WWE Week in Review: The Undertaker returns, dissension in the Wyatt Family

FanSided’s brand-new column, WWE Week in Review, will take a look back at the highlights of Monday Night RAW, SmackDown Live, 205 Live and NXT.

By the time you finish reading this, The Undertaker should be just about done getting to the ring, am I right? Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch (not by much) but I’ll get to that once I get into what happened on RAW this week. And as I’m hoping you put together by the introductory sentence in bold there at the top, that’s what I’m here to do in this brand-new column that we’re rolling out for 2017, the WWE Week in Review. Yes, I’m aware that I’m a week late in getting this first one out but just cut me a little slack, will ya? But in all seriousness, the wrestling team we have assembled here is excited to bring new things and new ideas to the WWE page here at FanSided.

As for this particular column, we’ll be breaking down the highlights and sometimes lowlights of Monday Night RAW, SmackDown Live, 205 Live and NXT. And if there’s a pay-per-view, we’ll certainly get into a little bit of that as well. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll be touching on every single segment of every single show but we want to hit the highlights. I mean, I’m sure that you’d love a 750-word opinion of the relationship between Carmella and James Ellsworth (which actually is kinda funny) but we’re going to mainly focus on the big fish here. Why was this promo important? Was this or that match any good? Is it building towards something else?

Or maybe not. Perhaps I’ll just end up ranting about something for a little while and maybe you’ll agree with me and maybe you won’t. What’s just as important as what we have to say is what you have to say. We want you to get involved in the comments section and get a conversation going.

So let’s dive into some of what we saw this week.

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WWE Monday Night RAW

So should we go ahead and assume that Titus O’Neil will take on Big E next week? Oh, my bad. I said in the intro that I’d be talking about the highlights of Monday Night RAW and this storyline with Titus and The New Day is just awful. Look, I know it’s sometimes a little hard to build programs leading to the Royal Rumble but this is just really bad and wasting the talents of everyone involved. So let’s move on.

Did you ever think in a million years that you’d see a day where someone like Rusev would be better on the microphone than Shawn Michaels? Because that’s exactly what happened in their segment. It’s always nice to see HBK back in WWE but the shameless plug for his new movie was going nowhere and Rusev and Lana saved the day. Oh, Jinder Mahal was there too. And I think we all knew where things were going from there as Enzo and Cass came out, did their thing (the movie references were actually pretty funny) and while the match between Big Cass and Jinder was a glorified squash, we did get some Sweet Chin Music out of it.

Okay, let’s get into some things that actually had some substance.

Much like Braun Strowman on the men’s side, Nia Jax looks to be getting a big push as the monster of the women’s division. They’ve been built up very similarly and I’m digging it. The backstage segment with Nia shoving Charlotte into a wall after they beat down Sasha and Bayley was fantastic and I really like where they’re going with this. The obvious tag match was made and while it wasn’t the greatest in the world, it certainly served its purpose and Nia getting a big pin over the number one contender only made her look stronger. Before I move on, I have to mention how awesome Stephanie McMahon is. I know there’s a lot of people out there that don’t like how much she’s on TV but I’ve never been able to get enough. Her telling Sasha that there’s really only one boss was gold. Sorry, just had to get that in there.

While we’re on Stephanie McMahon, we might as well move into the “performance review” of Mick Foley storyline, which was a little ridiculous but slightly entertaining as the night went on, with the payoff being one of the biggest stories of the week — the return of The Undertaker.

Seriously, is there one person out there in the WWE Universe that actually thought he wouldn’t show up? Anyone? Bueller? But after the 48-minute walk to the ring (seriously, these are getting out of control), The Phenom announced that he will be entering the Royal Rumble. Okay, just one more joke about his entrance and then I’ll be done. When that gong hits in San Antonio, isn’t it possible that the person who comes in after him will actually get to the ring before him? But I suppose if he’s number 30 that won’t matter.

Seriously though, I think this is a great move. For the last few years, he just shows up, makes his match for WrestleMania and that’s that. But this creates so many different possibilities. They’ve already teased Strowman a little bit with him looking at the monitor in the back as ‘Taker was making his announcement and I could easily see a moment where it’s just those two standing in the middle of the ring together.

And speaking of Strowman, he’s really getting thrown into that main event picture with full force. He demanded either Roman Reigns or Goldberg to start, got into it with Seth Rollins in the back and then interrupted the title match that opened the show. Like it or not, Strowman is at the top level now and I don’t think he’s going anywhere.

