Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (End Of 2016)

EXTRAORIDINARY

For the record, even though I never got around to posting a Wroundup last week, I really did enjoy most of what WWE put out from last week, especially everything Cesaro did on Raw and the "La Luchadora" bit on Smackdown.



THE GOOD:

(Raw/205) GENTLEMAN'S DUEL! On Raw, Jack Gallagher challenged Daivari to a duel. And on 205 Live, he provided an array of weapons pulled from a mix of British culture and the board game Clue. Daivari chets during the five paces, of course, but Gallagher is ready and demolishes Daivari with an umbrella. And demolishes the umbrella. Daivari cheats some more and gets the upper hand, but headbutt and corner dropkick sends Daivari running. So good.

(SD) Alexa Bliss retaining the Women's Championship thanks to interference from a SECOND La Luchadora and a weird, horrifying-looking elbow dislocation trick(?) from Alexa Bliss. The match was really good stuff, even if it got a bit sloppy towards the finish.

(205) Neville defeats Rich Swann with a superplex in a non-title match that for some reason I didn't think was non-title until the ending. He destroys Swann post-match as well. The match was fantastic stuff, really solid work from both guys.

(Raw) Cesaro and Sheamus defeated The New Day (Woods / Kingston) in another excellent match to get their two in a row and solidify them as the tag champs. Not the best outing between these teams, but it's always good to see Woods treated as an equal part of the team from a wrestling standpoint.

(SD) AJ Styles retaining the World Championship by pinning Ziggler after Ziggler ate an End of Days and Corbin was knocked down by a Phorearm. Protecting Corbin at the expense of Ziggler is a shame, but Corbin's getting better. AJ goes on to face Cena at the Rumble 'cause I guess they think we've forgotten all their other matches. If they were turning Cena heel, the post match handshake would have been a time to do it, and they didn't.

(205) The course correction on Mustafa Ali's character, as they give him a hometown victory over an indie guy with a bum leg and turn him proper face in a post-match interview.

(Raw) "Acneacrachnoacrophobia". Goddamn, if there was a way to have Chris Jericho just talk and not wrestle, I would be happy forever.

(Raw) Charlotte and Special Referee Dana Brooke screwing Bayley out of not only a win this week, but her win last week, as last week's controversial victory was expunged from the record books thanks to Charloote's "lawyers". Classic heel stuff, making the pure of heart Bayley chase the belt and throwing every obstacle in her way.

(Raw) I'm a sucker for a wheelchair fakeout, so while I've hated everything everything about this feud to date, especially the "sensitivity training" skits last week, this was fun.

(SD) American Alpha winning the Tag Titles. I'm putting this at the bottom of the good, because honestly, while I'm happy they got the belts, I think the way they got them is probably not the best for them long-term. Part of the problem is that Randy Orton's heel turn is largely a failure, with crowds still popping for his big Randy Orton spots and chanting RKO, so Alpha pinning Orton for the belts after Wyatt Miscommunication isn't gonna make Alpha more over.

THE BAD:

(Raw) Roman Reigns finally defends the US Title! Against Kevin Owens. Who wasn't going to win and who wouldn't help the US Title situation if he did. And afterwards, Owens eats a Pedigree from Rollins and Jericho eats a Spear from Reigns in the least interesting ending possible.

(SD) John Cena's mess of an opening promo. It bordered on a heel turn, but I don't think that was intentional. If it was intentional, well, I retract.

(Raw) Nia Jax is back to squashing local talent, this time local talent who likes Sasha Banks.

(Raw) Byron Saxton saying "wacky wavy arm-flailing inflatable tube men" every time Bayley does her entrance. SHUT UP.

(Raw) Neville defeating TJ Perkins in a Cruiserweight match. The outcome was right, but the finish was botched and Neville should be winning dominantly, as the division's new monster heel, not mostly eating Perkins' offense before cheating to win. His post-match interview was red hot though. Later in the show, things went almost the opposite. Rich Swann had the kind of dominant win over Ariya Daivari the Cruiserweight division needs more of, but it was followed by a weak Swann promo and a dominant post-match attack from Neville.

THE WEIRD, AMBIVALENT, AND BORING:

RAW: Bo Dallas, Darren Young, and the Shining Stars all got used as Strowman fodder even though Stephanie said he could have Sami Zayn next week. He of course earns "THANK YOU STROWMAN" chants from the Chicago crowd because Chicago.

Smackdown: The Carmella/James Ellsworth thing continues. It can't possibly be good, but until something happens to prove that either way, it stays down here.

NXT: Pretty much the entire show, because it's the full length Osaka house show, including the OK Joe-Nakamura match we already watqched, a 15 minute match between Andrade Almas and Oney Lorcan that Lorcan won, and other combinations that were playing out three or so weeks ago. I did enjoy DIY vs. Tajiri and Tozawa, but Asuka vs. Jax was 15 minutes long and proves that Nia Jax still doesn't have more than 7 minutes of wrestling.

205: Cedric Alexander, Noam Dar, and Alicia Fox continue to be a thing, as Tnoy Nece picks up a victory after Drew Gulak and Alicia Fox got into it outside the ring, causing a distraction.