WWE Weekly BreakDown: May 20-25

 

The King and Queen of the Ring pay per view is this Saturday live from Saudi Arabia. The main focus will be building for that show and setting up the finals matchups. Cryptic and off putting teasers for Uncle Howdy continue to appear on WWE television. And with SmackDown coming live from Saudi Arabia I’d suspect we’ll see many people left off the travel schedule. Cody and Logan Paul

Monday Night Raw 5/20/2024 

Raw opened with Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn addressing his upcoming match with Chad Gable and “Big” Bronson Reed. Before he really could get deep into his promo, he was interrupted by the Alpha Academy. Chad Gable spent this time publicly humiliating Otis, Tozawa, and Dupri. Sami cut Gable short, and asked the Alpha Academy when they would be tired of taking Chad’s crap and branch off from the Academy. This kicked off what was another really great match between Sami and Gable, who’s rivalry has been really good up to this point. Tozawa and Dupri were going to interfere but chose not to get involved, but Otis stayed true to Gable and hit Sami with a vicious Clothesline in the corner to help Gable hit his finisher and pull off the win. But it appears that Sami’s words got through to Otis, as Otis confronted Sami in the locker room after, and gave a heartfelt apology. Sami accepted the apology, and used himself and the Bloodline as an example of why Otis needs to separate himself from Gable.

WWE continues to not only feature the Intercontinental Title in a great light, opening the show with the competitors involved in the match on the pay per view, but push the inevitable collapse of Alpha Academy. And with Gable winning this match, it’s still unclear who's going to win the triple threat match on Saturday. Reed has made an impact and holds victories over both men in recent weeks as well. So Sami is really in a tough spot defending his title against two great challengers. Although WWE fans bashed Renee Dupri for her stiff and developing wrestling, her acting and charisma is very good. She’s very believable when she shows emotion in the ring. The same can be said with Otis, who’s shown that he has layers to the character he portrays. 

The next match Bron Breakker killed Kale Dixon. If you haven’t watched NXT Level Up, Kale Dixon is a developmental prospect that has worked a little in NXT. Breakker looked more explosive than ever while destroying Dixon. I’ve watched wrestling my entire life, and I’ve seen many adaptations of the spear. I can confidently say nobody runs the ropes as fast and explosive as Breakker and when he hits the spear it looks like a car crash. Breakker then busted out a similar move he did on Von Wagner in NXT, smashing Dixon’s head off the steps, but this time with a steel chair. The positives to NXT and televising development, this was a squash match essentially, and the crowd was buzzing for Bron Breakker. 

The next match was a battle between former women’s champions of their respective brands. Lyra Valkyria has been on fire since she made the jump to the main roster, and the crowd has really supported her which is awesome to see. She’s benefited from this tournament after being drafted because she’s been featured weekly in some really compelling back and forth matches. And Io Sky has done really well with less promos and more in ring work where she excels. It’s just really nice to see some fresh faces get some time, and these two ladies worked an incredible match. And I was genuinely surprised when Valkyria got the Nightwing on Sky and pulled off the quick victory. Sky’s face and shocked reaction told the story beautifully. WWE has done really well in splashing Valkyria in spurts before this, with the feud and history working with Becky Lynch. We’ve gotten small samples, and they’ve built her into a really believable competitor. 

The next match was a World Team Championship match between the champion Awesome Truth (Miz & R-Truth) and The Judgment Day. The match was chaotic from the start as there are a couple things happening here worth mentioning. One, Carlito is trying to get into Judgment Day. His involvement in the match made things a little messy. And Braun Strowman appearing to even the odds, and causing JD McDonagh to get pinned by truth who hit an Attitude Adjustment was a bit confusing. I’m not sure what Strowman’s role in WWE is right now, it’s been teased he’s going to be in this faction with Uncle Howdy/Bo Dallas. But right now he’s just chasing people and fighting Patrick Mahomes. I hope to see something for him soon. It could all be leading to Damian Priest and Braun Strowman, we’ll just have to wait and see. 

