he wants Sami. Pearce agrees

Battle for the Crown - Shinsuke Nakamura vs King Corbin

We have a throne with a crown set up here. Rick Boogz plays guitar.

Corbin pounds on Nak early then Nak hits his sliding german while Corbin is on the 2nd rope. Nak then rocks out with Boogz. We go to break and return to Nak taking a deep six for 2. Nak enzugiri's Corbin in the jaw and sliding knees him but Corbin comes back with a high german. Nak then hits a nice sto then takes a great bump off a clothesline.

Nak comes back with some kicks and knees then Nak hits the kinshasha for the win. This was quick and the selling wasn't the best, but I did like this as a hard hitting match.

Boogz crowns Nak after as Corb is kind of crying.

Bianca Belair comes out to talk. She bragged about Bayley getting beaten up last week. She challenges Bayley to Hell in a Cell. Bayley comes out and they fight. They go outside and Bayley pulls Bianca into the rails via the hair, then ends up winning the encounter.

We get a long package on the Uso's and Roman's situation.

Jimmy Uso died his hair half-orange and goes up to Roman in the back. He says Roman is right about representing the family. Jimmy said he couldn't find Jey all week and Jimmy offered to help Roman if he needs it tonight. Roman says he needs Jimmy to find Jey as he needs Jey. Roman says their family is best when they are all together and tonight is business as usual.

Otis with Chad Gable vs Angelo Dawkins

Gable slaps Dawkins and Dawkins chases him around the ring only to run into an Otis lariat. AD is then thrown into the steps. Gable hits a diving knee onto Dawkins' injured shoulder. Otis hits a big spinning lariat into a big Gable german suplex in a cool move. Dawkins then rolls out ot the outside and is getting checked on by refs.

Cesaro does a one-on-one sit down interview with Kayla Braxton. He says his feud with Rollins hasn't gone far enough. He says he loves what he does and WWE is his life. Rollins comes in and takes the mic and Kayla's chair. Rollins says everything Cesaro does is a disgrace. He says he will put Cesaro in his place at HIAC. Cesaro says he respects Seth as a competitor but then pushes him backwards over the chair.

WWE Universal Championship - Hell in a Cell - Roman Reigns vs Rey Mysterio

Rey grabs a chair from under the ring and gets Roman once or twice but Roman takes it off of him. Rey sprays Roman with a fire extinguisher then nails him with it. I don't really like that item as a weapon because it is so heavy and one shot really would finish someone easy.

Rey then runs at Roman with a toolbox to the head. We go to break and return with Rey doing a baseball slide into Roman's back with a chair. Roman gets the chair put around his neck and it is driven into the cage and post. A table is set up against the cage and Roman ends up spearing it.

Roman has Rey in the powerbomb position and swings him into the cage sides. We go to break and return to Roman pounding hard on Rey. Rey hits a 619 and chairs Roman. Rey frogsplashes Roman from the top with a chair on Roman's gut. Rey hurts himself doing it. Rye does another frogsplash from the top for 2.

Rey goes for a hurricanrana from the top but is caught and thrown into the cage in a cool spot. Roman then throws Rey back in and puts him in a type of choke to win.

This was short and to the point for the most part. It was not the epic you would expect and the finish was very sudden. It was an okay match but disappointing.

Jimmy Uso then came out after and raised Roman's hand. Roman then puts the choke on Rey again and Rey taps and is thrown down.

Overall thoughts: Pretty much the Smackdown Special here - Decent but short wrestling. There were only 3 matches here as Dawkins vs Otis never got started. The main was fine but not the epic you would expect and was disappointing.

WWE NXT 6/15/2021

WWE NXT 6/15/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/wwe-nxt-682021.html

Opening segment with Regal, Samoa Joe and Karrion Kross

Kross was being a total heel here. It wasn't exactly clear to me what Samoa Joe is doing after listening to this multiple times. It seems like he is some kind of special enforcer for Regal or bodyguard? I still liked the segment overall though.

Breezango vs Imperium

There was a hilarious spot here where Breeze botched and went splat on the floor after a dive. The announcers then said "Breezango is on a roll" as Breeeze was clearly out of it for a while. Breeze ended up stealing the pin here out of nowhere to win then BZ got beat up after. Aichner hit Breeze with a nice facekick then Breeze's head hit hard after a doomsday device european uppercut. Imperium buried Breeze under their flag after. One would think they will get a whooping from Walter for this like Alexander Wolfe did.

Cole and O'Reilly were fighting in the back and it had to be broken up by security and Regal. Uh, isn't that why Joe is here? Regal said he thought this was settled with the unsanctioned match they had. He said he would let them fight to work out their anger at the Great American Bash. Joe then came in and stopped the fight and choked out Cole. I didn't like this segment at all. Cole looked weak getting choked out by Joe and Joe looked weak by not being there in time.

Santos Escobar does a promo. He complained about Reed putting him through a wall. He said he is coming for Reed one on one to become North American champ. This was an okay promo.

 

Trey Baxter does a promo. We are told he is turning heads at the performance center. He says he is all heart and the most innovative high flyer. He says his nickname is "all-heart". He has a bad as he is thin and small and kind of looks like Buddy Murphy's cousin. His name isn't very good and it's hard to see him getting past 205 Live.

NXT Cruiserweight Title - Open Challenge - Kushida (c) vs Trey Baxter

Baxter hit a nice phosbury flop here. Kyle O'Reilly came out to watch this. Baxter also hit a standing spanish fly and a handspring into a twisting enzugiri, then a springboard 450. Kushida hammerlock dropped him from the top then won with a hoverboard lock. Trey did a couple of good high flying moves and it wasn't bad but I don't know if that's going to be enough right now. Kushida shook hands with Trey then Kyle came in after clapping for him. I'm not a fan of people losing on their debut.

Kyle challenged Kushida after since they both want to fight the best.

Franky Monet was interviewed. She said next week we will have an encore performance of her world premier. She then talked to Aliyah and Jessi Kamea. They all talked bad about Robert Stone then Stone came in and Mpnet lied about what they were talking about. Kamea and Alliyah played along.

Mercedez Martinez is show watching herself get beaten up by Mae Ying. she says she is the wrong person to next week

Million Dollar Championship Coronation

Ted Dibiase brought out LA Knight. LA talked about how much he liked Ted as a kid and how much this means to him. He said it would be the honor of his life to be officially crowned million dollar champ. Ted gave him the title and they had some fireworks sparklers as they did the Dibiase laugh. Knight then said he had everything that he wanted and now it's time to drop what he doesn't need, and he nailed Dibiase. He told Ted the belt was Ted's but is now his then beat him up more. Cameron Grimes then came out and made the save. This was a great segment that cemented Grimes' face turn and helped put LA Knight over too.

Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai were interviewed. They said they have unfinished business with the women's tag team champs and they want those belts.

Shotzi and Ember were beind held back by Joe, Regal and a ref from Kai and RG as they wanted to attack them.

Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez vs Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro

I have below 0 interest in this. Kai took a stiff double kick early. Kacy did a really nice version of the silly string here and, then a backflip into a headscissors and a twisting plancha. Carter then got help from Kacy to walk up the ropes and dive on the girls. Carter held up Kai for a neckbreaker then Kacy 450'd her and RG did a fallaway slam onto Carter into the boards. Kai ended up winning this with a bad fireman's carry into a double knee that barely hit.

This went too long but Kacy looked really good here and it was a good effort by the faces.

Hit Row destroyed some toy doghouse Ever-Rise had. They complained about it and rebuilt the house into a giant mess. This was just dumb and silly stuff.

Io Shirai came out. she said she is back. Candice LaRae interrupted her. She said Io goes back to the bottom of the line now LaRae is champ. Indi Hartwell then attacked Io from behind. They tried to put Io through a table but Zoey Stark came out and stopped it and Io cleared them off with a springboard dropkick.

Regal and Joe were interviewed as they were leaving and we cut away as Regal went to talk in a bad mess-up.

