The Last Week in Wrestling #8 (Wrestling Round-Up)

Welcome to this edition of The Last Week In Wrestling, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have lots of wrestling and a little bit of Ted Danson. If it starts to rain, you can stand under Ted’s fore-head and you won’t get wet and that’s wonderful. Let’s just get right to it.

WWE Match Ratings Out Of 5:

Raw

• Bobby Lashley versus Elias – 1.5
• The Lucha House Party versus The Revival (Lucha House Rules Match) – 2.5
• AOP versus Bobby Roode & Chad Gable – 2
• Ember Moon versus Alicia Fox – 2
• Jinder Mahal versus No Way Jose – 1
• Seth Rollins versus Dolph Ziggler – Intercontinental Championship Match – 3.5
• Baron Corbin & Drew McIntyre versus Finn Bálor – 2

Raw Verdict: .5 out of 5 – As good as the IC title match was, it wasn’t enough to make this show worth watching all the way through.

Smackdown

• The Usos versus The Bar – 3
• Shinsuke Nakamura versus Rusev – 0
• Kofi Kingston versus The Miz – 2
• Nine-Woman Battle Royal – 3

Smackdown Verdict: 2 out of 5 – I had to give a Shinsuke match a 0, so that’s a pretty bad sign about how bad this show was.

NXT

• Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch versus The Mighty – 2.5
• EC3 versus Marcel Barthel – 2
• Mia Yim versus Vanessa Borne – 2
• Lars Sullivan versus Keith Lee – 3

NXT Verdict: 3 out of 5 – This was a simple show that did what it needed to do.

NXT: UK

• Joe Coffey versus Tyler Bate – 3
• Ligero versus Dan Moloney – 2
• Zack Gibson & James Drake versus Amir Jordan & Kenny Williams – 2.5
• Rhea Ripley versus Toni Storm – NXT UK Women’s Championship Match – 4

NXT: UK: 4 out of 5 – The main event made the night worth the effort.

205 Live

• Noam Dar versus Mike Kanellis – 3
• Hideo Itami versus Levy Cruise – 2
• Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali versus Buddy Murphy & Tony Nese – 3.5

205 Live: 3.5 out of 5 – These show are usually a blast in their own right and this was another good one.

Mixed Match Challenge

• Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox versus Curt Hawkins & Ember Moon – 2.5
• Finn Bálor & Bayley versus Bobby Lashley & Mickie James – 2.5

Mixed Match Challenge Verdict: 3 out of 5 – I wish MMC would be more like this episode, because this was a fun one.

WWE Verdict: 2.5 out of 5 – Raw and Smackdown missed the mark, but the rest did well.

Impact Wrestling

• Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr & Fenix) versus Rich Swann & Willie Mack – 3
• Jordynne Grace versus Katarina – 2.5
• Taya Valkyrie versus Ray Lyn – 2.5
• The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) versus Chris Bey and Mike Sydal – 2.5
• Tommy Dreamer versus Eli Drake – 0
• Eli Drake versus Tommy Dreamer – No Disqualification, No Countout Match – 2.5

Impact Verdict: 2.5 out of 5 – Impact is a big mess and needs some new people booking it.

Ring Of Honor

• Matt Taven versus The Boys – Handicap Match – .5
• Kelly Klein versus Jenny Rose – 2.5
• The Briscoes versus The Young Bucks – 3.5

Ring Of Honor Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 – Despite a bad opener, this got to where it needed to be and was a good show to build to Final Battle.

Major League Wrestling

• Simon Gotch versus Ariel Dominguez – 2
• Tommy Dreamer versus Brian Pillman Jr. – 2
• Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix versus Los Parks – MLW World Tag Team Championship Match – 3.5

Major League Wrestling Verdict: 2.5 out of 5 – This was not a great episode of MLW, but it didn’t burn down the castle, if you catch my drift.
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Best Promo:

Tommaso Insists (WWE: NXT) – This was a good promo that made Tommaso Ciampa look like a confident fighter, which works out well for the NXT Champion.

Best Move:

Super-Kick (The Young Bucks) – The Bucks hit all sorts of great super-kicks on The Briscoes during their match with the team and have really proven that they are the masters of that move.

Best Moment:

Rhea Ripley Get Respect (NXT:UK) – Having Rhea win the NXT:UK Women’s Title is a great moment, but having Triple H and Johnny Saint anoint her as a great star is a moment she will have forever.

Best Match:

Rhea Ripley versus Toni Storm – NXT:UK Women’s Championship Match – This is another week where the women rule the roost.

Best Wrestler:

Pentagon Jr. and Fenix (Major League Wrestling and Impact Wrestling) – They had a great opener for Impact and a great main event for Major League Wrestling, so how can you not make them both the wrestlers of the week.

Best Card:

205 Live (WWE) – This was not the greatest card we’ve ever covered, but it was the most effective and flew by in a flash.

Best Show:

NXT:UK (WWE) – This was the best episode of wrestling TV this week and felt like it was better than the sum of its parts.

Best League:

Ring Of Honor – Despite a few problems, ROH managed to be the best league this week, because it stuck to what works when the chips were down and kept it simple.

Final Verdict: 3/5

This was not a remarkable week over-all, but this was by no means a bad week for wrestling, as we had some fine matches and some promising developments for the future.