By Your Side
CM Punk was on point this week. He’s getting into a zone on the mic as we get closer to WrestleMania. That’s a good thing. He’s got a match with Finn Balor at Elimination Chamber; a match be blackmailed Adam Pearce into making official because he wants his “pound of flesh” despite thinking Finn deserves an ass whipping more than a championship match.
That’s where the fun ends for me.
WWE announced Roman Reigns’ schedule and, shocker, there are no February dates listed. Like I said, not a surprise but still disappointing coming off last week’s huge opening salvo in what I hope is a fantastic build between Roman and Punk. Yes, they have a whole month to build it and the next few weeks belong to Finn, but we’re not capitalizing on the momentum now. I don’t want to see Punk cut promos in the ring by himself, despite how well he carries himself when he does.
WWE truly caught lightning in a bottle a couple years ago for WrestleMania XL. It’s hard not to compare everything to that, even if it’s unfair to do so. It’s just hard seeing how they get anywhere close to that in the near future when building matches like this with one member of the equation off television for a month. Not impossible, but they keep putting themselves behind the 8-ball. No disrespect to Finn, who I believe deserves his moment in the sun, but this following up last week felt like a gut punch. What’s worse, I know they’re not taking that championship off Punk, so now I have to find a reason to get emotionally invested in something where I not only know the outcome, but also know WWE will save its best stuff for the next angle.
Finn said he wants to prove he’s not an afterthought. Yeah, well, he kinda is whether he likes it or not. And that sucks for him, Punk, and the audience hoping for something substantial.
B-Sides
- How would WWE build Alpha Academy as credible challengers? Unfortunately they didn’t get much time to do so, which left a lot of that work for the match itself. I have no qualms with that strategy for a regular tag match. But the titles on the line make it anything but regular. That doesn’t mean Akira Tozawa & Otis slacked off; far from it! They made the most out of their time and looked a tad sharper than the tag champs. Just a tad. Jimmy & Jey Uso missed a few spots, as did the challengers. I’m thinking of a botched super kick, a DDT that almost went extremely bad, and slam that resulted in Jimmy landing on his shoulder instead of his back. Oh, and whatever happened that gave Jimmy a bloody lip. But it succeeded in at least getting the tag championships on television and making them seem important. Right? Well, the first part, yes, but the second? Not so much. Why? Glad you asked.
- After defeating Alpha Academy, The Usos stated their goal as tag champs is to…get Jey into the Elimination Chamber and get him a World Championship. So, why do they have these titles again? Is there an actual plan for the World Tag titles? They didn’t even set up their next feud or hint at new challengers.
- Stephanie Vaquer’s new music still makes me sad. Another miss for me was the segment featuring La Primera, Liv Morgan, and Dirty Dom. Liv didn’t pick Stephanie as she’s enjoying making both women champs sweat. But why not pick Stephanie? We got some heat between them after Liv called Stephanie the Spanish word for the American word that rhymes with witch. She also said Stephanie wasn’t hot enough to wear a “Hot Girls Love Dominik Mysterio” shirt. All of that is very blah and tired. I’d love to see this feud evolve into more than typical insults from the heel and an understandable response from the face. The Women’s World Heavyweight Championship deserves better. More importantly, Liv and Stephanie certainly deserve better.
- I wondered what the territory planned for Nattie vs. Maxxine Dupri. Maxxine is a former Intercontinental Champion who it seems they’re still high on despite being the former champ. Nattie can’t lose her “debut” match because that’s just crazy talk. Nattie had to beat her down to show the uninitiated what separates this version from the one they’ve taken for granted for more than a decade. They found a sweet spot with a double countout after Nattie showed this wasn’t about winning a match but starting a fight. It ended with Maxxine in a Sharpshooter on top of the announce table, with things only stopping once officials and AJ Lee came to Maxxine’s side. AJ LEE? Perfect segue into what happened at the top of the show.
- AJ is getting a shot at Becky Lynch’s Intercontinental Championship. And she got said shot through a Jedi mind trick that played on Becky’s insecurity and mania. It was a fun opening segment that showcased almost all of Becky’s flaws and exactly why AJ gets under her skin. AJ conned her way into a title match at Elimination Chamber by simply annoying the champion and passive aggressively poking her ego. BUT, Becky got the last laugh. AJ tried walking Maxxine back to the locker room only for Becky to leave her face down outside the ring. Necessary moment since AJ so easily got the best of Becky in their first exchange.
- Rhea Ripley is going to Chicago! She defeated Lyra Valkyria and Ivy Nile in a qualifier. Surprisingly, Lyra took the pinfall. This was another early match in the evening that had more than a few kinks to work through. As Claire said in our offices, maybe there was a cold going around the locker room.
- It’s hard putting Je’Von Evans into words at times. Even after getting used to seeing him do the unthinkable in NXT, I still marvel when he does things like this. He’s truly poetry in motion. While I initially balked at putting him in the middle of this Grande Americano feud, I now think it’s the right call. He gets to saddle along an act with immediate crowd investment and work with four very capable hands.
Chad GableEl Grande Americano Original Recipe knows how to get someone over, and he also looks great in the process. He almost unmasked the other El Grande, which makes me think that might happen soon enough. Props to Cory Graves for really taking all of this seriously, comparing El Grande’s popularity in Mexico to Mil Máscaras and El Santo! Dude is committed to it and I love that. By default, this is my match of the night. - Thankfully, LA Knight qualified for the Elimination Chamber. He defeated Penta and Austin Theory but not without several shenanigans that furthered his beef with The Vision. Of course, LA’s goal to decimate the whole crew got a little easier with Bron Breakker’s injury. The storyline explanation is that Bron hurt himself through extraneous workout sessions. Paul E. Dangerously was awesome blaming that on all the stress Adam Pearce put on Bron’s shoulders through fomenting a terrible work environment. My fear with Bron being out is that this crew looks even weaker than they did with him around.
- The Vision needs a jolt. Or a new prescription. Something to make them look less like a bunch of flunkies and more like the dangerous group promised at their origin. It doesn’t help that yet another masked man is terrorizing them as the mysterious assailant struck again during the main event. He took out Austin Theory then ran for the hills as Logan Paul chased him through the crowd. This came after Bronson Reed interfered in the match and leveled LA with a Tsunami. Narratively, Penta was the odd man out, but that didn’t hurt the match. It was a fine main event that put LA one step closer to a title match and put an even bigger bullseye on his back. I’m just exhausted with the masked man thing. I know things change and this group, unfortunately, has a lot of change happening around them due to yet another injury. But isn’ there another plot device we can use other than the one we’ve used twice already?
Raw was a letdown from last week. Besides Roman Reigns’ predicable hiatus, several matches just didn’t click. I liked Nattie’s debut and Je’Von Evans continues his ascent. AJ and Becky provided some fun and violence. All of that added up to an uneven affair that failed to capitalize on last week’s momentum.
What say you, Cagesiders? Does Becky team with Nattie to tag against Maxxine & AJ Lee prior to Elimination Chamber? Did you miss Roman and Punk as much as I did? Holla at us in the comments!
