Frankly I’m kinda proud of myself for having the foresight to see Carmella and Alexa (granted, I said “or” there…but still…) I knew there’d be one random whodathunkit person. Figured it’d be Tye, ended up being Mojo.
Well, from Kayfabe, you could easily say that Joe didn’t want to come because he’s NXT champion, and Nakamura WANTS to be NXT champion, so they’re out. Mojo has chemistry with Ryder, so calling him up reunited the Hype Bros. Eva has already been on the show, and Bayley…um…is with Izzy? I dunno that one is kinda weird.
From an un-kayfabe perspective all the callups make a lot of sense:
Finn and American Alphas: Obvious
Mojo is nothing without Ryder who has had a bit of a resurgence, so let’s get the Hype Bros back together to get more tag-teams.
Eva has already been on the big stage, so it’s nothing new to her
Nia Jax doesn’t have to actually DO anything since she’s a monster and really only needs to stand there and be tough. Not too difficult. Also, they need heel girls.
Carmella and Alexa: Both are relatively green, but not so bad that they can’t wrestle any of the other women. I mean, really, how much better at wrestling is Naoimi? Summer Rae? Not so much. Plus Carmella automatically gets a rub from Enzo and Cass (even if they aren’t on the same show). Plus they need more heels.
Not calling Bayley up: I can think of two potential reasons for this: I don’t think NXT wanted to lose Finn and Bayley at the same time. or she is Sasha’s mystery partner on Sunday.
Other thoughts on last night: Finn and the Club are definitely making Bullet Club West. I’m angry that Sami and KO are on the same promotion because I’m so bored with them. I’m mad that Becky and Nattie are on the same promotion because Nattie is terrible and is ruining Becky. I’m surprised over the lack of titles on Smackdown, so I have no idea how that show is going to be relevant (I’m banking on a Rollins win on Sunday).
Nah, that’s WAY too knee-jerk of a move on her part.
Frankly she has a good thing going down there. Rarely travel outside of Florida, be the mistress of her domain (Asuka is nipping at her heels, but it’s still her thing), and wrestle in front of crowds that will cheer for her.
In WWE she’ll just fall by the wayside and just be a cog in the women’s machine against Eva or Naomi or something stupid, have to fight for the championship, and run the risk of people not knowing who she is and REALLY folding.
The three that aired:
Finn Balor (Raw)
American Alpha (SD)
Nia Jax (Raw)
The three that were on the post-SD portion:
Alexa Bliss (SD)
Mojo Rawley (SD)
Carmela (SD)
Should I be surprised that Carmela is on SD while Enzo & Cass are on Raw?
Also note that, after “round 7” of the draft, the “3 Raw, 2 SD” rule was lifted, and the shows alternated picks.
Here’s the “rest of” the draft:
Raw:
Golden Truth
Titus O’Neil
Paige
Darren Young and Bob Backlund
Sin Cara
Jack Swagger
The Dudley Boyz
Summer Rae
Mark Henry
Braun Strowman
Bo Dallas
Shining Stars
Alicia Fox
Dana Brooke
Curtis Axel
Smackdown:
The Usos
Kane
Kalisto
Naomi
The Ascension
Zack Ryder
Apollo Crews
Alexa Bliss
Breezango
Eva Marie
The Vaudevillains
Erick Rowan
Mojo Rawley
Carmella
Draft aside, here’s some predictions for Battleground;
Triple threat, Ambrose vs. Rollins vs. Reigns for the world title. No way in hell is Roman winning - if the boos he’s been getting since 'Mania were bad enough, it’s gonna be worse when this is his first fight back from getting caught juicing. You’ll note that they’ve quietly started calling Ambrose’s title the “WWE Championship” instead of “WWE World Heavyweight Championship”, which can mean only one thing - the Big Gold Belt is coming back! (yay) Ambrose and Rollins are on separate brands now, so I’m going to say that whichever one of them doesn’t win this match is going to get awarded the Big Gold Belt by their respective GM, so that there’s a world title for each show. It could go either way, but I’m gonna say Ambrose retains.
The Miz vs. Darren Young for the IC title. Darren has to win this match, IMO. This whole angle with Bob Backlund (if I may… WashingtonAdamsJeffersonMadisonMonroeAdamsJacksonVanBurenHarrisonTylerPolkTaylorFillmorePierceBuchananLincolnJohnsonGrantHayesGarfieldArthurClevelandHarrisonClevelandMcKinleyRooseveltTaftWilsonHardingCoolidgeHooverRooseveltTrumanEisenhowerKennedyJohnsonNixonFordCarterReaganBushClintonBushObama… may I have that autograph now, sir?) has gone on way too long for it to pay off with Young jobbing. Really, though, as long as Mr. Backlund puts the Miz in a chickenwing at some point, I’ll be happy.
Rusev vs. Zack Ryder for the US title. Русев Удря, Русев Мачка! Zack is doomed.
New Day vs. the Wyatt Family for the tag titles. Not sure which combination of the Wyatts this is going to be; Bray and Rowan are on Smackdown, whereas Harper and Brown Strongman are on Raw. I’m gonna say the Wyatts win with some kind of weird cross-brand combo that confuses everybody.
Charlotte & Dana Brooke vs. Sasha Banks and a partner yet to be named. It’s gonna be Bayley, right? Of course it’s gonna be Bayley. I predict Sasha wins by pinning Charlotte to set up their inevitable championship match at Summerslam.
Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens. Have they had this match yet on the main roster? I can’t recall. I’m gonna say Sami finally pulls it off here.
John Cena, Enzo Amore, & Colin Cassidy vs. Bullet Club. Club wins via some sort of botch between Cena and Enzo or Cass, which both sets up for Cena/Styles II at Summerslam and gives Cena just another teensy little push towards the inevitable heel turn.
