It's Rumble Weekend on the Casual Friday blog!

 

Good Morning!

So Netflix is getting into the rasslin’ business, with the Tuesday announcement that RAW is headed to the streaming service in January of 2025. It’s gonna be weird to not see Monday Night RAW on USA, although us olds remember the brief flirtation with Spike TV / The Nashville Network. Regardless, there’s also been talk that the tentpole of wrestling television may not even stay on Mondays. That’s kinda sad! 

I get it - there’s football, and college sports championships fall on Mondays too – but it’s always been MONDAY NIGHT RAW to me, with the Monday Night part being just as important as the show’s name! I remember hanging out in my friend Benny’s basement, taping Raw while watching Nitro live (or the other way around once WCW declined) just to crash on his couch, waking up at 5 the next day to walk off the hangover in brisk Illinois weather on my way to the animal hospital to feed the dogs n cats. Those memories won’t change because of that, but it’s kind of an institution, you know?

The other issue I have is that it’s Netflix, a service many of us have backed off of after frequent rate hikes, the addition of ads, and a crackdown on password sharing. It’s still the most popular streamer by a longshot, but here’s the thing: at this point, to keep up with the stuff I watch from WWE as of next year, I’ll need Netflix for RAW, USA (cable or a TV streamer like YouTube TV) for SmackDown, the CW (network TV via antenna or, more likely, a streamer) for NXT, and Peacock for PLEs. That’s … exhausting. Our buddies in other, distant lands will have Netflix as their provider for all of this stuff, which is pretty cool for them…at least it’s one, central deal. 

I find it a little frustrating, myself, but I’m sure smarter people than me already have plans in place for how to work around this stuff. I mean, if Netflix assumes you’re in the UK, doesn’t that mean you’d have access to all the UK-specific stuff too? That’s what the NordVPN ads I see on literally every YouTube video I streamed last month told me.

“It’s A Soap Opera With More Suplexes and Less Violence”

…in which I discuss the storylines that keep us watching week to week

RAW

Monday Night RAW started off hot and just kept going this week. As it was the go-home show before this weekend’s Royal Rumble, the show was bound to have more storyline developments than in-ring action – that’s just kind of the way it is before a big show. You don’t want anybody getting hurt, and you want to build anticipation for the matches at the show so you’ll get more eyes on the product (and buys of the show.) We watched Seth Rollins, the rumored injury-haver from the prior week’s match against Jinder Mahal, start a teary-eyed promo that had many fans believing he might be relinquishing his World Heavyweight Championship prior to the Rumble. After an interruption by Intercontinental Champ GUNTHER and his pals in Imperium, it was pretty clear that this was all a cunning ruse, and while the injury was real enough, Seth intends to defend his championship at WrestleMania!

It’ll be interesting to see where they go from here, though. Seth’s injury means that his title won’t be defended for the months leading up to the Show of Shows, and with Roman Reigns also (presumably) not defending after Saturday the closest we’ll come to a championship match is setting up contenders for the main titles at the Rumble and Elimination Chamber. Now, realistically, that might be what we were gonna do anyway – have CM Punk win the Rumble, challenge Seth, build the rivalry with interviews and promos. Let Cody Rhodes win his way into ‘Mania at Elimination Chamber. Neither of those requires Rollins or Reigns’ presence. 

Anyways, we also saw what might be the promo of the year when Cody Rhodes and CM Punk faced off to, um, discuss their Royal Rumble plans. I’m just gonna put it here for you to check out:

GOOD LORD MAN these two…they didn’t need to sell me on the Royal Rumble but if I hadn’t already been in, this work would have put me all the way in. Bringing up each other’s pasts while still dancing around the AEW stuff is the best way to have this conversation, and the intensity and tension built while also keeping things relatively calm until the end. This is how you perform a promo that silences a crowd, commands respect, and sells a show all at once.

Sorry, I’m just excitable. We also saw more aggression from the New Day as they continued to build a rivalry with Imperium, and R-Truth’s lovable shenanigans led to a main event loss for his pal Damien Priest against Drew McIntyre, which I’m sure will come into play during the Rumble too. 

