This Past Week in Pro Wrestling: Hook and Danhausen tensions, Asuka's wild return and insane matches
So last week in professional wrestling was solid for WWE, but AWESOME for AEW. I enjoy both promotions as I believe they are the tops of the business. Just sometimes, one has a better week than the other. This week the nod for excitement and entertainment went the direction of AEW. Let’s talk about WWE first.
It’s all RAW dog, craziness
RAW led off with the celebration of probably one of the most iconic wrestlers of all time. Riddle led the the celebration of the Viper Randy Orton. It was great to see everyone there just showing support to the Viper. Randy gave a huge thank you to the fans and those around the ring. Riddle had one last surprise. Cue up the American Nightmare Cody Rhodes, and the reunion of Legacy. It was a great moment. And then it happened. Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins jumps in starting the snowball effect, for things to get out of hand. It was pretty much an Attitude era type spot.
Seth Rollins called out Cody. Kevin Owens showed up and continued to call Ezekiel a liar that he is really Elias (which is still funny IMO) and then the Usos showed up. It just kept piling on. This led to an 8 man tag match to end the show.
Before we get there we have to talk about THE RETURN OF ASUKA!!! That’s right, she’s BACK!. She’s got her sights on the Man Becky Lynch who is just trying to get out of her current funk after the loss at Mania to Bianca Belair. Becky was lost and didn’t know what to say or do but knew she had to get back in the title picture. She has to overcome the Empress of Tomorrow first. Asuka’s return is big news for the division. There’s another challenger for the title, and now we wait to see if we get a Belair/Asuka feud. I can’t wait!
Speaking of returns, what about the return of Ali? He recently asked for his release and had not been on television for some time now. He returns to confront Theory on MizTV and put his name at the top of the list for the United States Championship. Ali and Miz had a hard promo segment, which resulted in a match between Ali/Miz. He defeated Miz in a really good match, hopefully putting him in position to take on Theory here soon.
Back to the 8 man tag match. This was an awesome main event. Everyone took advantage of their spots, and killed it. Randy Orton hit some killer RKO’s and eventually got the pin over the Usos. Setting up the contract signing on Smackdown.
Time to Layeth the Smacketh Down
Drew beat down Sami Zayn in a steel cage to open up Smackdown. This wouldn’t be the last time we see Drew on Friday. The contract signing went about as we could expect. The promos cut deep. They were some fighting words leading to a, shocker, a fight. But, plot twist, the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns shows up because he clearly is pissed the Usos haven’t yet taken care of RK-Bro. Roman starts beating down Riddle, only for……Drew McIntyre to show up. Yes, Drew McIntyre. Not Shinsuke who we thought was up next, it’s Drew. He laid down the challenge without having to say a word, just throwing haymakers. Let’s see how this develops.
The Ronda Rousey/Charlotte Flair feud heated up as their ‘I quit’ challenge ended up in Drew Gulak getting beat up yet again. Still funny, but not really enough to push the story for these two along. It all comes to fruition next week at Backlash.
AEW madness
AEW killed in this past week. They started with something fans have never seen before, Dax and Cash of FTR going at each other in the Owen Hart memorial tournament. If you’re into professional wrestling, and not all the glitz and glamour around it, this match was amazing. The most technical showcase of wrestling I think I have seen since i watched their mentor Bret Hart. They were awesome. Dax came out on top but it was phenomenal.
After the match was over, it became official. AEW Double or Nothin’ main event, for the AEW World Championship, Hangman Adam Page/CM Punk. It’s a done deal. This inspired Punk to cut a promo hyping the match, and I may not be his biggest fan, but I know it’s going to be awesome. He always finds a way to deliver in these moments.
Wardlow had another heavy hitting match with Lance Archer. MJF with his stranglehold contactually over Wardlow has been some of the best storytelling in the business. Best thing about it, there is no title involved. It’s just a really good way to tell the story. Wardlow was victorious only for MJF to bring in an unknown, who is really big, really strong, ‘and you can’t teach that.’ Any WWE fan can tell you who that is referring to, but I won’t spoil it for you if you don’t know. It may be the break he was looking for to get back in the business at the big level.
Lastly, what about Danhausen and Hook? It looked like Hook was about to just destroy Danhausen only for Tony Neese to get involved. Hook and Danhausen seemed to work together to dispose of the interruption. Is this the start of a new tag team? I don’t know, but I tell you want, the AEW fans in attendance were all about it. It’s up to you now Tony Khan. Is this the new Rock n’ Sock?
Quite a bit happened this week in professional wrestling. If I didn’t cover something you wanted to talk about like Sammy losing his TNT title to Jay Lethal, or Bianca Belair and Sonya Deville, continue the conversation in the comments section. Or also hit me up on social media, Twitter: @Zero2Hero or IG: Rproctor23. Talk with you next week ATC fam!
