Been a minute, hasn’t it? Since I started over at Wrestling Inc. I thought I’d have more time to write, like, overall. Turns out life has gotten in the way of that and so, I’ve been more focused on writing about Maki Itoh and Brock Lesnar and less about, well, keeping y’all up to date on what’s going on in the world of pro rasslin! But we’ve got a few more of those in the hopper and since my brain is a little overloaded with personal stuff today, I felt like it’s as good a time as any to update the old Let’s Watch Some Wrestling blog.
And what a week (month?) it’s been! Last weekend saw big events for WWE, AEW, and NXT. WWE had their first big event in like 15 years over in the UK, and there were some amazing matches on that show. AEW had their annual All Out show, which is arguably their biggest show of the year. (AEW only does four big pay per view shows a year, as opposed to the WWE’s 12 to 14.) That ended with a new champ and then a championship vacancy. NXT did a show combining their UK and American counterparts into one for now, as NXT UK prepares to reboot itself. Maybe we better just dive right in.
WWE’s stuff on both SmackDown and Raw has been great! A real revelation since Vince stepped away for, you know, reasons. Former wrestler Triple H has taken over the booking (storytelling) and things have been really interesting, with a lot of returning talent and some refreshing angles for old favorites. Those stories culminated in last Saturday’s Clash at the Castle show in Wales. If you happen to have Peacock, that show and all WWE’s premium live events are included. And if you’re an Xfinity (Comcast) customer that’s all thrown in too.
Sheamus, via his Twitter after his match! YIKES!
I tell you this because there’s a match on that show, Sheamus versus Gunther, that is one of the best things I’ve seen on WWE programming in a minute. If you have the time and motivation, GO WATCH IT! Sheamus is an Irish pugilist, more clear than white. Gunther is a giant of a man, a stoic ring general type who just bullies his opponents. In a match that a lot of people overlooked on paper, these two just beat the hell out of each other! The thing with Sheamus is, he’s so pasty white that bruises show up almost immediately on him. Putting him in a match with a guy like Gunther, who is known for his powerful chops and brutal offense, just clicked perfectly. Sheamus is no slouch either - he’s been a mainstay in WWE for years now, a multi-time champ on both Raw and SmackDown. Just a fantastic, brutal, delightful match. If you’re wondering how they’re faking those chops so they don’t hurt…they aren’t. That’s just two dudes in there straight up hurting each other for our entertainment.
The rest of the show was really good too! The main event saw Drew McIntyre face champion of everything Roman Reigns, and that UK crowd was super behind their guy. I probably should have known better, but I definitely thought the outcome was gonna be different. LIKE A FOOL! Roman retained despite his cousins not being available, by bringing…another cousin into his Bloodline group! It was pretty cool.
And then there was AEW’s All Out show on Sunday night. The show itself was good, I think? The events afterward overshadowed the thing, which is awful. If you haven’t heard (and if you haven’t I thank you for reading) Chicago’s own CM Punk won the AEW Championship in the main event of the show. He then decided to vent a ton of personal issues he has with other AEW talent during a post-show press conference, as the owner of the company sat next to him, dumbfounded. He laid into former friends and current EVPs while eating muffins and being kind of a jerk. He then (allegedly) got into a fight with those EVPs in his dressing room, although all the details of that are a little fuzzy. Suffice it to say, you can’t do that stuff and the owner, Tony Khan, ended up suspending both Punk, his friend Ace Steel, and several others including the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, who had won the Trios tournament earlier that night. So, down four champs, Khan did a soft reset on Wednesday, having a match for the now vacant Trios belts and setting up a Tournament of Champions for the vacant AEW Championship, which will be settled at their next big show in a few weeks. It’s madness!
We also saw the return of MJF, a guy who is just the best at blurring the lines between reality and wrestling drama. He was on his best behavior, which is probably in everybody’s best interest right now, but during All Out he did win a ladder match that guarantees him a title shot in the future - kind of like the Money in the Bank thing we discussed in our Raw primer from a few weeks back. I’m sure he’ll find the perfect time to cash that in, when our new champ is at their weakest.
It’s a shame there was so much drama after the show, because the show itself featured some amazing wrestling. The Trios match was fantastic, and the Tag Team Championship match between The Acclaimed and Swerve in our Glory was way better than it had any right to be. Looking forward to that rematch in a few weeks.
I’d love to write a little more about that whole dramafest, if you’re interested. Wrestling Inc. is fantastic for my research heavy stuff, but they have a team of news guys who keep the nerds like me up to date on all the behind the scenes drama. I, in turn, would be happy to make another primer for those of you still learning the ropes (no pun intended) in the pro wrestling world! So let me know if you’d like to read more about SmackDown, AEW Dynamite, or backstage stuff, and I’ll be happy to knock something out for ya.
I think we’ll wrap up here for now. I have two articles pending for the other site, one on WWE legend Eddie Guerrero and another on the top 15 wrestling movies of all time. I will, of course, let y’all know when those go up via my FB and Twitter. So, until next time, enjoy your weekend and maybe watch some wrestling!
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