WEEK IN REVIEW: WWE Network

Reviewing the week of August 12, 2019 on the WWE Network

205 Live - 08/13/19 Toronto, Ontario

Quick Results:

• Akira Tozawa defeated Jack Gallagher

• Humberto Carrillo & Lucha House Party (Kalisto & Lince Dorado) defeated Ariya Daivari & The Singh Brothers

• Cruiserweight Championship: Drew Gulak defeated Oney Lorcan

Highlights:

• In my opinion, Jack Gallagher is a world class talent that is an excellent example of British chain wrestling. His ground offense and escape ability is always entertaining. I’m a much bigger fan of this kind of technical wrestling rather than crazy high-spots.

• The championship match was built to look very rough and dirty and was filled with multiple hard-hitting moves and logical selling. This was a very fun match to watch and had a few spots in it that make you cringe a bit!

• The majority of the crowd seemed to stick around after Smackdown and was pretty hot for 205, which has not been the norm for quite some time.

NXT UK - 08/14/19 Plymouth, England

Quick Results:

• Flash Morgan Webster (w/ Mark Andrews) defeated Mark Coffey (w/ Wolfgang)

• “The Buzzsaw” Travis Banks defeated Kenny Williams

• Nina Samuels defeated Isla Dawn

• Kassius Ohno defeated Ilja Dragunov (formerly undefeated in NXT)

Highlights:

• The opening match between Coffey and Webster was very formulaic and the typical “Big Man vs. Little Man” match. There were outside distractions from Wolfgang and, once he was taken out by Andrews, it caused Coffey to get caught by the surprise “Roll-Up of Doom”. This is the first of a series of matches that will lead to a #1 Contenders match for the Tag Titles, so hopefully the future matches will have better stories and be more entertaining.

• Next was a backstage interview with Women’s Champ Toni Storm which was very strange. When asked about her NXT Takeover opponent Kay Lee Ray, Toni seemed to stumble over her words and not put together a coherent thought. I’m not sure if Storm was supposed to convey that Ray was in her head or if she legitimately forgot her lines. I’m a big fan of both Ray and Storm and I expect this match could possibly steal the show at Takeover Cardiff and I think we will have a new NXT UK Women’s Champion in Kay Lee Ray.

• A Last Man Standing Match was setup for Takeover between Dave Mastiff and Joe Coffey. Yes please!

• Kassius Ohno is an incredibly innovative wrestler and I think should be used to a much higher degree. His match with Dragunov got the best reactions of the night, especially after Dragunov executed a sit-out powerbomb on Ohno.

• Overall this was a very good episode that continued to promote and build to Takeover Cardiff in three weeks, but it felt like the crowd was not nearly as into this show as they have been historically. Hopefully that’s not an indication of the future of NXT UK, as it is currently one of the best wrestling products on TV right now.

NXT - 08/14/19 Toronto, Ontario

Quick Results:

• Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) defeated The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler, w/ Jaxson Ryker)

• Jordan Myles defeated Cameron Grimes to win the NXT Breakout Tournament

Highlights:

• This episode was mostly a review of Takeover Toronto. With exception to the Women’s title match, all the matches on that show were Very Good to Excellent. Especially the Io Shirai/Candice LeRae match. This episode of NXT included a video package of the new Io Shirai, which was absolutely incredible! I’ve always been a fan of hers and the new heel persona is great to watch.

• Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) were interviewed after their Tag Title match at Takeover and complained that the pin was counted on the illegal man. Look for a return match in the coming weeks. I predicted the Undisputed Era would win the titles at Takeover and I was disappointed. Now I fully expect the return match will be the win I was hoping for and there will be new NXT Tag Team Champions!

Other Network Highlights

Table For 3: Ember Moon, Alexa Bliss, and Braun Strowman

• Table for 3, for the past 5 seasons on the WWE Network, has always taken place in a non-descript dining room. This episode was the first to take place in an empty Applebees restaurant. It even included a cameo from an Applebees’ waitress reading off the current specials. This would seem to point to, in a not-so-subtle manner, a new sponsor for WWE. It was a fairly entertaining episode, but of course I love everything Alexa Bliss does!