-Drew McIntyre’s CM Punk obsession continued this week — this time with an in-ring promo to start the show that outlined all the things Punk has done to Drew. McIntyre called Punk fans stupid and added in some extra Punk zingers along the way. Drew is pretty accurate when he talks about Punk in WWE. That doesn’t really paint a nice picture of babyface CM Punk and may bite this entire feud in the long term. As for now, it worked and kept the audience firmly on Punk’s side. This is a big match and clearly something WWE believes they will be able to do this year.
Damian Priest finds voice as champion
-Damian Priest had a huge night. Priest finally looked the part of a champion in facing off with McIntyre. It took about six weeks, but we finally got there. Priest carried himself like an alpha and was likable in addressing Drew’s hypocrisy. The tone he struck in this promo segment with McIntyre, along with his current position and story with The Judgement Day point directly at a babyface turn.
-Iyo Sky and Shayna Baszler have excellent chemistry together and they put that on full display during their Queen of the Ring quarterfinal match this week. A really good match that Sky had to win and she did.
-Poor Carlito … shunned from The Judgement Day again. At some point, it seems like the group will get fed up with Priest calling the shots the way that he’s done recently and turn on him. Carlito won’t be the new Judgement Day leader or anything like that, but he appears to be a conduit to the break-up happening.
-Look, I know Chad Gable is a heel now, but he isn’t anymore serious than he was as a babyface. He doesn’t come across as dangerous or menacing bullying Otis and Maxxine around. Gable hasn’t changed the tone of his character and the result is a turn that had significant potential get ice cold really quick. The booking of Bronson Reed into the mix with Gable and Zayn hasn’t helped matters, but the bottom line is Gable has underdelivered.
Smarten up Pearce!
-The R-Truth gimmick continues to overstay it’s welcome. It gets a few chuckles here and there, but c’mon. As for Kiana James, I know her act is centered around being a strong business woman, but here’s hoping she’s not able to influence Adam Pearce in a way that benefits her. Because of Pearce’s hard line character, that would be very hard to believe at this point.
-Another good King of the Ring match for Gunther this week. This time against Kofi Kingston. Gunther gave Kingston a lot of offense to make him look credible, but then definitively defeated him. No surprise there, but the match was good for what it was.
-Speaking of Kofi, did WWE plant a seed for a story with him and Karrion Kross? They had a strange interaction backstage with not a lot to it, but as we know, WWE doesn’t do these things on accident.
-Sorry, but watching Bronson Reed destroy Akira Tozawa was amusing. Very amusing.
Gaelic?
-Lyra Valkyria got herself more over thanks to her match with Zoey Stark. The audience seemed to know her more this week compared to last and even did the usual NXT audience part of her entrance correctly. More importantly, Valkyria had a good match that she won with the crowd behind her when the victory happened. The match was designed to earn that type of investment for Valkyria and it worked. I’m not sure what the Gaelic promo was supposed to accomplish after the match, but overall, it was a good night for a budding star on the main roster.
-Yeah, the audience is going to go wild for Otis when he finally stands up to Chad Gable, but the moment will be fleeting. Zayn got an easy win here and that’s fine, but this IC title program isn’t living up to marks that Gunther made normal during his run as champion.
-LOL. The visual of JD McDonagh and Braun Strowman doing a promo together was pretty hilarious. Neither one was great with the promo itself, but the shot sure was humorous.
-Another week and another tempered reaction for Becky Lynch. Lynch working with a lukewarm pseudo-heel in Liv Morgan doesn’t help matters and Morgan was extra awkward this week. The punch Lynch delivered to Morgan backstage was awkward and awful too. Morgan isn’t walking the tweener line well at all. She needed a definitive turn to fully capitalize on the momentum she got when she took out Rhea Ripley. WWE went this way instead and it hasn’t been a fun watch.
-Ugh. We’re doing Judgement Day vs. Awesome Truth again? Haven’t we just been here?
Swerve!
-A good match between Ilja Dragunov and Jey Uso. I’d have gone with Dragunov vs. Gunther in the semis for King of the Ring, but holding it back for a bigger payoff down the road isn’t the worst idea in the world. The Gunther tease helped make the outcome less foreshadowed and increased the drama of the match. Gunther vs. Jey Uso next week should be an excellent match.
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