Reverse Hipster Highlights
5.(Impact) Killer Kinship
Killer Kelly continued on her roll by beating one-half of the Impact Woman's Tag Champions, Taylor Wilde. However, things are more interesting when the covenant tries to attack Kelly, and Masha came out to save Kelly. Masha and Kelly could be a dominant tag team. The whole women's locker room should have shuddered when these two came together.
4.(Dynamite) ROH Saves Briscoe
Jeff Jarret had his entire gang all over Mark Briscoe, but then the tables turned with Mark Briscoe's father coming outta nowhere and choke slammed Jay Lethal before Karen Jarret took him out. Mark was able to handle things from there, but then Jarret's giant Satnam Singh showed up, and all hope looked lost until the Best friends, Lucha Bros, and Christopher Daniels, showed up to save the day. It was entertaining to see ROH come down and show up for their guy. I love team-ups like that.
3. (Dynamite) Adam Cole and MJF's Power Trip
Adam Cole and MJF were already locked in an intense rivalry, but now thanks to a random drawing in a tag tournament, they are becoming a tag team.
It does make sense. MJF and Adam Cole are both heels so entertaining they became faces. They are both equally matched, as we saw on Collision when they wrestled a draw. This could be AEW's two-man power trip.
2. (Impact) JESSICKA and Courtney Rush!
Jessica and Courtney are putting on a clinic in character work. They are able to play two convincing and entertaining monster characters (Havor&Rosemary), and they are able to play the in-between where Jessicka was bouncing off the walls, and Rosemary was the straight woman playing everything seriously. Now they have both gone loopy, and the act is even better.
The Death Dollz just keep finding ways to evolve their gimmick. This week the Death Dollz had a hilarious segment with Navaeh where they huddled and strategized (right in front of Navaeh) about whether or not she could help them before enthusiastically deciding she is an ally. I look forward to seeing much more of the Death Dollz.
1.(Dynamite) CM PUNK CM PUNK
Dynamite had an excellent segment with CM Punk reminiscent of the chaotic SmackDown endings of the late attitude era WWE. The Gunns had just pulled off a stunning victory over the Hardys, thanks to the Bullet Club. When they ganged up on the Hardys, Starks came out to help, but he got stomped too. Then FTR came out, and they got stumped too. Then the crowd begged CM Punk to go and even the odds.
When Punk ran in, the crowd exploded with cheers of CM Punk as he rallied the troops and fought off the bad guys. Then Punk advertised Collision and said he wasn't even supposed to be there. CM Punk brought his work shoot-style character work to AEW, giving him an aura that's more unique than anything in AEW.
Reverse Hipster's Lowlights
1.(Impact) Deaner
This week Deaner cost Angels and Kon a match with Speedball Mike Bailey and Jonathan Grisham for seemingly no reason. Just as Angels was going up to the top rope to finish Mike Bailey, Deaner decided this was a good time to go up to the ropes and yell finish him. Even Angels pointed out the absurdity of the moment and said what do you think I'm trying to do?
Deaner caused a distraction that cost his team the match and was completely unnecessary. Also, this didn't help the faces either because it looked like they needed help to win. The Design who literally started at the top of my list has found their way onto the lowlights far too often. They need a change of direction.
Rob’s Highlights (WWE/NXT)
5. The Judgment Day, WWE Raw
Judgment Day continues to be a consistent highlight of Raw. Finn Balor is after Seth Rollins, attacking him at the beginning of the show. Even though they took the loss in the main event, their involvement in every match has made it better, and they’re involved in multiple storylines at once.
4. The Usos, WWE SmackDown
The Uso Penitentiary is back, no longer under the Head of the Table’s Bloodline. The Usos displayed their unique charisma and confidence here. In their promo, they talked about how they have the edge in a tag team match because of their years working together; it’s their specialty.
3. Tomasso Ciampa returns, WWE Raw
Tomasso Ciampa returned on Monday Night Raw and ended up beating the Miz handily. Ciampa was just starting to hit his stride on the main roster when he got injured. The crowd gave him a kind of underwhelming response, but this played off the story he had with Miz. Now, Ciampa can do some great things with Johnny Gargano or something entirely new with Triple H in charge of creative.
2. Logan Paul looking to Cash in, WWE Raw
Logan Paul has been a highlight reel in all of his WWE feuds and matches so far. He gave a promo atop the ladder (WWE just loves this visual), announcing himself for Money in the Bank. He worked the crowd in Cleveland and goaded Ricochet and the other competitors into coming out. Paul is an excellent star power addition to an already stacked athletic pool of superstars for the Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
1. Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker, NXT
An unorthodox creative decision paid off huge here. This is the best Bron Breakker has looked, at least since he was champion. Breakker showed he can hang with high work rate main roster guys like Rollins; in fact, I think he proved that he makes his best matches with them. Rollins put on another good performance as he starts to get in stride of his World Heavyweight Championship reign, and the loss doesn’t really hurt Breakker. Don’t be surprised if we see him sooner rather than later on Monday Nights.
Rob’s Lowlights (WWE/NXT)
2. NXT Gold Rush Week 1, NXT
Aside from the Main Event, NXT Gold Rush was a flop. I felt like Wes Lee and Tyler Bate underdelivered what I thought they would do, though it was still an okay match. The other matches could have been on any random NXT. Talent brought from the main roster worked relatively awkwardly with the NXT roster: Mustafa Ali detracted from the North American Championship match, and Dana Brooke looked awkward against Cora Jade. Maybe next week will be better. If not, NXT has to rethink its strategy with main roster stars and these special shows on weekly television.
1. Unified Women’s Tag Team Championships, WWE SmackDown
WWE made the decision to unify the Women’s Tag Team Championships on SmackDown as Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler defeated Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn. It wasn’t the best introduction for main roster fans to Fyre and Dawn. Liv Morgan returned afterward, which, while I’m happy about, overshadowed Fyre and Dawn too. Most importantly, this removes an option for NXT Women, which is one of the most underrated divisions in wrestling right now. NXT’s Women’s roster is deep enough to sustain a tag division, and without champions, it will be challenging to build the future of the Women’s Tag Division if WWE is going to stick with this division. WWE has just spent the last few months untangling their weird, over-unified championship picture, and it’s clear they haven’t learned from their mistakes here.
Reverse Hipster's Best Show of the Week
Dynamite hit it out of the park. AEW Dynamite had excellent matches and exciting run-ins, and CM Punk had the entire city of Chicago screaming his name. This week, Dynamite was a thrill to watch, and it excited me for Forbidden Door. AEW didn't hold back at all in their go-home show, which is why they were the best show of the week.
Rob’s Winner of the Week (WWE/NXT)
This week, I have to give the win to WWE Raw. Even though they didn’t do anything crazy to blow me away, they had a high-quality show that didn’t have some of the big lowlights I saw out of NXT and SmackDown.
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