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Another week of fine WWE programming has come and gone, beginning with the No Mercy PPV on Sunday and ending with last night's NXT. (Apologies to the hard working men and women of Superstars and Main Event, but a man can only watch so much!) Dolph Ziggler put his career on the line against The Miz, Paul Heyman called out Goldberg on behalf of Brock Lesnar, the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic raged on, and the King of Strong Style returned to get his revenge on Samoa Joe. Here's my obligatory two cents on a few of this week's stand-out moments and matches:
No Mercy was an odd PPV. Medical complications kept Smackdown Women's champ Becky Lynch from defending her title, and the card seemed to be shuffled around at the last minute because of this. In a ballsy move, the triple threat title match between WWE champ AJ Styles, John Cena, and Dean Ambrose went on first, kicking off the show with a bang. This was a solid match that built to a bit of an awkward finish. Two of the clunkier spots stick out in my mind-- 1) When all three men bounded off the ropes and tried to clothesline each other, it came across as one of the softest bumps I'd ever seen. I wonder if it's that new camera angle they've been using suring the brand split? It makes some moves look very strange, especially since I'm used to seeing the same three or four camera angles for most of my wrestling watching life. It's great that they're trying new things from a production standpoint, but that new "over the turnbuckle" cam really exposes some moves. 2) The double submission spot, with both Cena and Ambrose applying holds to Styles may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but looking back at the match a few days later, I don't think it was really necessary. Aside from those two fumbles, it was a good match and the right guy won in Styles.
As happy as I was to see Luke Harper return during the main event between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton, the match itself didn't seem to generate much hype. Since they had a non-starter at Backlash, perhaps the creative team felt this would be a hotly anticipated match, but it just didn't deliver, at least as a big main event. (I've had my reservations about this feud since it started, see my earlier posts about Smackdown for more . . .) The far superior Ziggler/Miz match probably should have gone on last, especially since the stakes were much higher and the build over the last few weeks has been great. Miz equating Ziggler to Daniel Bryan in his promos was a great heel move, and Ziggler's passionate promos never really felt corny or forced. His real-life frustrations seemed to be showing through his mic work. The match itself saw Ziggler sell his ass off, especially while locked in The Miz's Figure Four submission. (Woooo!) Ziggler won the match, saved his career, and put on what could easily have been a great main event.
The involvement of Ziggler's former teammates from the Spirit Squad bled into this week's Smackdown, culminating in a handicap match where Ziggler got to look strong. He's a fighting champ. Where does this leave Miz? Perhaps he could take on another "internet darling" in AJ Styles while Cena and Ambrose branch off into their own feud? Other Smackdown highlights include the return of everyone's favorite jobber James Ellsworth and the announcement of a Smackdown vs. Raw 5 on 5 Survivor Series match. (I love 5 on 5 elimination matches and the roster is so stacked right now I can't wait to see what both brands cook up for teams, should be fun.)
Oh yeah, there's that other show too . . . Monday Night Raw. The Kevin Owens Show continued this week with a triple threat between Owens, Rollins, and Jericho being teased. The Owens/Jericho tandem is so good, I don't want the split to happen yet, but something tells me K.O. is going to get . . . . . "it" sooner than later. Raw's next big show is Hell In A Cell, hitting at the end of the month, and then I *assume* both brands are going to merge for Survivor Series, since that's traditionally been considered one of the "big four" PPVs, along with Mania, the Rumble, and Summerslam. Charlotte and Sasha blowing off their feud in a Cell match is an exciting prospect, but it bugs me from a storyline perspective to see Foley encouraging it. Of all people, he should be cautioning against them having a Cell match, since it took years off his life. But hey, the ladies main evented Raw the previous week and they'll have a Hell in a Cell match soon, so at least they're making history.
Other Raw highlights include the massive Braun Strowman using a dropkick (!) and Brian Kendrick on commentary during TJ Perkins' match.
Finally, NXT was a lot of fun this week, with Eric Young's new stable, "Sanity", debuting and beating up on poor Mr. Ten Tye Dillinger after Bobby Roode left him to rot. This bit surprised me, as I thought the "Glorious Ten" team would stick for at leasta few matches before the inevitable betrayal. Roode's backstage comments and cowardice cemented him as my heel of the week, denying any wrong-doing and trying to hide his own fearful response to Sanity's appearance. TM-61 also advanced in the tournament after knocking off a team of newbies. One of the new guys, former NFL player Tino Sabbatelli, really impressed me with his demeanor and offense. Nothing mind-blowing, just great working punches and stiff shoulder blocks. Caught me by surprise.
Back to Sanity for a sec: this stable could kick some serious ass. You have E.Y. in the lead role, two brutes whose names I don't remember as their tag team representatives and the brutish Nikki Cross as their female member. They've got a rep in each division of NXT and I'm all for seeing a faction like thise take over the show for a while, as long as they can get it done in the ring.
Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy (remember these guys?) tried to settle their differences in the ring, only to be interrupted by Samoa Joe, who continued his crusade to attack anyone he feels like until William Regal caves in to his demands. Instead of the NXT General Manager, he got the champ himself, Shinsuke Nakamura. This was a fun brawl, even if the "security guards" were a tad awkward. Shades of Steve Austin when Nakamura started taking out security, by the way. The crowd popped hard for that. Their next match will surely be a barn-burner (duh), but I'm anxious to see where we go from here. Will Joe be moved up to the main roster in time for the Rumble or Mania? Will Shinsuke have Roode, Young, or even a recently turned Andrade Almas as challengers? I wonder who he'll face next, honestly. They aren't in quite as dire straights as the NXT Women's divison though. Asuka has almost no one to really grapple with, aside from Ember Moon. (Yeah, I don't see her dropping the title to Billie Kay or Peyton Royce anytime soon.)
What do you see in NXT's future? Let me know in the comments or hunt me down on Twitter (@ChrisBComics). Thanks for reading!
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