Ciampa and Thatcher ran into MSK in the back. Thatcher stole the popcorn they were eating.

We got a vignette for the Diamond Mine who they say are coming next week.

Regal and Joe were re-interviewed. Gargano and Theory interrupted. Gagano said Regal lost all control before Joe. Joe then told Gargano to get out. Pete Dunne came in and he went face to face with Joe.

Tornado Tag Team Match - The Grizzled Young Vets vs Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher

The Vets went to talk and were attacked as they tried.

This was a fun match. They did too much but it was a frenzy and they were aggressive all throughout. One of the Vets took a air raid crash on the announcer's table, Thatcher took a powerbomb/backcracker combo and Ciampa took a tope + doomsday device combo on the floor. The crowd was hot for this.

Regal and Joe were out in the parking lot again. Regal was asked about Joe's performance tonight. Regal said things would be a bit different here and both seemed pleased even though there was a bunch of chaos as usual.

Overall thoughts: In-ring it was a good show but there were a lot of issues outside of the ring. Chaos continued backstage yet Joe and Regal acted like things had changed. The Knight/Grimes/Dibiase segment was very good. I'm still not a fan of debuts where people lose though and the Ever-Rise segment was dumb.

AEW Dynamite 6/11/2021

AEW Dynamite 6/11/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/aew-dynamite-642021.html

I'm over the Friday Night Dynamite's. I have no interest in watching a 2 hour show at 10PM and it screws up my Wednesday and Friday routine.

Pinnacle arrives in a limo to start the show.

Matt Hardy and The Hybrid 2 are in the ring. Matt accuses Christian of being jealous of him for making more money than him, then he says Angelico will use Hardy's wisdom to end Christian's career.

Christian Cage vs Angelico with Matt Hardy and Jack Evans

Angelico hits some armdrags early and Christian hits corner punches on him. Angelico pulls Christian off the top and works on his arm. CC gets thrown into the buckles shoulder first. Angelico penalty kicks him then does a neat armbar. Angelico ties up CC's arms near the ropes, but he comes off the buckles with a reverse ddt. Cage dropkicks him off the 2nd rope for 2 then stands on his back as he is against the 2nd rope. CC pulls down Angelico's neck hard across the ropes. Christian then hits a top rope diving headbutt for 2.

Angelico goes up top, gets caught on the way down and rolled up for 2. They collide heads and go down. CC hits a euro uppercut from the 2nd rope then hits the killswitch for the win. This was a little longer than it needed to be but fine.

Evans attacks CC after but gets nailed then Hardy hits a twist of fate. Jungle Boy eventually makes the save.

They announce special shows from July 7th to July 28th. There's no way all four can be big shows.

Tony Schiavone comes out. He announces we will have Cody Rhodes and Brock Anderson vs QT Marshall and Aaron Solow. Brock is Arn Anderson's son and we saw him on a Dynamite episode a while back. Brock is wearing golf clothes here. Cody says Brock will show the world he wasn't just born on 3rd base and will hopefully hit a homerun. He says if anyone can do it, Brock can. Cody brings up being beaten by Anthony Ogogo then QT Marshall comes out.

QT says he pinned and beat Cody all by himself. He says he is tired of the vanity projects and nepotism. He asks if Brock wants pyro too like Cody. Qt says he wants a full house for when AEW goes back on tour so he can whoop his @ss. He says he wants a South Beach Strap Match. Cody gets out his belt and says lets do it right now. QT gets his belt then nails Arn. Brock spears QT then pounds on him.

This was not a good debut. Brock looked like my next door neighbor or someone hanging out at a golf course and not some big star. There were no big packages or anything to really get you excited and Brock did not come off looking like a big star in waiting here. Why does AEW have so many issues with debuting guys? It's not hard. You do some packages, you make it seem like the guy is a hot prospect and that's it.

Penta El Zero Miedo, Pac and Eddie Kingston vs The Young Bucks and Brandon Cutler

Eddie did an inset promo with his partners. He said the enemy of his enemy is his friend. Eddie asked Pac something and he just walked away.

One of the Bucks does a bunch of comical seling to start, doing stuff that a heel against Hulk Hogan circa 1987 would do. Cutler is wearing a stupid face shield and a track suit along with tennis shoes. Cutler gets his leg split and Penta dropkicks him off the top in the groin area. The announcers ask if it is a low blow.

Eddie double stomps Cutler and Cutlet gets out soon after. Pac backflips and dropkicks one of the Bucks and mocks their pose. Cutler takes a back body drop on the floor. The Bucks double boot Pac then do hip thrusts and take over for a while. Matt gets thrown on a tornado ddt attempt and Eddie gets the hot tag.  Eddie catches one of the Bucks with a fallaway slam when they do a springboard crossbody then Penta crossbodies both Bucks. the Bucks end up double superkicking Cutler then Penta is rolled into a canadian destroyer on one of the Bucks.

One of the Buck's kicks Cutler in the face and is thrown on him then a Buck is hit with a driver for 2. Cutler does a horrible job trying to hit Pac with a camera and is knocked off the apron. Nick Jackson does a weird rebound off the ropes and lariats Eddie. Penta does a run up the ropes flip dive on two opponents then Pac hits a 450 into a brutalizer onto a Buck.

Eddie asks Pac to work with him and they dive out at the same time onto two opponents. Pac gets buckle bombed with two enzugiri's and Cutler misses a springboard elbow hitting hard. Eddie then uraken's Cutler and Pac wins it.

The Bucks superkick their opponents after then The Good Brothers come out to help. Frankie Kazarian then comes out and helps the faces get the advantage. The faces then clear out the heels.

We are told Don Callis and Michael Nakazawa have a package from the PPV. It has subtitles showing the ref saying he is cheating and paints Kenny's heel actions in a positive light at the PPV.

Well, we're two for two here with run-in's after the bell. I didn't really like the trios match. Cutler made it into a joke with his attire and I'll never be a fan of matches where a canadian destroyer isn't part of the finish.

The Pinnacle come out. Dax said Stadium Stampede wasn't meant for guys like them. They talked about piledriving S & O and taking food off their table, but they weren't actually that hurt by the piledrivers, so I don't see how that works. Shawn Spears gets mad at Sammy for Chris Jericho calling Sammy a hero. Spears says he is the hero and this isn't finished. Wardlow says Hager is obsessed with him and says Hager wants him in an mma match because he can't beat him in the ring. Wardlow accepts. MJF says he idolized Jericho but found out Jericho isn't on his level. MJF says he has nothing to prove against Jericho and won't accept his match request. MJF calls Sammy a chickensh!t and says Sammy doesn't belong in a ring with him.

Jericho comes on the tron with a bat outside. He says Pinnacle will be walking home and we see the Inner Circle destroy MJF's limo. MJF smartly says he will call the cops. Hager spears the limo with a forklift and lifts it up. Inner Circle then ride off in the forklift. Props to MJF for letting the police handle this one. AEW is really channeling Attitude Era WWF with these types of angles.

Sting and Darby Allin do a promo. Darby says he isn't finding another partner and wants a handicap match vs Sky and Page. He tells Sting to stay home. Sting accepts hesistantly.

Evil Uno talks about Brodie Lee. He says Brodie was one of his best friends and wants to win the TNT title. He says he wants to bring pride and titles to the Dark Order and want to tribute Brodie.

TNT Championship - Miro (c) vs Evil Uno

Miro slams Uno early and is thrown over the top. Miro punches the post on accident then Uno cannonballs him from the apron. Uno gets pulled off the top and is saito suplexed. We go to break and return with Miro still in control. Miro straightjacket chokes Uno then hits a nice dropkick on him.

Miro knocks Uno off the apron. The Dark Order comes out to check on Uno and Stu is lariated over the rails. 5 backs off as Miro comes after him. Miro takes off the turnbuckle pad and Uno gets some offense in. Uno hits a top rope swanton for 2. The whole Dark Order comes out to cheer on Uno and Miro ends up going into the exposed buckle. Uno tries a lariat but takes a harder one back. Miro then camel clutches Uno and lays back to win it. This went longer than it needed to and it wasn't particularly good. Uno is just not really good at anything.

