The Last Week in Wrestling #4 (Wrestling Round-Up)

Welcome to this edition of The Last Week In Wrestling, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have a few interesting events to get to, so let’s do so… nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnow.

WWE Match Ratings Out Of 5:

Raw:

• Finn Bálor versus Bobby Lashley – 2.5
• Sasha Banks, Bayley, Natalya, Trish Stratus & Lita versus The Riott Squad, Mickie James & Alicia Fox – 2
• Elias versus Jinder Mahal – 1
• Bobby Roode & Chad Gable versus AOP and The Ascension (Triple Threat Match) – 2
• Nia Jax versus Ember Moon – 2
• The Lucha House Party versus The Revival – 2.5
• Dolph Ziggler versus Apollo Crews – 2

Final Verdict: 1

Smackdown:

• AJ Styles versus Daniel Bryan – WWE World Title Match – 4
• Big E versus Cesaro in a Trick or Street Fight – 2.5
• Shinsuke Nakamura versus R-Truth – 2.5
• Rey Mysterio & Jeff Hardy versus Randy Orton & The Miz – 2.5

Final Verdict: 3

NXT:

• Nikki Cross versus Mercedes Martinez – 3.5
• The Street Profits versus The Mighty – 2.5
• Matt Riddle versus Luke Menzies – 2.5
• Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch versus Raul Mendoza & Humberto Carrillo – 2.5

Final Verdict: 3

NXT: UK:

• Moustache Mountain versus Saxon Huxley & Sam Gradwell – 3
• Isla Dawn versus Nina Samuels – 2
• Jordan Devlin versus Tucker – 2.5
• Mark Andrews versus Wolfgang – 3.5

Final Verdict: 3

Mixed Match Challenge:

• Braun Strowman & Ember Moon versus Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox – 2.5
• AJ Styles & Charlotte Flair versus Rusev & Lana – 1.5

Final Verdict: 2

205 Live:

• The Brian Kendrick versus Gentleman Jack Gallagher – 2.5
• Gran Metalik versus Local competitor – 2
• Mustafa Ali versus Tony Nese – 3.5

Final Verdict: 3

Evolution:

• Trish Stratus & Lita versus Mickie James & Alicia Fox – 3
• Nia Jax won the Women’s Battle Royal to earn a future Women’s Title opportunity – 2.5
• Toni Storm versus Io Shirai to win the 2018 Mae Young Classic – 3.5
• Sasha Banks, Bayley & Natalya versus The Riott Squad – 3.5
• Shayna Baszler versus Kairi Sane to become the new NXT Women’s Champion – 3.5
• Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair (Last Woman Standing Match For SmackDown Women’s Title) – 4
• Ronda Rousey versus Nikki Bella (Raw Women’s Title) – 2.5

Final Verdict: 4

Crown Jewel:

• Shinsuke Nakamura versus Rusev – 2
• Rey Mysterio versus Randy Orton (WWE World Cup First-Round Match) – 2
• The Miz versus Jeff Hardy (WWE World Cup First-Round Match) – 2
• Seth Rollins versus Bobby Lashley (WWE World Cup First-Round Match) – 2
• Dolph Ziggler versus Kurt Angle (WWE World Cup First-Round Match) – 2.5
• The Bar versus The New Day (SmackDown Tag Team Championship) – 3
• The Miz versus Rey Mysterio (WWE World Cup Semifinal Match) – 2
• Dolph Ziggler versus Seth Rollins (WWE World Cup Semifinals) – 3.5
• AJ Styles versus Samoa Joe (WWE World Title Match) – 4
• Brock Lesnar versus Braun Strowman (WWE Universal Championship Match) – .5
• Shane McMahon versus Dolph Ziggler (WWE World Cup Finals) – 1
• D-Generation X versus The Brothers of Destruction – 2

Final Verdict: 2

Final WWE Verdict: 2.5/5

Vince had a really strange week that was dominated by his greed and his desire to apologize without having to apologize. Having your cake an eating too comes to mind, for some reason. Vince has beaten a lot of different controversies over the years, from the rape culture of the company to the claims of racism to the steroid scandal and even the death of the territories, just to name a few of them. There were lots of good matches to watch on WWE TV this week, but it was Vince’s mistakes that will be what people remember, which is a real shame.

