July 20, 2019 - Evan Luebbe

Pace Will Pick Up

July 21, 2019July 20, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

The pace at which NXT is moving will begin to speed up in the next six weeks or so as we approach Takeover: Brooklyn, which was established as NXT’s biggest Takeover event started in 2015. It coincides with WWE’s build to its second-biggest pay-per-view, SummerSlam. It is great to see WWE working towards building the future of the business by introducing new people like Arturo Ruas, who has competed before in NXT under a different name. He also competed this past Saturday on Evolve’s 10^thAnniversary Special. His match with Matt Riddle was contested similar to a UFC fight because both are well trained in MMA. The match ended with Riddle being attacked by Killian Dain, who is finally making his NXT return after failing to make a meaningful impact with Sanity on the main roster.

I can really appreciate the reference to the late Bam Bam Bigelow by Beth Phoenix. He was a very underrated performer who is remembered most for his match with the great linebacker Lawrence Taylor of the NFL’s New York Giants at WrestleMania 11 in 1995.

One last element that needs to be addressed is the Kushida – Apollo Crews match. Kushida is truly a one-of-a-kind talent who’s in-ring style is so adaptable that it can mesh with almost anyone. It is also extremely unselfish on the part of Apollo Crews to return to NXT to help put Kushida over. I know of plenty of superstars who were not willing to do that, so it speaks volumes about Apollo’s character and his attitude toward the company that he is willing to do that.

Bischoff’s First Official Week

July 21, 2019July 20, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

Eric Bischoff officially started running SmackDown Live after Extreme Rules, and the Bischoff era kicked off with Shane McMahon conducting an excellent segment. I fully assume this segment had the intention behind it of introducing new superstars that the WWE universe is not quite as familiar with, like Buddy Murphy (who may have earned himself a match after SummerSlam against Kevin Owens) and Liv Morgan, who had a match against Charlotte Flair later in the show.

Even Apollo Crews had something to say and wound up receiving a match later in the night against Andrade, and winning (this may get the attention of management and he may receive a small push because of this, but not a huge one by any means as Andrade is not a massive superstar yet).

Another interesting happening on SmackDown Live involved The New Day and it ended in them conducting a six-man tag team match with Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, and Elias. All three members of the latter team expressed their intent to take the WWE Championship from Kofi Kingston. This appears to be setting up a fatal four-way match at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship involving these four men, which I am fully on board with.

As for the way this particular episode of SmackDown Live was conducted, I personally would have had Joe and Elias challenge Big E and Xavier Woods for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships and Randy Orton challenge Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship in the main event with Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler in-between. The IIconics would have been edited out of the show and moved to next week because they are not a real priority right now in WWE (they may be in a month).

It’s seems more and more likely that Kevin Owens will have a SummerSlam match with Shane McMahon. This match would undoubtedly be featured pretty high on the card. Now that I think about it, there is also a strong possibility that Kevin Owens teams with Roman Reigns in a tag team match against Shane McMahon and a partner of Shane’s choosing. It seems safe to say that the entire WWE universe thought Shane’s rivalry with The Miz would carry through the summer, but Miz is moving on to other matters (Dolph Ziggler right now).

Congratulations also to Ember Moon on being given a SmackDown Women’s Championship match by Bayley as she will do great things whether she wins the title or not.

Rollins Rematch

July 21, 2019July 20, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

The highlight of the night was Seth Rollins clinching yet another opportunity at the Universal Championship. This is typical of WWE to repeat storylines as opposed to introducing new concepts. Rollins is definitely deserving of a rematch, just maybe not right now. I almost got a little too excited when Randy Orton was the second to last man in the battle royal, which was a genius idea by Paul Heyman. I was holding my breath in hopes that the WWE universe would get an opportunity to witness a rematch between Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton, revisiting the bloodbath from SummerSlam 2016.

The second biggest happening from Monday Night Raw had to do with Bray Wyatt returning and attacking Finn Balor, presumably setting up a SummerSlam match. This is great for Wyatt to return, but why does he have to wrestle this opponent? He already had a SummerSlam match with Balor back in 2017. The only difference is that he lost, and he might actually win this one. I personally feel that WWE should not seek to recycle old rivalries, but rather look to establish new ones, particularly at their second-biggest pay-per-view of the year.

It is great to see Natalya getting a Raw Women’s Championship opportunity at SummerSlam against Becky Lynch. She received a similar opportunity for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the same event in 2017 against Naomi. It is also nice to see the women getting edgy. The edginess WWE is establishing again on TV is not just exclusive to the men. The women’s match on Raw was a rather excellent performance, particularly as it pertains to Alexa Bliss and Naomi. Nikki Cross is also getting visibly more comfortable on camera evidenced by her taunting of the crowd.

Side Note: It’s a solid idea for WWE to book a SummerSlam match between Dolph Ziggler and The Miz. Miz has done well for himself over the last two SummerSlams, having a great match with Daniel Bryan last year and being booked in a match this year that should produce the same results with Dolph Ziggler.

Evolve 10th Anniversary Special

July 21, 2019July 20, 2019 by Evan Luebbe

Evolve 131 Exceeds Expectations

First of all, if anyone missed Evolve 131 because you were watching the AEW event or something entirely different, you missed a spectacular show and a glimpse at the future of the wrestling industry (which will be headlined by people like Josh Briggs and Austin Theory).

It was incredibly smart of WWE to form a mutual collaboration with Evolve and to feature events for that company as well on the WWE Network. This diversity in events that are featured on the Network will provide wrestling fans with a little something different and it may be attractive particularly for the 18-30-year-old demographic, which WWE is trying to gain more appeal from.

From a marketing perspective, one cannot call this collaboration with Evolve horizontal integration, or merging with a competitor, because WWE does not directly acknowledge Evolve or anyone else as a direct competitor. It can’t be considered vertical integration, or buying out a supplier, either because Evolve is not a supplier to WWE (although they have indirectly supplied WWE with quite a bit of human capital in the form of superstars such as Matt Riddle, Drew Gulak, Johnny Gargano, and Isaiah “Swerve” Scott as well as Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, and a slew of others).

While I was watching the event, the moment I felt compelled to write about it was when Paul Heyman appeared in the middle of the ring to do the announcing for the title match between Austin Theory and JD Drake and declared that he wanted to be a major part of the future of the wrestling industry as opposed to being a “dinosaur” who simply reminisces about the past. He would like to be at the forefront leading the next generation of this industry and that is very respectable. This will undoubtedly be a very memorable event in the history books of professional wrestling. Fortunately, even if you missed the event, you can see it whenever you like on the award-winning (and rapidly growing) WWE Network, which appears to be finding a niche for itself in focusing primarily on getting a little deeper into the personal lives of superstars (with their cooperation of course).