Wrestling Thursday: UK Edition

This week's shows were taped during the WWE's UK tour, and aired hours after taking place. This gave us one of the more raucous WWE crowds, which certainly livened things up. This is Wrestling Thursday

Raw

Before The Show

This happened during the spring Upfronts. So I guess we're getting Ronda vs. Nia for the title. I'm worried. Nia is a good worker, but I don't know if she's got the experience to bring Rousey along. I worry.

London hates Roman

I mean, most crowds hate Roman these days, but the London crowd was downright vicious. They're leading up to a PPV match in which the crowd supports Jinder Mahal against their supposed top babyface. Yikes.

Seth and Kevin came to work

Seth Rollins continues his run of outstanding matches. Just put him in the ring and watch him go. And, of course, it's much better when the opponent is KO, who can keep up with Rollins. This match was excellent. With Roman hated, Seth is now Raw's top face alongside Braun.

Triple Yikes

It's a triple threat between a former NXT champ, a former NXT sorta-kinda contender, and a guy who danced a lot in NXT. And, unsurprisingly, all three went to course. Bobby won. And it was not nearly as bad as I expected!

Meet The B Team

Bo and Axel continue to make the most out of every opportunity, and it seems to be working! I'm sad that Breezango had to play stepping stone, but right now, even getting screen time is an achievement for the Fashion Police.

Six wrestlers walk into a ring...

Sasha, Ember, and Natalya? Is it me, or does that team seem absolutely random? I like every one of the competitors here, but this was random and pointless. Maybe there's a brilliant plan somewhere, but if there is, I don't know what the heck it is.

Once again, sucks to be The Revival

Look, I get it. They both got injured, and were out for a long time, and now the creative team is probably afraid of pushing them for fear of them getting hurt. But this is benefiting no one. The Revival are too good to be losing short squash matches, even if they are losing to the tag champs. The Revival should BE tag champs.

Sami does what now?

Sami Zayn is great. He's a great face and a great heel. He's great on the mic, and he's great in the ring. So... why are they making him do this thing with Lashley? Last week's "Lashley has sisters" segment was weird, but it leading up to "Sami will bring the sisters next week to badmouth Bobby"? I don't even know.

Bliss (almost) always wins

I don't think WWE understands just how bad a taste Alexa's feud left in fans' mouths, or they wouldn't be pushing her again. The match was very good. All three are excellent at wrestling.

Another random match generator result

So, for Mania, Braun so didn't need a partner he got a kid to team up with him, and now he's randomly teaming with Finn? Whaaaa? I have a feeling the only reason this match happened was to see how Drew and Braun look face to face in the ring, with the bright lights on, and how the crowd reacts. Looking at Drew, it's kinda amazing to think he was a Heath Slater sidekick not so many years ago,

KO doing double duty

After having a great long match early in the show, KO returned (because Reigns brutalized Jinder backstage. Twice) to face Lashley and Elias. And won! This is most excellent, because he's great at ladder matches. Sami gave an assist, furthering both his feud with Bobby and his weird friendship with KO.

Smackdown

Yes! Yes! Yes!

While I do not care for the Bryan/Cass feud, I appreciated Bryan getting to absolutely punk Cass out. This was a tiny man believably destroying a large man. And with Joe on Cass' horizon next week, things may go from bad to worse.

Tag team goodness

New Day and The Bar are two of the best tag teams in the world, so just letting them go at it works for me. Now, with New Day winning and having to choose a member to go to MiTB, I'm hoping they don't go the predictable strife route. Just like, in the last two Royal Rumble matches, the other two strongly wanted Kofi to win (because he's Mr. Royal Rumble). Let's have them all support one of the members unanimously and be fine with that.

Welcome, El Idolo!

Andrade "Cien" Almas and Zelina Vega are on Smackdown and destroying jobbers and promos and I am here for all of that.

The Royal Mellabration

Mella is doing stellar work as a heel, and it was nice that they decided to give Paige screen time in the ring so the crowd could go nuts for her. And Asuka's gonna kill Carmella.

The Lynch Train Is Warming Up!

Okay. Good. If this is what the Becky losses were leading to, I'm here for it. If Mella loses at MiTB and Becky caches in on Asuka while turning heel? That would be fire. Becky is a GREAT heel!

Shinsuke v. AJ III

This was a great match, utilizing the psychology and storyline the two have built to tell a great story. And Nakamura got to win! Against AJ! In the main event! I'm gonna guess the final match in the feud will be Last Man Standing. What else is left?

Smackdown extras

The Bludgeons want competition. Which... SAnitY?

Rusev Day is on the same page. Also, Lana's gonna lose.

205 Live

205 vs. UK

Tyler Bate is on 205 live! Where... he still looks kinda tiny? But powerful, and victorious! I didn't know Kenny Williams, but the kid is good at wrestling!

205 w. UK

This wasn't cruisers vs. Brits. Instead, it was mixed, with grapplers going against aerialists. And it was very good. The brits here weren't quite on par with the 205 guys, but they all made it work, and in the end, the good guys won. Was curious that Pete Dunne wasn't in attendance.

NXT

Ciampa is evil

While this was effective, I worry. It doesn't look like they're ready to have Candice wrestle Ciampa, and does means the only escalation can be Ciampa attacking a helpless Candice, who will be avenged by Johnny. And I am so tired of Candice's story being about Johnny.

Velveteen Dream Match

Before Lars so rudely interrupted, this was just wonderful. I look forward to these guys having a Takeover match, because that's gonna set the arena on fire.

NXT Women wrestle? Not on WWE's youtube!

I continue to be befuddled by the decision not to put the women's division stuff on youtube. And there was some good stuff! Nikki Cross's promo with Dakota was great! And while Lacey Evans is still grating, having Kairi attack her after her win was pretty awesome.

Don't Mess With Dunne

Pete Dunne, along with Danny Birch and Oney Lorcan, got a measure of revenge by beating Undisputed Era. Still, I imagine this ends with Era successfully defending the tag titles against the two bald hard hitters.

Final thoughts

Seth Rollins, KO, Nakamura, AJ, and Becky Lynch carried this week with awesome ring work. The storylines? I'm iffy on most things going on outside the IC title picture (which is just a picture of Seth Rollins having a great match against anyone).

One More Thought

Yeah, I know. Enzo Amore will not be charged. I still consider him an abuser, and will have a very hard time supporting any promotion that hires him. Here's why:

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