THE WRESTLING REPORT

WWE looking strong post Summer Slam

Cory De La Guardia
Aug 14, 2019, 5:28 am
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Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio, Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio shows www.nerdthugradio.com!

Coming out of Summer Slam, it seems WWE is focusing on a solid new direction with Seth Rollins beating Brock Lesnar cleanly. Then having AJ Styles show up and challenge him on Raw the very next night. It's interesting to me that after a few years of ignoring The Bullet Club even existed they are now having AJ, Gallows and Anderson invite Balor into the "OC" during Summer Slam which is still a terrible name but is essentially the WWE Bullet Club. The Miz and Dolph's match was short as it should be at this point with Dolph just begging for more punishment afterwards, what are they going for with this angle? Rey and Andrade put on a great two falls match, they are now consistently putting on a great show every week but it's time to have them fight some other people it feels like. The match between Cedric Alexander and Drew Mcintyre was fantastic and it's great to see some new faces on TV these past few weeks. No Way Jose has absolutely no way to ever being a relevant wrestler, after being squashed again on television for the umpteenth time, this time by Bobby Roode. The Women's Tag Title match was great, it's fantastic to see Alexa Bliss in action again and I think a tag run is great for her because it keeps her elevated amongst the women's division without making her the focus of matches, limiting injury opportunities for her which is smart. The finish of Raw with Braun Strowman handing the title back to Seth Rollins, was a great hero turn.

Smackdown came out swinging managing to fit a lot into the two hour show. From the massive surprise return of Sasha Banks, to the final meeting between Roman Reigns and Rowan there was a lot to talk about. Sasha returning is incredibly interesting for several reasons most notably she's seemed unhappy on social media and with her contract ending late this year it seemed like she was angling to get to AEW and leave WWE behind. Tonight may signal a big change from those positions. The Kevin Owens match against Samoa Joe was an entertaining hard match and his turn into face is going great, which is a surprise because he is a great heel on the mic. Turning Shane into a great villain for Kevin to play off is really the key ingredient for this push. The Roman Reigns story is honestly not that interesting to me but it's working for guys like Buddy who get to have a match. The Revival and The New Day aren't anywhere near as exciting as say New Day vs the Usos and honestly, I think it's time to start looking for somewhere else for the guys from the Revival to land. Overall this week was a lot better than the last few weeks have been.

Feel free to check out my brand new comic book Another Day at the Office or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio, Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio shows www.nerdthugradio.com!

So there's a ton that happened this week and not all of it on just Raw and Smackdown. Let's get to the big announcement first, NXT will be leaving the WWE Network and coming to USA Network and directly competing against AEW on Wednesday nights. Also, NXT will begin touring the country like the Red and Blue brands to give more exposure to these lesser wrestlers and help grow the brand overall. I've always said one of the hurdles an NXT call up has to deal with when they come up is that they aren't nationally known, so sure they pop in Florida where NXT films every month, but how do they play when they're seen for the first time in the Midwest? That's not going to be a problem anymore which will make some of these guys journeys much easier. The choice to compete with AEW I think is their mistake. I think if people have to choose between two things they don't know, they are more likely to give the complete unknown the try rather than the third WWE show, I might be wrong but that's just how I feel.

The other thing I wanted to mention was WWE did a house show here in Houston on Saturday and this is the perfect opportunity to talk about how crazy the WWE schedule is. This is an untelevised show, with guys like Randy Orton, Kevin Owens and Charlotte Flair among other big name stars doing matches, they were flying in from Orlando, doing this show and going right back on the road for Raw on Monday night. This is where the road takes its toll on WWE superstars. When it was reported that Dean Ambrose did 200 matches in one year and you start adding it up, even if he was on every Raw and Smackdown that's only 104 shows. The number of house shows these guys do is insane and it's part of how they make their business work but still, the travel and the wear and tear is incredible.

This week on the shows they began the King of the Ring contest, this is something they never should have gotten away from. King of the Ring is just one of those iconic WWE things that should always be an active part of the brand and I'm glad they brought it back. From both shows the things that stick out the most to me is the Kofi getting tough with Randy Orton, Bayley getting a little rough with Charlotte and I'm so damn tired of the Roman Reigns storyline. I do like Seth and Brawn winning the tag titles, and I hope they let this have a nice long simmer before these two match up for Seth's title eventually.

Feel free to check out my brand new comic book Another Day at the Office email me for details or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.

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