They do a package on Andrade El Idolo, showing him getting dressed and saying he is "the face of latinos". Okay...

Tony Schiavone interviews Omega and Callis in-ring. Callis calls Jungle Boy a one hit wonder. Kenny Omega starts using shoot terms again and says he is supposed to "sell" the match. Omega says he respects Jungle Boy and says he sees some of himself in him. Callis says JB doesn't have the guts then Jungle boy comes out. Kenny uses another shoot term and says JB isn't known as a "promo" guy then Kenny says he is the best promo guy in the business. JB says Kenny talks too much. Kenny goes to hit him and JB ducks, then flurries him. JB puts Omega in the STF then the Bucks come out to stop him. This was the typical Kenny promo  and it was awful as usual.

Jade Cargill and Mark Sterling do a promo. Mark says their marketing plan is set up. Mark says she will be a household name. Jade says her tagline will be "I'm that b!tch". This was no good.

Page and Sky do a promo. The mock Darby for not being able to find a partner. Page and Sky says it is only up from here for them.

Lance Archer with Jake Roberts vs Chandler Hopkins

Lance throws CH over the top into the ring and he takes a hard bump. CH comes off the ropes and is swatted down, then chokeslammed. CH then takes a blackout and is pinned for the quick squash.

The Wingmen do a promo. Nemeth offers Orange Cassidy a spot in their makeover program. Avalon says they will rearrange OC's wardrobe or Bononi will rearrange his face. Stupid promo.

I'm not covering the intergender match or the Britt Baker promo after.

Hangman Adam Page and 10 vs Brian Cage and Powerhouse Hobbs

Page pounds on Cage early and hits a standing SSP. Cage rakes Page's eyes across the top rope and 10 hits some hard forearms on Cage. 10 pump kicks him and then gets double powerbombed by the heels. 10 is thrown into the rails then is fallaway slammed by Cage.

Cage hits a standing moonsault on 10 then Starks and Hook come out. Cage hits a nice dropkick on 10 for 2. 10 hits a nice pump kick on Cage then gives Hobbs one too. Page plancha's Cage but is caught and ends up headscissoring Cage into the post. Cage then moonsaults on Hobbs inside for 2.

Hobbs hits a nice crossbody on Page and Cage 619's 10. Page drops Hobbs with a forearm then 10 spinebusters Hobbs after. Cage germans 10 and the heels miss a high low for 2. Stakrs gives Cage his FTW title and Cage throws it back out. Starks and Cage argue and Starks slaps Cage. Cage starts to chase Starks and Starks runs. 10 eats a Hobbs spinebuster for 2 which Page breaks up.

Hobbs takes a 10 ripcord cutter then Page hits Hobbs with a buckshot lariat for the win. Cage really showed how bad he is here doing all kinds of face moves as a heel. Hobbs should not have lost here but AEW loves to job out the big guys. They did little to protect the heels here and they probably got tossed around more than the faces did.

Overall thoughts: I wasn't a fan of this one. Brock Anderson's debut was bad. The Bucks' match sucked like usual. I'm over the car angles. Kenny's segment sucked and I didn't like seeing Hobbs lose yet again.

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 6/11/2021

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 6/11/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/wwe-friday-night-smackdown-642021.html

We run down the stuff with Roman and his cousins from last week. Roman is not pleased with Jey. He says he saved Jey last week and they owe him. Roman says he won't stand for people embarassing the family and he says he is glad Jey gets it, but hope Jimmy does too.

Jimmy Uso comes down and is hyped. He says he was screwed last week twice and said Roman stuck his nose in their business. He says Roman had to make it about him and says Roman got him DQ'd on purpose. Jimmy calls Roman jealous, saying Roman doesn't want Jimmy teaming with Jey and doesn't want them holding gold. Jimmy says Roman is trying to tear Jey away from him and he says he is his brother's keeper, not him. He promises to do something he won't regret. Roman and Jey are watching in the back. Roman says Jimmy isn't his brother and says Jey needs to take care of this.

Jimmy and Jey talk in the back. Jimmy asks if he thought they could have won the titles and Jey nods yes. Jimmy says it can't be like this no more. He says he needs Jey to go with him when he asks. Jimmy says Roman is disgracing the family. Jey asks Jimmy what he wants him to do. He says he is stuck in the middle of this and asks him what to do. Jimmy says if Roman want sto see him, he will be in the Uso's locker room.

Kevin Owens and Big E vs Sami Zayn and Apollo Crews with Commander Azeez

We're in month six of this Crews/E feud. Crews and KO go at it to start then KO goes out and pounds on Zayn. Zayn is thrown into the rail and KO goes after him again outside. KO comes back in and the heels catch him and take back over. KO rolls into a hot tag to E. E hits some belly to belly's on Crews but Crews puts his knees up on a splash. E then comes back with a urangae.

Crews straightjacket germans E for 2. E goes for his spear through the ropes but Crews moves and he goes down to the ground. We go to break and return to Sami pounding on E. The heels then take control on E and Crews does a nice jumping elbow.

Crews misses a 2nd rope frogsplash crossbody then E hot tags to Owens. Owens hammers Sami. He then cannonballs him off the apron and sentons him on the floor. Owens then swantons Sami from the top for 2. Crews runs into a KO superkick then takes a pop-up powerbomb for 2. Zayn gets in and hits a half and half suplex on Owens for 2. He then blue thunders him for 2. E lariats Crews over th etop and lands on him hard. KO stunners Sami and wins it. This wasn't bad at all with a lot of action all the way through.

Crews gets on the mic after and said he lost due to being put with an idiot named Sami Zayn. He challenges Owens and E to fight him and Azeez next week. Sami gets the mic and is mad at Crews for calling him an idiot. He says Crews set him up and is working with Owens. He wants an apology and takes a nigerian nail from Azeez to put him down.

Rey is yelling at Pearce in the back about something but we can't hear it.

The Street Profits and Chad Gable talk in the back. Chad apologizes for what Otis did to them last week. He said he got their tag match for tonight cancelled for them. Ford says Chad can't control Otis, but they can and said they will send Otis back to the jurassic period if he acts up again. Chad then challenges one of them to a singles match and Ford accepts. Chad said he won't have Otis out at irngside if they won't have Dawkins out and he says Otis is still angry.

Jey and Roman talk in the back. Jey tells Roman that if he wants to see Jimmy, to go to their locker room. Roman laughs and asks if it's Roman's cousins locker room or the Uso's locker room. Roman says to tell Jey, he is coming to him.

Liv Morgan vs Carmella

They are pushing Carmella as "The Most Beautiful Woman in WWE", which I don't think anyone buys. I would go with Bliss, maybe. Ugliest would be Ember. Liv jumps on Carmella to start and flurries her. Carmella throws Liv hard into the rails and asks Michael to tell people how beautiful she is. Cole repeats the line of her supposedly being the most beautiful woman in wWE and says "self-proclaimed".

Carmella hits a bunch of back elbows. Liv comes back with her move where she pushes Carmella in the back with her legs into the middle buckle. One of the fans on the screens has a small Liv sign which I was amused by. Carmella slaps around Liv hard then Liv hits the "oblivion" and wins it. That move is where the opponent is near the ropes and Liv does a jumping flatliner off the 2nd rope to win.

This wasn't bad at all with Carmella really being aggressive. Liv out of nowhere winning was odd though. Carmella makes the announcer say she is still the most beautiful woman in WWE.

Bayley is getting ready in the back.

 

Ding Dong, Hello! with Bayley

Bayley comes through her door. She says she upgraded and has tons of pictures of herself. She brings out Seth Rollins. Seth puts Bayley over. We see clips of Bayley laughing on the tron at Bianca last week then they both start laughing. They show clips of Seth beating up Cesaro then they start laughing again. Man, this episode has tons of clips.

