Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (Hey Wrestling Happened Edition)

NONE MORE HEEL.

I haven’t been in the mood to write about wrestling for a couple of weeks, partly because of a deep abiding Farpoint obsession (more on that later) that has now cleared up, but there have been some things happening over the past couple of weeks that need to be addressed. Events, if you will, of Significance.

TOMMASO CIAMPA WINS THE NXT CHAMPIONSHIP

This is huge. Tommaso Ciampa is the greatest heel in at least a decade. He is the closest anyone has come to being stabbed by a front row old lady since kayfabe died. And I was thinking this BEFORE Ciampa literally got into it with an old lady in the front row of Full Sail this week. Despite losing nine months of heat due to an injury right as they broke up DIY, Ciampa has managed to minimize even Full Sail smark tendencies to get the boos to 90/10, and the intensity of those boos up to a 12. It’s insane. And now he holds the belt heading into Takeover Brooklyn, one of the hottest Takeovers of the year.

EVOLUTION, THE ALL WOMEN’S PPV

This is a good thing. I like this thing. I hate the way they talk about it in WWE. It’s simultaneously self-aggrandizing and patronizing to the talent. Plus it’s so heavy-handed with the “say this thing that nobody would ever say in this way to satisfy branding requirements” that it’s grating. But I’m looking forward to the show.

REIGNS-LESNAR AT SUMMERSLAM

They are literally doing everything short of having Brock Lesnar eat a puppy in the center of the ring to get people to hate him and cheer Roman Reigns for beating him, and it’s sort of working? I mean, we want anyone to take the belt off Lesnar at this point, even if Reigns is at the bottom of the list. Well, near the bottom of the list. He’s above Lashley and James Ellsworth.

CARMELLA-LYNCH-CHARLOTTE AT SUMMERSLAM

This is disappointing, because they’ve been building Becky Lynch up great for a couple of months now. She gets a shot at Carmella’s title, and then they add Charlotte to the match immediately upon her return from minor surgery. I honestly wanted Lynch to interfere in Charlotte’s qualifying match, but it’ll be interesting to see if they do anything with this dynamic over the next couple of weeks.

SANE-BASZLER AT TAKEOVER

In a Mae Young Classic rematch, Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler will go at it for the NXT Women’s Title at Takeover Brooklyn. Should be another great match, even if I don’t see Sane winning.

MOUSTACHE MOUINTAIN VS> UNDISUTED ERA AT TAKEOVER

Seriously, how shit hot is this show going to be?

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (July 9-11)

Moustache Mountain, or The Knights Who Say Knee

With Extreme Rules on the horizon, it’s time for the secondary shows to pick up the Events Of Significance slack with a pair of important title matches.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (Jul 2-4)

Never has the removal of a knee pad been so important.

We’re moving into  that wonderful time between PPV’s when they have to actually do a bunch of stuff and move stories forward to get ready for Extreme Rules. So gear up for many EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE!

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup! (Jun 25-27)

If you can ignore the last two months this is pretty cool.

We’re moving into  that wonderful time between PPV’s when they have to actually do a bunch of stuff and move stories forward to get ready for Extreme Rules. So gear up for many EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE!

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (Last week)

I’m starting to warm up to Team Kick

Hey, let’s get this posted before I start watching this week’s Raw! With Money In The Bank being positioned as on par with a Big Four PPV, apparently WWE felt th eneed to shake things up a bit afterwards. Not a lot, but some. Ergo, EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (June 11-13)

I think we can all agree this is a good idea if we limit it to “neck up”.

I’m pretty sure there was a grand total of one Event Of Significance this week in seven hours of WWE programming. Oh, there were some decent matches, and things that clearly telegraphed Takeover and Money In The Bank results, but those are more for predictions than the Wrapup. Still, there was that one thing.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (6/4-6/6)

Looking forward to this match so much...

As Money In The Bank approaches, things slow to a crawl. But there were still a few Events of Significance. Oh, and the Zayn-Lashley thing is still going on and is still awful, in case you were curious.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (5/28-30)

YES! YES! YES!

Fairly slow week this week, since most of Money IN The Bank is set. So it’s up to the small shows to pick up the slack with some championship matchery. EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE:

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wrouindup (5/21-23)

Goddamn, these two are great together in the ring, and hey, Sullivan is there too.

“Which show is better” discussions are always funny, because for every week where Raw is good and Smackdown’s bad, there’s a week like this one, where Raw is an upper-deck turd and Smackdown is interesting and exciting. EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wrouindup (May 14-16)

More of this please. Lots more. For a title.

Ah, the periodic European tours. A chance for WWE to pre-tape Raw and SMackdown in front of smarky British crowds, make lots of royal wedding jokes, and estabilsh a few more Money IN The Bank challengers. EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE:

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (4/16-19)

Nobody in this promo image switched brands!

OK. A lot of people switched brands during the Superstar Shakeup, so many I couldn’t keep track and had to rely on news reports. I’ve broken everything down into chunks. And no, there really weren’t any other events of significance this week that need covering.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (4/9-4/11)

Hey, they called it the Eclipse right off the bat!

OK, the post-Mania week of shows is non-stop EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE< so I just need to plow through them.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (Pre-Mania Lull Edition)

BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS!

To be fair, if any Events Of Significance did happen the week of Wrestlemania, people aren’t doing their jobs right. Still, slow week.

Black Lightning: “Sins Of The Father”

I like it when heroes do smart things.

There’s a moment in last week’s Black Lightning that made me very happy.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (Mar 26-28)

How To Improve A US Title Match 101 

 With most Wrestlemania things settled, not a ton of EVENTS OF SIGNIFIcANCE for the week.But a few things happened.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (Mar 18-21)

Please, world, let me enjoy this without reservation.

Fairly mild week, as the road to Wrestlemania firms up beneath our tires. Oh, except for that one thing. The event of such significance that it dwarfs all other EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE.

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (3/12-15)

Yeah, I don’t mind him going over at least half these schlubs.

I don’t know why, but this week’s wrestling really resonated with me and got me excited. Either the stuff they’re doing is working better, or turning 49 has somehow opened my cold, cynical heart up to wrestling. That means a lot of EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE.

Black LIghtning: “Equinox: The Book Of Fate”

Gone too soon, methinks.

WAIT, WHAT?

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wrounup (Mar 5-7)

Theyre really making Asuka a star. 

It’s the go-home week for Fastlane, and Smackdown is once again two hours of mostly useless garbage with decent but meaningless wrestling. EVENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE:

Weekly Wrasslin’ Wroundup (Feb 26-28)

NO WAIT RESIST ALL NATURAL INSTINCTS AND DON’T CHANGE THE CHANNEL

OK week of wrestling coming out of Elimination Chamber, as we head toward a dull Fastlane and who knows what kind of Wrestlemania.