NXT 

The build to Vengeance Day, which is not this coming Sunday but the next, continued as we saw Bronn Breakker and Baron Corbin take down Axiom and Nathan Frazier to lock in their spot in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Tournament final, where they’ll likely be meeting Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes. Melo interfered in Trick’s main event match, adding to the already tense relationship between the two superstars, and we’ll see if things escalate after (maybe) we see Hayes participate in the Royal Rumble. Hayes has made appearances on SmackDown lately, and it would be good storytelling to have him be completely hypocritical towards Williams by taking part in the Rumble the week before their finals match.

AEW Dynamite

A dead crowd that wasn’t that big to begin with kinda hurt this show, which had some good action on it and the lovely tones of our champion, Samoa Joe, on commentary. Page/Penta, Swerve/Hardy, Rosa/Velvet, and the main event were all good matches, but the highlight of the show for me was the half monochrome/half color interview between Deonna Purrazzo and Toni Storm. They gave a little bit of backstory and showed off some matching tattoos, just enough to get us on the hook for their backstory. There’s a great looking card for Collision this weekend as well, although most of us are probably DVRing that action for after the Rumble.

We Watched Some Wrestling!

…in which I recommend some of the best matches I saw last week

Some decent stuff in a week I wasn’t expecting much! Between the Raw go-home show, NXT building for their PLE, and AEW having an off week with Dynamite, there wasn’t much of a reason to expect great matches. But seeing Adam Copeland and Minoru Suzuki share a ring was incredible as a longtime fan of the former Edge and a supporter of our Murder Grandpa Suzuki. Some highlights:

Just a couple cool older performers with amazing legacies having some fun while they still can, and putting on a show at the same time. Suzuki responding to Copeland’s offer for a post match handshake with a roar was everything it could be to put a lid on that bout, and I loved it.

NXT opened with a really fun tag team match between the team of Baron Corbin and Bronn Breakker and Nathan Frazier and Axiom. The littler guys were incredible, flying around all over the place, but the bigger lads really picked their spots perfectly, often snatching their opponents out of the air and slamming them into the mat. 

It’s The Let’s Watch Some Wrestling Royal Rumble 2024 Preview!

We’ll be pre-empting the often pre-empted “Let’s Remember A Guy” and “Mailbox” sections for this weekend’s pape, as per usual. There’s only four matches announced, and two of those are Royal Rumble matches, so we’ll have a little fun with our predictions this time around. But before we get into it: it’s my beloved By The Numbers Video!

With that out of the way, let’s crack in!

The Men’s Royal Rumble Match

As of Thursday afternoon, the Men’s Rumble will include Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, GUNTHER, Kofi Kingston, and Damian Priest. Priest still holds the Money in the Bank briefcase, meaning he could have taken Seth out on Monday and taken his title, but who am I to judge? I still believe this is a two-horse race between Punk and Rhodes, with the winner maybe getting a feud with Drew McIntyre to pass the time between now and WrestleMania. The loser would likely enter the Elimination Chamber match to challenge their chosen opponent – Seth Rollins for the Punker (assuming that match is still happening at all), and Roman Reigns for Cody. I’ll go with my gut here, ignoring my heart, and pick Cody Rhodes to repeat as the Royal Rumble winner, with a Final Four of Rhodes, Punk, McIntyre, and GUNTHER.

I still have no idea how The Rock fits into all of this. Does he face Reigns in Australia at the Elimination Chamber show? Is he involved in the Royal Rumble match? Does he take one of the main events at WrestleMania? Is he actually not involved at all, and simply teased a match for SummerSlam or somewhere else way down the road? WHO’S TO SAY?

Oh, and since it’s the Rumble, I like to pick a surprise entrant. This year’s will be, oh, let’s say Tyler Breeze. The wife and I love Breezy on UpUpDownDown and it would be great to see Prince Pretty make a grand return, maybe alongside his co-owner in a real life wrestling school Shawn Spears, aka Tye Dillinger.

