The Ring Review #1

Welcome to our first edition of The Ring Review.

No fancy gimmicks here, just my recap and review of the most recent WWE programming. I enjoy having these discussions with our customers when they come into Major Toys. If you shop WWE with us, then you know how much I love it too. I wanted to bring the discussion to a wider audience. I will only be reviewing the shows that I’ve watched. Let’s get right to it then.

RAW 2/19/2024

Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre

What a great match. Drew has really been getting a great push as of late. Monday night, he got a big win over WWE’s biggest fan favorite. Cody has only been defeated 3 times on TV since returning to WWE. (Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and now Drew McIntyre.) Drew is in an elite company there and this elevates him to be the prime candidate to face Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 40. I’m ok with the Bloodline interference costing Cody the match. Cody doesn’t need to beat Drew to remain a strong fan favorite. The Bloodline gave him more “hard times” as he prepares to face Reigns. Solo hits the Samoan Spike mirroring what happened at Wrestlemania 39. Cody is going to have to deal with Solo at some point to prevent this from continuing to happen.

Drew continues to ride that fine line between hero and heel. Normally, I would have expected this to be the main event of the show. This was the strongest opening match we’ve seen in quite some time on RAW. This could have been booked as a PLE main event in my opinion.

Women’s Elimination Chamber Qualifier Battle Royal

As much as I love the Royal Rumble, I am less enthusiastic about a battle royal where all the participants crowd the ring. The ring is too cluttered for anything too meaningful to happen during the first part of the match. With no big names in this one, it didn’t strike me that the winner of this battle royal would even stand a chance at the Elimination Chamber.

As a fan, the match didn’t excite me. Raquel Rodriguez getting the win felt out of place to me. If I’m booking this finish, I’ve got Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark going back into the ring after their double elimination and laying waste to Racquel. Chelsea emerges from her hiding place under the ring. Baszler and Stark toss Rodriquez out and Chelsea rolls back into the ring and receives a cheap win. Chelsea isn’t winning the Chamber in this scenario, but she is one of the more entertaining performers in the women’s division these days. Racquel winning the battle royal doesn’t really make sense here with no build up. I would want to pair her up in a tag team and further a story with Baszler and Stark who seem to have no current story going. Of course, I’m not doing the booking, so we get Racquel at the Chamber. As a side note, it could have made sense to put Indy Hartwell up as the winner as well. She wouldn’t win the chamber match either but would certainly get a nice pop in Perth as an Aussie.

Rhea Ripley and Nia Jax interview 

This looks to be a pre-taped segment. That takes away from the showdown in my opinion. I guess they do what needs to be done with the travel situation. I would concede that they have had several face-to-face confrontations leading up to this match- so at least we haven’t been completely robbed of a proper build up.

Rhea cuts a great promo and lays it all out. Nia Jax is less strong in her delivery, but her character doesn’t need to be as strong in these interviews in my opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised if WWE opens the Elimination Chamber PLE with this contest. Rhea is poised to win and overcome a big challenger ahead of Wrestlemania 40. I do not see any scenario in which Nia Jax comes out on top here. Rhea is the top star in the Women’s division and it’s not even debatable. She will likely be mixed up in the title scene in the next several Manias. Nia will eventually get her win over Rhea, but it won’t be here and now. This could main event Perth with Ripley being the representation from Australia. I suspect the men’s chamber match will close out that show.

R-Truth interview

My man Truth is really proving every week why he’s the longest tenured member of the WWE roster. He finds a way to entertain us with whatever he’s working on. I have some creative ideas on how I would book this Judgement Day story with him. More on that later…

WWE needs comedic relief on its programming. Truth seems to provide more than enough as he even cracks up his on-screen colleagues. I expect Truth to somehow cost the Judgement Day their tag team titles at the Elimination Chamber PLE which will add more length to this story.

Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate are receiving a strong push by WWE creative. I don’t hate it, but they also don’t strike me as the team to carry the tag division as champions. Dunne has always been more over as a singles star. I see the long-term story with Dunne and Bate as a feud against one another. Dunne will play the heel when that happens. Nonetheless, I predict they are headed for an impromptu championship run thanks to R-Truth.

8 Man Tag; Miz/R-Truth & DIY vs. Judgement Day

I’ll start by stating that I’m not a fan of the current Gargano/Ciampa DIY pairing. I understand the history and the why…I’m just bored with it. I think adding Miz and Truth to what they are doing does help. I’m very high on Miz. I have been for quite some time. Truth referring to DIY as DX is entertaining. My advice to WWE creative would be to lean into that more. A re-incarnation of DX down the road would be a good move considering all the other groups that are popping up. I’m not sure Gargano and Ciampa are suited for it, but Truth may very well be the reason that it could work. Miz can certainly be obnoxious enough to be the main vocal point for that group. I’m not sure I see him as DX, but Miz needs something to do. His recent work with Gunther proves he should have a spotlight on him. Paired with Truth as they currently are, feels incomplete.

The match itself was ok. Truth got in some great offense. The DX taunt felt like it fit which furthers my feeling on the DX reincarnation. Judgement Day gets the win as they should. Priest finishes the match strong. Truth will likely get his revenge in Perth on Saturday.

UFC Mike Chandler segment

Cringey cross promotional advertising for TKO and the UFC feels forced here. I expect we will eventually see a live mic in the hand of Conor McGregor. Meanwhile, they didn’t cut Chandler’s mic fast enough. That dude was just on a rant on live television. I understand why they are cross promoting the brands but I’m personally not a huge fan of it.

