Shinsuke Nakamura low blows AJ Styles one more time before their title match on Sunday, Carmella and Charlotte face off, Big Cass still hates short people, and Lana drops her Russian accent as she helps Rusev fix his English.
We preview and give our predictions for Sunday’s BacklashPPV.
205 Live features Kendrick/Gallagher vs. Tozawa/Itami, Buddy Murphy finally makes weight, and Drew Gulak vs. Kalisto.
Plus, we discuss the trailer forMauro Ranallo’s Showtime documentary, Kane takes one step closer to becoming Knox County Mayor, and your feedback from the POST Wrestling Forum.
It was better than Raw. Again. Raw doesn’t seem to have any direction right now whereas SmackDown has dealt with this weird promoting of 2 network shows, with the draft mixing things up, a lot better.
This show really wasn’t your finest hour. You missed the best part of the Sheamus/Xavier match (Cesaro trying to sell them pancakes out of his jacket like watches or drugs). Also have no idea how you thought Charlotte was underwhelming in the 6 woman Tag match. Looked better than Billie for sure. Royce was looking the best she’d ever looked. That match overall was about as good as the Raw main event.
Also I think based on that promo we’ll see Almas cost AJ the title. You could have Zelina as a mouthpiece for both guys for times when you need long form promos from Nakamura. Maybe Almas pairs off with AJ while Nakamura feuds with Joe but this time the roles are reversed.
They watch a lot of wrestling, and I’m surprised burnout hasn’t set in yet. I haven’t noticed a drop in the quality of their reviews. I allow them a little slack to miss a few things here and there.
In all seriousness, I had it in my notes as I tend to overwrite when it comes to my recaps - for the sake of brevity on the podcast, I tend to edit on the fly and omit certain things. I just saw the spot as one of many distraction spots and not exceptionally noteworthy.
great podcast… I literally laughed out loud at the Aiden Abetting pun!
And I for one care about the WWE Grand Slam and other random stats, but in a very tongue and cheek way…
I couldn’t help but notice that while watching the tag match on Smackdown featured three grand slam winners since Orton, Hardy and the Miz have all completed that task.
I also noted that during the Bar vs deleter of worlds match (at the Greatest RR) that both teams were made up of a former WWE champion and former Andre Battle Royal Winner.
I have a feeling we will see a few more Grand Slam champions this year as Owen’s just needs a tag belt, Kane just needs the US title, Cena just needs the IC title (Sheamus just needs the IC title but is currently on the wrong show). I wouldn’t be all that surprised if Jinder eventually gets there as he has already knocked out the hardest piece and is on the correct show to pick up his final two pieces.
My first thought is that the No DQ stipulation is designed for AJ to use a low blow to get the win. But if I’m right, I think that’s a clear picture of where they view Nakamura in the main event picture right now… just a guy to have good matches with the champ then go back down a peg*. I’m still hoping for a Shinsuke title win, but I agree that the low blows need to stop. The impact is done and now it’s just comical.
To be fair, one of AJ’s first WWE programs was back-to-back PPV losses to champion Roman Reigns, and it worked out pretty well for him in the long run.
I think Nakamura needs a shirt that says “Knee to Face, Fist to Balls”. It was a good show but not as good as last week. As for 205, I’m excited for the Itami turn. I mean how can you not be excited for singles matches between Itami and Tozawa? As John mentioned though, part of the problem is that WWE is delibrately slowing these guys down. I dunno if they think the mainstream crowd can’t handle a NXT level match or what, but we KNOW most of these guys are capable of a much higher level of match than what they are being allowed to work on 205. The CWC proved that. I hope HHH will release the reigns on these guys a little and let them work at the level they are capable of. What they are doing is not working.
I won’t. I love this story. It’s old school. AND Nakamura is getting over playing this slimy heel who fights dirty. He can’t be the big Cass or baron corbin big in your face heel so he sneaks up behind you and dings you. I would like an evolution. I love the idea of him giving a kinchasa to all of aj’s friends.