The Women’s Royal Rumble Match

Significantly fewer announced entries for the Women’s Rumble match: Bayley, Nia Jax, Becky Lynch, and Bianca Belair are the only ones so far. But there are enough storylines floating around to keep things interesting. 

Asuka and Kairi Sane of Damage CTRL have a tag team championship match against Kayden Carter and Katana Chance, which they may just win for fun, but I think they are both going to be involved in the Rumble as well. This might be when the team decides they’ve had enough of Bayley, either because Bayley loses on her own or because they’re tired of her and toss her from the match. Either way, I believe we’re headed for Bayley versus IYO SKY and Becky Lynch versus Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, both great matches that they’ve been slowly building for a while now. Because of that, my choice for Rumble winner is Becky Lynch. Final Four will be Lynch, Nia Jax, Bayley, and Belair.

And since she’s been on the roster for quite a while now, I’m gonna say we’re getting Jade Cargill as a surprise entrant. NXT has a lot of talent that’s ready to move up to the main roster, though – I wouldn’t be surprised to see the likes of Tiffany Stratton, Gigi Dolan, or Roxanne Perez make an appearance.

Logan Paul © versus Kevin Owens for the United States Championship

KO won his way into this match via a really good tournament in which he defeated Austin Theory, Carmelo Hayes, and Santos Escobar. The story of the match, though, is KO’s cast, which Paul argued was a weapon that gave Owens an advantage. Owens agreed to remove the cast for the match, and I imagine that will be his downfall. Paul remains a special attraction that people seem to be tuning in for, so he should probably retain his title until ‘Mania, where maybe he has a full match with rival Ricochet? I’m not sure about that, but I am sure that Logan Paul retains in this one.

Roman Reigns © versus AJ Styles versus Randy Orton versus LA Knight for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

This should be fun even though that outcome is not at all in doubt. What’s more important is the interactions between everyone before Roman gets the victory, as we might see some of these guys in the Elimination Chamber next month or even building rivalries that end up at WrestleMania. Styles and Knight look to be headed in that direction, and I’m not mad at it. There’s also nothing that says these three can’t participate in the Rumble as well, so maybe Randy pulls double duty there. 

The Bloodline and possibly even The Rock may show up here, although I feel like there may be a ringside ban revealed on tonight’s SmackDown. That would eliminate Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa, but Rocky could mess things up for his cousin as he challenges for the title of Head of the Table. I feel like we’re going to see this as the main event, as we did last year for the Kevin Owens/ Roman Reigns match that saw Sami Zayn turn on his new pals in one of the best segments of 2023.  

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! Thanks for coming with me on that journey. We’ve got the go-home SmackDown tonight, as well as both the Royal Rumble and a stacked AEW Collision on Saturday, so our Monday weekend in review should be pretty packed!

We’ll see you next week for the usual Casual Friday and Untitled Monday blog posts. If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow us on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.

Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and we’ll see you back here Monday afternoon and next Friday. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!

Raw Report from 6/20/2022

 Well, this weekend was a little packed for your friendly neighborhood blogger, what with the missus having a birthday party and yours truly running the show. Also had a little contractor drama with the basement renovation and … well, at the end of the day I didn’t get a chance to watch Rampage OR SmackDown. I did get caught up on the (very eventful) SD, and I’ll likely watch Rampage today after I knock the old Raw Report out here. 

But I ramble. It’s Tuesday morning, I have coffee and a sleeping pug on my lap…let’s get to last night’s WWE Raw, shall we?

Image from WWE.com

Bianca Belair welcomed us to Monday Night Raw with some unwelcome news; specifically, that Rhea Ripley won’t be medically cleared in time for their Raw Women’s Championship match. She said there are five women who will compete for the role of replacement: Becky Lynch, Asuka, Alexa Bliss, Liv Morgan, and … Carmella!

That announcement brought Becky out to complain that she should be given the shot directly, as she hadn’t had a rematch yet.

