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Right off the bat, I just want to say this will be nowhere near as in-depth as Dan Rice’s excellent road reports. One, because he attends far more interesting shows (I imagine there are more promotions in his neck of the woods as well). And two, because I don’t have all that much to say about modern WWE. It’s not a promotion I particularly enjoy most of the time, but I don’t get out much for reasons I’d rather not discuss, so attending live is a way to spend time with my family.
Things kicked off with a Main Event taping, opening with American Made vs. Birthright (Uriah Connors & Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo), the latter of which is still a terrible name. Am I referring to BirthRight or Stacks? The answer to that is a resounding, “absolutely.” In an ideal world, The Creeds would be gunning for tag team gold, but realistically, I’m not sure who I’d want them to face at this point. Virtually all of the good duos in WWE were either released unceremoniously, or moved on to greener pastures. Just a quick showcase for Julius and Brutus. Next, we had Jaida Parker vs. Lyra Valkyria. I’m discovering that Valkyria is a heel now after betraying Bayley, because WWE seemingly only knows how to regurgitate the same storyline over and over. This was rough, but at least it was short.
Next up was RAW. A lot of the shows I’ve attended have had commercial breaks during the show, where they dim the lights and play ads on the screen. That wasn’t the case here, and things moved along pretty quickly. I’m not sure if that’s a byproduct of this show being on Netflix, as I usually go to SmackDown events when they’re in town. I found it incredibly odd, and maybe fitting, that the opening video for this taping contained phrases like “be ready to have your mind blown.” It’s indicative of WWE telling its audience they’ll enjoy something rather than, y’know, providing something for them to sink their teeth into. Not that it’s anything new for this company, just a little odd to hear out loud.
I won’t do play-by-play here, instead sticking to quick thoughts on the matches and segments I saw. I can’t believe The Bloodline’s family drama part #476 is still going on. Fireworks shows play a lot better live, but Penta vs. Laredo Kid wasn’t much in that regard. The seams were even more obvious watching it back, as It felt like they skipped the important in-between stuff and went straight to doing counters. Austin Theory’s heat segment in his match with Akira Tozawa lasted ages, and the crowd got restless, chanting for Roman Reigns throughout. Can’t say I blame them! It was nice to see Tozawa live, however brief it may have been. It’s hard to believe he’s been toiling away in WWE for almost a decade. Where does the time go? There was a brief Oba Femi/Bron Breakker confrontation after the match, the former of which being by far the most over guy on the show.
Much has been said about the lack of quality of Def Rebel’s themes, but when Becky Lynch emerged for a segment with Stephanie Vaquer, it struck me just how indistinguishable her music was from everyone else’s. Dragon Lee and Dominik Mysterio had another dry, lacking bout. It felt like an off night for both. After the entrances for the tag match between The Judgement Day and Sol Ruca and surprise tag partner, IYO SKY, we left a bit early to avoid the crowd on our way out.
I went back and checked out the rest of the show out of curiosity. Jey Uso vs. Solo Sikoa was what you’d expect, not good at all. It was 30% yelling exposition and 70% some of the worst offense I’ve seen. Overall, it was a poor show with very little energy, but this one at least didn’t have an inexplicably long, excruciating Miz vs. Dexter Lumis match. Although, I’ll concede that I’m glad I didn’t have to sit through the main event live. I’m hoping to go to AEW Dynamite soon. If I do, you can probably expect another road report, hopefully one that’s a little deeper since I’m a bit more in-tune with the promotion.
