Truncated Wrestling Thursday

Hello friends. So I moved today, and I am exhausted, so no embedded videos and nice pictures this time, and it'll be a bit short, especially for a PPV week. Sorry. Will make it up to y'all!

Elimination Chamber

Women's Elimination Match

And the long and winding and indecisive road to the Sasha and Bayley feud continues, I guess. Good match, with Sasha especially shining and Mickey getting a great spot. But, really, storytelling could have moved a bit more, no?

Raw Tag Titles

Literally no one thought Titus Worldwide were getting the titles, so this was thoroughly uninteresting, despite having two amazing workers in Apollo and Cesaro.

Bray vs. Matt Hardy

Yeah. This happened. And the continued wasting of both Bray and Woken Matt continues. This needs to escalate, and not in the terrible Bray vs. Orton way.

Men's Elimination Match

I already stated my opinion about this, and I stand by it. Roman was always going over. Braun would have been a good pick, maybe even the right pick, but Roman is the Chosen One, the Cena. It is what it is. And he is very good at his job. More on that when we get to...

Raw

Alexa/Mickey/Asuka/Nia promo thingie

And, once again, I am left wondering about the women's booking. When Alexa said Nia deserves to be in the match, wasn't Asuka saying, "and she'll be there, because I PICK CHARLOTTE!" the perfect way to go? I mean, I think that may still be the road they're on? But a bit of forward momentum would have been nice.

The ensuing match was good. But... are they... are they going for a Bayley heel turn? I mean, that would make heel announcer Graves hating on Sasha so much make more sense, maybe? But, really, NO. Heel Sasha vs. face Bayley is the way to go here.

Cena Wants to go to Mania

So he... not challenging the Undertaker? Because that's "impossible"? Again, move ahead, WWE, instead of adding even more people to the World Title match.

Miz vs Seth and Miz vs. Finn

As one of my favorite podcast hosts, Danielle Radford from Tights & Fights always says: TWO DUDES. Instead, the Mania IC title match will, apparently, have a million of them. These matches were good. These guys are all very good. But Miz is right: He deserves a one on one spotlight match at Mania.

Roman Reigns Turns Face

Okay, okay, you can't turn a face face, but damn, that was his best ever promo by a mile. And... it sounded like him. Like the guy you'll hear in a podcast or on UpUpDownDown. This, apart from his look, is the reason they've been pushing him: He is a genuinely charismatic dude.

Bar. Titus Worldwide. Again.

It happened. Again.

Braun vs. Elias

Rumor has it both of these guys are going to join the IC title hunt, which... whyyyyy? With Seth and Finn probably challenging at Mania, that match already has two dudes who should go over. Now add Braun and Elias? Who, sure, could totally have an IC title run. But why now?

The Ronda Promo

This was... better? I think? She's still got a way to go, and every time I see Angle standing like a question mark I fear for him, and all four of these people are definitely going to fight at Mania. So I'm not super happy about this.

Still, those Miz matches were good!

Smackdown

Deja Cena

Okay promo, terrific result: Cena vs. AJ! Again! (I'm okay with things happening multiple times when they're awesome).

Sami vs. Corbin

Corbin is mediocre. And is the sneak attacking Dolph a face or a heel? He's attacking heels. But sneaky like. From behind.

Naomi vs. Ruby

I love Ruby. She's great. But I hate the fact that Naomi was made a sacrificial lamb on her way to fight against Charlotte in a match she is going to lose.

Usos and New Day battle on the mic

So much chemistry. All the chemistry. And really? The Usos have never wrestled at Mania? Travesty!
The Bludgeon bros were also there.

Aiden vs. Shinsuke

I guess this did the job of reminding us Shinsuke is also here and going to Mania?

Cena vs. Styles

You can cure a lot of ills by putting Cena and Styles in a match. Was this a classic of the caliber of their PPV matches? No. Was this an awesome match on a Tuesday night? You bet. It was followed by a tiresome schmozz which I'll ignore.

Mixed Match Challenge

Asuka's winning streak gives stakes to every match. But... it's a SINGLES winning streak. She's been on losing teams before. And making this about the streak only made it super clear Asuka and Miz are going over. Which is a bummer, because these four are really great and deserved a match that isn't a foregone conclusion.

205 Live

Both matches were very good. 205 live is awesome in tournament style. Great workers having long matches with stakes? That's awesome.

NXT

Bate vs. Dream

This was a very good match, but... why is Bate now losing every week? I hope redemption happens in the Dusty Classic, but at this point I'm afraid it'll be just another stop in the "Tyler Bate is on a skid" story.

Cezar Bonani vs Adam Cole

Happened.

Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler

They're very good, but I'm such a mark for Sane's entire deal that I am legitimately upset when she loses. Seriously, though, Sane is THE FUTURE, and should be treated as such. Still, we got a big Sane match, and pure babyfaces should lose sometimes so I guess I'm okay with it. Huh. That was quite a journey we went on, wan't it?

The ending bit

There was gloating and some more Killian Dain and Aleister Black. And love both of these guys, but, AGAIN, move the storyline. I mean, they've had this match, and Aleister won it, and yet still hasn't gotten his one on one shot. And shouldn't both of these guys be moving to main roster soon, no? I'm confused.

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