WWE Network Original: ‘The Bump S01E03’ Review
Another week, another episode of The Bump. I’ve reviewed the first two episodes of this show so far and been openly a fan of what they’re doing, and that doesn’t change here either. With this week’s episode, the crew, led by Kayla Braxton, return with another live guest and two guests who call in and appear on the big screen for a streaming interview, as well as some WWE chit-chat between the crew, which includes Braxton, Matt Camp (Bleacher Report, SiriusXM), Evan T. Mack (AfterBuzz TV), Ryan Pappolla (WWE.com) and Dan Vollmayer (David Letterman, SNL). It’s a good cast and they each share their opinions and views in a way that feels organic, unscripted and fresh. Good stuff.
The third episode see’s talk about the week in WWE, from the WWE Draft to the episodes of RAW, Friday Night SmackDown and NXT. We also get a live in-person interview between the crew and Drew McIntyre, who talks about his career, his recent seven-week absence from WWE television, his past in wrestling and his future in WWE. It was a nice, albeit short, interview that saw Drew talk candidly about the WWE Draft, about his intentions and about his opinions on complacency within wrestling. It was interesting to hear, and highlights just how important a show like The Bump can be in helping to grow a character and highlight a WWE Superstar who hasn’t been on TV much. It can help show the fanbase another side of a wrestler’s personality too, which is never a bad thing, really.
Aside from Drew, we got call-in interviews with “The Man” Becky Lynch, who spoke about her popularity, her run in WWE in the past year, and her future as a member of RAW’s roster. Becky comes off as confident, smart and driven in interviews, and it was a cool one that had bits of humour and sarcasm, and felt much less awkward than the interviews we see on WWE’s main roster shows each week. We also got an interview with “The Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne, who talked about his move from NXT UK to NXT, his rivalry with NXT Superstar Damien Priest, and his future in NXT as a full-time member of that roster. Another insightful and well done interview that helped to build towards Pete’s match with Priest on NXT.
The mix of interviews, discussion and social-media involvement all create a show that feels contemporary, modern and breezy. The cast do a good job in creating an organic feeling studio environment, acknowledging things that wrestling fans are actually talking about on social media. It’s something fresh and original for WWE and that can only be a good thing in modern day wrestling. I’m on board, and look forward to next week’s show!
The Bump is available to watch now on WWE’s YouTube Channel and WWE Network.