That takes us to the actual 2-on-1 handicap match for the United States Championship that closed the show that saw Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho battle Roman Reigns. I thought it would have been very interesting to see Kevin Owens actually steal the win in this one but I like how this whole thing went down. Reigns got in some offense but for the most part we saw Owens and Jericho take it to the champ and by the time things were said and done, Chris Jericho had won the only major title that he’s never held. With two weeks to go before the Royal Rumble, it will be interesting to see if Reigns exercises his rematch clause before his match for the WWE Universal Championship against Owens. There’s a few different booking options for these guys moving forward so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Overall, Monday Night RAW wasn’t bad this week. The cruiserweights got some decent time in and I do like where this rivalry between Sheamus & Cesaro and Anderson & Gallows is going as well. We’ve got a couple more shows before the Royal Rumble so we’ll see where a few of these storylines go. And next week we’ll see the return of Brock Lesnar, so that could be interesting.

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WWE SmackDown Live

I know I already mentioned Carmella in the intro but what I forgot to mention was the awesome throwback look of her opponent, CJ Lunde. The match was absolutely terrible but the “Let’s go, Jobber” chants were hysterical. But this doesn’t do anything for Carmella. Sure, the stuff with her and Ellsworth is mildly entertaining but it’s putting her in a weird spot in the Smackdown women’s division and she deserves more than this. But how good is this division? Natalya is one of the most talented women that this roster has ever seen and this “I’m better than everyone” gimmick is working perfectly for her. This feud with Nikki just continues to get better and it shows that you don’t need the title to have a good program, something that RAW hasn’t quite learned yet.

Speaking of the title, the ongoing saga of Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss and La Luchadora continued this week as Becky watched some footage with Daniel Bryan in the back. Bryan wondered if Eva Marie was under the mask, which is wrestling lingo saying it’s not her, and Becky’s response of “she’s way too vain” for that was great. Becky thought she should get a title shot, Alexa shows up saying she doesn’t and then Bryan made a title match for next week in a steel cage. And what was so great about this segment is that the announcement of the cage match was so simple. While Bryan did use the “first time ever” line, it didn’t seem out of the ordinary. The match was made like so many men’s steel cage matches and this is what’s expected of the women’s division now and I’m digging all of it.

How are we liking this Dolph Ziggler heel turn? I’ve always been a fan of Ziggler and he’s always been great in this role but this is a lot more aggressive than what we’ve seen in the past and I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes. His inability to win matches, outside of the one that saved his career, is a solid storyline and he’s finally just snapped. What it’s also done is given Apollo Crews a seasoned professional to work with. Crews has just kind of been “there” for a while now and I think this could really help him. As for Kalisto, can he just be traded to RAW already? He belongs in the cruiserweight division and could put on some great matches with all of those guys. He’s being wasted on Tuesday nights.

I’m really liking this rivalry between The Miz and Dean Ambrose. I know that there’s a lot of people who think Ambrose is the highlight of this rivalry but I have to respectfully disagree. The Miz is doing the best work of his career right now and he’s so good at what he does. Since the return of Maryse, he’s been on fire in every program that he’s been in and it would not shock me at all if he gets some big minutes and big moments in the Royal Rumble. I don’t know if I’d call him a dark horse candidate to win the whole thing, but he’s being pushed very heavily right now and deservedly so. And yes, Ambrose will likely play a big role in the Rumble as well. Throwing Renee Young into this whole thing only adds something extra to this as well. We’ll likely see this feud continue for a while and I’m okay with that.

Is it just me or did Baron Corbin get knocked back down to Earth just a little bit this week in his match against John Cena? Yes, it is a big deal to main event the night with the 15-time champ and the outcome was really never in doubt with Cena set to take on AJ Styles at the Rumble but he’s really the one that deserved a participation award on Tuesday night. With the mini-push he’s been getting recently, I thought that creative might have something a little better for Corbin but I suppose it’s nice seeing a new face at the top. He’ll likely make a little noise in the Rumble match but this did nothing to move him forward. The focus shifted to Cena and Styles at the end of the night, and that’s where it should be, but I hope they have more for The Lone Wolf next week.

We’ve seen this dissension in the Wyatt Family between Luke Harper and Randy Orton for weeks now but this is getting really good. First of all, the tag match with Bray and Orton versus American Alpha was very solid. It had good timing and a nice pace to it and the finish was excellent. The youngsters didn’t get thrown under the bus here and it set up a very nice little segment that saw Bray take a kick from Harper that was obviously meant for Orton and he didn’t look at all happy with either of them there at the end. They’ll all likely butt heads for the next couple of weeks leading into the Rumble and somebody will end up eliminating somebody else which will lead to even more tension. I like where this is headed.

