Elton's Weekly Wrestling High Spots and Botches: August 2-August 8

High Spots: “WE WANT WYATT!” *clap clap clapclapclap* “WE WANT WYATT! *clap clap clapclapclap* WWE should have known that the smart fans in Chicago were gonna give ‘em hell over their latest “budget-cutting” release. I was happy to hear the audience make their displeasure heard loud and clear. So yeah, this was yet another installment of “I should have found something else better to do than watch Raw.” I do this for y’all cause I love y’all...KNOW THAT! So the positives - I actually enjoyed the painfully short yet shockingly decent tag team match between Mustafa Ali & Mansoor and T-Bar & Mace. I figured the hometown boy in Ali would take an L here and I was sadly correct on that prediction (WWE just can’t help themselves when it comes to that annoying trend, can they?). The match was still fun, though. 

The singles match that took place between Damian Priest and John Morrison was cool, plus the Teddy Long “TAG TEAM MATCH, PLAYA!” aftermath that included Ricochet and Sheamus also provided some much-needed entertainment. The Miz TV segment that kicked all that aforementioned action off was pretty horrible, though. Watching Omos demolish Riddle provided me with the simple pleasure of watching a big guy manhandle a little guy. This whole deal is obviously leading up to Randy Orton coming back to help his boy Riddle attempt to win the Raw Tag Team Championship from AJ Styles and Omos at Summerslam. I’m so ready for that big Orton return real soon! Keith Lee FINALLY got a triumphant victory since coming back and it was against Karrion “Jeff Hardy Owns My Life” Kross. The booking of those two dudes on the main roster has been sketchy as hell thus far and will most likely continue to be. But it was nice to see Lee notch a W in the win column here.

Botches: Let’s have a moment of silence for Drew McIntyre’s current storyline feud on Raw, y’all. *bows head* The man deserves so much better than to carry three worthless loads in Jinder Mahal, Veer, and Shanky to a watchable segment. The whole “I’m gonna awkwardly whip out my sword to defend myself against steel chairs” bit was so corny, bruh. So Bobby Lashley vs. Goldberg for the WWE Championship is now official for SummerSlam. Yawn...couldn’t care less about that AARP member getting yet another underserved title opportunity on PPV. Rhea Ripley vs. Nia Jax had only one thing going for it and it was Jax’s eye being busted open hard way. The match itself was a snoozefest and Ripley winning by the dreaded rollup maneuver sucked.

The remainder of the other matches on this show just made the show feel as if it were six hours instead of three. Tamina vs. Piper Niven? A complete non-factor. Reggie vs. Akira Tozawa? A complete waste of two minutes. And the main event between Nikki A.S.H. and Charlotte Flair? Just another case of an odd booking decision that saw Nikki get her ass handed to her for most of the match and talked down to as if she didn’t belong. Flair pretty much got served a “slipping on a banana peel” loss that didn’t really do much to make Nikki look all that strong in the end. Nikki’s championship reign has been off to a shaky start thus far - this victory did little to solidify her new hero persona and just painted her as nothing more than someone with a whole lot of luck on their side.

High Spots: NXT came through with some heat on this episode! Salute to the black and yellow brand for showing up strong. Ridge Holland got back into active duty and delivered a hell of a squash match. Good to see the big man healthy again and prepped to run roughshod over anyone that steps in his way. I got heavy 2010s-era Ring of Honor vibes from that banger of a match between Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish. Both guys might not have a whole lotta personality goin’ for ‘em, but they sure as hell can deliver once the bell rings. This episode was so good that I even enjoyed something that involved Hit Row! Credit where credit is due - they had a pretty decent match with Legado del Fantasma. The post-match antics that transpired got super disrespectful, so it’s clear that both stables have a hardcore war in their future once TakeOver comes around.

The golf course war between LA Grimes & Cameron Grimes and the Grizzled Young Veterans resulted in a short yet still enjoyable match. We’re getting closer to Grimes rising up to Knight thanks to the inspirational talk from Ted DiBiase and I can’t wait to see the eventual super babyface turn for good ol’ Grimes. TO THE MOON! The NXT Breakout Tournament rolled on with a pretty decent bout between Trey Baxter and Joe Gacy. I don’t care how much money Triple H would have promised me for taking a 450 Double Foot Stomp - I wouldn’t have taken it! Props to Gacy for taking that move like a pro. Whenever Samoa Joe gets enraged and starts laying out random security guards, I get extra hype! Karrion Kross is really laying his life on the line talkin’ so crazy to the “Samoan Submission Machine.”

