WingedEagle

I was giving the baby a bottle during AJ/Joe/Rey and thought I was distracted because it just wasn't holding my attention. So after putting him to sleep I watched it again. Quite disappointing. I'm not quite sure what it is but everything felt just a tad too slow and choreographed, aside from the finish. Everyone was going through the motions and it was quite disjointed for a WWE triple threat match, which often exceed expectations and make good use of the numbers. Not on this occasion. Am I crazy or was Becky/Alicia Fox a pretty solid TV match? Pretty straight forward until the finish, but the opening headlock action was strong and Becky took a nice bump outside as well. Becky's offense in a straight match still leaves a lot to be desired and her promos are becoming a bit too cute, but this over-delivered. That Bray Wyatt business -- is this something about drugs? I don't even think I'm kidding. Literally no idea what I watched, whether he was a heel or babyface, if it was remotely genuine or pure trolling, or something else entirely. Just beyond confused. AJ/Seth is at least a fresh match on paper. Hopefully both can pull out something solid that night. Although going head to head with the Thrones finale it will have to wait until another night.

You were right... ...this was absolutely tremendous.

I'm not sure if this was an intended nod at NXT, but its one reason I find the show stays a lot fresher. Part of this comes down to math as they've got a lot (and potentially more in the fall if Smackdown gets a 3rd hour) of hours to fill, and I'm not sure there's a good way to do that. Overexposure just doesn't happen on NXT TV because 60 minutes isn't enough time to touch on every program much less burn out every potential matchup within a few months. Simpler is better, especially when we're running on over 2 decades of TV written around authority figures pulling levers. I don't quite want to say anything else would be better, but its almost the case as something different would at least give the TV a new coat of paint simply because its different.

So is Braun the big finish since he's technically "big"?

Unlikely a lot of sleepers, but here's everything that earned 4 stars or better in my list: Walter vs. Jordan Devlin (OTT 3/16/2019) Jay White vs. Will Ospreay (NJPW 47th Anniversary Show 3/6/2019) Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW NJ Cup 3/10/2019) Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW NJ Cup 3/21/2019) Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (NJPW NJ Cup 3/16/2019) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (NJPW NJ Cup 3/21/2019) Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata (NJPW NJ Cup 3/8/2019) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino (NJPW NJ Cup 3/10/2019) Tomohiro Ishii vs. Taichi (NJPW NJ Cup 3/13/2019) Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa vs. Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish (NXT 3/6/2019) Jeff Cobb vs. Shane Taylor (ROH 17th Anniversary Show 3/15/2019) Walter vs. David Starr (WXW 16 Carat Gold Night 1 3/8/2019) Walter vs. Fenix (WXW 16 Carat Gold Night 2 3/9/2019) Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama (AJPW 3/19/2019) Adam Cole vs. Ricocchet vs. Matt Riddle vs. Velveteen Dream vs. Aleister Black (NXT 3/20/2019) Will Ospreay vs. A-Kid (Triple W 3/30/2019) War Raiders vs. Ricochet & Aleister Black (NXT Takeover New York 4/5/2019) Velveteen Dream vs. Matt Riddle (NXT Takeover New York 4/5/2019) Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole (2/3 Falls, NXT Takeover New York 4/5/2019) Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW/ROH G1 Supercard 4/6/2019) Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW/ROH G1 Supercard 4/6/2019) Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW/ROH G1 Supercard 4/6/2019) Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yuji Okabayashi (AJPW 4/4/2019)

So what are you watching these days? Good to have you around!

Is this now officially hour 9 of Mania?

So I really wanted to like Balor/Zayn but it seemed like a match that was just there outside of Balor's nasty dropkick. Nice heel promo though. Really curious to see what they have in store for the main event. With Smackdown moving to Fox in the fall and the women's belts unified (temporarily?) I could see a clean finish tonight but my gut says angle alert.

Great to have you back!

Wow. How do you pull off such an anticlimactic finish?

Alright this is pretty fucking cool.

Imagine if they had Steph come out and announce that Finn/Bobby is now an iron man match. That would legit crack me up.

Perhaps I'm missing something. I don't find any part of his character or act engaging. The one spot he does well is the old Bossman slide out of the ring and pop in. Everything else I see is a dud.

Why did that happen? The Corbin push/employment is still one of the most mind boggling. He's not good in the ring, doesn't have a good look, and isn't charismatic. I could go on but surely there has to be something beyond his height?

When Flair doesn't even get a pop you know a crowd is dead. Hopefully the main comes on before everyone falls asleep.

Does this match end by 12?

Matt Riddle wins.

As much as I enjoyed that, and would have even more on a show that isn't longer than a leap year, its a shame to think that Cena is here for unadvertised comedy spots rather than a featured attraction like Batista on his appearances in '14 or this year, let alone what Rock's returns were like.

Its 10:05. We've got Roman/Drew, Hunter/Batista, Angle/Corbin, Balor/Lashley, potential Cena and Undertaker appearances, a musical act and the main event still to come. Does this even finish by 1AM?

There was talk Rey was injured earlier this week so perhaps this was their way around that.

If we're lucky. My thoughts as well. Perhaps it was dumb, but that Hall & Nash bit was the type of cameo and comedy I can work with. Quick and nostalgic.

Just fantastic. Between Gargano on Friday, this and the likely close of the show they're going to legitimately send people home happy. So simple and terrific. Woods & E being so beyond happy for him and celebrating with Kofi's kids is just fantastic.

So this match was solidly unspectacular until that bump into the table and Bryan's heat segment. I like how aggressively he's working it as opposed to letting Kofi's selling take center stage. That couter/counter spot ending with the Boston Crab was terrific.

HIGH FIVE.

We have out first big winner of the evening.