This was another big week in the world of WWE, particularly for British fans, as the first ever United Kingdom Champion was crowned. There was also the first ever Women’s steel cage match on Smackdown Live, the announcement of the first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2017 and plenty of other incidents and newsworthy moments from across all of WWE.
But were these moments good or bad?…
#1 Good – United Kingdom Championship Tournament
Where better to start than with last weekend’s United Kingdom Championship tournament?
It was a great weekend of wrestling action, particularly on the second night, and the performers all told a great story that kept the fans invested throughout.
Congratulations to Tyler Bate on becoming the inaugural WWE U.K. Champion. Although a special mention must go out to Pete Dunne who was the star of this entire tournament, and put in a great and captivating performance.
The aftermath of this tournament is unclear, but judging from what we’ve seen thus far, the future is very bright for British professional wrestling.
#2 Good – Michael Cole
Yes, you read that correctly, Michael Cole has made it into the good points of this week in WWE.
I never thought he’d make it here either, yet here we are.
Firstly, Cole’s coverage of the U.K. Championship tournament – he was able to showcase what he can do when he concentrates on the action and not on plugs for ‘Holy Foley’ or sniggering at JBL’s terrible jokes.
Also, he would then travel from Blackpool, England to call a 3-hour Raw broadcast in Little Rock, Arkansas just over 24 hours later. Fair play Mr. Cole, for those reasons, you make the ‘Good’ list this week.
#3 Good – Hall of Fame 2017
Kurt Angle is going into WWE’s Hall of Fame class of 2017. It’s true, it’s true.
There’s no doubt that the ‘Olympic Hero’ deserves his spot in the Hall of Fame, although I’m not sure many were expecting him to go in this year. Nevertheless, it’s great to see Angle was again on good terms with WWE.
Could this possibly open the door to one more run with the company? Let’s hope so.
#4 Good – La Luchadora revealed
The historical steel cage match between Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch took place this past Tuesday and it was certainly a noteworthy bout. Not only was it the first ever women’s cage match in Smackdown history, but it was also the night where the identity of ‘La Luchadora’ would be revealed.
Becky Lynch pulled the mask off of the mystery woman to expose Mickie James as ‘La Luchadora’.
While this was expected by many fans, questions still remain as to why Mickie James helped Alexa retain her championship, and also, why has she targeted Becky Lynch?
#5 Good – Perfect Sanity?
The highlight of NXT for me this week was not the NXT Championship match contract signing between Shinsuke Nakamura and Bobby Roode. Instead it was the promo segment that saw Sanity confront Tye Dillinger.
Dillinger began by questioning his standing in NXT and wondered whether he could still call himself the ‘Perfect 10’, he was then interrupted by Eric Young and Sanity who promised him a brighter future if he was to join them.
Tye would ultimately decline this offer, but both he and Young put in great performances in this segment and cut passionate, believable promos. This also set up a match for the upcoming NXT Takeover: San Antonio.
#1 Bad – Sympathy for the heels
As with most weeks in WWE, there are some decisions that just seem to make no sense whatsoever. This week, that decision came in the finish of the Raw Tag Team Championship match between Gallows & Anderson and Cesaro & Sheamus. The conclusion of the match saw Sheamus inadvertently knock down the ref; Gallows & Anderson hit their finisher and have the pinfall counted by a second referee, only for the original referee to overrule the decision and rule the match a disqualification, therefore the champions still retained their titles.
All this does is create sympathy for the heel tag team, who had done nothing wrong, and make the champions look weak by retaining their championships on a technicality. It’s all backwards!
#2 Bad – Rare fail for Flair
In a confusing and rather boring segment, Charlotte made fun of Bayley for a being a lifelong pro-wrestling fan.
So what?
The majority of fans watching have been following since childhood so how does this make Bayley look stupid?
This did lead to a strong, passionate promo from Bayley who said she was proud to be a pro-wrestling fan.
However, that was as good as this segment got as Bayley then ruined it by reading out some painfully bad poems that made fun of Charlotte. It was a rare bad week for the Raw Women’s division.
#3 Bad – Weekly Bella brawl
Another week of Smackdown Live saw yet another brawl involving Nikki Bella.
Whether it’s Carmella or Natalya, all Nikki seems to do nowadays is have ringside or backstage brawls with people, either that or stand there while people insult her boyfriend.
I’ve never been a huge Nikki fan although she has improved a great deal over the last few years. However, she is by far the worst thing on Smackdown currently and I have no interest in her character or any feud involving her.
#4 Bad – Ambrose wants the Wyatts?
Unless I’ve missed something, I can’t recall Dean Ambrose having an issue with the Wyatt Family in recent months. Yet, he demanded a match against them this week on Smackdown Live.
Why? Isn’t he involved in a feud with The Miz for insulting his girlfriend and taking his championship?
Although this was a strange way of getting there, it did lead to a decent match between Ambrose and Randy Orton which saw the issues between Orton and Luke Harper descend even further, so much so that they will now face each other in a match next Tuesday.
#5 Bad – Dull Dolph
I’m not sure many will agree with me on this, as they seem to be enjoying the new Dolph Ziggler, but I’ve found his recent heel turn fairly underwhelming.
I do think his change in character was needed, but this isn’t the heel Ziggler that I wanted to see.
He was cutting some of the best promos of his career a few months back and now he is reluctant to speak, surely he has more to say than ever and I want to hear it.
His actions have made plenty of impact, particularly this week when he superkicked Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler in his chest, but I want to hear a more aggressive and unapologetic Dolph Ziggler.
Perhaps this is the calm before the storm and we will get an outspoken heel in the next few weeks, but so far, I’ve been fairly disappointed with the new Dolph Ziggler
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