We then got a verbal battle between Liv Morgan and Becky Lynch. This segment fell a little flat for me. I don’t think Becky is as into this as she’s been in some of her other feuds, and it feels like she’s not taking Liv Morgan seriously. And I think where Liv is really struggling is advancing the story. Why should we care about the “Liv Morgan revenge tour.” And although the injured Rhea angle lines up, people really know the injury was a fluke injury and Liv didn’t really hurt Rhea. So maybe creative deserves blame here for not making the backstage assault more vicious. I think Liv repeats a lot of the same things, and at this point, she’s feeling more like a broken record. And instead of letting her go out there and tread water alone, WWE needs to do a better job and help her have some direction and range here. She mentioned being World champion, but this is coming from a woman who has been WWE Women’s champion in the past, and beat Rhonda Rousey. Flash some of your accomplishments, tell us who the fuck you are. Highlight some emotion that you're a serious competitor, and it’s time that these pent up horny freaks stop looking at you as a pretty little blonde and a real threat in this Women’s division. And by beating names like Rhonda, Bianca, Shayna Baszler, that makes her just as much as “The Man” as Becky. I’ve seen AEW have trouble with this, in taking beautiful women and pushing them as legitimate threats. It’s an unfortunate thing that is unique to female competitors, and it could go one of two ways, you intentionally aim your target audience at the horndog keyboard warrior fans at home, or you push the envelope a little harder and find ways to be taken more seriously. Liv should look at a lot of what Mandy Rose did on NXT. Mandy was able to push away from the stereotype mold that the male fanbase put her in, and she didn’t have the physical gifts Tiffany Stratton or Charlotte have either. I would propose a revamp now that she’s heel. Dump the “Watch Me” intro music, and the twirling. A lot of what changed for Mandy was the badass Toxic Attraction intro and appearance. 

The final match of the night was Jey Uso VS Gunther to see who would move onto the King of the Ring final on Saturday. I’m not going to lie, part of me thought Jey Uso was going to win this match. The way he’s being portrayed to the WWE Universe has been fired, his entrances, including tonights have been awesome, he’s over as hell, and you can work the storyline with Toma Tonga and this new evil Bloodline taking place under Solo and a mystery Tribal Chief. But you have Gunther who’s probably the best wrestler on the roster not named Cody or Roman (no offense CM Punk and Seth Rollins). You can’t really move backwards with Gunther, he was already the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion. You can easily push Jey into the IC title picture since he’s still relatively new as a singles competitor.  The match was great, and had me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen, and I felt both men came out over from this match regardless of the result.

This was a great RAW, and a perfect bridge into the pay per view. Crazy how they’ve been putting on really compelling television without Cody, Punk, or a world champion as Priest has been caught up in the Judgment Day drama and looks to be set for a feud with Drew at Clash at the Castle. After Saturday, I expect that will be pushed a lot more aggressively.  

NXT 5/21/2024 

 

NXT is nearing a massive show themselves. On June 9th, they will be hosting Battleground from the UFC Apex. 

The Women’s North American Championship ladder match qualifiers continued this week, as a huge matchup between the young upstart Thea Hail and the now heel Fallon Henley. I really love the presentation of Henley these last couple weeks. She’s proven to have a mean streak and has been on the brink of a major push. I think that putting the North American title on her wouldn’t be a bad idea. I love Thea Hail, I think she’s naturally gifted but she’s still very young, no need to rush her progression. The longer she’s on NXT, the more impactful a title win will be for her. Roxanne isn’t far from being called up to the main rosters, so somebody has to be in that main event picture. I haven’t loved how some of the storylines with Chase U have gotten in the way with in ring presentation. It works here so that Henley can get a pin on Hail by a distraction. And then Jasmyn Nyx coming out and attacking Hail after the match sets up a solid feud for Hail to work. Nyx really has a great look, and that Pele kick is pretty vicious. 

The next match was an NXT tag team championship match between Axiom and Nathan Frazier and The Family. Crusifino and Lorenzo have a really great look as a tag team, and both are extremely athletic. Frazer and Axiom usually run circles around their opponents but the members of The Family kept up just fine. The match was a good filler match. Both teams are locked in other feuds and storylines. Axiom and Nathan Frazer won by pin, but the main story was No Quarter Catch Crew attacking the family after the match. And whilst this was happening, the Champions were viciously attacked by Gallows and Anderson. This was a meaningful segment as it’s likely both feuds will be featured at Battleground in a couple weeks. 

After that we sought out a number 1 contender for Oba Femi’s North American Title. How this came to be is it looks like Joe Coffey and Gallus are attacking everyone backstage. He immediately put himself into title contention. Briggs got buried in this match, other than a couple really solid power moves, he ended up getting pinned by both men. Joe Coffey and Wes Lee are both the number one contenders and will face Oba Femi in what will likely be a triple threat match. I can see what stars like JBL, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H see in Briggs, but his promo needs a lot of work. This is now the second time in 3 weeks has been beaten by Wes Lee who's been on fire since his return from a near career ending injury. 