We got some interesting vignettes and promos here, too - WALTER & Ilja Dragunov are headed towards a rematch that will most likely get MOTY honors, plus Dakota Kai made her reasons explicitly clear when it came time to speak about her assault on Raquel Gonzalez. The happiest moment of all happened at the close of the show, however - even though Johnny Gargano defeated Dexter Lumis, Indi Hartwell still rushed out to show her man that love will always prevail. So what happens now? Does The Way end their stable run now that Austin Theory and Hartwell have seemingly left Gargano and Candice LeRae behind? Find out on the next episode of N...X...T! All of y’all Dragon Ball Z fans out there should appreciate that outro.

Botches: The only blemish on this nearly flawless episode was that super cringy segment between Io Shirai and Zoey Stark. Like, Stark has never seen wasabi in her whole life? I don’t believe that one bit, fam. Sis really called it guacamole. It was just so hard for me to push aside my real-world knowledge and buy the fact that Stark isn’t cultured enough to know about Japanese cuisine. That segment was a big swing and a miss, boy! Hope they come back strong with a much better hangout session on the next episode.

High Spots: So on the wrestling side of things, this episode of Dynamite landed smack dab in the middle of the quality scale. But from a storyline standpoint, a lot of feuds got pushed forward in sensible and intriguing ways. It was cool seeing “The Juice” make his return to TNT to take on one of his greatest WCW rivals in Chris Jericho. While the match they had started off on a shaky note, it eventually found its footing and turned into a decent back and forth encounter. Jericho’s top rope Judas Effect looked better than every Judas Effect he’s delivered thus far. Jericho is taking on Wardlow next and he’ll have his work cut out for him even more seeing as how MJF will be at ringside. The continuing storyline where Andrade El Idolo and Chavo Guerrerro are trying to recruit The Lucha Bros. to their side served its purpose here. I get the feeling that Pac will challenge Andrade to a match where the winner gets to earn the services of Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero M. Sounds like the perfect matchup to book for next month’s All Out.

So it looks like AEW’s going to play the long game when it comes to Adam Page’s eventual title shot for Kenny Omega’s AEW World Championship. Page finally broke away from The Dark Order and is now going it alone in his bid to take out The Elite. His first attempt at that objective crashed and burned here, which makes it seem like Page is going to go away for a while to regroup before his next attempt. The six-man tag was a super fun crowd-pleaser that featured the debuting 2.0 (FROM CHIKARA AND NXT!) and Danny Garcia taking on the super trio of Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, and Darby Allin. The Sting staredown that led to Allin catapulting himself right into one of the members of 2.0 was insane!

Christian Cage is out here prospering nowadays - he had a decent match with The Blade and now his undefeated streak is setting him up nicely for an AEW World Championship opportunity in the near future (that match would be perfect for a future episode of AEW Rampage, wouldn’t it?). Man, shout out to Miro! “God’s Favorite Champion” had arguably the best match of the night against a very game Lee Johnson, who had the crowd on his side as he played the part of the plucky underdog. Eventually, he succumbed to the brutality of the best TNT Champion we’ve seen thus far. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D’s next challenge arrived in the form of the underrated Red Velvet. Give ‘em 15 minutes and I’m sure they can bring the house down!

So Malakai Black practically demolished Cody Rhodes during his AEW debut. The new entrance was big heat and the new theme song that accompanies Black’s renewed act is quality material. I damn near hopped outta my seat when Black laid in a flying knee to Cody that forced him to fall right onto a table outside the ring. This was a star-making performance for Black that set him up well for the rest of his AEW run. The Cody retirement fakeout speech at the end ran a little long, but set up Black’s final run-in well and points to a rematch further down the line (Cody’s clearly stepping away to focus on his other TNT TV and fatherhood duties).

Botches: So the women’s match was kinda mid. The effort was certainly there from both The Bunny and Leyla Hirsch, but I just couldn’t get into what they were doing for some reason. It was pretty cool seeing the “Forbidden Door” get cracked open once again as the NWA World Women’s Champion Kamille made an appearance after the match. The height difference between Kamille and Hirsch was hella comical, though! Would have totally made more sense to pit Kamille against the equally stunning and powerful Jade Cargill, right?

