WWE Network Original: ‘The Bump S01E02’ Review
The Bump debuted last week, a new TMZ/After Buzz feeling chat-show style program that goes out on YouTube, social-media and the WWE Network each week. I reviewed it here and spoke about how much I liked it, appreciated the fresh feel and new concept, and thought it worked well in an age where FOX is trying to make WWE feel more like a genuine sports product. I mean… there’s gaping holes in that mentality, but I’ll roll with it.
The Bump’s back for a second episode, and it was a fun one. Kayla Braxton and her room full of co-hosts, bring us an episode centred around a fantasy draft. WWE are about to do a new WWE Draft beginning on Friday 11th of November on Friday Night SmackDown on FOX, and ending the Monday after on RAW on USA Network. The Bump guys decided to do a fake draft, with the studio hosts splitting into teams and drafting members of the roster. D’Von Dudley, the WWE Hall of Famer and former member of WWE, ECW, WCW and TNA Tag Champions The Dudley Boys, joined in with this, and it was a lot of fun.
The general chit-chat and conversation feels authentic and off-the-cuff, which is a change of pace. Kayla Braxton hosts, and does a good job of it. She’s warm, keeps people in line, and had a nice rapport with guests. Aside from D’Von, who appeared in the studio as a physical guest, we got a streaming guest too, in the guise of Tommasso Ciampa, who just recently made his return to WWE in NXT by confronting the NXT Champion Adam Cole. Good stuff. These interviews are fun, insightful and help to add new layers to the characters. That’s something that’s been missing from WWE’s original programming for a while, and The Bump is a step in the right direction. It allows, like Talking Smack did a few years ago, men and women to talk about their careers, feuds and life in a way that feels less scripted and more authentic. I like it a lot.
Another strong episode that, in many ways, felt like a bunch of wrestling fans shooting the breeze, which is the idea. I will watch The Bump going forward as long as it sticks to this organic tone. Pretty fun stuff, WWE. Pretty fun stuff.
The Bump is available to watch now on WWE Network and WWE’s YouTube Channel.