Jaida Parker and Brinley Reece squared off to find out who will be the next participant in the ladder match at Battleground. Parker is such a powerhouse, and I mean that in a good way. She’s beautiful, has the look of a star, and her ability and athleticism makes her a real threat in the ring. She also has a lot of charisma and confidence that is obvious early on. She’s high on my list of top prospects that WWE is growing right now. She carried this match fairly well. Reece is another super athletic prospect. Both are pretty green and deserve a lot of credit for how smooth this was. Parker will enter her first ladder match, and a chance to make an impact on this show already. 

Dante Chen and Lexis King were the next match. The match was really solid, and it saw long-time jobber and Level Up regular pull off a stunning victory. This elicited a positive reaction from the crowd, as Chen, with the help of Mr. Stone embarrassed King on the big stage. A lot of people were mad because King, real name Brian Pillman Jr., spent time with AEW, and he’s son of legend Brian Pillman. But King is still nowhere near ready for the main card and has a lot of growing to do. This could be a fun feud if played right as Dante Chen can really go in the ring as well as King. And Mr. Stone has made some of the more mundane storylines seem a bit more interesting. It was a solid match for the time they were given.

Trick Williams then came out and cut a promo about how he wasn’t the one who attacked Noam Darr. This would lead to an interruption by Meta-four, and eventually Joe Coffey comes out leading to Gallus attacking Williams. Je’Von Evans comes to help Williams and Gallus retreat. I’m not going to lie, the Williams and Meta-four storyline is growing a little stale for me. And now with Williams feuding with two different factions things seem a little jumbled. But the involvement of Je’Von Evans is really interesting to me. Williams and Evans could put on a great showcase if given the chance. It’s just not the way I wanted Williams to start his title reign. 

The main event saw veteran Natalya with her pupil Karmen Petrovic working a tag match with Lola Vice and Shayna Baszler. This has been quite the physical feud. Putting Natty with Petrovic has helped a lot, as Petrovic has gotten over a little bit. I still think she needs to drop the sword. Swords, or any weapon that can lead to manslaughter, are just dumb props and feel corny. Nothing is corny about the action, and the MMA background of Vica and Baszler. After Petrovic and Natty pulled out the win, Vice attacked Baszler leading to a brawl. The two now will meet at Battleground, which should be an incredible match. 

This was a really good NXT. As I’ve said before, you watch this knowing it’s not going to be perfect because these athletes are learning. But every single segment and match seemed to be advancing a storyline which is impressive with the lack of experience some of these stars have, and they don’t have the Breakkers or the Valkyrias to rely on now. They really hyped up Battleground as well which should be a must-see event. 

SmackDown 5/24/2024 - From Saudi Arabia 

The show began with Bianca Belair and Nia Jax facing to see who will be wrestling Saturday in the Queen of the Ring final. Jax looked more menacing than she has in a while. When Bianca landed weird off the top rope and hurt her leg, Nia took advantage. This injury would cost Bianca the match, as Nia won. She directed a vicious promo at Lyra Valkyria seeing she was going to destroy the NXT standout. The biggest spot from this match was when Bianca hit a powerbomb on Nia. The crowd was in awe. It was a strong match and a very physical way to start the show. 

Carmelo Hayes joined A-Town Down Under on the Grayson Waller Effect. Hayes convinced the heel tag champions to side with him in his issues with LA Knight. LA Knight would come out, and a 3 on 1 attack would begin until the Street Profits came to his aid. Knight and the Profits would go on to face Waller, Theory, and Hayes. The match was a solid segment, and LA Knight was clearly over with the Saudi Arabian crowd. The baby faces would pull out the win with Ford hitting an exciting frog splash. 

The next match showed Bayley against Chelsea Green. Bayley didn’t have a match at the pay per view which was disappointing. But with the announcement that the winner of the Queen of the Ring will get a title show at SummerSlam, it seems like it will be against Bayley, especially when Nia and Bayley met backstage. Chelsea held her own in a really well done match. But this match had a point as Piper Niven came out and attacked Bayley. With Clash at the Castle coming up, it seems Bayley has a new challenger for her title. 

Cody and Logan Paul had one last confrontation before the pay per view, where Cody would insult Logan and challenge him to lose the brass knuckles. The segment was quite forgettable as Logan is still learning to find the difference between his character and his online personality. 

The main event was between Tama Tonga and Randy Orton to see who was going to the King of the Ring Final. It was a pretty slow paced match, typical with Randy as he dissected his opponent. The Bloodline would be involved as they were ringside, but Kevin Owens would come out and even the odds. Orton would pin Tonga to win the match and go to the KOR final. It will be fun to see how this new Bloodline storyline unravels over the coming weeks as we head into the summer. They will probably save any big reveal for SummerSlam. With Clash at the Castle and Money In the Bank approaching, there should be quite a bit of storylines to work through on Raw and SmackDown.