Bayley's doorbell rings and neither knows who is there. Seth opens the door and Cesaro nails him then pounds on him. Seth's suit is ripped and his pants are taken off, then he gets thrown through the door. Seth gets thrown out then Cesaro throws a photo and a plant in his direction. This wasn't bad and I always get a kick out of stuff being thrown.

Bianca Belair then comes out. She then starts laughing and leaves without anything else.

We see clips of the Mysterio's and Uso's from last week. Rey is interviewed. He says Roman hurt his boy. He said watching Dom get beat up was the worst kind of torture and said he failed to protect Dom. Rey says he will call out Roman later and says he will show him what a family is supposed to look like. He also mentioned how Roman can destroy his own family, but not Rey's family. Good promo here.

Montez Ford vs Chad Gable

Neither guy has their partner here. Chad takes down Ford early then Ford does the same. Chad does a nice kip up into a tiger mask like takedown combo. Dawkins is shown watching the tv in the back and is apparently blind as he is less than 5 inches away from a big monitor.

They trade more armdrags and Ford does a nice roll-up with his feet. Ford leapfrogs and is brought down with an ankle lock. Ford rolls back into a pin attempt for 2. Ford then flips onto Chad off the apron.

We go to break and return with Chad backdropping Ford. Ford tries a slingshot move but is caught with a nice northern lights suplex. They collide in mid-air with crossbodies. Dawkins cheers Ford in the back then is attacked by a clean shaven Otis. Otis throws him into the walls and boxes and looks worse without the beard.

Ford and Chad trade punches then Chad is spinebustered. Ford then standing moonsaults him for 2. Ford hits a frogsplash for 2 then Otis comes in and attacks Ford for the DQ. Ford is thrown out and into the steps. Otis then power slams him and splashes him from the 2nd rope. Dawkins comes out but is thrown back out of the ring then Otis vader bomb's Ford.

Shinsuke Nakamura with Rick Boogz vs King Corbin

Boogz plays guitar and distracts Corbin. Corb gets beat up in the corner by Nak then takes a flying kick from the 2nd rope. Nak charges at him and gets a deep six for 2. The crown they are fighting for is at the announcer's table and Cobin pounds on Nak from behind.

Corbin hits a high german suplex. Corbin stands over top Nak and is rolled up for the quick win. Corbin then nails him after. Him and Boogz charge at each other and Boogz is thrown into the table. Nak grabs the crown then Boogz throws Corbin over the announcer's table. Nakamura and Boogz were awful faces here with distractions and by stealing his crown.

Jey and Roman talked in the back. Roman said he wanted to go to Jey's locker room now.

Corbin, Pearce and Sonya talk in the back. Corbin demands Pearce have Nak give him his crown back. Sonya and Pearce laugh about it. Sonya says they should have a match with the crown on the line called "The Battle of the Crown". Corbin stares at him with anger after. Corbin should just call the police. The crime was committed on film and he can maybe even get Nakamura thrown in jail.

Jey, Jimmy and Roman talk and Roman tells Heyman to leave. Roman points to his title and asks if Jimmy understands. Jimmy says he doesn't, he cares about what is in the heart. Jimmy says Roman has been pulling this BS for years by abusing them. Jimmy says he doesn't want to take Roman's place. He said Roman will be inducted into the HoF someday, but not as Roman Reigns, but as the "spoiled b*tch".

Both men pitch their case to Jey in the middle. He says enough and says he is tired of both. He says he is out and leaves. Jimmy tells Roman if he wants to fight, let's do it. Roman doesn't get why Jimmy wants to fight him and asks what he had done. Roman asks Jimmy why he would do this to his brother. He says he should be able to depend on Jimmy and says this is about all of us. Roman says Jimmy is the older brother and questions why he is treating his brother like this.

Rey Mysterio comes out and calls out Roman. Roman and Heyman come out. Rey says he acknowledges Roman but as a rat b@stard. He challenges him to Hell in a Cell. Roman says he acknowledges him as a father then Rey starts hitting Roman with a kendo stick. Roman throws him out then hits him with a superman punch as he comes back in. Dom then comes in and hits Roman with the kendo stick. Dom is then put in the powerbomb position and thrown out of the ring, but they don't show him landing. Rey then hits Roman with a kendo stick and gets nailed. The Mysterio's lay to close the show. There were some complaints here about Rey being a bad babyface here, but since Dom did get beat up bad by Roman, Roman did have it coming. I don't think it makes Rey look good though that he had a 2v1 with weapons and still got beat. That's bad booking.

Overall thoughts: I liked the show. I didn't have any problems here except for the endless repeat rematches and the Corbin stuff.

WWE 205 Live 6/11/2021

WWE 205 Live 6/11/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/wwe-205-live-642021.html

I've been pretty busy in my non-wrestling reviewing life and just haven't been able to make a lot of these show reviews happen.

Sunil Singh vs Grayson Waller

Samir Singh is nowhere to be seen here which is odd. They said he was filming a Bollywood movie. Waller is a dumb last name because the natural inclination is to call him Walker. He's wearing boxing shorts with leopard print and gloves.

GW slaps him early, then takes a spinning heel kick and some armdrags. GW hits a sloppy leg lariat type of move then triangles him over the ropes.

Sunil starts selling his shoulder hard and it is revealed a day after this aired that he actually did get injured. Sunil does some bad top rope chops and it is clear he is hurting bad. GW does a capoeira kick and does a curb stomp move from behind to win. Sunil was injured and they should have stopped this immediately. GW is really unlucky here as this was his debut.

Ari Sterling and Asher Hale vs Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese

This match should get a lot of time due to the first match being cut short.

Hale mocks Nese's muscle pose early. Hale has Nese in an armlock and gives Ari a tag by slapping him in the chest. Then they argue after. Ari gets beat down in the corner by both opponents a little later. Ari hits a nice hurricanrana on Nese. Ari then does his sitting moonsault to the outside on Nese and Hale does a running apron knee to Ariya. Ari wants to pound fists but Hale won't. Hale then slaps Ari in the back to tag in.

Hale gets sat on the middle rope, Ariya head kicks him then Nese asai moonsaults him as he hangs there. Hale gets beat up for a bit and Hale hits a nice powerslam. Ari gets the hot tag in and hits a stiff lariat on Nese. He then spinning heel kicks him. Nese hits a strike combo and does his flipping legdrop onto a bent over Nese. Ari does a nice pele kick for 2.

Hale won't tag Ari then he tags himself in. Nese kips down and up out of a lariat then Hale hits both opponents with kicks. He then tornado ddt's Nese by bouncing off of Ariya. Ari goes for a dive outside but is cut off by a Nese dropkick, then Nese spin kicks Hale to the head. Ariya hits a uranage on Hale onto Nese's double knees in a cool spot.

Hale hits Ariya with a high kick for 2. Nese gets lariated over the top. Hale is fighting with Ariya up top and Ari does a blind tag. Ariya sits on top and Ari flips over Hale's back to hurricanrana Ariya down. Cool spot but it is only good for a 2 count. Hale tags himself in and they argue. Hale gets held over Nese's shoulder then Ariya lariats him from under and the heels win.

I liked this one. They told a story with the faces not getting along and it made sense and played into the finish. They were clearly killing time a bit early here but they didn't do too much.

Hale and Ari argue again after.

Overall thoughts: There was basically only one real match here and it was good. What more can you say really?

WWE NXT 6/8/2021

WWE NXT 6/8/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/wwe-nxt-612021.html

Austin Theory vs Oney Lorcan

They showed a video of them and their crews fighting near the parking lot earlier in the day.

Theory is wearing a douchey headbang and hits a nice dropkick early. They trade euro uppercuts and Theory does a slingshot single stomp. Theory gets swept on the apron and lands back first on the apron. Pete Dunne then comes out.

We go to break and return with Gargano also coming down. Theory clotheslines Oney over the top then he gets back in and pushes out Theory. Oney gets put into the barricades and Theory hits a hard lariat on him before a fallaway slam. Oney sat on the top rope and Theory jumped up to it and did a sit down on the ropes spanish fly. That was a really unique spot that they didn't sell.