Becky Lynch vs. Natalya - Becky Lynches the WWE Crazy Cat Lady
The Miz vs. Darren Young - Santa’s Little Helper wins, but Backwing Chickenlunds him for old times sake.
Rusev vs. Zack Ryder - Woo Woo Woo Woozes
Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs. Sasha Banks & Mystery Partner - Everybody else thinks it’s going to be Bayley. Guess what? I predict it’ll be Nia Jax! Just like when Owen Wilson’s mystery partner vs the Smoking Gunns turned out to be Yokozuna. On the million to one chance it turns out to be true, you saw it here first!
Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens - they both find Kane backstage and beat the shit out of him to get their heat back.
The New Day vs. The Wyatt Family - New Day because Bray beat Xavier on TV
John Cena, Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. The Club - The face team wins. Aj Styles and the Clubbers have a falling out and officially disband before the Brand Split.
Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns - Dean retains so SD won’t be blanked of titles
I don’t think these can both be right. Rusev and Young are both Raw, so if they both win, then both secondary titles are on Raw. Although I suppose I could see Miz getting DQed or otherwise getting out of the PPV with the title without Young actually jobbing.
Becky Lynch vs. Natalya - Natalya wins because REASONS
The Miz vs. Darren Young - Shenanigans. Backlund tries to steal the title and gets into it with Maryse outside the ring, causing a distraction that allows Young to roll up Miz from behind and get the win.
Rusev vs. Zack Ryder - Ruzev should win, but Mojo will come down to ringside, allowing more secondary belt shenanigans, resulting in Zach winning.
Charlotte and Dana Brooke vs. Sasha Banks & Mystery Partner - I think Knowed is right, it’ll be Nia for the win.
Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens - Kevin Owens blows up and refuses to get in the ring, saying he’ll never wrestle Sami again even if he has to quit. Nah, who am I kidding. I’m going to call it with Sami, because he hasn’t won one of these yet.
The New Day vs. The Wyatt Family - Rowan does something stupid, eats the pin and gets tossed out of the family.
John Cena, Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. The Club - AJ eats the pin from Cena.
Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns - Ambrose wins again.
Trios match was excellent, but I couldn’t understand why Stryker got so upset about tags not being made. Isn’t that the nature of Trios matches? Have rapid substitutions so time won’t be wasted on tags? It did lead to some funny moments when the heels mocked the referee, but that seemed like a huge brain fart on behalf of the bookers. Glad to see Angelico back. Maybe his leg will be healed in time for next season.
Pentagon Jr. is now Pantagon DARK! He’s also got a zillion versions of his ring wear. Now he wears glossy black. His abusive relationship with Vampiro implodes, and he uses the barbed wire bat to blade Vampiro something fierce. What would an Ultima Lucha special be without Vampiro donating blood for the cause?
The Taya/Ivelisse match ends with Catrina using her black magic and licking Ivel’s face. Oooooh, lesbo BDSM teasing! Hmmmm… is it a coincidence that BDSM and SDMB are anagrams?
While Prince Puma vs Rey Mysterio Jr was nice, it seemed apparent that PP was doing most of the work. Rumor has it PP won’t be back next season, which would suck, but I guess his Ricochet counterpart will be getting a lot more work.
Last scene shows Dario Cueto being arrested and taken away in a police van. As the van pulls away, the lights from background police sirens show him smiling. Does he want to go to prison to recruit more warriors perhaps?
How great was TJ Perkins vs. Da Mack on CWC? Those two had great chemistry, and they played off one another in a remarkable way. It’s a shame one of them had to lose.
Good to see Tajiri back and still laser sharp with his kick attacks and Tarantula. He’s definitely got a few good years left in him.
TJ Perkins and Da Mack was excellent, but Mack really needs to lose the Michael Jackson gimmick. He might kidnap Izzy to Never Neverland or something.
Dorado vs Ali was awesome and had a few HOLY SHIT moments. Ali however, needs to be more expressive. He just kind of gaped and looked like he was half asleep.
Did Akira Tozawa and Kenneth Johnson plan this match for months? It sure looked like it. They were doing move sets that couldn’t have been improvised. I hope despite the loss, Johnson gets signed. He’s way too talented to let drift away.
If Mack is keeping with the MJ, it’s not Izzy we have to worry about, it’s her brother.
Yes she has a brother. Most people don’t know this because he’s not featured, but I do because he’s with the family when I see them at Universal every other goddamn week
Kinda wish the Cruiserweights could have gone to SD, since Bryan and Mauro are already there to call the action. I hope they keep the storylines to a minimum and just let the CWs dazzle on pure talent alone. Wonder why they left Kallisto out? They’re not going to repackage him are they? Surely they’re not going to resurrect the gay hairdresser angle?
Honestly, my best guess is that they want no one on the current roster anywhere near that belt so that they can continue to put over the CWC folk, or just the newbies in general.
I haven’t even heard any indication that Sin Cara is going to be in that division, we’re all just assuming it.
Have Finn be the headliner-slash-first champ and let the rest come to him
I would have vastly preferred Graves and the Cruiserweights to be on Smackdown, but we’ll have to see where this goes. Hopefully we don’t see Foley as the Evil GM, because that is ludicrously played out and needs to go away for a good 15 years or so.
Finally got to watching this week’s CWT. Kept thinking how they recruited and booked it. I can see people like THE Brian Kendrick saying he’d be happy to come in for one match and put someone over. I can also see overseas guys agreeing to the single match just for the exposure and networking, and their promoters being totally cool with that because it by extension gives them exposure. For example, I gotta think people like Da Mack are getting calls from a lot more promoters after their showings, and there will probably be at least a few people who show up to his current promotion due to seeing him in the CWT.