Those complaints summoned Asuka, to argue that Becky may not even be Big Time anymore.

That argument called forth Liv Morgan to the stage, where she said she was happy to exchange her Money in the Bank entry for a full on title match.

That statement propelled Carmella to go full Mean Girl on Liv, asking why she was even here - an odd choice for someone who hasn’t been seen in weeks but whatever, no judgment.

That rant led to the arrival of Alexa Bliss, and the traditional Raw opening multi-person talking segment was completed. Bliss defended her new pal Liv from Carmella, and made a James Ellsworth reference, and I’m worried we’ve heard a lot of those lately and there may be a payoff.

Since the gang had all arrived, Bianca proclaimed the match ready to start.

YOUR Opening Contest: Becky Lynch versus Asuka versus Alexa Bliss versus Liv Morgan versus Carmella for a Raw Women’s Championship match at Money in the Bank

Without going move for move, I thought this was a really decent match. Add in the fact that they must have thrown the thing together after getting the news about Rhea, and it was about as good as you’d expect from a five person opening Raw challenge. In the end, we had Bliss and Morgan in the ring together, and they went at it a bit. Alexa got Liv on the mat and went for Twisted Bliss, but Liv was able to get her knees up and block the impact. Which was great, until she recovered right into a superkick from Carmella and the 1-2-3.

Three stars! An entertaining and fast paced, if at times rushed and a bit sloppy, opening contest. Hey, we opened Raw with some wrestling after the first talky bit - that’s worth a star on its own!

Backstage, Becky Lynch argued with Adam Pearce that she was scheduled to have a Money in the Bank qualifying match against Asuka, and that should still happen. And so, it will.

Vince McMahon’s music hit, and the man himself walked to the arena to the adulation of Nebraskans in attendance. Much like his appearance on SmackDown, he talked a bit about how this was the 1,517th episode of Raw, and credited the fans. Vince talked up John Cena’s return next week and that was that. Man…I get that it’s his show, and that he’s still running creative, but it seems dumb and kinda needy for him to be coming out just to feel important when his company might be getting taken out from under him. Just my opinion. The less said about that whole situation (by me, a guy who knows very little) the better.

Riddle headed to the ring to cut a promo next, and spoke on his loss on SmackDown, and how he could redeem himself by winning Money in the Bank. He took a shot at Seth Rollins for his attacks on Cody Rhodes, and then Olmos and MVP headed to the ring. After a few weed jokes, we had our next match.

Match #2: Olmos (w/ MVP) versus Riddle, Money in the Bank qualifier

Riddle’s ribs are taped from his match on Friday, and Seth Rollins watched from backstage. Riddle had a ton of offense in this, while Olmos looked good as the stoic, lumbering giant. Olmos lifting Riddle and eating a knee for his trouble was a clever reversal in a match with several. Riddle was looking to qualify for MitB after recovering from being tossed across the ring, as he hit an upkick and Floating Bro. He signaled for the RKO and was caught by Olmos, and the lifting chokeslam (Tree Slam?) by Olmos ended Riddle’s hopes for vengeance.

After the victory, Olmos hit a second Tree Slam to Riddle and left, as Seth Rollins’s music played him out. Rollins entered the ring as Riddle rolled out, and Seth ran Riddle down for losing Friday, losing the match tonight, and losing his partner. Seth says he has Roman’s number, and he can win the MitB briefcase and win the titles. Riddle tried to fight back but Rollins quickly dropped him and hit a Stomp for good measure.

Three stars! Olmos looked good here, even if it was mostly Riddle doing the work. I’m honestly a little worried about Riddle - he’s clearly out of the title picture now, and out of Money in the Bank unless some shenanigans occur. I hope there’s a plan for everyone’s favorite pothead, as he’s one of the few healthy, over faces in the company.

Also, a problem with having a heel champ who no longer defends the title regularly and has been champion for over a year - there aren’t any good guys left with a legitimate chance at beating Roman. Riddle was probably our last hope, right? Please, let me know anyone I've overlooked.