They then double clotheslines each other on the outside. Johnny and Dunne then went at it and were broken up. Theory got distracted had his head banged off the buckle then was hit with a half-nelson slam for the win. I was okay with it until that spanish fly spot which should have ended it.

We went to LA Knight's mansion with him singing Ted Dibiase's theme song in the shower. He was entertaining two girls and they went to the hot tub where he talked about how he will beat Grimes at the PPV. Grimes said he can carry the million dollar legacy like no one else and drove off. This segment put over LA a little.

Michael Hayes as Dok Hendrix previewed the In Your House PPV. That was cool.

LdF did a promo in the ring on Bronson Reed. Escobar said he would make Reed pay, then Reed came out. He showed the video of him squashing Escobar against the rails last week multiple times which Escobar didn't like. Escobar dared him to do it again and then he came into the ring. MSK followed. Escobar challenged them to a 6 man with all titles on the line and they agreed. You have to be stupid to agree to this as someone else could lose your title for you. No one would ever do this.

Hit Row then came out. They stared down LdF then argued with the faces.

Isaiah "Swerve" Scott with Hit Row vs Killian Dain with Drake Maverick

Dain is so above this pairing. Dain does some fireman's carry takedowns then Scott slaps him in the back of the head. Dain gets distracted by Top Dolla and hit from behind by Scott. Dain tries to lariat him outside the ring to in, but Scott can't get up enough then Dain is distracted by the girl in Hit Row. Ashantee Adonis is eating popcorn at ringside while Scott stretches Dain.

Dain is balding pretty bad and it's hard not to notice it. Scott slaps him and gets slapped back and Dain pounds on him. Scott does a neat double jump off different ropes and backflips, then gets hit with a hard crossbody. Scott does a neat side roll then hits a jumping flatliner and a running kick for 2.

Adonis tries to get involved and Drake flips on him from the steps, but then gets an F-U on the apron by Top Dollar. Dain gets distracted by Top then Scott knocks him off the ropes and single leg dropkicks him for the win. This was all about the interference here but I thought Dain should have been protected better. He went down to basically nothing. Scott's single leg dropkick is too weak as a finish.

Poppy arrives.

LaRae and Indi are interviewed about Poppy. This feels like a weekly line at this point, but Indi Hartwell decided to say something stupid this week on twitter. Indi talked about Dexter putting on her headphones and said she has to go find him.

We go to Cameron Grimes' house and he is doing cannonballs into the pool. He does a promo about wanting to be the one to carry on the million dollar legacy. He lights up a cigar with a $100 bill then coughs. He doesn't enjoy the alcohol much either then he and a girl trade massages. He said he is focusing on taking the million dollar legacy to the moon and drives off in a fun segment.

Xia Li jumps Mercedes Martinez during her entrance. She hits her with kicks against the rails and the fight as MM's opponent watches on. MM throws her over the rails then refs try to break it up.

Mercedes Martinez vs Jobber

MM hits a nice running knee then an air raide crash for the quick win in seconds. The jobber's name wasn't announced. MM then says Xia messed with the wrong one.

Breezango is interviewed. They say Imperium is coming for them and say they need to beat them on their way back to the NXT tag titles.

Ted Dibiase arrives with security guards.

We get a promo for Meiko vs Kay Lee Ray for the NXT UK Women's title this week.

Regal and Triple H welcome Poppy. Triple H says he loves her new music. Triple H asks when her album drops and she says right now then drops it. Triple H is shocked by this and says technology is amazing. Dexter Lumis then comes in and stares her down. He has a drawing that he presents her then she hugs him. Indi Hartwell then comes in and freaks out and Dexter sees he screwed up. Triple H says it is a little awkward.

We see Dibiase's limo in the back then we see Grimes pull in. La Knight then pulls in next to him. LA Knight calls his car trash and one of Ted's guards said Ted is waiting for them in the ring. They argue with each other and LA knocks his money on the floor. Knight gets his music cut off by Grimes' music.

LA, Grimes and Dibiase are in the ring. He says Sunday is the time for them to climb the ladder to success and he lowers down a golden ladder. Knight says he is the only person who can carry his legacy and calls Grimes a hillbilly and a hilljack. Grimes says he is worth a million and says he can't be beat. He throws off his jacket and says he is taking the million dollar legacy to the moon. Grimes goes up the ladder and asks what he is reaching for. The guards open up a case with the million dollar title and he says they will fight for this. Ted then laughs as they face off. This was a good segment and the belt looks fantastic.

Kross and O'Reilly are going after each other in the back. Regal and security break it up.

Ever-Rise announce a pre-pre-show and Martel reminds us that Ever-Rise rules.

The Grizzled Young Veterans vs Ikemen Jiro and August Grey

Jiro deserves so much better than this. He and Grey don't even get an intro. Grey running hurricanrana's Gibson and Giro hits a pocket assisted shot on Gibson. He then does a springboard headscissors takedown from behind. Gibson tries to take off Jiro's jacket and gets flurried on for it. The Vets then trip Jiro into a kick and knock Grey off the apron too.

The Vets work Jiro's knee and slam his leg onto the ropes. Thatcher and Ciampa come down with chairs and watch the match. The Vets get distracted and Grey gets the hot tag. He gets a bunch of offense in including his rope walk twisting crossbody. The Vets hit ticket to mayhem soon after and win it.

I'm not a fan of cold debuts and since nobody watches 205 Live, this might as well of been Jiro's WWE debut. Just a waste of a unique talent.

The Vets say they are done with Ciampa and TT. They call them hooligans and Ciampa says they won't get a tag title shot until they go through them. They throw chairs at them and the Vets challenge them to a tornado tag. Ciampa rushes the ring and The Vets run. Ciampa called TT "Toothless Timmy" and it seems we are sticking with that one.

We saw clips of Oney and Fish's altercation then we saw Fish training on a boxing bag. Fish said he hasn't forgotten about him.

Candice LaRae did a promo on Poppy in the ring. She said Indi left the building do to what Poppy was doing with Dexter and challenged her to come and fight. Poppy came out and said she doesn't wrestle but knows someone who does. Io Shirai then returned and beat up LaRae, then did a handshake thing with Poppy.

We got another In Your House update with Dok Hendrix.

Ember Moon vs Dakota Kai with Raquel Gonzalez

They shove each other to start and Kai facewash kicks her at two different times. Moon flips over a hip toss and takes her down, then hits a flatliner. Moon's legs hang over the apron and Kai pushed them to make her head go into the post. Moon comes off the 2nd rope with a codebreaker after break.

Moon hits a front flip into a stunner which Dante Martin did last week and probably inspired it. Kai hit some Kawada kicks and a handstand back kick, then running facekicked her. Moon and RG fought outside and Moon brought Kai outside in a dangerous way. She then tope'd both Kai and RG. Soon after, RG kicked Moon off the top and Ember won by DQ. Kai was clearly watching some Japanese matches before this one and ith ad the usual issues with sloppiness and bad shots that the women have.

Ember had to fight both girls after and fought out of RG's single arm powerbomb. Moon then hit her cutter off the top on RG and Moon put the title on RG as she layed there.

Kross and Scarlett did a promo. Kross said it is time for his opponents to show the world what they can do and take him out.

Regal, Kross and Scarlett were in the ring. Regal told Kross he doesn't run things here. Kross challenged that and said the show has been out of control for a long time. He said he isn't leaving until his PPV challengers face him. Kyle O'Reilly came out and called him insecure. He said it is a matter of time until he beats him. Johnny Gargano came out and mocked both guys. Kross called Johnny a mark which I didn't like, then Dunne interrupted. He said he is tired of talking and waiting.

Adam Cole got on the tron and called Kross a moron and said he isn't unbeatable. He said he doesn't need to beat Kross in the 5 way to win. Kyle called Cole a b*tch for not being here. Kross asked who Kyle was, then got hit and everyone was fighting with security also getting hit. Kross hit a bunch of people with suplexes. Cole then came out of nowhere and dropped everyone and posed with the belt to close the show.