Women’s Chamber match promo

This match seems like it has been lost in the shuffle. I think it has enormous star power (outside of Racquel). Don’t get me wrong, Racquel should be in the WWE. She has not been built up to be in this match and the way she has been added didn’t make much sense earlier in the night. Nothing more needs to be said for Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch as we know what we have there. They deserve to be in there and both deserve to win. Naomi has come back as a bona fide superstar. Her in-ring abilities appear to have caught up to her potential. My only issue with her character is the name. She should be billed as Trinity after her stint in TNA. Naomi sounds too generic without a last name. Liv Morgan, one of our own (Brooksville) has also really broken through as a big name on the roster. WWE creative really got it right with her. After that initial championship run defeating Ronda Rousey, she has been cemented as a main event talent. Some critics may argue that her wrestling skills aren’t up to par with the rest of the division. I would beg to differ in that assessment. I think her ring psychology is as good as any. She has also helped to elevate Racquel’s star power.

It’s Tiffy Time. Tiffany Stratton is on a trajectory that we haven’t seen in quite some time. I see Charlotte Flair like momentum with her. The in-ring performance, the character, all of it. WWE creative should fuel up the rocket ship and send her to the moon. NXT has and continues to produce absolute stars.

This will be a competitive chamber match. My money is on Becky Lynch. The story has been seeded already for Becky to face Rhea at Mania. Anything other than that would be disappointing.

Andrade vignette

Andrade’s return to WWE for me was expected. He’s married to Charlotte Flair. He’s a Triple H guy. His father-in-law is Ric Flair. I believe he will give us what WWE hoped to do with Alberto Del Rio many years back. Did you see those luchador masks? Amazing visually.

Chad Gable vs. Ivar

These are two solid performers who often receive less than they are due. Chad Gable reminds me so much of Kurt Angle. He’s one of my favorites to watch. He is probably the one guy on the roster that nobody beats in a wrestling shoot.

Ivar’s gimmick takes me back to my youth watching wrestling. The Viking Raiders are awesome. They haven’t been booked to be as strong as they could be in my opinion. Ivar paired with Valhalla (not a fan of her name) is a great on-screen look. Ivar should be winning all these matches given his size and in-ring ability. Gable getting the win here didn’t surprise me though. This was a great match.

Jey Uso vs. Gunther (C) Intercontinental Championship Match

Both men have been booked very strong leading up to this match. I’ve enjoyed Gunther’s championship run and believe him to be the greatest IC champion of all time. WWE has really sold this and Gunther has excelled in this role. Wrestling needs new up and coming villains. Gunther reminds me so much of an old school villain but elevated to a refined level. Jey Uso has proven to be a competent singles star who can really get the crowd behind him. This was a solid match. If I had to find something negative, I would say that the number of spears being used was excessive. Uso using the spear is already something I find hard to get behind. There are already several guys using the spear as their finishing move. I understand he’s using it to undermine Roman. I’m fine with him using it against Roman. I don’t think it makes sense otherwise as one of his signature moves. Using it several times against Gunther made it look less effective and weakens the move in my opinion. (I’ve never been a fan of the spear outside of Goldberg using it.) Edge wasn’t large enough to use it and Roman should be using it as a set up to his finish like Goldberg did. I always felt like Roman should have gone with the Superman Punch as his finish. It just looks more devastating. Bron Breaker using it waters it down as Roman’s finish as well. I’m not trying to be overly critical here. I think Jey should be using something else as his signature. But IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT I THINK…now does it.

Getting back to this match, the conclusion was well executed. Jimmy ringing the timekeeper bell causing the official to stop the count really adds to this feud between the Uso brothers that was never really resolved with Jey moving over to Raw. Jimmy has now cost his brother three big championship matches. Jey leaves this match looking strong despite not coming out with a win.

Gunther’s reign appears to be heading for a finale. He loses more momentum as champion with each close match. This is great storytelling by the WWE creative team. I would have put Bron Breaker on Raw to have him eventually dethrone Gunther at Mania. They clearly have other plans for Bron. He doesn’t need a title to be strong anyway. He was booked so well in NXT and he really excelled as their top guy for a very long time. (As a side note, I would have put the Steiner name on him. It’s too good not to use.)

Jey was a nice build up to another star. Sami Zayn doesn’t have much of a path to Wrestlemania, but he is dropping hints that he thinks he has one. I think Sami is going to be booked to face Gunther at Mania. I don’t know how we get there yet, but that’s what I would do. I don’t think Sami gets the WHC. There are too many bigger stars in front of him. Nothing against the guy, he was instrumental in making that Bloodline story take off and have legs for so long. I would even argue that he solidified Roman’s character in so many ways. He needs something interesting to do now. He hasn’t found his own story since losing the tag titles. He is the best supporting character in WWE. I find his strength to be elevating others. He brings out a better on-screen performance from his counterparts. Jey Uso is a Main Event talent. Sami Zayn helped him transition to this hero’s run he’s currently experiencing.

Sami should get a big win somewhere to pay off all those efforts. A feud with Gunther would give him some purpose for himself and set up an opportunity for either Sami or Gunther to level up. Sami needs a big win and Gunther needs to drop the IC title to move into the WHC scene. He’s not going to be a double champion. WWE already has too much trouble separating even the tag titles from one set of champions. Imagine trying to figure out how to book Gunther losing one or the other title. They’d have to go winner take all every time and then you lose the WHC again over time. That IC title branding is not going anywhere…ever. If Gunther bests Zayn, I have no idea who they’d throw at him next. Nothing else makes sense. Will I be right about this? Time will tell.

We are now seeing the Wrestlemania 40 card start to form.

WWE is doing a great job producing these shows. This is a wonderful time to be a fan. We are in a wrestling renaissance period. I hope you’ve enjoyed the read. I’ll be back for another installment after Smackdown this week. (I know it was taped, don’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet.)