Theory was out next, and brought up the main event pose down from last week that I had managed to forget. He talked about Bobby Lashley getting embarrassed, talked some smack about beloved superstar John Cena, and then stood on a little pedestal to do more posing. Theory decided to congratulate himself with a photo, and realized Lashley had gotten into the ring behind him. That led to an eyeful of baby oil for Theory, and a great looking spear off the podium. Bobby then decided he’s taking that US title.

After a break, Kevin Patrick spoke with Theory. He decided Lashley could fight him at Money in the Bank for the US Championship…IF Lashley could win a three person gauntlet match. And so, it was booked for later in the evening.

The Usos entered the arena, gloating about Roman Reigns winning on Friday, and how they hold all the gold. That brought the Street Profits out to remind the Usos that they would like the titles AND the smoke.

Match #3: Jey Uso versus Angelo Dawkins

Brawling and a sweet enziguri from Dawkins opened things, and we got a fine looking tope suicida to send us to a commercial. Upon returning, Jey controlled things and hit both a neckbreaker and a silencer for two counts. He headed up to finish the match, but Dawkins recovered and caught the airborne Uso in a Sky High (!) for the pinfall.

Three stars! Both Jey and Dawkins looked good in what feels like the thousandth time some iteration of this match has been on TV. That doesn’t take away from a good match with dedicated performers, it just kinda makes the whole thing a little less exciting.

We were treated to Elias (NOT Ezekiel - this guy had a beard and long hair and everything) strumming his guitar backstage. His brother, Ezekiel, arrived and the brothers chatted about Money in the Bank, and their catchphrases.

Elias was in the ring after that, but was quickly interrupted by Kevin Owens. Owens sold the hell out of his disbelief, claiming movie magic could do anything - he saw a T-Rex fly a helicopter in a movie last week! While Owens screamed that Elias was a liar, Ezekiel appeared on the big screen behind him, proving that Elias and Ezekiel are separate people. Elias thanked Zeke for that, and started singing a song about Kevin Owens and lying. 

Owens tossed Elias’s guitar, leading to Owens eating a running knee to the chin and a replacement guitar being smashed on Owens’s back.

Backstage, Kevin Patrick set KO up to challenge Ezekiel, Elias, or a third brother we haven’t met named Elrod. So that’ll happen next week.

Match #4: Bobby Lashley versus Chad Gable, first leg of the gauntlet

Some really great wrestling in the first match of three for Lashley, as Gable and Bobby had some good looking reversal work while Gable tried to get a submission. He did slap an ankle lock onto Lashley that would slow him down for the rest of the match, but in the end Lashley was able to hit a belly to belly suplex and reverse a Hurt Lock reversal INTO the Hurt Lock, if that makes sense.

Match #5: Bobby Lashley versus Otis, second leg of the gauntlet

Otis attacked Lashley immediately after Gable tapped out, and dominated the beginning of their match. Otis stepped on Lashley’s throat, attacked him outside the ring, tossed Bobby into the barricade, and landed a big time splash onto Lashley to send us to commercial.

Otis continued his assault, but a missed attack from the second rope allowed Lashley to recover and hit some offense of his own. A Flatliner slowed big Otis down, but the Hurt Lock wasn’t enough as Otis hit elbow after elbow to fight out. A missed splash from Otis led to a spear from Bobby, but after a kickout at two Chad Gable attacked Lashley, resulting in a disqualification victory for our protagonist. A beatdown followed, with Gable hitting a German suplex and Otis following with a big splash.

Match #6: Bobby Lashley versus Theory, third leg of the gauntlet

Theory stormed into the ring, mounting a prone Lashley and hitting him with a series of punches. Theory followed with a bunch of stomps, focusing on Bobby’s arm, but a surprise rollup after a Theory dropkick got Bobby his US title match at Money in the Bank.

