SMACKDOWN LIVE FOUGHT THE RAW AND THE RAW WON...

So the first week of this so called "new era" is over. Both Raw and Smackdown now have specific rosters. This week they both had the first shows post the draft and post Battleground. Let's start with Raw.

Raw was the type of show wrestling fans beg for by the week. It was a great show. A few mishaps, but nothing that drags the show down too bad. To get the negative points out the way. The Golden Truth playing Pokemon Go. Nuff said on that one. And as of right now, I don't like the name WWE Universal Championship. The initial reaction it seems cheesy, but then again, the spinner belt John Cena introduced seemed cheesy then it became the norm. The New Day segment went on for way too long. The Who's On First type joke did not go over. Sonny Boy...just a load of barnacles that segment was.

Now, let's get to the positives. The two fatal four ways to determine who wrestles in the end of the night for the number one contender spot in a match at Summerslam against Seth Rollins for the new World title. Great idea. Finn Balor won the first fatal way match, and Roman Reigns won the second fatal four way teasing what made the IWC barf at the thought at Roman getting another shot. But WWE did the unthinkable. WWE gave the people what they want. Finn Balor is going to Summerslam. I marked out so much when he won. That little kid in me that is still a wrestling fan came out. Get in there (in my King Ross voice).

Also, we got a new women's champion. The Boss, Sasha Banks. Sasha Banks and Charlotte had an instant classic match. The type of match you'd expect these two athletes to have. The type of match they had in NXT. Let's not neglect the fact that prior to this match, the crowd was dead. The crowd was non existent. These two athletes, these two women, brought that crowd back to life. It was tremendous. Sasha paid tribute to her favorite wrestler, the late great Eddie Guerrero, and got Dana Brooke, who is on the main roster and Bayley isn't, let that sink in...

Anyway, Dana Brooke got sent to the back. Charlotte and Sasha had a great match. One of many match of the year candidates we've had this year so far. Sasha Banks went over with the bank statement. What made it even more great is that they let Sasha have her moment. I was fearing the worst. Like Nikki Bella returning and getting heat on Sasha type fear. But no, they let Sasha have the moment. Great stuff.

I got to bring up the jobber matches. Some people didn't like them. I personally loved it. It reminded me of the old school wrestling days. It made Braun Strowman and Nia Jax look like the monsters their supposed to look like. My only thing on Nia Jax, is that she needs a new finisher. I don't think that leg drop is lethal enough. The jackhammer she used on NXT could be considered for a finish I think, I mean, unless Goldberg is actually coming back, which I doubt.

They moved the announce table on RAW. It's up by the stage. It's not that much of a major change, but it worked. Other than the shot of all three commentators standing. Like them poor guys couldn't have a shot of them actually sitting at the commentator table?

So that was Raw. A very surprisingly good night. Mostly positive feed back. Before I go on to Smackdown, another good thing is that you barely saw Stephanie and Mick Foley in the show. You really only saw them in the opening segment, and that was it.

Now to Smackdown Live. I had such high expectations. I was hoping and expecting another great wrestling show. Sometimes when you expect something so much--

Let's talk about the positives. The opening shot of Shane and Daniel introducing the show was cool. The opening video package was great. Shelton Benjamin is coming back soon. Another mark out moment for your boy. Becky Lynch got a W. Good week for 3 of the 4 horsewomen. Sorry Charlotte.

The negatives. Basically the rest of the show. They had a 6 pack challenge to determine the number one contender for the WWE Title. Participants included, Bray Wyatt, Dolph Ziggler, John Cena, AJ Styles, Baron Corbin...Baron Corbin...Bar--, and after winning a battle royal Apollo Crews. I personally wanted Bray Wyatt to get the W just to give him a shot. Spoiler Alert, Bray didn't win. Dolph won. Not saying Dolph winning is a negative, but we've seen WWE look like they're going to give Dolph a shot only to rip the rug from under him. Of course Shane and Daniel had to come out with their music playing. I don't mind them coming out by why did their music have to play? Taking the spotlight off of Dolph.