All in all, SmackDown Live was pretty good this week. Stories are building as we get closer to the official start of WrestleMania season and I’m really looking forward to that cage match next week.

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WWE 205 Live

Can I just talk for just a second about how much I love Alicia Fox? This is a woman who’s been in WWE for close to nine years now and she’s always done everything that’s been asked of her. She’s an excellent wrestler and a former Divas champion but when she’s asked to be included in something like the storyline between Cedric Alexander and Noam Dar, she does it and she’s doing it quite well if you ask me. There are a lot of people in the WWE Universe who probably think that these guys don’t need the love triangle storyline that we’ve seen a thousand times but what it’s doing is giving these guys a reason to dislike one another and teaching them how to tell a story outside of the ring. We know they’re going to put on a show inside the ring, which they certainly did on Tuesday night, so giving them a chance to entertain in other ways will do nothing but help them over time. And seriously, could we be returning to crazy Alicia Fox? Because I’m always down for that.

Brian Kendrick is still one of the best in this division. He cut another solid promo on Tajiri before having a good match with Sean Maluta and a program between the two veterans should be very fun to watch.

Speaking of promos, how fun was that in-ring segment with Jack Gallagher and Ariya Daivari? It may have gone on a little longer than it needed to but overall I thought it was enjoyable. Gallagher explaining exactly what an “I Forfeit” match is was hilarious and the look on his face when Daivari chucked his umbrella was great as well. The upcoming match will end this rivalry, likely with Gallagher coming out on top.

The final match of the night between WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann and Tony Nese wasn’t the best match in the world but it got the job done. The real reason for having Swann out tMonof the Cruiserweights will come at the Royal Rumble. That should be a phenomenal match.

This wasn’t the greatest episode that 205 Live has had but it certainly wasn’t terrible. A lot of these guys are still learning how to be on TV every week and I think they’re doing a good job. The matches continue to be good, both on this show and on Monday nights, and hopefully the live crowds will realize that soon. It’s still a little strange to me that the Smackdown Live announcers are calling the matches in a division that’s exclusive to Monday Night RAW but we’ll let that go for now.

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WWE NXT

It’s sometimes difficult to get things done in an hour but NXT did a great job of setting up some matches for NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, which takes place just two weeks from Saturday. And we also got another match between #DIY and The Revival and that’s never a bad thing.

We kicked off the show watching Asuka get her clock cleaned as she was walking to the building by Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, who are basically just using the Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho thing by saying “we” are going to be NXT Women’s Champion. But it seems to be working for them so I won’t knock it. They then proceed to squash Sarah Bridges and Macey Evans in about two minutes before Asuka made her way to the ring to get her revenge, only to be beaten down again before Nikki Cross came in to make the save. But then Nikki hit a huge missile dropkick on the champ. We don’t see Asuka take that kind of beating often. Really good stuff here (the “Asuka’s gonna kill you” chant didn’t hurt) that will likely take us to a tag match and then a Fatal Four Way match at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio.

Following a couple of short matches that saw Elias Samson and Andrade Almas pick up victories, NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura gave a brief interview with Todd Phillips about the end of his rivalry with Samoa Joe (Joe has to be in the Royal Rumble) and his thoughts on the new number one contender, Bobby Roode, whom he’ll face in San Antonio. Nakamura complimented him before Phillips handed him a ticket from NXT TakeOver: Dallas, which happened to be Shinsuke’s debut in WWE and the event where Bobby Roode was first spotted. It was a pretty interesting little segment and I’m interested to see where they go with this. In any event, just think of how amazing the entrance battle between these two will be when this match takes place.

Then, of course, we have the main event of the evening between #DIY and The Revival. I really dug the video segments highlighting their past battles, all of which have been amazing. As for the match itself, it certainly wasn’t the best match that these two teams have ever had but it’s really hard to top what they’ve done in the past. But this was still a very good match. It started out a little bit slower than what we’re used to but once they got going, it was entertaining to watch. The finish is about what I expected with Gargano and Ciampa retaining and this is likely the end of this amazing feud. And it should be. It’s time for The Revival to hit the main roster, don’t you think? And we got some new number one contenders following the match as Authors of Pain hit the ring and demolished the champs, setting up what should be a great match in San Antonio.

The middle portion of this week’s episode left a bit to be desired but I like what they did this week in getting some matches set up for TakeOver. And next week we’ve got the contract signing between Shinsuke Nakamura and Bobby Roode so that’s something to look forward to.

And there you have it, folks, our debut edition of the WWE Week in Review. We’ll be doing this every Friday so make sure to check back in with FanSided for that and for all of your WWE needs.