Wrestling Thursday: Ali Is God

The lows were low, the highs were high. Must have been a week on WWE TV. Let's get into it. This is Wrestling Thursday.

Raw

Tweener Reigns

Reigns' comments about Lashley were heel comments. Getting beat down by Drew and Dolph, and saved by Seth, that's all babyface. Which I guess is cementing the tweener thing? But it feels more like WWE has no idea what they're doing with him. As usual.

A-Team Wins Again!

So now Axel gets to beat Matt Hardy on Raw two weeks in a row? This is an odd world we're in, but I kinda dig it. Go B-Team! (yes, this was almost entirely copy-paste from what I wrote last week, but so was the match)

Titus World Squashed

I kinda feel bad for Titus Worldwide about their jobber status. Especially Apollo. He is too good for this. But this was the correct outcome for this match. AOP's potential is limitless, and they should be destroying people.

Good Wrestlers Wrestle Good

I dislike Ziggler, this is known. I think WWE has no idea what their doing with Roman, this is also known. But all four of these guys can work, and this match was a good showcase for that. I just wish Roman's match in Extreme Rules was against Drew. That would make so much more sense. Yeah, I know I wrote that last week.

Baron And Finn Talk

It is so weird that Baron Corbin can suddenly talk, and act, and shit. The Lone Wolf gimmick was way closer to the guy he is in real life, but somehow this smarmy asshole version of his character super works.

Speaking of Talking

So these were spread out during the show, and... you know how foolish I think the premise here is. But the execution was pretty great. Bayley, especially, has made great strides in her acting. Really, though, I just want them to get to the fighting.

Liv Morgan! Who knew?

So I watch NXT. I have watched a bunch of Liv Morgan matches, and she was... okay. But I guess working regularly with Ruby and Sarah is having an effect, because she was great here. Ember, of course, is always great.

Shatter Machine!

So, hey, here's Roman's other feud, other opponents, and other tag team partner. Because that's the way to deal with fans thinking Roman is shoved down their collective throats. I did enjoy the Shatter Machine, and I guess Lashley and Reigns are both tweeners in this feud?

Heel Mojo

Rawley's really got his heel mojo working right now. He is extremely hateable.

Mickey James is invaluable

Mickey's championship pedigree and excellent ringwork make her a credible and important role player right now, and she did a great job in this Nia match.

No More Bullying

Is... is this supposed to build face heat for Braun and heel heat for KO? Because it mostly makes me feel really bad for Kevin. He is being bullied by this monster guy, and it's gotta be frustrating.

Smackdown

Hell No Recap

So this was basically all of Team Hell No's previous run encapsulated in a one in-ring segment and one backstage segment. Which, if this is going to be a short lived partnership, makes tons of sense. I mean, doesn't Glenn Jacobs have an election to win?

Must See US Title

This was a very solid match, only hindered by the knowledge that with Shin waiting in the wings, a Miz win is unlikely. Still, for an old guy and a supposedly mediocre worker, they did great!

SAnitY Hates Pancakes!

This is more like it. Now they're agents of chaos, and a force. Also, as a side note, Big E looked YOKED. He is putting in the time in the gym.

Battle Of The Sexes?

When he faced Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggs was a little old, but he had been one of the best tennis player in the world in his day. Asuka facing Ellseworth isn't the battle of the sexes. It's the battle of jobber dude vs arguably the best worker in the world. Not letting this end in a conclusive finish - I'd take an Asuka Lock, but would prefer an Asuka kick to the face - was pathetic.

Evil Bulgarian

I know I should let this go. WWE wants Rusev to be a heel. But I can't. I mean, sure, he's up against AJ, so he's the heel in this, but he's so much better as a face, dammit. Match was fine. AJ is amazing and Aiden is solid.

Mowing The Midcard

So Becky Lynch has now gone through pretty much the entire heel midcard of Smackdown's women's division. Is this leading to a title push? It should!

Uso Jobbing

So this was a fun match! The Uso's talk earlier about Bryan reminded me of their terrific chemistry with him in the much lamented Talkin' Smack. And while Kane is a limited worker now, everyone else in the match was terrific.

205 Live

Welcome back, Noam!

Huh. I called Dar as the opponent, because he showed up in the UK tournament, but didn't see him laying out TJP so easily. I would guess revenge is coming.

Tozawa and Rush Feud coming

The feud could be fun, but this match was a nothing.

HOLY SHIT

If you love wrestling and haven't seen this match, don't settle for the above clip. Seek it out. Get a WWE Network trial membership or something. Do whatever you gotta do, because this wasn't just a PPV caliber match, this was a Match Of The Year caliber match. These two tremendous athletes left it ALL out there. Murphy is great. He's been such a revelation since coming to 205 live. But Mustafa Ali is a wrestling god.

NXT

Kick, Dakota, kick!

(no video, because sexism)
It was nice to see Santana Garrett in NXT again, but it was really nice to see Dakota get to show more of her stuff. She may be the captain of Team Kick, but her arsenal is much larger than that. This was a very solid opener.

Mighty Otis

This handicap match was odd, because of the current state of the NXT tag division. Sure, The Mighty won, but does anyone think of them as a serious threat? No.

Dreams of Dijak

Chris Dijak looked great in a losing effort to one of NXT's biggest future stars. He also looked huge. Weird that they're giving someone with his impressive track record and obvious ability a jobbing path right now. It'll be Interesting to see where that goes.

Darth Gargano

You know, it's so weird. So weird seeing NXT basically be built around telling the story of two undersized indie guys. But it is. NXT is the Johnny and Tommaso show right now, and the story is Johnny going dark on his way to the inevitable third match against Ciampa. I just hope no one tells Vince that a specimen like EC3 is getting jobbed in service to a story about Gargano.

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