I mentioned the Becky Lynch win as a positive. The negative about it was that she was facing Natayla again. WWE is once again going with this 50/50 booking. So after Becky got the win, all the other women on the Smackdown roster came out. What happened after that? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. They still have no title or anything to fight for. We just now know what all the women on the Smackdown roster look like. That's basically it. No title.

Rhyno returned.

Heath Slater still has no spot on either show. He was out cutting a promo only for Shane to get in another segment and for Rhyno to return and gore Heath. Boring it was. Boring.

There was a Miz TV segment. If that wasn't bad enough Randy Orton came out. It went as well as you would think it would. That of course led to a match. Nothing to say after that. It was just poor.

Basically in my opinion, my opinion,  Raw was everything you wanted and Smackdown Live was the opposite.

~Daniel Richerson

NXT Takeover: The END...Paul Ellering?

Because of church, not complaining about church, but because of Wednesday Night Bible Study and going out to eat afterwards, I missed watching NXT Takeover: The End live, but I did watch the replay. Solid wrestling back to back. To me, NXT is making wrestling fun again on the main stream level.

First match was the Tye Dillenger vs the debut of Andrade "Cien" Almas. Great match, and spots. Andrade has a great showing. I think the guy is money. Character may need a little tuning. The whole pimp hat white suspenders thing...besides that, I enjoyed Andrade's work in the ring. Tye Dillenger also had a good showing, showed some new moves. I hear the name Tye Dillenger I think of that old security guy from the WCW days Doug Dellinger. Remember that guy? Am I the only one that thinks that?

Anyway, the NXT Tag-Team title match. Great to see a great tag-team wrestling match without any gimmicks again. The Revival is a great old school, Hart Foundation type, team. I love the work. American Alpha, Team Angle 2 I call them, is a great team as well. I may be looking too into this, but it seemed to be a lot of teases of Kurt Angle making a come back and American Alpha joining him. With the Angle lock and the crowd chanting their names to the Kurt Angle WWE theme...ehh? Revival goes over wins the titles again. American Alpha selling the loss, and then two big dudes come in and attack. Then as the two big dudes are handling business, Paul Ellering makes an appearance. Now the NXT crowd is supposed to be a smark crowd, but even they were chanting, "Who are you?" Seriously? The manager of the Road Warriors. Google, kids. Paul Heyman is not the only Paul that can has managed in wrestling history. Don't call it a comeback...get your money Mr. Ellering.

Shinsuke Nakamura and Austin Aries. Nakamura and Sami Zayn tore the house down at NXT Takeover: Dallas. In my opinion, this match didn't disappoint. Nakamura is the definition of flamboyant. Austin Aries had a strong showing too with his impression of DDP with taped ribs. Great match. The crowd singing the theme song to Nakamura was magical. The chants during this match was loud, which is a good thing. Shinsuke went over.

The Women's Title match. Asuka vs Nia Jax. This could have been bad, but with Asuka being as great as she is and Nia Jax playing the monster in the ring that can sell, we got a pretty solid match. I think Nia Jax needs a manager as a mouth piece. A new finisher would be good too, just my opinion. Great match though. Asuka goes over. Didn't expect a spot fest of a match cause it didn't need it. It was it was supposed to be. I thought Asuka was going over before the show cause she needed to go over to set up the rematch between her and Bayley. Nia is not going anywhere tho. Also a clean finish with no old timer manager interfering? What a concept. If only the main roster allowed...let's hope Vince will take notice.

Now the main event. The first steel cage match in NXT history. Samoa Joe vs Finn Balor. What a show these two wrestlers put on. Some old timers would be mad that no blood was shed, but seriously, it's a new era. Great spots in this match. Some jaw dropping moments as well. That finish was crazy. The muscle buster from the top rope was insane. Loved every minute of this match. Finn Balor may be heading up to the main roster, I don't know. Obviously he should be involved in the Club angle if he is called up. We'll see...

Over all like most of the NXT Takeover shows, this was a 5 star show. From commentary to the matches. Also, I have to mentioned Bobby Roooo. Finally signed with NXT. It's about time. This should be great for this new era of NXT. Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode for the title? YES PLEASE!

~Daniel Richerson