Overall thoughts: I liked the Grimes/LA/Dibiase segment. I didn't like Jiro or Dain getting jobbed out and I didn't like the trios match at the PPV becoming a title match.  Moon vs RG wasn't a real great semi-main and the PPV is just not their best work.

AEW Dynamite 6/4/2021

AEW Dynamite 6/4/2021

The Young Bucks vs Penta El Ciero Mero and Pac

Frankie Kazarian jumps Michael Nakazawa before this eve ngets going. The faces do stereo dives to start and the Bucks take back body drops on the floor. Penta rolls up Pac into a cool pin attempt and Pac slingshot cutters one of the Bucks. Pac takes a hard kick in the face from the apron by Nick.

Nick took a hard release bounce back german on his head and MAtt got a pop-up powerbomb from Pac for 2. Nick did a springboard and ate double superkicks then Penta ran off of Pac's back for a canadian destroyer. Matt then came back and hit him with a canadian destroyer. Penta then hit a package piledriver and Nick german suplexed Pac on the apron.

Nick put the ref in the way while Penta charged him then took Penta's mask off. Penta had another mask on though. Penta hit a package piledriver on Matt then Pac did his black arrow which the Bucks broke the pin up on. Cutler hit Pac with something while he was up top and Nick picked up the win.

The first half of this was okay but canadian destroyers, apron piledrivers and apron germans should end the match yet did not here and I didn't like that. The finish was lame.

The Bucks then beat up on their opponents after and Eddie Kingston broke it up. 

Tony Schiavone talked to Mark Henry in the ring. Mark says he isn't here to fix AEW as it isn't broken. They ask Mark if he will wrestle again and he says he won't say yes, but he has more in the tank.

Vickie Guerrero then comes out. She brings out Cien Andrade/La Sombra. It was really hard to hear so people didn't react until they saw him. He says he will be the new face of AEW and leaves soon after. This was a poor debut. Vickie couldn't be heard which ruined some of it. They didn't build to it and all he did was say one line and leave. I don't really know what he can bring to the table that AEW doesn't already have since he's another undersized flippy guy and I have to think Penta and Fenix aren't thrilled about this one as they are the main luchadores here.

Cody Rhodes and Lee Johnson vs Anthony Ogogo and QT Marshall

Lee feels like he fell off the map after not being on Dynamite for over a month. I don't know why we are doing this since Cody has beaten both now.

Cody drops down and QT eats a Lee dropkick. Cody breaks up a double team and does an unusual flatliner on QT. Lee headscissors QT over the top and gets foot pressed down onto the floor. We go to P-I-P break and return to Lee hitting a pop-up dropkick on QT. Cody beats up on Qt on the ramp then throws him far over the top into the ring.

QT takes a rough landing on a monkey flip and Cody hits a disaster kick on Ogogo.  QT gets put in a Cody figure four and Ogogo frog splashes Cody to break it. Ogogo lariats Lee over the top and goes with him. Aaron Solow distracts the ref and Ogogo knocks out Cody with a cheapshot for a QT pin and win. Cody got his mouth busted open during this from an Ogogo frogsplash. QT gets on the mic after and says he shocked the world. I liked the Ogogo punch but I don't have much other thoughts on this.

 

The Inner Circle came out. Jericho gave out free stadium stampede shirts in honor of their victory. 

Sammy talked about doing 630's as a kid and getting to do it at Double or Nothing. Santana said he didn't feel like he accomplished much and wanted to leave them on the side of the road somewhere. Santana said he was mad at about FTR piledriving them through tables and said this feud isn't over.

Hager challenged Wardlow to an MMA cage fight. Why? You can do everything in wrestling that you can in MMA, including a cage match. It just implies wrestling isn't real and that's not good. Jericho said he isn't done with MJF yet and still thinks about him throwing him off the cage. Jericho says it isn't over until he ruins MJF's life the same way he tried to ruin his. He said he is going to beat MJF. Jericho said the IC never forgives or forgets.

I don't really want to see this feud continue but I figured it would.

Best Friends talked about the 3 way at DoN. they said the bad guys cheated and they won but this isn't over.

Kenny and Don were interviewed. Don said there was a conspiracy to screw Kenny out of the title. Kenny sang Jungle Boy's theme and said there is a big difference between being Jungle Boy and Jungle Man and Jungle Man and Jungle Champion.

They showed Jungle Boy and Christian Cage battling Matt Hardy's crew from Elevation. 

 

Jungle Boy and Christian Cage vs Private Party with Matt Hardy

PP is now wrestling in polo shirts and pants. Jungle Express is nowhere to be seen here. The faces double hiptoss Quen then JB runs up the ropes and sit down flips to armdrag both.

We had a random cutaway to the stage during this which was funny then JB made the hot tag. A little ater on, one of PP wheelbarrow dropped the other then they started doing poses mocking Christian. PP then grabbed Christian and forced him to do poses but he came back with a reverse ddt.

We got our second hot tag with JB flurrying on both opponents and hit a rebounding lariat on Quen. PP missed the gin and juice, Quen almost got a top rope ganso bomb and JB won it with the bear trap.

This went long with two hot tag sections and while JB needs to tighten up and be stiffer, he was mostly okay here. Hardy hits the twist of fate on Christian on the ramp and Christian is now on his 3rd program in two months that seems like it will be dropped too.

Taz did a promo on Adam Page. He told Page to get a partner to go against Cage and Hobbs. Ricky Starks left after Taz announced that.

Tony then did his weekly interview with Sting, who was with Darby. Sting was thanking everyone then Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky appeared on the tron. They said Sting is carrying Darby and dared Darby to find someone else to team with except Sting. Darby went to talk and they cut away to a Britt Baker graphic. This wasn't any good and Sky/Page had a goofy tone the whole time. This was an odd promo with Sky/Page basically asking Darby to find a partner they might be able to beat since 60 year old Sting is too much for them.

They had a celebration party for Britt Baker with the low rent heels in the ring and a burger tray. She said she was given 1500 burger coupons and put them under the seats for the fans. Britt then said they weren't there but were in the ring for her, since she did all the work. The burgers ended up getting knocked over and Tony, Britt and Rebel had it on them.

Pac and Penta interrupted an Eddie Kingston promo. They said they didn't need his help. Eddie said the enemy of his enemy is his friend.

Red Velvet with Big Swole and Kilynn King vs The Bunny with The Blade

Bunny did a comically bad sneak attack that was thwarted. Red tope'd Bunny and took a nasty looking bump on it on her neck area. Why do the women have so many problems landing this move right?

Red was laying across the top rope and was superkicked off. Bunny hit Red with a sliding D while she was on the buckles. We went to break and came back to Red doing leg lariats on Bunny.  Bunny superkicked Red and Blade gave Bunny brass knucks. Bunny missed and Red spin kicked her for the win.

Bunny didn't look too good here but Red is getting better by the week. Swole and King then did her stupid dance with her. King doing it looks so bad because she's a giant.

We cut to the Dark Order in the back. Silver said Tony wanted to give him a TNT title shot, but he is injured so he is giving it to Uno instead. How is John Silver getting title shots when he isn't even wrestling? His last match was like almost 2 months ago. Uno said he would make them proud. How do you gift someone a title match?

Miro then did a promo. He said you don't come after Miro if you think you can win, you come after him when you are sure you can survive. He gave a shoutout to his wife, but not his wife's boyfriend, Bobby.

Bullrope Match - Nick Comoroto vs Dustin Rhodes

Starting a feud with a gimmick match is TNA level stuff. While Nick was part of likely a beatdown that involved DR, he hasn't actually wrestled him yet. This was just randomly made out of nowhere.

They go at it during Nick's entrance. Nick gorilla presses DR from the ramp to the ring. Nick got crotched by the rope early and we have to ask why Aaron Solow isn't interfering for Nick since this is a No DQ and Dustin can't do anything about it. DR clotheslines Nick over the top and he takes a hard bump down.

