Weekly Wrestling Recap - September 5, 2021 to September 11, 2021

I want to get used to writing more so I’ve decided I’ll start doing weekly recaps of wrestling I watched, with some quick reviews!

This week was arguably too much wrestling for how busy things have been, but here we are. Clocked in at 5 shows over 7 days, included one of the funnest shows of the year.

Shows this week:

• AEW All Out (Sept 5) - 4.5/5
• WWE Raw (Sept 6) - 1.25/5
• WWE NXT (Sept 7) - 2.5/5
• AEW Dynamite (Sept 8) - 3/5
• WWE SmackDown (Sept 10) - 4.25/5

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AEW All Out

Maybe the funnest show of the year yet for me? The card on paper I though was a bit weak but just about everything delivered from a match quality perspective. 

• Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks is probably my favourite match of the year so far.. plus, how cool was the live entrance for Lucha Bros?
• The Adam Cole & Bryan Danielson debuts/closing segment was one of those all time cool moments as a wrestling fan. An amazing way to cap off a solid night of wrestling
• Christian vs Kenny Omega exceeded my expectations. I thought it would be a solid match, but it had me on the edge of my seat
• If someone said that Ruby Soho was as big of a get for AEW as Cole & Danielson I wouldn't argue against them. The women's roster has come a long ways, but she's a great addition that helps legitimize the division while adding a lot of experience to coach some of their younger talent behind the scenes.
• Chris Jericho vs MJF was a dud for me. It picked up for the non-finish/restart/actual finish but other than that it felt like a long match relatively late in the night.
• QT Marshall vs Paul Wight - why was this on the show? Couldn't you use this as a key focus on a post PPV Dynamite, and push that specific show on first interviews with Danielson, Cole, etc? Absolutely horrendous to have this on the show, and keep a guy like Malaki Black off the card when he's been great since arrival.
• Seeing Punk return to the ring was cool. I didn’t expect much out of him with it being 7 years off. By AEW standards it was a slow moving match, but I think it worked! 

I’m excited to see what’s next for almost everyone coming out of the show. AEW has a real buzz about it right now, and I hope they keep it going into the future.

Show Rating: 4.5/5

WWE Raw

This show seems to get worse and worse week after week.. but this week seemed a *TINY* bit better? I both loved and hated the tag team turmoil stuff. It was cool and felt refreshing to put such a showcase on the entire tag division, but having it eat up the first hour then tail end of the show in separate blocks was just weird. 

If you’re using a massive tag program to push your men’s tag and world titles, I think you should avoid other tag matches on the show. Instead we got a new team of Nikki A.S.H and Rhea Ripley then a segment seemingly splitting the team of Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler. 

I’m all for showcasing tag teams, but this week was overkill. At least they tried something different!

Show Rating: 1.25/5

WWE NXT

Before anything I just want to say.. I think I’m one of the few excited for the rebrand/new direction with NXT. It feels like NXT in its current state has been spinning its tires for a while.. a full rebrand needed? Probably not, but something needed to change. Interested to see what comes of it. Anyways! Gonna do some quick takes on this week’s episode…

• This whole In-Dex deal is incredible. Hilarious & fun, can’t wait for next week.
• Io Shirai would be a great addition to Raw, and she’s due a call up. I think it’s time.
• MSK retaining is great. They’re the best tag in NXT and they should hold those titles for a long time.. at least until they build up..
• The Creed Brothers. Awesome stuff. If this is the type of talent they’re signing and developing in the “new” NXT then I think the future is bright.
• Carmelo Hayes may be the guy.
• My gut feeling says they may actually put the title on Frankie Monet next week.

All around average, fun episode of NXT!

Show Rating: 2.5/5

AEW Dynamite

Can this show live up to the hype I had coming out of All Out? Maybe not, but the excitement levels were high for Wednesday night.

• “YOU STILL GOT IT” is a chant that shouldn’t be thrown at Dustin Rhodes. I get he’s up there in years, but chanting like he was gone or something stinks. He’s been there, literally since day one. CM Punk? Absolutely! But not Dustin.. 
• CM Punk facing off with Team Taz is unexpected. The match I want is him vs. Starks, but him and Hobbs would have my interest.
• Dan Lambert is one hell of a promo.
• Pilman Jr. stinks, and so do the Bengals, but at least there may have been some seeds planted to split Wardlow off on his own. Worst segment of the night, and I don’t blame MJF for any of it.
• The whole “there’s problems in the Dark Order” storyline is fun, and I’m interested to see what the pay off is.
• The “forbidden door” stuff rules, these one off main events like Mox vs Suzuki make for fun TV main events

All around fine show. My friend said it best.. these aren’t his exact words but we’ve hit the point where it wasn’t the best episode of Dynamite ever but the roster makes it passable and makes you want to tune in again next week.

Show Rating: 3/5

WWE SmackDown

This may be the best episode of weekly television that WWE has put forward in a long, long time. From names to celebrities to great matches it covered a lot of ground, and it was all awesome.

• How awesome does Brock look now? I love the new look, I’m curious one he wrestles to see if he changes his in ring look as well, going with something other than the shorts.
• They really went and brought Trae Young to the garden.. the absolute mad men. As a Knicks fan it hurt my very soul, but that was a fun move on their part that added a lot to a pretty fun match. The crowd was on fire for the appearance.
• Seth Rollins vs Edge was awesome. I’m not sure this is a hot take, but if it was commercial free I think it was a better match than the Summerslam one. I 100% think down the road that we get a third match since they’re squared up at 1 and 1 now.
• I was iffy on the idea of a Becky Lynch heel turn at first. Not cause of her, she’s more than capable, but regardless of her I just didn’t think the crowd would bite and boo her. This week really solidified the move for me, and I think it’s going to be awesome. 
• I hope the Uso’s get a solid year + run with those titles. 

I wish every week of WWE TV could be like this SmackDown. All Out is still my show of the week, but this show probably beats out just about any other show in the last few years for me on any other week.

Show Rating: 4.25/5

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That’s if for this week! We’ll see if I can keep it going so I can continue to give myself something to write about consistently.. Thank you for reading!