Impact Wrestling Match Ratings Out of 5:

• Rich Swann versus Willie Mack – 3
• Desi Hit Squad (Rohit Raju & Raj Singh) w/ Gama Singh versus The Beach Bums (TJ Crawford & Freddy IV) – 1.5
• Sami Callihan versus Brian Cage – X-Division Championship Match – 0
• Knockouts Champion Tessa Blanchard versus Taya Valkyrie – Knockouts Championship Match – 3.5
• Tag Team Champions LAX (Santana & Ortiz) w/Konnan versus Matt Sydal & Ethan Page – Non-Title Match – 2
• Pentagon Jr w/ Fenix versus Homicide w/ King and Hernandez – 2.5

Final Impact Verdict: 2.5/5

Impact has a lot of problems. When it focuses on wrestling, it does fine, but when it tries to do a WWE/ECW blend, it fails miserably. Why can’t the new regime just promote good wrestling? It’s times like this that remind me of how pissed I am that I wasn’t able to raise the money to buy the company from Dixie Carter in 2014. I know I’d do better than these people are doing right now, because I wouldn’t have a fake Brian Cage fight at a BCW card on an Impact show.

Ring Of Honor Match Ratings Out of 5:

• Adam Page versus Scorpio Sky – 3
• Shane Taylor versus Eli Isom – 2.5
• Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham versus Kushida and Jushin “Thunder” Liger – 3.5

Final Ring of Honor Verdict: 3/5

It was nothing to write home about, but it was a fun hour of wrestling. That being said, ROH needs to get more interesting if they are gonna have a card at Madison Square Garden next year.

Lucha Underground Match Ratings Out of 5:

• The Reptile Tribe versus The Rabbit Tribe and Sammy Guevara, Ivelisse and XO Lishus – Trios Title Elimination Match – 3
• Taya versus Ricky Mundo – 2.5
• Son of Havoc versus Killshot – Mask Versus Mask Match – 4.5

Final Lucha Underground Verdict: 3.5/5

Part 1 of Ultima Lucha was good and should bode well for Part 2.

Major League Wrestling Match Ratings Out of 5:

• Puma King versus Ricky Martinez – 2.5
• Brody King versus Tommy Dreamer – 2
• The Hart Foundation versus ACH, Rich Swann and Marko Stunt – Six-Man Tag Team Match – 3.5

Final Major League Wrestling Verdict: 2.5/5

The main event was the thing to see and there isn’t any-thing bad about that. MLW could use a bit more spit and polish in certain spots, but it gets the job done and gives us a fun one to watch after Vince runs us all ragged with his marathon from Hell earlier on in the week.
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Best Promo:

Unmasked (Lucha Underground) – Killshot/Shane Strickland lost his mask and removed it to reveal Jermaine Strickland, a former soldier who left his unit to die on the field of battle. Strickland did a great job with this and didn’t make an ass of himself when delivering this promo.

Best Moment:

The Women Triumph (WWE: Evolution) – At the end of the Evolution Pay Per View, the women came together at the end of the event and celebrated a great night with the two women’s World Champions holding their titles up high for the world to see. The women deserved their moment of glory and I hope they get more chances like this in the very near future.

Best Move:

Calf Crusher (WWE: Smackdown) – AJ Styles used this move to retain his WWE World Title in the surprise defense against Daniel Bryan in the opener of Smackdown. Bryan’s knee was attacked methodically to create a reason why the move would be effective, which made the finish feel satisfying.

Best Match:

Son of Havoc versus Killshot: Mask Versus Mask Match (Lucha Underground) – This was as vicious as a match can get without killing any-body. The suspense was incredible and the risks they took yielded a fantastic reward for both the wrestlers, the league and the fans.

Best Wrestler:

AJ Styles (WWE: Smackdown and Crown Jewel) – With two great matches to his record in one week, AJ was able to make his run with the WWE World Title look even better than usual.

Best Card:

Evolution (WWE) – The women took a dull card and made it great. If women wrestlers don’t start getting more chances for success out of this, then screw Vince.

Best Show:

Evolution (WWE) – With a card that was well wrestled, great production values and a fantastic crowd that was with these women every step of the way, Evolution was the best show of the week. It was very easy to have a great time watching this thing and it’s the best show to watch this week.

Best League:

Lucha Underground – WWE may have had the best card and show of the week, but Lucha Underground’s first act of Ultima Lucha had the benefit of being the only event produced by the league this week, while the WWE produced many lousy events that tainted the quality of Vince’s best efforts. LU was able to make itself look like a major league company with just one hour of television and a main event that took a dull rivalry and made it a classic. This is how you get people to come back and this is why Lucha Underground gets to be called the best league of the week.

Final Judgement: 3.5/5

There was a lot of $#!& to look through, but the gold in the filth was just too good to ignore. This was a week of luchadors and women, each of whom were able to get the recognition they deserve. When wrestling embraces all of its aspects, it does very well. Maybe, this will serve as a catalyst to any promoter that focuses on repeating the past, instead of looking to the future.