They fought in the 3rd row and Nick gorilla pressed Fuego del Sol into the chairs. DR actually nails Solow then gets speared on the floor. Nick somehow got busted open here and blood is starting to become a weekly thing for this promotion. I'm not complaining though, paint the town red! Nick picked up DR and dropped him on the apron.

We went to break and returned with them fighting on the apron while Solow set up a table. Nick powerbmbed Dustin hard through a table. Solow took off a turnbuckle pad and finally someone came out to help Dustin as Colten Gunn attacked Solow. Dustin hit a twister brainbuster on the cowbell for 2. Nick ended up getting his head banged off it then Dustin bulldogged him from the top for the win. What? Why the in the hell is Dustin going over Nick?

This wasn't too bad and they did end up covering some of the logic issues but that result was bad bad bad. AEW's hoss with a loss concept as Nick loses in his first big singles match in AEW, joining the likes of Brodie, Archer, Brian Cage and Anthony Ogogo.

Overall thoughts: There was interference in almost every match here. Andrade's debut was really bad, continuing a long AEW trend and Nick Comoroto lost in his first big match. Wasn't a fan of this one.

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 6/4/2021

WWE Friday Night Smackdown 6/4/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/wwe-friday-night-smackdown-5282021.html

Roman Reigns and Heyman came out to start the show.

Roman said he changed his mind about the Uso's getting a tag title match tonight. Roman said if Jimmy says he's gonna win, he better win. He called for Heyman to bring the Uso's out and they did.

Jimmy said they would win the tag title tonight. Roman again told him to make sure they win and said their whole family is watching and to bring him the titles when it is done. They then said the tag title match is next.

WWE Smackdown Tag Titles - Rey and Dominic Mysterio (c) vs The Uso Brothers

Dom hit a nice dropkick early then they double hiptossed Jimmy. Dom then powerbombed Rey onto him. Rey got double team stun gunned and really bounced for it as Roman watched on from the back. Rey got beat up for it a bit and tried to slide out on an Uso, but was caught and death valley drivered onto the table. We went to break and the beating continued as we returned.

Rey was in the corner and Jey tried to spear him, but in one swoop, Rey jumped over top of his spear to dropkick Jimmy, taking out both. Dom got the hot tag in and did a messy walk up the ropes tornado ddt. The Uso'd did a nice pop-up into a samoan drop on Dom for 2. Dom botched a roll through a superkick, the Usos both went out then Rey hit la silla on Jey. Dom blocked a Jimmy splash with his knees and rolled him up for the win. Jimmy had his shoulder up on the pin and they pointed it out but the match was finalized.

As usual, this was a decent tag match. Not something you would remember and Dom did have some sloppy moments but it was good.

Roman was shown getting angry in the back and told Paul to bring them to him.

Roman and the Uso's talked in the back. Jimmy said his shoulder was up and Roman didn't want to hear it. Roman said the show isn't over and they need to go down to Adam Pearce and get this fixed tonight. Roman confused the two brothers and Jey got mad at it. Roman said it doesn't matter with the way things are going.

Seth Rollins was interviewed by Kayla Braxton. She showed Seth beating up Cesaro and wanted to know what happens when Cesaro returns. Seth grabbed his earpiece mic and gave it back to her.

Chad Gable talked to The Street Profits. Chad said they are performing poorly lately and offered his services to help them get back on track. They laughed at him and say it is was a hard no.

The Uso's talked to Sonya and Pearce in the back.

Pearce said the ref's made a mistake and they would review the footage tonight.

Liv Morgan vs Carmella

They said Liv will be going at this alone but didn't mention it is because Ruby Riott got fired. Liv said Carmella is a 7 but a boot in her face will make her a 10. Wouldn't that make her less than a 7?

Liv pulled her out early and threw her into the rails. She then banged her head off the apron several times. Carmella came back with back elbows. Carmella got her face rammed into the middle buckle and seemed to have slipped during it. Liv then got stuck on the middle rope and was slammed down. Carmella hit the code of silence and won in a quick one.

Carmella made the announcer call her the most beautiful woman in WWE.

Sonya and Pearce talked to the Mysterio's as they were leaving. Pearce said they would rematch tonight. McAfee called the ref's mess up a massive "botch".

Bianca came out to talk about Bayley. She said people like Bayley have been trying to bring her down since she was a kid. She challenged Bayley for the Hell in the Cell. This is the feud that never ends. Bayley appeared on the screen laughing. She said she was here on satellite in a room filled with photos of her as champ. She accepted the challenge and said she won't be the only one laughing. Bayley then appeared all over the various trons laughing. I'd like to know how Bayley got control of all the trons to put her face on it. At least with The Fiend, you can explain it as him having some type of super power.

The Street Profits talked to Otis in the back. Otis said they need to apologize to Chad. They refused and said Chad is holding them back. Otis slapped Ford and pushed Dawkins into a box on wheels. 

Shinsuke Nakamura with Rick Boogz vs King Corbin

Pat McAfee really does a nice job of selling Boogz's guitar work. Corbin went after Nak early and he kneed him as he was laying on the top rope. Corbin went outside and nailed Boogz with a lariat then ate an STO when he came back in. Corbin ducked a kick and pulled Nak down for the win out of nowhere in a short waste of time. Corbin then took his crown back and tried to run but Boogz grabbed him. Nak high kicked him and put the crown on.

Owens got nailed by Azeez's boot in the back. He had his head banged off a box and had the box rammed into him. Crews then laughed.

WWE Intercontinental Championship - Apollo Crews (c) with Commander Azeez vs Kevin Owens

KO is limping to ringside and is taking the match like an idiot instead of waiting until next week. Crews goes after KO's injured ribs early then Owens bounces off the buckles as he is thrown in.

Owens comes back with a lariat and a senton then Crews took a hard ride over the top. KO tried to run the ropes but couldn't as his ribs hurt too much in a nice sell job. Crews pulled him down on the apron then hit an angle slam on the floor.

We went to break and returned with Crews working the ribs more. Owens was suplexed around. Owens went for a swanton from the top but Crews got his knees up then hit a hard straightjacket german for 2. Kevin came back with a pop-up powerbomb for 2. Crews then hit a death valley driver on the apron on him for the win. This was a pretty good match all things considered. Crews did a nice job working the ribs and they were pretty stiff with each other.

Sami Zayn ran to the ring after and nailed Owens.

We cut to the Street Profits in the back for the 3rd time tonight. Dawkins told Otis to stay away and mind his own business, Ford said they will send him back to the dump where he belongs.

The Uso's were hyping each other up in the back.

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Titles - The Mysterio's (c) vs The Uso's

All right, let's try this again. Jey trapped Dom in the corner and Jimmy jumped over Jey to forearm Dom. Jey hit a stiff backdrop into a cutter then tope'd Dom outside as we go to break.

Back from break and Jey is pounding on Dom. Rey got the hot tag in and hit some nice strikes and a springboard crossbody on Jimmy. Rey did his sliding splash to Jimmy on the floor.

Rey 619'd Jimmy. Dom was up on the ropes then Roman Reigns came in and superman punched Dom for the DQ. Roman then hit a hard spear on Rey. Roman then threw Rey into the stairs and barricade then threw Dom into the barricade too. Roman then nailed Dom hard with the steps. Roman pounded on Dom and guillotine choked him. Jimmy told Roman to let him go and said "not like this". Jimmy called for Jey to come with him then Roman got up in Jey's face before poundong on Dom more. Rey then hit Dom with a big powerbomb to close the show.

Overall thoughts: There were 2 pretty good matches here but the ending to the main was really lame. Seth's character continues to fail and the end endless rematches are getting tiresome.

WWE 205 Live 6/4/2021

WWE 205 Live 6/4/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/wwe-205-live-5282021.html

Ah 205 Live. It sucks because there's little you can do in 30 minutes, but I like only having to watch a show that is 30 minutes long.