High Spots: 2 SWEET ME, CHRIS BEY! Now we should expect to see the swaggy, high-flyer makes some overseas appearances in NJPW once it’s safe to do so. Jay White officially brought Bey into the black and white stable’s fold after he competed in a pretty solid affair with Juice Robinson. I hope we see White and Bey bring in some other Bullet Club brothers along with them once Bound for Glory comes around. Shout out to the “Queen of the Splits” Melina! She walked through the proverbial “Forbidden Door” to step up to Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo and present herself as the title challenger for NWA Empower. That first-time meeting certainly intrigues me. My guy Jake Something stepped into the X-Division realm for once and actually notched himself a win while in the ring with three other division mainstays. Count me all the way in for that X-Division Championship bout between Jake and Josh Alexander at Emergence!

The Knockouts tag team match was a decent affair and all. But the main story coming out of it was the breakup of Fire n’ Flava since Kiera Hogan is on her way out of the company. The debuting Savannah Evans showed up to demolish Hogan and set up a new partnership with Tasha Steelz. The six-man tag team main event easily took home MOTN honors thanks to the collective efforts of everyone involved. I’m thinking it might be time for Eddie Edwards to be the one that steps up as Kenny Omega’s next Impact World Championship challenger. He and W. Morrissey should be the final two match participants in the following episode’s #1 Contender’s Battle Royale. And of course, Eddie should overcome the big brute’s crushing offense and send him over the top rope to earn that awesome opportunity. So as you can probably tell already, I largely enjoyed this episode.

Botches: Steve Maclin...that is all. And that whole “All About Me” segment was nothing more than bathroom break fodder.

High Spots: So I was damn near bored to tears during this episode of SmackDown. The three non-blemishes on this show were all promo segments, such as the superheated promo between future SummerSlam dance partners Edge and Seth Rollins. I called this dream match a few months ago and I’m overjoyed at the fact that it’s finally coming to fruition. My gut is telling me that the initial PPV meeting will be contested under standard rules and result in Edge winning, which will most likely lead to Rollins asking for a rematch under more hardcore circumstances. I hope my crystal ball is right again! 

Sasha Banks came back with some verbal heat and reminded everyone that she hasn’t lost a step in the promo department since being away for a while. She definitely talked me into her SummerSlam return! And the fact that Finn Bálor made it clear that all that smiling BS is dead and gone put my fears to rest concerning the rest of his main roster return. The Bloodline put him to sleep afterward, but I wasn’t too hurt by that storyline development since he’s got a Universal Championship opportunity in the near future.

Botches: The rest of this edition of SmackDown was filled with underwhelming matches. Dominik Mysterio vs. Jey Uso was meh, Apollo Crews vs. King Nakamura was too short to really matter, the same goes for Tamina vs. Tegan Nox, The Street Profits vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode felt like a replay from a previous episode of SD, and Bianca Belair vs. Zelina Vega showcased the fact that Vega needs to go back to being a manager. Bálor’s squash match win over “Broke-Ass” Baron Corbin also did nothing for me, too. Oh, and where the hell was John Cena? Ah, that’s right - The Suicide Squad came out, so he’s out doing some mandatory promotional work since he’s in it. That movie was so dope, by the way!

High Spots: 2021 continues to be the craziest year in all of wrestling history! And here’s why - NJPW Resurgence is going the inter-promotional route for one of its announced bouts by pitting Tomohiro Ishii against Moose. The meeting of NJPW and Impact Wrestling’s resident raging bulls is definitely going to be one for the ages. Over on the ROH side of the pond, former TNA/Impact Wrestling president Dixie Carter made a shocking cameo during the promotion’s Women’s Division episode. The Forbidden Door has officially been widened enough to allow all these crazy ass crossovers to take place!

Botches: NICK KHAN MUST BE STOPPED! The long list of names that have been released from WWE this year has gotten even longer due to the shocking news wrestling fans saw on their timeline during SmackDown. The biggest shocker from that recent round of releases is most definitely Bronson Reed. The dude just enjoyed an NXT North American Championship reign and looked as if he was on his way to the main roster. A guy with his big man stature certainly had it in him to succeed on either Raw or SmackDown. His firing just lets me know no one is really safe at this point. 

Here’s which wrestling feds I hope all those released WWE wrestlers head to next:

- Asher Hale to Ring of Honor

- Ari Sterling to All Elite Wrestling

- Bobby Fish to Impact Wrestling

- Bronson Reed to New Japan Pro Wrestling

- Desmond Troy to Ring of Honor

- Giant Zanjeer to Major League Wrestling

- Jake Atlas to Impact Wrestling

- Kona Reeves to Major League Wrestling

- Leon Ruff to Ring of Honor

- Mercedes Martinez to All Elite Wrestling

- Tyler Rust to Ring of Honor

- Zechariah Smith to Major League Wrestling