Four stars! You know, if THIS was our main event last week I wouldn’t have been so salty going into this week. The Gable portion of this was great, as both wrestlers really got a chance to show off their skills. Otis was able to get a fine looking assault in as a big meaty man, slappin’ some meat. Theory as the third man in the gauntlet makes perfect sense for his douchey character, so I was fine with that too. I’m glad Lashley got the win, although I can’t imagine Theory dropping the title just yet. Given the state of things in WWE, there’s no way Vince allows the guy billed as his protege to be booked as anything less than invincible.

Miz TV with AJ Styles was the next segment, and Miz jumped right on AJ about Finn turning on him, Seth beating him, and his overall failures over the last few weeks. AJ responded by getting a cheap pop from the Cornhusker faithful, and by bringing up Miz’s tiny popcorn balls.

After they drove that whole thing into the ground, AJ attacked the Miz for running his mouth. Ciampa came from outta nowhere to lay AJ out, and we had our next match.

Match #7: Ciampa versus AJ Styles

Ciampa with a quick attack and a running knee to start things, but AJ replied with that fireman’s carry into a backbreaker he does so well. Ciampa hit a punch, and he felt that was enough offense to go for the finisher, but the Fairy Tale Ending was reversed into a backdrop. AJ hit the Phenomenal Forearm to finish the fight. Miz tried to sneak attack after the pin and ate a Styles Clash for his efforts. AJ posed with Miz’s sunglasses to end the bit.

Three stars! Inoffensive, but short, as is often the case with Ciampa’s main roster stuff so far. Did he do something wrong by being part of the black and gold NXT? Because it sure feels like he’s being punished for it…

A quick Kevin Patrick chat with Veer Mahan followed, and Veer reminded us that he is to be feared.

Match #8: Becky Lynch versus Asuka, Money in the Bank qualifier

Becky ran up the entrance ramp as Asuka was talking with some little fans, because Becky is a jerk. Asuka got to the ring and locked Lynch into an armbar immediately after the bell was rung, but didn’t get the submission. After Becky tried the same with a Dis-arm-her, some back and forth took us to a break.

Asuka was in control when we got back, hitting a hip attack and a missile dropkick before both women ended up outside the ring. Both women were nearly counted out, but Asuka was a hair quicker than Becky getting back in; that let Asuka get into position for the kick to the head and the pinfall victory. Asuka celebrated as Becky flipped out to end the show, weeping and screaming and kinda halfheartedly messing up the commentary table.

Four stars! You’re just not going to get a bad match from these two, and tonight’s fight was no exception. Good back and forth and Becky’s increasing desperation told a fun story to close the show.

And that’s it! A decent episode of Raw that set up some more entrants into the Money in the Bank matches, as well as a replacement challenger for the Raw Women’s Championship. Let’s roll right into our Five Good Things about tonight’s Raw!

1- The opener was a fun, fast paced match to set up Carmella as Bianca Belair’s next challenger. I question the winner, but the match was decent.

2- Jey versus Dawkins was a fun, interesting match that continued the feud between these teams leading to their championship tag match.

3- The whole Elias, Ezekiel, Kevin Owens segment was funny, silly, and dumb. Just what I want from these guys!

4- Lashley’s performance in the gauntlet match was really good, as the big guy got to show a range of styles against a range of opponents. The surprise rollup on the champ made it seem like Lashley really needed to get out of the match, which was a nice call since he had been through two greuling matches already.

5- Becky Lynch versus Asuka was as good a match as you would expect from these two women. WWE knows they can keep doing this pairing and they will still put on a show, but hopefully they can separate for a bit now that we’ve seen them go a few weeks in a row.

I appreciate you stopping by, and would love it if you drop your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also follow me on Twitter @ElOsoPequeno, where I try to remember to post whenever I update the blog. I write a Raw Recap on Tuesdays, Dynamite Details on Thursdays, and the Rampage report with a Side of SmackDown highlights on Saturdays. I also plan to write about any other wrestling that I happen to watch. There’s also a weekly wrap up on Fridays, and I’ll do predictions before any big AEW or WWE pay per premium live events. 

Have a good one!