Ari Sterling vs Sunil Singh with Samir Singh

Ari hit a surprise high knee that seemed like it might have legit hurt Sunil. Samir tried to switch places with him but the ref caught him then Sunil clipped Ari from behind. sunil worked the leg some then got put over the top to the floor. Sunil got his leg again though and swung it at the post. Ari then pulled him into the post.

Sunil did a nice elbow drop on the knee from the top and put Ari in an inverted figure four called "The Bollywood Lock". Ari came back with forearms then did his flipping leg drop on a bent over Sunil. Samir got on the ropes and was nailed. Ari hit an enzugiri then his forward flipping side slam for the win. This really wasn't bad at all with SUnil working the leg then Ari getting a quick comeback before the win.

We saw clips from NXT with Kushida vs Carmelo Hayes. They say they would love to see Carmelo on 205 Live, but I wouldn't think that's a mutual feeling.

August Grey vs Ariya Daivari

Whew, it's been a whole two or three weeks without some combo of Grey vs Ariya or Nese. Got me worried there for a second.

Grey tried to go up and over in the corner but was pushed up and kicked. AD was hurricanrana'd out then Grey tope'd him through the ropes. Grey then got his head slammed off the announcer's table.

Grey missed his rope walk twisting crossbody then took a frogsplash to the back. Ariya then camel clutched him. They did a nice double clothesline spot. Grey flurried Ariya and threw him into the boards outside. He then did his rope walk twisting crossbody and hit some more punches. He hit a twisting suplex neckbreaker for 2.

Ariya came back wit ha reverse ddt for 2. Ariya missed the hammerlock lariat and they traded superkicks. Grey then ran through him and flipped him with a lariat before hitting a nice hammerlock ddt for 2.

A hit an unusual move for 2 then single leg crabbed him. Soon after, Grey hit a bad so much prettier and won it. There were some okay moves here but these guys don't put a ton of logic into their matches and that hurt what was good. Grey's new move was neat.

Overall thoughts: As I say every week, it's 205 Live. You only get 2 matches and usually they aren't the greatest. The opener was decent and the main had some good points but this was nothing I would track down.

WWE NXT 6/1/2021

WWE NXT 6/1/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/wwe-nxt-5252021.html

#1 Contender's Match - Pete Dunne vs Kyle O'Reilly vs Johnny Gargano

Someone in the chat called Kyle "O'Reilly Auto Parts" which I thought was funny. Doesn't help that Kyle has an axel for his logo.

So this ended up being a no-contest after about 25 minutes, perhaps a first for a triple threat. Adam Cole came out and superkicked everyone and that was it. They had some 3 person submissions and a few other 3 way spots, but you know how these go. It was mostly just 2 people in the ring with the 3rd person sitting out. These are not really the guys you would put in this kind of match. The ending really sucked here and this is not what this promotion needed.

Ember Moon came out after all this happened and called out Raquel Gonzalez. Regal tried to stop RG but Ember kicked her out of the ring. Dakota Kai then nailed Ember from behind and left her laying on the floor. I think Ember further buried everyone in the 3 way with this.

Santos Escobar said he would be with the other LDF members when they win the tag titles tonight. Wilde said they would become leaders of leaders and champions of champions, the nEscobar said they would take what is theirs.

LA Knight got on the mic while walking to the ramp. He said Jake Atlas drew the short straw tonight and would drop him. He said he is the only man big enough to carry the million dollar legacy.

Drake Maverick was interviewed in the parking lot. Ever-Rise went up to him then Hit Row stopped by in their car. Drake argued with Swerve Scott then Killian Dain came to his defense.

LA Knight vs Jake Atlas

Knight took a lot of offense with Jake in control of most of this, then Ted Dibiase came down. Knight got distracted and was almost rolled up. Knight did a Dibiase fist drop and did a slingshot shoulder.

We surprisingly had a break cut into this and we came back to LA reversing a suplex into a neckbreaker. Jake was thrown over the top and splatted front body first onto the mat. Cameron Grimes came out during this to talk to Ted. Jake ended up winning this with his cartwheel ddt off the ropes. This was a total burial of LA. He got very little offense in and took the loss. I have no idea what they are doing with Knight but I would be heading for the door if I were him. People they like do not lose like this. My guess is that Jake won this because they are pushing lbgt stuff today but this was bogus because Jake doesn't even win on 205 Live usually.

Ted shook his head at LA Knight as he left and he put over Grimes a little.

The camera's went to the doctor's area. Oney made his case for why Dunne should be the #1 Contender, then Theory did too and they scuffled.

Ted Dibiase was interviewed. He said LA Knight dropped the ball then Adam Cole came back.

The singer Poppy is coming back next week.

Adam Cole did an in-ring promo. He said he is the true #1 Contender and said he took out 3 of NXT's top stars in one night and says he wants the NXT title back. He started talking about Karrion Kross, then Kross came out.

Kross said the title isn't Cole's and no matter what he does, it won't change things. He said Cole stopped being special when Kross came. Cole talked about Kross getting a cool entrance and said they do everything to make Kross look special, but said Kross isn't on his level. Cole said he is special and Kross has his property. Regal came out and Kross told him to shut up. Kross said he wants everyone - Kyle, Johnny, Dunne and Cole at In Your House. Cole then cleared the announcer's desk outside and stood on it to yell at Kross. He then threw a drink at Kross and left.

I didn't like this segment as Cole told the truth and made Kross look bad. Kross is mostly everything but in-ring as Cole said and he said Kross did get extra chances which is true.

Indi and Candice were interviewed. Candice didn't want to hear about Poppy, who the announcer brought up. She then grabbed Indi's phone and she was listening to power ballad's. Candice then pushed her off and it ended.

They said Christian Casanova is now known as Carmelo Hayes. I don't recall him being on NXT yet. He did a video promo and said he is the next NXT Cruiserweight champion.

We got a Xia Li and Boa video. Xia was mad at losing her first match in wWE to Mercedez Martinez at the Mae Young Classic years ago. She said she will finish MM at Takeover.

Dexter Lumis found Indi's phone and headset with the power ballads that she left behind. He was seen with tears dripping down his face.

The 5-Way was made official for IYH.

NXT Cruiserweight Championship - Kushida (c) vs Carmelo Hayes

Kushida won this with the hoverboard lock. Hayes was debuting here and got a small tapeds promo before he came in. I liked this probably the most of any Kushida match I have seen because while he did the same spots as usual, they actually made sense in the context of the match this time. He was also quite stiff and threw some nice strikes. This wasn't an amazing debut for Hayes but it was fine. I would not want to be debuted cold like this nor would I ever debut someone like this as they need the hype for people to care.

MSK talked to each other in the back. They said they will beat the breaks off their opponents tonight and keep their titles.

Franky Monet was at the make-up table in the back reading reviews of her debut. She said welcome to the era of Franky Monet and said she was just getting started.

Zoey Stark and Zayda Ramier vs Candice LaRae and Indi Hartwell

The heels controlled almost all of this with Zoey getting in a little comeback before the heels won. This was pretty much all squash and uninteresting.

Mercedez Martinez did a promo. She said she beat Xia before and will run through her at In Your House.

We got another teaser package for the Diamond Mine with people working out. It says they are coming soon.

Ember Moon was interviewed. She said RG uses Dakota Kai to fight her battles for her. She said she will get revenge on Kai next week then take RG's title.

WWE NXT Tag Titles - MSK (c) vs Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza)

MSK got the win here. Before we get into that, The Grizzled Young Vets came out during the match but were fought to the back by Thatcher and Ciampa. Escobar got involved, throwing Lee into the steps then soon after, Bronson Reed body splashed him hard against the boards.

This was a very tame MSK match with them not doing many of their usual spots. This one kind of felt like a night off for these guys and the match wasn't too bad as it was not the usual spotfest.

Overall thoughts: Not a good show with the opener being maybe the first triple threat to end in a no contest, LA Knight losing undeservedly, Cole burying Kross and a cold debut.